By Brandon 

Despite my 18 years of adventures on the planet, I often find that I have to ask myself, “Is there life outside of the U.S.?” or “Is there life outside of Pennsylvania?” or even “Is there life outside of Lancaster County?”
Well, recently in my AP language class, a man from South Africa came in to talk to us. I was pleased to hear from him, as I am interested in other cultures throughout the world. I love to learn about other areas of the globe.
Ferdi Van Wijk had some very interesting things to say. He is from a city called Bloemfontein, where he is an economics teacher at an all-girls school, and he speaks four of the 11 official languages of South Africa.
He stressed to our class that there is no one dominant culture in South Africa, that it is a melting pot of a little bit of everything. He also told us that despite the amount of money people pay to hunt big game there (the “big five” most dangerous animals being the lion, the leopard, the rhinoceros, the elephant and the water buffalo), that South Africa strives to protect its animals.

They have an amazing national park in Kruger National Park, and in addition to the “big five,” South Africa is also home to Humpback whales and Great White sharks.
He told our class that the homes do not look similar to the houses here , since it is summer about nine months out of the year in South Africa. Mr. Van Wijk said a good house would cost about $50,000, or about five years of a teacher’s salary.
He also told us several times that he is pleased by how hard American kids work (See parents! We do work hard, and you doubt us), and that it isn’t like what is shown on TV. I was glad to hear that. He told us that South Africans must pay up to five times as much for vehicles in his country, despite the fact they produce a significant portion of the world’s cars (especially Hummers). He, however, was not a negative person, and was positive about American culture, contrary to how I anticipated he would think.
It was really cool to learn about another area of the world, especially since I have lived in Lancaster County my entire life. It inspired me to look into other cultures, and I hope that this blog will do the same for you. Mr. Van Wijk left us with this closing comment, “There is a world out there, get on a plane and go see Europe. Go see South America. Go see South Africa, or Vietnam. Don’t live in a box.”
Is there life outside of Lancaster County? Yes, and we need to get out and see it. If anyone has any experiences of other cultures they would like to share, please feel free to do so, I would love to hear about them.