The Ups and Downs of Ordering Christmas Gifts as an Expat

There is one month until Christmas, so today I ordered a few holiday gifts online. I have to say, I love Amazon. Without Amazon holiday shopping would be much more difficult. On Amazon I can order gifts for my friends and family who live in the United States, and I don't have to worry about paying ridiculous fees to ship items from South Africa. When I order items from Amazon, shipping within the United States is usually free. I can even pay a few dollars to have the items gift wrapped with personalized cards.With the money that I save on shipping, I'm happy to pay for the gift wrapping, and I don't have to wrap gifts and lug a stack of parcels to the post office. It's a win-win!*

I really wish that there were a South African equivalent of Amazon. Kalahari, which has a small selection of books, games, and other items, is similar to Amazon but is not really comparable. Kalahari is amazing for a South African retailer website, but it's sort of like looking for a book to read at an airport kiosk when you're used to finding books at the New York Public Library.

A Biltong Gift

A couple of days ago I loaned our car to the neighbors because their car is in the shop. I was very happy to loan them the car. The neighbors are very responsible, and I wasn't using the car that particular evening. Also, you never know when your own car might be in the shop and you might need the favor returned.

When I arrived home from work today, I found this lovely gift at my doorstep:

A lovely handmade card and a striped package. I wonder what could be inside the package?

Hondelewertjie

Well, that didn't take long. When I revived this blog yesterday I speculated that my learning Afrikaans would lead to some cross-cultural adventures. This evening I had just such an adventure.

A couple of weeks ago I started taking Afrikaans lessons. Every Tuesday, my tutor comes over for an hour, and we practice basic Afrikaans. In my lesson today I learned some food words and how to order food in restaurants.

My husband Jackie is currently out of town on business travel. When I called him earlier this evening, I was very excited to tell him about what I learned in my Afrikaans lesson.

Here's how our conversation went:

Jackie: So, what did you learn in your Afrikaans lesson today?

Me: I learned how to order in a restaurant.

Jackie: Okay, order something.

Me (slowly and very carefully): Ek wil eers die hondelewertjie kry, asseblief.

I was very proud of my sentence, which was a complicated one! I expected praise, but instead Jackie just laughed uncontrollably. And he kept laughing. And laughing. And laughing. I was not impressed.

Rugby-Cricket

Well, I haven't posted on this blog in over a year, but I thought I'd revive it! This is a particularly good time to revive this blog as I recently started taking Afrikaans lessons. I'm sure that my learning Afrikaans will lead to many cross-cultural adventures. 

Here's a little vignette from this morning:

My boss: Who are you supporting in the Currie Cup?

Me: Umm....

My boss: Do you even know who's playing in the final?

Me: South Africa. And... uh... India?

My boss: Oh, dear. 

Me: Well, I don't really follow cricket. 

My boss: Oh, dear. Please go tell your husband that he's not giving you a proper South African sports education.

For the Americans who don't understand why this vignette is funny, it turns out that the Currie Cup is a national rugby competition. 

As a quick aside, I often refer to cricket as "baseball croquet". This makes sense to me but seems to greatly distress my husband and other South Africans. 

Zef

A few weeks ago, I saw that my younger sister and her friends were using the word "zef" on Facebook. My sister and her friends live in southern New Hampshire, and at first it didn't even occur to me that they were using an Afrikaans word. I thought that they were just using a funny-sounding, nonsense word that happened to be the same as a word in Afrikaans.

When I saw her in person a few weeks later, I asked my sister, "Hey, do you know what 'zef' means in Afrikaans?"

To my surprise, she replied, "Yeah, it means 'cool.' "

And my sister's friend elaborated, "Yeah, it's like 'awesome' or 'badass', maybe."

My sister added, "Or 'hard core' maybe."

I started laughing, then said, "But that's not what zef means in Afrikaans! How do you know an Afrikaans word anyway?"

Flask

I'm currently back on Cape Cod for a few months to defend my PhD. Jackie is coming over in late May for a few weeks, and I'm torturing him by making him attend my 10-year high school reunion, my PhD graduation ceremonies (yes, ceremonies-- there's two, and I am wearing Harry Potter robes to both!), and a second wedding celebration hosted by my mom and dad in New Hampshire (our first wedding was in South Africa last October).

Jackie gave me a call today, and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Jackie: Oh! I meant to tell you. I bought a flask today.

Me: That's good. We'll probably need that for the wedding.

Jackie: Do you think we'll need it for the wedding?