I stayed for about a week with a South African family. They spoke Afrikaans. The children were lovely and always working on their English with me. One of the younger daughters wrote this out for my drink choices. The spelling is so cool, a mix of languages in her head.

Macuti was a compound really, built by Swedish (or was it Norwegian?) gas company to house it’s employees while they were working in the country. Then turned into apartment rentals with a strange Chinese style restaurant inside. We ate there on a few occasions, a rare chance for sweet and sour pork or chicken. We didn’t have a car, but took public transport. I distinctly remember there being children in the parking lot who, for a small fee, would guard your car while you were inside.

Shoprite was the only grocery store in town, a South African chain. I remember how sporadic it’s deliveries of food would be. The first person in our group to go and see cheese always reported it back to us pretty quickly. It became a luxury item, never available. I can’t remember what I bought (most likely juice).