Brendan about living in Europe as a south african
So coming from Africa I must say that I have been the victim of many stereotypes and a bit of prejudice here and there, but nothing that can’t be humorous, I just realised that places all over the world have a special breed of stupid human beings and life would be no fun without them, even though I sometime feel that we should start shipping them to the moon…
Once someone actually asked me how I came here to Europe, meaning by what mode of transport, and I replied that I reached Europe inside an aeroplane and that I had a seat and everything, and he had a perplexed look on his face and in all seriousness asked how the plane took off? Don’t lions and giraffes get in the way? I promptly replied that the lions and giraffes are the least problematic when taking off it’s the tyranosaurus rex, brontosaurus and velociraptor that pose the real problem.
Anyway, enough of that. I am living in a small village in Austria which is very beautiful but I must admit that before I left South Africa I was under the impression that villages only existed in fairytales, so I too have been ignorant, when I arrived I was almost inclined to ask for the address of the seven dwarves or Cinderella. I was sure they came from here and I was convinced I saw Shrek having a stroll in the forest, or that might just have been one of the locals, just kidding.
The change for me has been a drastic one coming from where I do. I grew up in one of the many neighbourhoods in the western cape that don’t accommodate the basic requirement of a long and healthy life for young men like me. I am fortunate to be one of the few that got to live and work in different countries which broadened my perspective of the world and also re-enforced my belief that people are the same where ever you go.
Here in Europe a lot of people are confused about my ethnicity they are aware that there are a few white people sprinkled into the ocean of black people in south Africa but there is huge variety of different cultures and ethnicity and people like me a good mixture of a lot of cultures, I am proud of this fact, I have yet to understand why I am proud but it sounds like a cool thing to say J. So this is just an introduction to who I am and what I am about, take me, but don’t take me too seriously…
Brendan, March 2010
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