My List

Because I have been away from the States for a decent amount of time, I have discovered that there are some things to be missed (besides all of you!), so I have decided to make a list for your enjoyment. Most of the items on this list are everyday things that people in the States experience frequently, but never really take note of.

1. Grocery Stores. In the States, these are massive. You can always find basic ingredients no matter which one you are at (I could not locate sour cream or mozzarela in half the grocery stores here) and usually you have more than one option of brand, flavor, etc. Here you are lucky enough if you find the product, so you can forget about comparison shopping.

2. Nutrition Labels. I have no idea what 252 kilojoules means. Conversion aside, I doubt I even want to know what I am eating because of the lack of superior options available. In the States I study nutrition labels, especially when making a purchase. It has been hard to not have that information available in units I understand.

3. Mexican Food. There is a restaurant here that my flatmates absolutely LOVE called Panchos. Whenever they go they order margaritas and nachos. They refuse to order anything else because they claim that is perfection. I was so excited when I went there my first time because I love Mexican food. And then I took a bite of food. Let me just preface this with a general comment. South Africans love their sugar. They put inordinate amounts of it in their tea, their tomato sauce (ketchup) is extremely sweet and apparently they love to put it into whatever they cook. I was not expecting the nachos to be sweet, but they were. The "sour cream" sauce that covers the nachos is very sweet, as is the meat- and contrary to authentic nachos, these had very little cheese. I have gone back to the restaurant twice since, ordering different things each time and have continued to be unimpressed.

4. Having a car. There is little to be said here. Cape Town has a high rate of crime, public transportation tends to be unsafe, and the city stretches across a huge amount of land.

More to come...