Being around the locals of the country gave me some more insight into the differences in our cultures and the way that we treat each other. People here seem to have less of a concept of personal space, literally standing on top of me instead of walking a short distance to another part of the train to stand. I was boxed into the corner for essentially the entire train ride back.
People in South Africa walk around a lot with no shoes on... Yes, the sidewalks are a LOT cleaner than New York, but it is strange for us every time we see someone walking around with no shoes. They are not even carrying the shoes around as though they hurt too much to walk in, it's as if they left the house with no shoes on at all.
Multiple women on the train were openly breastfeeding their children with exposed breasts, and the children were about three or four that we saw. This is interesting because I think evolutionarily, a baby is supposed to be able to drink a mother's milk for up to six years, but in our culture that isn't really acceptable. I mean, pick up your child from kindergarten and when they get home let them breast feed? Hmmm, not for us on a widespread scale (because I am sure there are people who do), but clearly it is for other people too.
Also, children of much older ages than we would find acceptable run around naked at the beach and just pee wherever they want to. No thought is put into a four or five or even six year old child running around completely naked and peeing all over the beach in South Africa, but in New York I think people wouldn't appreciate it very much.
I think people are more comfortable with nakedness and their bodies, and all the particular social customs regarding these things are vastly different from ours or Europe's. All I have ever experienced before really was American and European customs, so this is entirely different and really quite interesting.
Oh! Another thing which is really awesome. When you say thank you to a waitress or a salesclerk, they say "pleasure" in their awesome South African accent (which sounds a lot like an English one with some quirks) instead of "you're welcome," which I think is different and pretty cool.
Of course I'm not saying that because all of this is different it's wrong, that would be ridiculous, but I'm noticing the differences and I thought I would point them out, because, after all, this is my travel blog and I think that's the kind of stuff that should go in it.
Back to the beach! Everyone got sunburnt in some way... My scalp is really burnt and in a lot of pain. There is sand on and in everything I own because the wind was so incredibly strong at the beach. Erin and Nathalie tried surfing, but I wouldn't try that because of the sharks :p
There was a warning flag up while we were in the water!!
Anyway, these are the pictures from the beach:
Also, there are some other interesting cultural things here! Coke and pepsi light as well as boxes of water!:
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