The How to be a South African Handbook: An Irreverent Cultural Guide for Tourists and Confused Locals

by Marianne Thamm (Author), TobyNewsome (Illustrator)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $25.25

  This title provides a candid look at the cast of characters who make up the South African population and investigates some of the more practical aspects of South African life. It should appeal to tourists who will be able to form an instant picture of the South African scene. Locals should recognize themselves, their friends, their families, and their prejudices. There is, for example, the rural guesthouse proprietor, often a divorced former city dweller who has had enough of living in the fast lane and who has now packed up and headed off in search of rural bliss. To supplement her income she renovates her turn-of-the-century rural homestead into what she believes is a cosy B&B for tourists. Using local decor magazines as inspiration she will try out a variety of styles. She will over-decorate the rooms with floral prints, voluminous curtains and bedspreads and will place small hand-made local crafts including clay guineafowl on side-tables and cistern tops. Minibus taxi passengers have mastered the difficult psychological trick of dissociation. That vacant look means they are relaxing on their own inner beaches while the taxi driver plays Russian roulette with their lives.