A Short Trip to South Africa

I recently had to travel to South Africa for some personal issues. I flew direct to Cape Town International airport. As we landed dread swooped over me. I was anticipating long lines, unfriendly staff and nasty son of a bitch customs officers.

Too my surprise, it took me less than 30 minutes from the moment I stepped off the plane till I was on my way with the Toyota Corolla I rented at the airport. It was bloody amazing.

New Saffa Blog Listed

New Saffa blog listed from Hong Kong. Check it out http://howzit-hongkong.com/blog/

Cinnamon challenge

Another SA Expatmagazine from the UK

http://saexpatuk.com/

Check it out, maybe you will like it. This is the first issue of a new South African Expat magazine in the UK. They seem to have some pretty good ideas.

South African Lingo

Proteas coming to the UAE

There is some good news for the thousands of South African Expat cricket lovers working and living in the United Arab Emirates. It seems that South Africa has agreed to play Pakistan in the UAE in a three Test Match series and five One Day International series starting from 28 October 2010.

They have not finalized the itinerary, but they are planning to play in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

They are also planning to bring the SA A team along to play against the UAE.

You can read the full article here.

Expats participating in the Economy

I stumbled across this article today which states that South African wine is outselling French wine for the first time in Britain.

It made me think of how many South African products I have introduced to non South Africans. Things that jump to mind is Ina Paarman products, Nando's sauces, wine and yes even biltong and droëwors.

Come to think of it, us expats can be pretty good ambassadors for South Africa and although we don't pay tax in our homeland, we certainly do support the economy. We buy South African products and introduce these products to our mates. Some of us send money home or buy property in South Africa. We go visit SA and contribute to the tourism market. We are very important contributors of foreign capital flowing into SA.

It is actually a shame that there is a certain part of the South African population that holds such a negative sentiment towards South African Expats. The "traitor" remarks etc comes to mind. Anyway, that is a blog for another day and a very hot topic.

Spur opens in Dubai

Spur Steak Ranches has opened a restaurant at Dubai Festival City, on the skywalk level. Unfortunately you will have to do with beef ribs instead of pork Spare Ribs as the UAE is a Muslim country.

Enjoy a little taste from home.

Strangely, when I lived in SA I never went to the Spur, yet everytime I go for a holiday in SA I find myself eating there. Lol.!

Useful links for UK Expats

Value Visas
Company providing visa services for expats since 1996.
Gumtree
Community classifieds for major cities in the UK. They advertise jobs, housing, cars etc.
SA Business Club
The name says it all. They have been active since 1993.
SA Times (UK)
SA Newspaper in the UK which is worth a read.
SA High Commission

If you are aware of any more useful sites or links, let me know. I will update this as I find more.