Today I was in Tesco (supermarket) when I discovered something I’ve never seen before – a South African section. Not just a part of the world foods, which would have been unique enough, but an actual labeled section. There were biscuits. Chips. Biltong and wors. Guava fruit roll. Beer and cream soda and rooibos tea. And of course, big jars of Mrs Balls chutney and large bags of mealie meal. There must be a community of us! I thought excitedly. An actual community of us, here, in this random northern city, in order for us to get our own section. (Our own section! In the nearly two decades of being here I’ve never seen anything like it. We don’t usually even demand a corner of the world foods. We’ve never had any space in the supermarket that I’ve ever seen…) Alot of the stuff was sold out too, with the dates of restock noted, which must also mean there is a lot of us. To have that kind of demand. I wonder where these South Africans are, how long they’ve been here, why they’ve come. I jokingly thought to myself I should stake out this corner of the supermarket, just to see who turns up.

Honestly, don’t think I’ve been so excited and surprised since my dad managed to find gem squash in our local supermarket (several years ago, and sadly it only happened the once. I wonder if this section will soon disappear too? If the demand is temporary for whatever reason…)

I recently booked flight tickets to go home. To Cape Town. And it’s been on my mind. Home. How long it’s been since I’ve been back. How much it must have changed. How much I’ve changed. I’m excited and terrified and I just cannot wait. I want to go home right now.