My family and I got library cards yesterday. When you move to a new country, there are so many urgent things that need attention: housing, transportation, schooling, jobs, etc. But a library card....A library card is one of those things at the bottom of the list - a small luxury - that made me realise the "big" things are taken care of now. I know how to shop, drive on the left side of the road, and I even sorted out the property tax fiasco when the City of Tshwane thought we were the Nel family!
A library card is not for visitors. A library card means I'm here to stay, that I haven't given up yet, that South Africa hasn't gotten the better of me, that I've survived the past two years. A library card is a small victory in navigating foreign bureaucracy, a paper badge of courage, a certificate commemorating perseverance.
You can laugh all you want, but I don't care; yesterday was a good day.
7 comments:
Welcome home Annie.
My first ever library card was for the Annlin Public Library, just off Zambesi Drive. I got it when I was seven and it was one of the most precious things I ever owned. It started a lifelong obsession with books and reading.
I'm not even sure if that library still exists...
Was it off Zambesi on Marija Drive in the Sinoville Centre?
I want to go with you to that library.
What could be better than that?!
Yeah for being official.
Yay! So glad it was a good day! Hooray for library cards! love you!
No, it was more to the west, next to a strip mall and some office space, as I recall. All I remember being in the Sinoville Centre was a Spur, the Pick 'n Pay, and a bunch of shoe shops.
I moved away (to Pietermaritzburg) in 1989, so my memory might be slightly selective, of course.
Ah yes - it used to be in that strip mall near Laerskool Wonderboom, but now it's moved to the Sinoville Centre.
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