I love South Africa

I love South Africa. I love South Africans. 🇿🇦

We voted yesterday, and so many people were saying it’s the most important election since 1994. So much at stake. So much possibility.

Our voting station was overwhelmed by the number of voters who turned out (yay!) which led to 3 hour queues (not so yay.) We tried to wait out the backlog, which backfired and had me standing in the dark and the wind for 3 hours…

I had my headphones playing classical music, and my book, and a flask full of tea. I was surrounded by other South Africans who didn’t want to be standing in a 3 hour queue but did want to make their mark.

And we all stuck it out! Some of us even sang the national anthem 😆

I love how relentlessly cheery South Africans are.
How we’ll always make a plan.
How entrepreneurial we are.
How we are so vastly different, which brings inevitable difficulties and yet some things – sport and voting mostly, it seems? – bring us together.
How small interactions with each other are so often slices of joy.
How this election, we have new parties who are standing up and saying: no. We can run this country better.

I love that any time I go overseas I return with fresh perspective on how remarkable this country is. The people. The lifestyle. The weather. The food! The vibe. We are so lucky.

I love being South African.