Last time, I was at the tattoo shop, because… well you know, because some people bring back gifts from their travels, I’d rather bring something lighter since I travel with only carry-on luggage.
Anyway, I was at the tattoo shop, and one of the tattoo guys ended his story with a « TIA ». Between two « Jeeeeeezzzzz » et three « for fuck sake » because of the pain — and because you all know, swearing is one of my favorite things to do — I asked him what « TIA » meant.
TIA: This Is Africa. Three little letters to explain the entire way of life of a huge continent with many countries, each very different from the one next to it. I thought it was both enough to explain the particularity of the Great Africa, and in the meantime not even close to it. So I started gathering those things that make Africa… Africa.
I’m born in a country where there are rules everywhere, making any little daily thing complicated, even if it was not supposed to be. Waiting is omnipresent, queuing is a national sport, being nice is seen as a sign of weakness, the less you do the better it is and if you are caught doing something differently than everybody else, you become the official weirdo.
That being said, France also has great things — François Civil – the teeny tiny village of Saou in Drôme, or even Roland Garros (the tournament, not the guy. Even though I’m sure he was a lovely human being) — but that’s not the purpose of this article.
Since I haven’t been to each and every country constituting Africa, it will apply to the ones I visited or lived in for a bit, and especially to South Africa, because this is the one I know the best.
When you set up a time to meet, nobody get there on time, but everybody knows that’s very ok not to
Walking barefoot is not tolerate, it’s just normal
Seing a guy on a skateboard with a surf board stuck under his arm
Having a sandy bed
Charging your laptop or your Smartphone anytime you can since you don’t know when the power is gonna be off again
Having sandy hair
Living in your bathing suit
Having a sandy backpack
Having your wardrobe making you look like you’re being sponsored by Billabong
Feeling weird while driving before realizing you’re on an actually decent road and not used to it at all
Asking how everybody is doing every time you see someone
Ending up talking about the World Cup even if it was in a total random way, not related at all to the topic of the convo
Knowing which places have a generator when you wanna lunch out. Just in case.
The smell of wax everywhere you go
Making braai a religion
Saying hi to people you don’t know
Smiling. Just because someone else does
Ordering food you’ll wait for ages and be happy about it because you don’t have anywhere else to be.
Advertising prints bleached by the sun after being on the side of the road for way too many years
If you don’t get some of these things, no worries; TIA.
