or: A Surprising Cape Town Welcome Practice
Before any trip, aside from the well wishes, there are always some warnings thrown in, things to be aware of, cultural practices etc. The severity and content of the warnings seems to be based on what’s in the media at that moment, what the various travel advisories say, the location itself, the perceived danger in that location and in some cases, based on first-hand experience.
My trip to Cape Town is no exception and has included the following warnings:
- don’t go out at night and if you do, take a taxi
- there’s a drought at the moment so be conservative with your water usage
- watch where your belongings are at all times
- don’t walk around with your phone or your camera out
- don’t wait out the front of a restaurant / residence / other venue for a taxi, wait until you’ve been told it’s there and then go out
- don’t stop to take photos when traveling between locations
- don’t feed the baboons
- the sun is strong so make sure you wear enough suncream
- the weather changes quickly so take a cardigan and an umbrella (sounds like Melbourne…)
- keep your car windows up and doors locked at all times
- keep your wits about you wherever you are (this is a good warning for me since I’m known to let my mind wander)
and probably a few others that have melded into my mind already and have become common practice.
What no-one advised me about was the Neighbour Welcome Ritual and the acceptable response so as to not cause offence. I like to be culturally appropriate where possible and it’s normally part of my research into a new destination.
It began on Day 1 with our next door neighbour.
Our apartments form an L-shape and it happens to be that we can both see into the other when the blinds are open. The windows are huge. When movement in either apartment is made, it attracts the attention of those in the other as part of the natural fight or flight response given it’s a change to the environment. Yes, this is a well-documented fact.
Our neighbour woke up in his studio apartment and welcomed us to the neighbourhood as he greeted the day hopping out of bed with a stretch. Glances were exchanged and boxer shorts promptly added. Welcome complete.
If it was a one-off incident rather than a welcome to the neighbourhood, then I wouldn’t have expected any mention by those giving the various warnings and advice. Unexpected nudity happens when living in close proximity and they do tend to make for a good story and bit of an embarrassed smile between the two parties when they bump into each other in the elevator. This was not a one-off incident.
Since officially welcoming us, he has been fully clothed or in his boxers and head nods have been exchanged as the follow up greeting. I’m not sure if this is the local custom or if we were meant to reciprocate in kind. Hopefully we haven’t offended him after his efforts in welcoming us.
A few days later, our neighbours next to him gave us a similar, though slightly different, welcome. They are an older couple and we happened to be walking passed their place and noticed the door open. Being curious, we looked in. It’s fortunate we did otherwise we may have missed our welcome – the woman was standing near the door with no top or bra on and her hands down her bright blue tracksuit pants.
I guess we didn’t accept her welcome quite the way we were meant to as last night, she repeated the welcome in an adapted format. She adjusted her blinds in the same (lack of) attire. Remember, the windows are huge.
This could now happen again as we are still unsure how we were meant to acknowledge her given she was at a distance to us in this particular instance. She wouldn’t have noticed our head nodding acknowledgement of her welcome due to the glare of the sun.
We have been similarly welcomed by another woman located somewhere nearby. Her welcome was vocal, rather than visual, and she issued it three times. It seems we weren’t the only ones at a loss on how to acknowledge this as the whole neighbourhood went quiet, as if in appreciation (or perhaps it was awe). Maybe this is the acknowledgement. A seagull squawked.
This is very different to HK where it is incredibly conservative perhaps as a result of most us living in very close proximity to each other and quite small apartments. Welcomes tend to be fully-clothed and fairly quiet (not so quiet if at a bar). Unless the HK Sevens are involved. That’s an entirely different story.
In Tokyo, it is even more quiet and this style of welcome would be regarded as too personal. Aside from at an onsen which is an entirely different experience and nudity is a requirement. A noisy welcome would be at an izakaya or similar.
So for any of you coming to Cape Town, be ready for the welcome!
* Thanks to The Bloodhound Gang for the title to this post.
Note – if anyone takes this post seriously, please refer to earlier posts!