Almost everyone in South Africa speaks English, although there are 11 official languages in this country! The most common languages spoken around Cape Town, aside from English, are Zulu, Afrikaans and Xhosa. In Xhosa, the letters C, X, and Q each make unique sounds with different tongue clicks. I have been practicing!
The South African rand (ZAR) is used here. ZAR 1 is only equal to about 5 cents in United States Dollars (USD). ZAR 100 is equivelent to about USD 5.50.
A bottle of water usually costs about ZAR 7. This is only about 40 cents in American Dollars. Generally speaking, things like food, clothing, and services are quite a bit cheaper here than they arein the United States.
The best meal I ate this week was ione that I cooked myself! I made myself some chicken, vegetables and cous cous. Cous cous is a tiny, pebble shaped pasta that is common throughout the world. The star of the dish, however, was peri peri sauce that I mixed in with the rest of the food! This sauce is made in South Africa and is bright, orange and spicy.
