Here are a couple of pictures of the little village I’m from: Geich, between Dueren and Aachen, at the edge of the Hurtgen Forest. There are also some snapshots of my family and some taken during a Soccer Worldcup Game.

Go, Germany, Go!
Torsten

Hey. It’s all about the World Cup and so I spend most of my time in pubs at the moment. Well, everybody who follows the tournament will agree that there was the one or the other rather boring game. And eventually you end up in philosophical discussions over a couple of beers.

Hence, this article. It kind of came to a stage where living in South Africa became the topic (again). This ventured from general things, to crime, to work (especially BEE = Black Economic Empowerment), to corruption, the useless soccer team and to the final, big question: “How have you changed after three years in South Africa?” Without much thinking, my immediate answer was:

“I was a happier person, when I got here in 2003. Now, I tend to be pretty grumpy.”

Ups, silence. And then we got to the stage of the ‘Why?’. The answer is not straight forward. At least I came to that conclusion after seriously thinking about it. There are a couple of starting points, though.

1. I’ve traveled the world quite a bit and stayed in all sorts of places on different continents for a while (either for work or pleasure). I’ve never come across a more materialistic crowd of people than here in Jo’burg. Here, everything is about status. You only win, if your Mercedes is a AMG conversion, or an “M” in case of a BMW. I’ve seen more Ferraris and Lamborghinis in Jo’burg than I’ve seen in Monaco. There’s not a single day on which I don’t see one of those or a GT3, Bentley Continental or similar. This goes so far as that people live in tiny apartments ’cause there’s no money left for a decent house.

2. People love buying stuff on credit (or they probably have to). And the retail industry helps them in making this very convenient. There’s nothing you cannot buy on credit. Even in the supermarket you can buy your groceries on “budget” (which is a Credit Card facility allowing you to pay off a purchase over a couple of months). Hello? Groceries on credit? That’s not funny anymore. The continues into all areas of Retail. Furniture, Electronics etc. The individual indebtedness in South Africa is just crazy. And what for? See point 1.

3. There’s the so called “rat race” in which everybody forgets about what is really important in life, i.e. family, friends, quality time etc. But no, working until 20.00 every day, preferably weekends as well is just normal. And Top Management even expects it from you. Often there’s not much of a choice. Work-Life balance? Ha, does not exist in lot of the companies. However, even if it is kind of expected, there’s still some personal choice possible to some extend. But people don’t take advantage of that opportunity, ’cause the other guy might get a C55 AMG soon, which makes the guy in the stock-standard SLK320 look stupid. Not even mentioning those who drive a normal 3 series.

4. People don’t have focus on enjoying their lives. They work so hard to reach a certain status that they don’t have time left to enjoy what they have accomplished. It goes on and on and never stops. Higher, further, faster, more.

Obviously, I’m generalizing here. I’ve met quite a couple of people who do see things differently. But I believe that the above is true for the vast majority of especially Jo’burgers. Now, is this what made me grumpy over time? Maybe to a certain extent. Over time you get into the same rhythm of things and you start adopting the values and goals. Stupid that one let’s it happen, but it happens nevertheless. Working like an idiot (obviously for good money) but no time anymore to enjoy a weekend away, cause that Proposal or that contract has to be ready by Monday morning first thing. And maybe I need another car as well. And what about a bigger house? And the pram for my baby is not made by Peg Perego? Holy shit. Let’s go and change that so that we can show everybody how much money we have. This is so fucking pathetic that the fun was lost somewhere on the way.

Maybe I’m grumpier as well, because of the very bad experiences wrt the personal security. I don’t know. Difficult to say. As I said this came up over a boring game of soccer and I thought that I must get rid of it. And what better place than raak.info could there be? :)

Cheers,
Torsten

P.S.: World Cup Final: Germany - Holland (4:0)