It's hard to believe, but I've been living in Pietermaritzburg for over two years now. What's even harder to believe is that... well... I like it here.
When you think about it though, every other town/city also has flaws. Anyone punting Cape town will conveniently leave out the, annual flooding, horizontal freezing rain, wind and 10 km long shanty town between the city and the airport from their discription. Durban is shockingly hot and humid and it's hard not to breath in without inhaling at least a handful of invertebrates. Jozi is overcrowded with bad traffic, trigger happy Nigerian drug lords and a serious lack of beaches. Bloem... well I don't know much about Bloem but I would avoid it anyways, their rugby team is AWEFUL (yeah thats the best I could come up with).
Still all things considered. Pmb is the place to be, nice people, chilled lifestyle, if you're into sports we host the Comrades runalotathon and the Duzi Canoe/paddle boat thingy (I'm indifferent about these... can you tell?). It helps that 50% of my matric class lives/works/studies here, they are excellent company. Best of all, Pmb is just the right size to have the benefits of a city and a town. I could go on about finer details but they aren't very amusing to read about so I'll stop there. (phew, think I got myself out of that one quite nicely...).
I guess what I'm trying to say to all my friends abroad is... PLEASE move to Pmb. It's awesome here (trust me...it just is). I was quite excited to learn that one of my friends from 1st year at Wits is going to be around from next week (EXCITEMENT!). Hopefully this will cause a chain reaction resulting in the rest following.
Sure Pmb has it's negative points and bad areas. It is, after all, a city built in a hole in the ground with lots of factories pumping out industrial waste to fill that hole with hazardous levels of heavens knows what... I'm also pretty sure the people that live next to the 'Duzi river (also the outlet of our city sewerage) have mutated to a point that they can breed with cabbages. Road manners and driving skills are shockingly aweful, mostly because it seems like 60% of Pmb drivers are well over the age of 90 and drive banged up beetles with "I've been an AA member for over 70 years" stickers covering the rust holes.
This beetle would fetch a high price with the old folk I'd imagine
When you think about it though, every other town/city also has flaws. Anyone punting Cape town will conveniently leave out the, annual flooding, horizontal freezing rain, wind and 10 km long shanty town between the city and the airport from their discription. Durban is shockingly hot and humid and it's hard not to breath in without inhaling at least a handful of invertebrates. Jozi is overcrowded with bad traffic, trigger happy Nigerian drug lords and a serious lack of beaches. Bloem... well I don't know much about Bloem but I would avoid it anyways, their rugby team is AWEFUL (yeah thats the best I could come up with).
Still all things considered. Pmb is the place to be, nice people, chilled lifestyle, if you're into sports we host the Comrades runalotathon and the Duzi Canoe/paddle boat thingy (I'm indifferent about these... can you tell?). It helps that 50% of my matric class lives/works/studies here, they are excellent company. Best of all, Pmb is just the right size to have the benefits of a city and a town. I could go on about finer details but they aren't very amusing to read about so I'll stop there. (phew, think I got myself out of that one quite nicely...).
I guess what I'm trying to say to all my friends abroad is... PLEASE move to Pmb. It's awesome here (trust me...it just is). I was quite excited to learn that one of my friends from 1st year at Wits is going to be around from next week (EXCITEMENT!). Hopefully this will cause a chain reaction resulting in the rest following.
