Heatwave

by Lucie Limbach (Germany)

I didn't expect to find South Africa

There it was, the moment I waited for the last months, sitting in school. It was a daily struggle, waking up in the dark, coming back home in the dark. I was craving sunshine badly in those winter months. The heatwave hit me, going down the stairs of the airplane. Nothing but the feeling of pure happiness and joy filled my heart. At the airport checkout, a black woman in an office costume turned to me, quickly opened my passport and put a stamp on it. With a strong Southafrican accent she said “Welcome to Capetown, enjoy your visit!” Gave me warm smile and turned to the next person, before there was time to answer. Our exchange students were waiting behind the glass window, in their white blouses and green skirts, holding up a huge poster, which said “Paarl Girls High welcomes our friends from Wiedtalgymnasium Neustadt.”, written in colorful letters and beautifully decorated with little pictures. The girls cheerfully ran across the waiting hall, leaving there school bags and poster behind, to give us a group hug, which took me and my classmates by surprise. They introduced themselves individually, giggling and full of excitement. All the worries of how we are going to meet and if we would like each other fell off. A tall tanned girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes came straight up to me “Hey I’m Kayla you must be Lucie! I can’t wait to show you around my school and later we are going to have a barbecue with my family at my house, this is gonna be fun. I’m so happy you are finally here.” She had the gift of the gab, while I tried to understand everything she said. The amount of warmth and lightheartedness from those girls which were basically strangers, was heady and so different to the stiffness you sometimes come across in Germany. I knew, whatever was going to happen the next two weeks, these people were going to be friends for life.