People Definitely Know We're American

Today  Sean and Holly took me around Grahamstown; took me to all the main shops and even went to the grocery store. (I bought some Ramen Noodles:-)) We ran into a little trouble halfway through the day though. Holly's cell phone, $400 cell phone, got stolen by a pick pocketer. We were shopping in this clothing store and when we went outside this guy brushed up against her to walk past us and grabbed her phone. We thought it was a little rude of him to be so close, but we just thought we were taking up too much room on the sidewalk. When we went back to the store, hoping that she had left it in the dressing room, we talked to the security lady at the door. She said she saw the guy get close to us and he probably stole the phone:-( She suggested that we go to the police station and report it. She also said that she would be willing to identify the guy if need be, which was very nice. So we walked a long long way to the police station on a very African cultured street. While Holly was filing the report, a guy waiting was very interested in mine and Sean's conversation. He asked where we were from and then said he like the way I talked. He then proceed to ask if my teeth were real because they looked very nice and white. He didn't understand what braces were, but I assured him that my teeth were real and they had lots of work done. After talking with him for an uncomfortably long time Holly's report was finished.

Next we went to eat a place called Steers, was kind of like a Dairy Queen. When I was ordering, I told the lady I wanted water to drink. She could not understand what I was saying for anything. I repeated clearly, many times, from what I thought. Anyways, my conclusion is that they don't say any words with the "er" sound. Their "er" is replaced with an "a" sound; so instead of "water" its "wata."

Tonight the Ohio girls and I went to the movies because Dr. Baxen was having her colleagues over for dinner. We went to see the second Sherlock Holmes movie. Yes, I know this movie has been out awhile, but for South Africa its very new. Their TV shows and movies are a few months behind us. The movie theatre was nice, reminded me of the Nova Discount Cinemas in Commerce, a lot smaller theatre than usual. There was a school outing for the boys and girls school in town, so we shared the theatre with a bunch of kids in uniform. Overall it was a great experience.

After the movie we went to this college hangout place/bar and grill, called the Rat and Parrot, not far from the movies. We were waiting for Dr. Baxen to pick us up so we wouldn't have to walk home in the dark. We met some guys in the Rat and Parrot who were celebrating their friend Travis's birthday. Travis was really enjoying his birthday and had had a little bit too much to drink. He was very fascinated with my accent and how I talked so much different than Holly and Sean, the Northerners:-) We started talking about the differences between the North and the South. Travis was cutting up with us all and tried mocking me. He then started joking around about the information he knew about the South, aggravating me. (Keep in mind that Travis is African).  In summary he said that I must be from Mississippi, that the South is full conservative republicans, that we want to lynch black people, and I'm a member of the KKK. I know you all probably have a dropped jaw right now, but he didn't attack me with all these things. We were just joking back and forth and the more shocked I was to what he said the further he took it, not angrily or trying to be offensive, just in pure amusement of my reaction. I laughed with him about it, told him he was smarter than he looked, but told him that that was the old South and things aren't really like that anymore. Thankfully Dr. Baxen showed up at the right time to end that awkward conversation. Travis or any of his friends didn't seem offended or upset because they were asking when we would be coming back to the Rat and Parrot.

This situation/conversation just really hit home to me because it kind of  hurt to be so far from home and related to such negative things that happened such a long time ago. Then I can't help but think what other countries think that "The South" in American is full of a bunch of racist, conservative, republicans. I'm not sure this was Travis's intentions to make me think so much into it, but I'm kind of glad he confronted or joked with me about these specific things. I reckon it just goes to show how history really makes an impact on people and they are affected by it long after it happens.