In January, I’ll have lived in South Africa for two years. Living cross-culturally in a country with 11 official languages and countless more cultures, creates some distinct challenges, particularly relating to so many new ways of life.

Reading a book on South African culture from the early 90’s this weekend, I was really encouraged. A lot of it was pretty outdated, the country has changed a lot in the past 15 years. But, basically it said that when relating specifically to Afrikaans culture, people coming from similar cultures will struggle more to adapt than people from very different cultures.

We’ll that explains it.

I have a South African friend who spent a year living in Orlando. When we see each other, we end up comparing and contrasting cultures. She talks about how American fruit and veggies taste like plastic compared to South African produce (I agree) and I talk about how much I miss Dr. Pepper. On the surface, our cultures don’t seem that different. But, there are all of these differences that I struggle to identify.

On the plus side, the longer I’m here, the more it feels like home. And, I’m even starting to crave Wimpy coffee–that has to say something!

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