Africa calling

When dating someone of different origin there can be differences of culture, ideas, language and upbringing. These can be an obstacle for some people who have the need to communicate in their mother language to their other half and share anecdotes, jokes, recipes, widely known facts from their country etc. However, these differences to me act in the exact opposite way. I find people from other countries interesting. I love learning about their culture, their customs, language and history. Since coming to London I never dated another Greek. I don’t usually hang out in places that Greeks frequent and it was easier to find people from various other backgrounds, since London is well known for that.

Anyway, ‘JJ’ is from South Africa but has been living in London for many years. We get along amazingly well and we had discussed in the past about visiting his country. It’s only fair since we’ve been in Greece so many times already! It hasn’t been easy to plan this trip because it can be a bit expensive, especially the flights, and it also demands lots of free available days. However, the time has come and we will be going to SA very soon!!! I’m so excited, you can only imagine! I’ve never been to Africa and the stories I’ve heard and documentaries I’ve seen are extraordinary!

So, we’ve booked our flights, a car and some days in various places around the countryside. We even plan to spend a couple of days in a wildlife nature reserve! I’m so looking forward to seeing Africa’s big five out in the open and not a small cage in a zoo! I hope we’ll even get a chance to see whales or even sharks. Apparently if you’re lucky there’s not even a need to take a boat since there are bays where these massive mammals and fish are visible from the shore! It’s going to be so great!

What’s also really interesting and special about our trip is the fact that we’ll stay a couple of days at JJ’s parents’ place. It’s going to be a first for all of us. JJ never took a guy he’s dating to see his parents and I’ve also never met ‘parents’ in my life. So, we’re all a bit excited and nervous at the same time. His mother already said she’s planning the menu for the days we’ll be staying there and sounds welcoming. But as far as I understood we’ll be staying in different rooms and most likely act like good friends / housemates.

I don’t really have a problem with that to be honest. We’re not a couple that displays lots of affection in public anyway. I’ve never been the type of person that shows easily his emotions in public and under their roof, I’ll play by their rules. But I believe they will in generally like me if given a chance. I can be a nice, likeable person if I want to. However, they will meet me after a very (very) long flight…

So, for the next couple of weeks before the trip, I have some preparations to do. I need to learn some more Afrikaans. I know some very basic words and phrases, but I’d like to learn more. I also want to learn something more about the history of the country and its geography. Plus, I need some ‘safari’ clothes like cargo pants and boots. I don’t want any nasty surprises of snakes biting me while walking around.

Speaking of which, JJ’s been crazy the last few days with animal documentaries. OK, he’s always been a massive fan of channels like ‘National Geographic’ or ‘Animal Planet’  but this time it’s different. Every night for the last few days we’ve been watching footage of wild animal attacks, high majority of which happen to humans in wild animal parks! He told its part of my training! Lol… I’ve seen elephants charging in jeeps in South Africa, lions attaching tourists in central Africa, sharks eating swimmers in Australia and massive snakes biting people in Central America!