Home Affairs and Family Time
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Laura
15 Januari 2014 | Zuid-Afrika, Kaapstad
One of the earlier days with my family, my papa and I decided to go to Home Affairs to be done with my visa renewal. I got prepared, looked up information on the internet of the papers and forms I needed to bring and fill in. We got advised to go really early before all the queues got too long.
We woke up at six, had a little breakfast snack, got ready and drove to town. At seven we had the car parked and we walked towards the Home Affairs building. I honestly thought we would’ve been one of the first ones, but I was being naive of course... The queues were already quite long, we stood in the queue for my type of ‘problem.’ Home Affairs only opens its doors a half past 7, so we had to wait for at least half an hour.
I was standing there for a little while, looking amusedly at a ‘bergie’ (Slang for a homeless person) who was pretending to work there; she was directing people to stand in line, calling out that the photo shop was opened now and was selling black pens, because to fill in a form you can only use black ink.
When I turned around to say something to my papa, who was standing right behind me, I was amazed at how fast the queue had grown, all of a sudden the queue had made a curve and went all along the pavement into a distance far away. In the end it was indeed a good move to wake up so early!
But with more people arriving all the time, the tension in the air also increased. A feeling as if a big fight or riot could emerge at any moment, people were edgy and quite irritable. Which is completely understandable; Home Affairs deals with people and problems in a rather bureaucratic way, which consequently pisses people off...
At one point a guy was trying to skip the line, he was trying to sneak in between me and my papa. I didn’t notice it until I heard papa speak to him, he said something like: “Why are you skipping the line? Go and stand at the BACK of the line!” The guy thought he was being very smart and said: “No, but I’m with this lady! (pointing at me) I was standing behind her in the other line.” At first I was so amazed at the huge fail of the guy, I turned around and looked at him with a frown, then I said: “This is my father.” He went completely quiet, dropped his gaze and just started walking towards the end of the line, probably embarrassed at his silly and unlucky attempt of skipping the line in between father and daughter.
When we finally got inside and were directed to the first floor with our number, we had to wait. A long time.
In the end I paid the 425 Rand and got a stamp on a receipt. I was expecting something else to come, but the lady behind the counter already pursued to call out the next in line. When I asked her about the stamp I was expecting to get in my passport, she simply answered with: “We’ll text you.” This worried me a bit... Did I write down my correct number? Will I still be in Cape Town when they text me? What happens to the 425 Rand if they deny my visa renewal? etc.
Anyways, I got another step closer to attaining my visa renewal :)
The last two weeks with my family were great! We made the most of it and visited lots of friends of my parents whom they hadn’t seen for 25 years... Amazing to think that after 25 years most friendships still feel the same!
I’ve also encountered multiple situations in which my parents were amazed at the fact that people of every colour could now actually mingle. When my mama, my sisters and I took the train to town, she would sort of snap out of the Cape Town she was used to 25 years ago. She explained about the wooden boards on the outside of the train which said: “Net-blankes” and “Net nie blankes” Meaning Whites only and Non whites only. How my parents felt uncomfortable being together in a train, because people would stare at my father if he would travel in a Net-blankes coupe with my mother. So they’d have to travel separate if they wanted to feel comfortable around other people.
It must have been a weird transition for my parents. They left Cape Town when apartheid was still implemented and they came back at a time when everyone of every colour mingled and sat together in restaurants, trains, parks etc. They never experienced the gradual change of apartheid “leaving” Cape Town.
We were staying at a house in Clifton, it was beautiful and had the most breathtakingly wonderful view from the balcony, especially when the sun was about to set. We celebrated Luna’s 13th birthday, had some lovely cake and delicious sushi. When we could count the days remaining of us being together on one hand, we tried to enjoy every moment. Natalie and Luna in a way people enjoy the last days of their holiday in a new place (but with the idea of returning one day in the back of their minds) and my parents with a more melancholic taste to it. They came back to a place they grew up in, enjoyed every second of it and now that they had a tiny taste of what it felt like again, they actually didn’t want to leave. (correct me if I’m wrong papa en mama)
Saying goodbye was strangely quite sad (Only a month until I see them right?) but then again, we had such a wonderful and unforgettable time together! A big Whoot Whoot to my family and see you in 35 days!
