Nelspruit

Over the weekend I went to Nelspruit with a large number of the other volunteers. Not only was the area beautiful but the city was very upscale. I forgot, for a few days, about rural Africa and felt I was back in America. Hence, I experienced a bit of culture shock.

We spent most of the time in the mall, which was huge and beautiful. While there we went out for meals, had coffee, and saw movies (Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter….finally!!). I can only describe the entirety of the place as sensory overload. I no longer know exactly how to act in such a setting. Really, I felt I was in an entirely different world, and I more or less was. It left it hard for me to imagine that this place with upscale shops: Diesel, The Body Shop, Nine West, a casino, an elaborate movie theatre, a casino, half a dozen coffee shops, and dozens of restaurants, could be in the same country as the life I lead. The divide was intense; I don’t feel that any of the villagers that I spend my days with would have been comfortable in any way in this place. The fact that there was an upscale internet café where kids were “gaming” was so different than the way computers are seen in rural areas. I had forgotten that children, or most adults for that matter, even knew how to use a computer.

One evening, for dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant. After we were done with our food we realized it was after nine in the evening. I have not been out in a public setting that late at night since August when I left the U.S. I am confined to my house in the village as soon as evening begins. It blew my mind to think that people still did go out and have “night lives” in other areas.

The backpackers where we stayed, suitably named: The Funky Monkey, had a great atmosphere. I spent an evening having a barbecue with 20 something volunteers, as well as a number of other travelling South Africans, a few French men, and a Dutch volunteer who worked in Swaziland. The international men did the cooking, which was elaborate: multiple kinds of pizzas, amazing hamburgers, different salads, and deserts, including a plum tart. I was shocked to realize that men can be self sufficient creatures, a fact I had forgotten in the villages. I was commenting to the Dutch volunteer that I was planning on taking him as a wife. At that point one of the men from France chimed in “This is normal for us…American men don’t know how to properly provide.” After seeing all the elaborate preparations he went to I couldn’t really disagree.

We spent our evening drinking wine, swimming in the pool (pools…another miraculous creation I had forgotten about), and commenting on how far removed we all feel from being able to cope with the developed world any longer. It was a nice relief and left me contented once more.