Lekkerest thing #2 - The Jewellery
Traditional South African jewellery is so beautiful, the colours, the patterns, the creativity and the way they just suit anybody. I always try to not leave the house without something that screams or at least whispers, "Hey I am South African." They can also be used in so many ways, for example a necklace can double up as a head band.

Kelis wearing an African necklace.

Lekkerest thing #3 - The Beautiful Scenery
There's nothing like the beautiful scenery in SA, the Jozi city lights at night, the beautiful sandy beaches, magnificent Table Mountain and the South African national parks. The list is endless. I'm in CT so I get to appreciate Table Mountain all the time! Can somebody say ubeeeeeer?

Lekkerest thing #4 - Local House Music
South African music is doing so well but if there's one genre that brings this nation together it's the local house. Youl can't help but dance to it, play it in the back yard at a braai or in the hottest hang outs and you know you can't get into a taxi without hearing some DJ Cleo or Zakes Bantwini! Local house music is appreciated all over SA and there's hardly a place where you won't hear it. It's filled with African melodies and lyrics sung in our native languages which are what make it so unique to any other type of house in the world.

Zake Bantwini busting a move with Black Coffee.

We South Africans have a whole dictionary of our own - it's insane. The list of slang goes on for days and we just can't keep it out of our everyday conversations. Wikipedia even has a page dedicated to all the slang we use with all the definitions and origins of each word. My favourite word is "vesin" - I've been using it since I can remember - it means "silly". We have 11 different languages and each of those languages have influenced their own slang so you can imagine how long the list of slang words is. These are the ones I use regularly *confessions hahaha*:
Eish
Vesin
ag man
bergie
bra
Cherrie/meddie
chommie
jova
huaw
Ja. Ok, so I'm going stop there. LOL.


Lekkerest thing #6 – The People
The people are just too friendly, full of passion and attitude, over flowing with culture and everybody has a story to tell. With all this diversity there’s always someone new and different to meet. There’s always an aunty making koesisters, a mommy cooking a pot of curry, an uncle making poitjie or mama organising some pap and vleis. South African people are full of humour we’re always ready to crack a joke and never miss a chance to laugh at ourselves. We poke fun at our habits and cultural differences all the time and it’s all done with a warm heart because we know it’s what makes us so swaggerlicious!
Talking about swagger this leads me to my next lekkerest thing...









Lekkerest thing #7: Cape Town is Design Capital 2014!!!

Lastly what makes me so so happy is that Cape Town is Design Capital 2014 - how swaggerlicious is that? This a huge achievement for a South African city! It means that it’s the place to be. Cape Town has made itself known as the design hub of SA where all creatives come together and dance in their innovation! They use their limitless imagination to solve problems of all kinds. We’ve been awarded this title because we’ve proved to the world that we can come up with solutions to social and economic problems in the city.

Cape Town’s aim as Design Capital for 2014 is:
“Rebuild Cape Town through community cohesion;
Reconnect Cape Town through infrastructural enhancement and
Reposition Cape Town for the knowledge economy.”

For example Cape Town Train Station use to be a place where nobody wanted to be. It was dirty and full of criminals, today after a bit of redesigning and rebuilding some of our biggest festivals are held there like Infecting The City – a free public arts festival. We have huge concerts there in the summer holidays to celebrate the switching on of the festive lights in Adderly Str and what once was a place no one wanted to associate themselves with is now a place where we all come together as a city and have fun! How amazing is that?          
                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

So wow that was a mouth full! Fortunately I had to type it and not say it.
I love South Africa blind and I know you do too, so please tell me why you are digging on our beautiful country! I would love to know what makes SA so awesome to you!

Knowledge, Love and Happiness

StassjaD