There are many wonderful things about South African culture, but one of my favorites thus far (other than the words "shame, man" and "ja") is the general consciousness about electricity and water usage. For example, we quickly noticed that lights are not turned on during the day in homes. This may not seem like a big deal but it was very hard to get used to not automatically flipping on light switches when walking into rooms!
Enter the photo, below. The outlets in our flat can be turned off and on, minimizing "phantom electricity" use (which occurs when appliances are plugged in but not in use). During our initial tour, our hosts pointed out that we should make sure to use this feature (in addition to turning off water while sudsing up in the shower... brr!).
No comments:
Post a Comment