South African Time explained… by a foreigner

Popular Dutch expat, Yvonne, who lives on a game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal with her soon-to-be husband Leo, and their son Owen (4), has penned a brilliant post on her popular blog – Yvonne in the bush – explaining just how to understand South African time. Here, with her permission, is Yvonne’s explanation…

? This is a post about African time ?

I am Dutch and Dutch people like to be on time. Showing up for an appointment late is not ok. Privately it would be a bit more accepted, but at work definitely not.
I am raised to always be on time, for official appointments I like to be at least 10 minutes early and privately time is time…

And then this lady decided to move to South Africa, a place where time has a whole different meaning. Time is more like a suggestion, than anything else. I hope it’s different in the cities, but where I live time really doesn’t mean much.
Both private and official, almost nobody is ever on time. Now after 11 years I know everybody and when they care about time or if they care about time. I have a few friends that are usually on time, but most people aren’t.
After 10 years I still find it very frustrating, but I have to admit, I am becoming more like a South African when it comes to time. I found that out when we were in Holland ?

If you aren’t South African the word ‘now’ probably means now to you. Like right at this moment; we do have right now as well, but in South Africa there are 3 more types of now: now, now now and just now… And let me tell you, none of them mean right this moment.

So to me it kind of means:
✳️ Now: not right now, but probably somewhere today or tomorrow
✴️ Now now: in the next 2 weeks or so
⭐ Just now: most likely never gonna happen

Just imagine the first couple of times I asked somebody something and they told me “now now” or “just now”. I figured now is now, how wrong was I. Leo had to explain the difference between the three many times before I sort of followed it ?

It’s a good thing that I am a stay-at-home mom and I don’t work; I would be frustrated most of the day. I like to get things done and out of the way, but a lot of people in this country see that different. In this country you spend sooooo much time waiting…

Another little fun fact: South Africa doesn’t have summer and winter time. We have the same time year round, nobody messes with the clock, the country wouldn’t handle that. It just cracks me up thinking about how to explain to some people that we move the time an hour forward or back ? it just shouts disaster.

Follow Yvonne in the Bush on Facebook for more clarity on living in South Africa!

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YVONNE is 35-years-old, born and raised in the Netherlands. Almost 11 years ago she exchanged city life in Holland for the bush in South Africa to be with the love of her life. Leo works in the game reserve that they live on, and her Facebook page is filled with gorgeous photos and stories of the life she is living in KZN, SA.