Tamzen is dating a guy from Dublin who she met through friends at a comedy night in London.
What are the main cultural differences between you and your partner?
His sense of humour and outlook on life is probably the main difference. Being South African I am a lot more reserved and not so quick off the mark with the one-liners! Irish people are very warm, fun loving and quick witted and will accept anyone for who they are. I find South Africans, through no fault of their own, to be a bit more conservative and cagey about who they let into their lives. Once we’ve made a friend though, we, like the Irish will hold on to them for life.
What is the best thing about your partner not being South African?
It opens up a whole new world to me that I probably would have just glanced over and it allows me to explore another country and culture. It also allows me to embellish my personality as I take on board traits from another culture.
What are the challenges of dating a non-South African?
For several reasons, I suppose it would be that there is chance that I may not ever live at home again, or certainly not in the near future. He’s moved away from his home too so in a way we are both foreigners which does make that prospect a little easier to deal with. So far we’ve made an effort to visit our respective homes regularly and as long as we have common ground and each other, we’ll get along fine. Home will always be there and it’s lovely to visit and just get the good bits!
What South Africanisms has your partner picked up from you?
He now calls a barbecue a braai, he drinks Savanna and he likes pap (although that one he got before he met me!).
What elements have you adopted from your partner’s culture?
I’ve learnt to enjoy the ‘craic’ and to not sweat the small stuff. I’m also in love with the word ‘eejit’ and say it silently in my head to silly people on the road. I haven’t yet plucked up the courage to say it out loud as I fear it just won’t sound right with a good old South African accent.
