First, I must say, we Americans are at such a disadvantage when we travel. I feel like such a provincial idiot!
Hey, what's it going to be like today?
17 degrees.
Seriously?! 17 degr... oh, oh, you mean Celsius ... so what's that, like, 30, 40? Oh, it's 62? Oh, well ... I'll just take this hat and scarf off then ...
I don't understand why we in America refuse to join the rest of the world and use the -- I think anyone will admit, much more logical -- metric system.
You should have seen me during my first supermarket trip!
How many ounces in a gram?
Pounds in a Kilo?
Calories in a Kilojoule?
Milliliters in a cup?
In a quart?
And OK, so there's 6.5 Rand or 7 Rand to a Dollar, so that means I'm paying how much per ounce -- I mean -- gram -- I mean Kilo -- I mean -- what?
My two best friends here:
And then to cook:
350F is 176 Celsius,
1 Tablespoon is 15 grams ...
I could go on and on ... It's just all part of adjusting to a new place I guess, but it is quite overwhelming at first:
Gallons into liters,
Miles into Kilometers,
Inches into Centimeters,
Commas instead of Periods ...
Oh and driving on the left, not the right! Oy vey! And it's not just the streets -- it's the escalators and foot traffic on the sidewalks -- they tend to mirror traffic ... the number of humiliating near-collisions I've had!
And then there are there's all the South African dialect and slang! They've got the best slang here ... but I only know a few so far:
"Oke" instead of "Guy"
"Robot" instead of "Traffic Light"
"Lekker" instead of "good/cool/nice"
"Just now" which might mean "Right now" or "Never gonna happen, but if I say that you're gonna start yelling because you are an uptight American so I'll just say 'just now'."
And my absolute favorite (or I guess I should I write "favourite," since they use British spelling here): "Pleasure" instead of "You're Welcome" -- this is how people respond at shops ("shops" instead of "stores") when you say "thank you." They say it in this really lovely South African accent and it sounds like "Pleh-zha" and sounds very charming to my American ears.
Anyhoo, I think it's a good sign that I'm starting to think in grams, Rands and milliliters ... but the Fahrenheit-Celsius thing ... that's the tough one. When I hear "18 degrees today" I immediately reach for my coat ... I guess it must be a Minnesota thing!
And wait until you get back to the States. The left/right thing is going to screw you up for a long time. It's been 5 years since I was last in the UK, and I still often find myself walking on the left instead of the right. Not sure why, but walking on the left just seems more natural. Thankfully I never drove in the UK. I think I'd be dead by now.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I live in Scotland while student teaching. My students would ask for something and I would like an idiot--what do you want? No clue! When I got home the whole crossing the street thing freaked me out b/c I would forget what way the traffic was coming. I also spent time driving in the UK-going left on a roundabout and then make sure you end up on the "right" side of the road (aka the left) was so challenging. Good times! Enjoy!
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