Lots of Love,
Laura
P.S For the curious people: the remaining time I have left I’m planning to do some volunteering in Cape Town, travel back to Johannesburg and if my visa renewal has actually become reality I also want to quickly pop by Swaziland for a few days :)
We woke up at six, had a little breakfast snack, got ready and drove to town. At seven we had the car parked and we walked towards the Home Affairs building. I honestly thought we would’ve been one of the first ones, but I was being naive of course... The queues were already quite long, we stood in the queue for my type of ‘problem.’ Home Affairs only opens its doors a half past 7, so we had to wait for at least half an hour.
I was standing there for a little while, looking amusedly at a ‘bergie’ (Slang for a homeless person) who was pretending to work there; she was directing people to stand in line, calling out that the photo shop was opened now and was selling black pens, because to fill in a form you can only use black ink.
When I turned around to say something to my papa, who was standing right behind me, I was amazed at how fast the queue had grown, all of a sudden the queue had made a curve and went all along the pavement into a distance far away. In the end it was indeed a good move to wake up so early!
But with more people arriving all the time, the tension in the air also increased. A feeling as if a big fight or riot could emerge at any moment, people were edgy and quite irritable. Which is completely understandable; Home Affairs deals with people and problems in a rather bureaucratic way, which consequently pisses people off...
At one point a guy was trying to skip the line, he was trying to sneak in between me and my papa. I didn’t notice it until I heard papa speak to him, he said something like: “Why are you skipping the line? Go and stand at the BACK of the line!” The guy thought he was being very smart and said: “No, but I’m with this lady! (pointing at me) I was standing behind her in the other line.” At first I was so amazed at the huge fail of the guy, I turned around and looked at him with a frown, then I said: “This is my father.” He went completely quiet, dropped his gaze and just started walking towards the end of the line, probably embarrassed at his silly and unlucky attempt of skipping the line in between father and daughter.
When we finally got inside and were directed to the first floor with our number, we had to wait. A long time.
In the end I paid the 425 Rand and got a stamp on a receipt. I was expecting something else to come, but the lady behind the counter already pursued to call out the next in line. When I asked her about the stamp I was expecting to get in my passport, she simply answered with: “We’ll text you.” This worried me a bit... Did I write down my correct number? Will I still be in Cape Town when they text me? What happens to the 425 Rand if they deny my visa renewal? etc.
Anyways, I got another step closer to attaining my visa renewal :)
The last two weeks with my family were great! We made the most of it and visited lots of friends of my parents whom they hadn’t seen for 25 years... Amazing to think that after 25 years most friendships still feel the same!
I’ve also encountered multiple situations in which my parents were amazed at the fact that people of every colour could now actually mingle. When my mama, my sisters and I took the train to town, she would sort of snap out of the Cape Town she was used to 25 years ago. She explained about the wooden boards on the outside of the train which said: “Net-blankes” and “Net nie blankes” Meaning Whites only and Non whites only. How my parents felt uncomfortable being together in a train, because people would stare at my father if he would travel in a Net-blankes coupe with my mother. So they’d have to travel separate if they wanted to feel comfortable around other people.
It must have been a weird transition for my parents. They left Cape Town when apartheid was still implemented and they came back at a time when everyone of every colour mingled and sat together in restaurants, trains, parks etc. They never experienced the gradual change of apartheid “leaving” Cape Town.
We were staying at a house in Clifton, it was beautiful and had the most breathtakingly wonderful view from the balcony, especially when the sun was about to set. We celebrated Luna’s 13th birthday, had some lovely cake and delicious sushi. When we could count the days remaining of us being together on one hand, we tried to enjoy every moment. Natalie and Luna in a way people enjoy the last days of their holiday in a new place (but with the idea of returning one day in the back of their minds) and my parents with a more melancholic taste to it. They came back to a place they grew up in, enjoyed every second of it and now that they had a tiny taste of what it felt like again, they actually didn’t want to leave. (correct me if I’m wrong papa en mama)
Saying goodbye was strangely quite sad (Only a month until I see them right?) but then again, we had such a wonderful and unforgettable time together! A big Whoot Whoot to my family and see you in 35 days!
Lots of Love,
Laura
P.S For the curious people: the remaining time I have left I’m planning to do some volunteering in Cape Town, travel back to Johannesburg and if my visa renewal has actually become reality I also want to quickly pop by Swaziland for a few days :)
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