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.
Welcome home Annie.
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even sure if that library still exists...
Was it off Zambesi on Marija Drive in the Sinoville Centre?
ReplyDeleteI want to go with you to that library.
ReplyDeleteWhat could be better than that?!
Yeah for being official.
Yay! So glad it was a good day! Hooray for library cards! love you!
ReplyDeleteNo, 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDelete