The recent passing of Nelson Mandela, as well as a few events in my own family have had me thinking of my South African heritage a great deal in recent days.
I always enjoy the reaction I get when I tell people that my mother was born in South Africa. Reactions range from:
Outright denial - "No way!"
Trying to go with the flow - "Oh... really? That's interesting..." <smoke seeps from skull>
Immediate bonding - "My family's from Nigeria! We're practically family!" <hugs>
Immediate joking - "Well of course - you totally look South African! /sarcasm"
That last one is particularly fun, because for most of the 20th Century, if you were from South Africa, how you looked mattered a LOT.
