Hello, all!
I always feel like I don't have any friends on here, but at the same time, it's not like I'm on here very often.
So, here I am!
My name is Jade, I turned 18 last week, and I'm French. I moved to South Africa around three months ago. Yes, I know it sounds random!
After having lived in the US of A for three years, and coming back to the good ol' French land for two years, my family and I were ready to explore the world some more. Well, exploring mostly meant moving to an English speaking country once more. We could have moved to the UK, and that was the original plan, but it was much too cold for our liking. Canada... Too cold as well. So, we weren't left with too many options. Australia seemed nice, but the immigration policies were way too complicated, so South Africa it was.
My life in South Africa has been full of up and downs so far. I got awfully homesick on my second day here, and I thought I'd have a really hard time living here. During the first month, I was actually considering going through the British admission system again, and even try getting into a Canadian university. What I hated here was the racial division. As a mixed girl, seeing that restaurants were full of white people, and the only black people in there were in the kitchen... I didn't like it. Last year, I studied post-colonial literature for my exam, and it was actually upsetting to feel the things that were described in the poems I used to read. I still hate the racial division with a passion. That's easily the thing I hate the most about this country.
However, it's beautiful here. I live in Cape Town, and I think it's such a cool place. Very European, in the sense there are bars and cafés where you can hang out with friends, and you can also get around town just fine without a car. But, it also has a bit of an American feel. Cape Town is really cool because you can see the ocean and the moutains, and every house here has some sort of view! I'll see if I can upload a picture I took from a friend's house.
Now, let's talk food! As a person who loves to cook, I think South Africa really delivers. It might seem silly to some, but it's really important to me. There is a wide selection of veggies (expect for shallots, I miss my shallots :c) and delicious fruit, and the quality of the meat is pretty good! Beef is delicious, chicken is tasty, and they also eat a lot of lamb here, but I haven't bought any yet. I should definitely try, though. And, here there's something that you can find here, and that you won't find easily elsewhere, and that is ostrich meat! I find it really delicious, although it's not something I would eat everyday. I made an ostrich tataki around a month ago, and it was glorious!
As a person who loves to eat... Eh. I can't really speak for African cuisine, as I haven't tried it yet (it's a shame, I know), but I've been to two restaurants so far (Thai and "Korean"), and both were disappointing. However, if you get food in a food market, it's usually pretty good! South Africans have a thing that they absolutely love, and that is grilling meat on the barbecue. Actually, it's not called barbercue here, it's called braai. I've sort of caught the virus, but not quite. I don't grill meat, I smoke meat. And now, I'm firing up the grill two to three times a week because the French community is going crazy over my creole smoked chicken spread.
As you may or may not have guessed from reading this post, I have a lot of free time, and that is because I'm not going to university. What do I do, then? I'm waiting (and smoking chicken s). University doesn't start until February, and I graduated last July, so I'm on an extended summer break. Actually, university doesn't start until March, because the start of it got postponed because of protests... I was actually quite annoyed when I learned about it. It's not that I want to go back to school, but it gets lonely, you know... But still, I'm happy, because I got into a great uni — the best in Africa, dare I say — and I knew I wouldn't have been able to get into a univeristy like this in France (and there wasn't anything interesting) or in the US (too competitive, perhaps). I actually could have gone to a uni that has a better rank in England, but it was kind of expensive. And cold, of course.
All in all, I'm quite happy to be here. It's nice to discover new things, and the country is nice, despite some flaws (but then again, every country has its advantages and disadvantages).
This turn out wayyyy longer than intended, so, if you made it here, wow. I'm clapping for you.
If you wanna chat or something, you can hit me up on kkt @lafrisee, follow me on instagram @yogirljade, or add me on snapchat @aegyoprincess
Love,
Jade
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