She talked about driving and traffic at one point, and told me really watch out for the ubiquitous taxi vans. (She’s right – NYC taxis may be aggressive, but they generally obey road rules. These don’t.) What was more interesting was her language, which delineated “us” and “them” along racial lines. She said something like “Those are the local taxis. Locals use them, but we do not. They are unreliable, and drivers may not even have their licenses or may be carrying guns.”
Later, I asked about how much people actually integrate – it’s one thing to allow everyone to go anywhere, it’s another thing to see if people actually do it. Her answer is that today there is more “economic segregation,” which is very true; this is also true in the U.S., but it doesn’t cut so clearly along racial lines. From other things I’ve heard, I think there may be more to it than this.
She then went on to talk about her growing up and parents. She grew up in a family where the black domestic server had her own utensils and crockery and was completely cut off from the family other than being there to serve. Now her ailing father has a full-time black nurse from Zimbabwe who of necessity eats every meal with him, and apparently she is educated enough/cultured enough that my guide invites the nurse to join them for a glass of wine and chat whenever she is with her parents.
The apartments were interesting. Some takeaways:
1) South Africans have never heard of central heating or A/C. (It’s currently highs around 58 F and freezing as a low. Summers get up to 90 F.) Maybe that’s not quite true, but no one I’ve met has either. Heat is from space heaters and a lot of blankets. One place I looked had A/C in the master bed, but that’s it. I mentioned that to a SA today and she just sort of thought about it and shrugged.
The kicker is that the alternative to A/C is to open the windows, right? But no one has screens. What to do about this? The girl’s eyes lit up because she knew the answer to that one and told me that you get a bug trap and put it just inside the window.
To me, this seems like looking at the problem of the common cold and saying that the answer is to walk around with Sudafed instead of saying to wash hands a lot.
I may eat my words in a couple of months, but I can understand why they wouldn’t have A/C if you would only want it for a short period of time. However, do my neighbors all really prefer to sweep up dead bugs instead of putting a screen on their window?
The net effect of this all? I slept with a beanie and three comforters on last night. It's fitting that my Bostonian roommate is going to arrive just in time for the hot summer without any A/C while the Houstonian is here for the winter with no heat.
2) In older construction (not sure the cutoff), air vents were legally mandated. This means that in most apartments there are holes (roughly 6”x4”) in the wall that go straight to the outside through some filter material (like what you put on your A/C air intake). This, of course, would also defeat any central heat or A/C.
3) Almost all places here have carports – think covered parking at an airport. These keep the sun directly off your car, but don’t have anything connecting them to the apartment to avoid getting wet from rain. (Hopefully not a big deal considering the fairly low rainfall.) Some units have garages, but these garages are almost always single (even if for a 2 or 3 bed apt) and detached, meaning there is a row of garages somewhere and then you walk to your place. It gives you some storage space and a bit more security for your car, but still doesn’t get you in/out without hitting the elements.
4) Housing is slightly more expensive than Houston. The apartment hunter thinks things will open up/prices will cool off when the World Cup ends, but at the moment I’m seeing stuff that isn’t as nice as my Houston apartment for slightly more, though you must adjust for the fact that I’m looking for a furnished place.
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