Differences

A tiring aspect of moving to a new country is that you have to form completely new habits. For a while, you're doing everything for the first time: getting money out of a bank, driving from home to work, going around a supermarket, buying milk - the most banal things are all slightly different and require more concentration than usual. It's exhausting. Then habits start to form and you stop paying so much attention - but this has a downside, because you start to take for granted all the small (and large) differences which were so fascinating to start with. So - I want to note here now and then some of the small differences that strike me in SA, before they go unconscious and I stop noticing them. (Also, so I don't only record things I happen to have a photo of...)

For example:

Traffic lights are called ROBOTS (this is sometimes painted in large letters on the ground to warn you they're coming up).

Pickup trucks, delivery vans etc. are called BAKKIES.

There are intersections at which no-one has right of way - everyone has a stop sign; everyone stops in fact and there's an etiquette about taking turns to cross over (imagine this in Italy!). It seems to work.

When you turn the ignition on in your car, all the doors and boot automatically lock. This is a safety feature.

If someone wants to say "it's not a serious problem" they'll say "it's not a train crash". If they want to say "oh well it's a way to make a living" they'll say "oh well it puts porridge on the table". (In fact there's a whole book to write, or has probably already been written, on colourful expressions here. There's a good web site glossary.)

The earth is a deep ochre ORANGE/ RED, not brown. This is noticeable from the sky, when you're flying, and at any construction site, and in flower beds etc. (photo above)

The "bungalows" in the northern suburbs (i.e. single-floor villas) often have skylights in the roofs to let in some extra light; these can be disguised as light fittings - in fact in my own house I didn't understand at first where the light switch was for this odd light which was on during the day but faded at night.... (photo above; note the huge fridge on the right and the "trelly" in the background - trellis security gate on an external door)

The SKY seems to be enormous compared to how it looks in the northern hemisphere. I don't understand how this is possible, the horizon must be the same distance away - perhaps it's something to do with cloud formations (I don't think I've seen a completely clear sky yet) - but there seems to be lots of space up there. There's a lot of space down on the ground, too. Johannesburg is a city of eight million people which has spread out horizontally in every direction, and why not? - there was nothing at all here 120 years ago; apart from the business district, most buildings here are just one or two stories high - and there's always somewhere to park your car. Imagine that in any European capital!