Comparing SA and Belgium...

This post will be in English so my foreign friends will also understand J So what I’m going to do now is compare some random things in Belgium to the same things in South Africa. I’ll work at an exchange rate of R10.50 for 1 euro, as this is mostly what the exchange rate is averaging at the moment. Here we go:

Grocery prices

Bread: in SA we will pay about R7 to R11 depending on the type of bread bought, where R7 is for the basic normal white bread and R11 is for healthy bread. In Belgium I pay 1.75 euro (R18.38) for white bread. The quality of the white bread is much better though, so it’s not so bad to pay that amount.

Tuna: in South Africa a 200g can of tuna would cost you R7 to R10 – in Belgium I paid 1.99 euro (R20.90), which is quite shocking… I haven’t bought any meat or chicken yet – I’m too scared to look at the prices!

Coca-Cola: 1.5 litres will cost you about R9 to R11 in SA, PLUS deposit, here in Belgium I pay 1.69 euro (R17.75) for the same amount, without deposit.

Muesli, mayonnaise, orange juice, milk and other basics are more or less the same, but you can find some really cheap brands if you know where to go… and if you don’t mind the lower quality.

Beer: In SA you will typically pay about R11 to R17 for a normal Castle or Black Label (330 to 500 ml) – except in Aandklas on Thursdays when draughts go for about R12 each (I might be wrong on this one). In 

Belgium the cheapest beer is about 2 euro (R21) for a glass, as in 250 ml, and then it is the light stuff like Maes or Stella Artois. The other stronger beer (thus more alcohol), like Duvel (I think it’s going on 8% alcohol, might be wrong though), cost about 3 to 3.50 euro (R31.5 to R36.75).

Stronger Liquor: SA IS WAY CHEAPER L which means I’m drinking beer while I’m in Belgium…

Sms: in SA a sms after 8pm is 35c and before 8pm is about 80c, an international sms is about R2.50, but I’m not sure what calls cost… in Belgium a sms is 8 euro cent (84c) all day, but if you recharge with 15 euro (R157.50) per month you get 5000 free local smses. International smses cost about 50 euro cent (R5.25). I don’t really use 3G here, as I find it to be quite expensive, I also don’t call people.

Petrol and diesel

Petrol and diesel go at about somewhere between 1.60 and 1.80 euro per litre (R16.80 to R18.90), while in SA we pay about R10 to R12 a litre (I have no idea what the petrol price is in SA at the moment, but R12 is still quite expensive).

Clothing and shoe prices (this is of high importance ;))

In South Africa you’ll pay about R80 (Mr Price) to R150 (Shoerama) for a pair of flat pumps. So far the cheapest basic version of pumps I could find (and I saw them in a really cheap shop) in Belgium was 20 euro (R210). Typical “cheap” shoe prices in Belgium are something in the line of 35 to 60 euro (R367.5 to R630). Not so cheap compared to SA… I would admit that sometimes the quality is a bit better though.

Clothing prices can’t really be compared as it sort of depends in which shops you buy.  I love buying stuff from H&M, their prices are comparable to Mr Price I would say (maybe a bit more expensive… like JayJays or Identity), but the quality and fit is much better – almost comparable to Woolworths.

People and manners

Men here are quite different. In Belgium they don’t really care about women being independent and making more money than them…  which I can say, from first-hand experience, in SA is not the case. They regard women as equal, so equal in fact that they don’t really open doors for them, because apparently some women here are offended by it. I’ve managed to find one Belgian guy who opened a door for me, one form New Zealand, one from Poland and one unknown guy, who I might have thanked a bit too enthusiastically.

Gossiping is going at more or less the same trend in Belgium, especially among the exchange students, because everyone sort of knows each other. Most of the European people I find to be very liberal, which I don’t mind, but compared to the (seemingly) conservative South Africans, it is something to get used to. Very few people I’ve met in Belgium are actually religious, they are mostly atheist or agnostic, and those who are Christian don’t really go to church anymore (as there are mostly strict Catholic churches here).

Politics

I’m not even going to go into that… but believe me, no country is without problems in this regard.

That’s it for now… Academics are picking up, so posts will be less frequent now J


Here are some random pics from the Binche carnaval: