Steriotyping and South Africa :P

Hello my fellow human being, or in layman language Whazzzuh dude and/or dudette?!
So I know this has been a long time coming and I deserve to be hanged for doing the unthinkable, Being an UNFAITHFUL BLOGGER... From the deepest part of my innermost soul I am truly and utterly sorry. So this post will just be a catch up kind of thing from the last one about my visa. Soo by now maybe you have guessed I am in South Africa woohooo! haha yea for the last like two months, but anyway... It is beautiful here! I am in a small suburb called Muizenberg right on the coast of Cape Town. I am about a five minute walk away from the beach and like ten minutes away from Muizenberg Mountain which is like a one to two hour hike and a smaller version of the famous Table Mountain, and I have climbed it like two and a half times since I have been here (juss saying)  :P
Besides the beauty of the city, before I came I was -i am going to be honest- warned about the people here. I was told, by more than a few people that there are still a few effects from apartheid in South Africa, and that even the black South Africans and colored are kind of -in an understated statement- mean to other black foreigners. So I am about to tell you what I have personally learned from being here. So 1. the course that I am doing right now has people from 14 different nations!! Soo I have gotten the chance to test the theories about not only South Africa but the States, Brazil, Nigeria, The U.K, Australia, Romania, Tanzania, Germany, Switzerland, and others. Let's do a little exercise. In those few countries that I have mentioned can you think of at least one cliche or stereotype that you have come to associate with those people?
Think about it for a moment...

....
Thought about it?
Good, now this is my theory. I think that we are held so much by our own cultural world views that sometimes we are blind to the beauty in other cultures as well. I mean, speaking from personal experience I was in American system and the way they taught us, it honestly felt like America thought they are the greatest gift God gave to Mankind, plus its totally overrated. But now one of the other students here is from the States and he is super sweet and humble its not even funny. Then there is the Nigerian OGA OOOOH! :p From Afro cinema we kind of get this impression that they are the most dramatic people on earth! Would you believe me if I told you now that my Nigerian friend here is one of the most reserved, inner beauty, sweetest people I know. Hihihi I won't even go to my Tanzanian friend who is Indian as well, or the Korean-American, but my point is I came not knowing what to expect with my own culture's views and that has changed by my getting to know people for being just that, people... Another thing is a lot of times we judge a whole nation or people by the one or two people we have met from that country, now it may not be  on a large scale but something small like I meet a guy from Ghana who is very forthright and often comes across as rude. So I go back home with the mentality that all Ghanaians are rude. You see what I mean?
I even met someone from here who has been to Kenya and she stayed with a Kenyan couple where the wife was basically in charge of the home and did all the cleaning, cooking, washing, ironing, and stuff like that, and the husband seemed to be just relaxed and waiting for his wife to do stuff for him. So the impression that this lady got was that in Kenya it's like women do all the work and are treated like the servants. Now, of course this shocked me because, HELLO this is my country and in all my years and with all the families and people I know I haven't seen a situation like that as common.  

So I am not saying that our cultural worldviews do not affect who we become, in fact we all have things in common with other people from our own culture but what I am saying is that don't judge a whole people because of one person you know from there. Get to know each person for who they are as a person and cultivate a relationship/friendship with them. Mandela once said something like, the only way to get out of stereotyping is travel. -I think this means something like in order to sop stereotyping get to know the people you are stereotyping. :)
*now i feel like being hippie and saying* PEACE AND LOVE YA'AL, PEACE AND LOVE :)
  
P.s I know this post was really short but if you feel like asking me any questions, or think this was super boring, or if u want me to talk about something in particular, or just feel like saying watsup Lemme know :) love ya'al!!

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