The Truth About Living In England *South African In UK*
The Truth About Living In England *South African In UK*
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00:00Hi everyone, my name is Witte Melo. I am from South Africa.
00:04You can find me on TikTok as Boy T and I'm very excited to be here today.
00:10To be honest, life in the UK is so free. Like, I feel more free than I probably felt in South
00:18Africa because it's a very individualistic society. Everybody's literally just going
00:23about doing their own thing. So it feels like you can just do whatever you need to do.
00:27They've got really great transport services, so it's so easy to get around the country.
00:33It's a much smaller country than South Africa. So in South Africa, for me to travel from Joburg
00:38to Cape Town, you kind of need a whole day of travel. While here, to travel from Manchester
00:43to London, it's literally just like two hours. It's easy to get around the country.
00:47So I think it's a very travel-driven country. Everybody's always out and about. People are
00:52always planning trips. Very individualistic. You literally just do whatever you need to do.
00:56Nobody bothers you in public. It's very safe as well. So you can do like, I like to travel to
01:02cities and spend the day and then come back in the evening. So I don't feel unsafe when I come
01:06back in the evening. Like, nothing weird would ever happen. So yeah, I think that's just how
01:10life is in the UK. Like, very free, lots of travel, and very individualistic. You kind of
01:16need to know how to fill your own cup because they're not as community-based as it would be
01:21in South Africa. You need to know how to enjoy your own space. Obviously, you can make friends,
01:26but at the end of the day, it's your life. You need to run it and come up with plans for your
01:31life to enjoy yourself. Otherwise, you'll be in your flat the whole day, just feeling miserable,
01:35and nobody's really going to care. So talking about South Africa, I want to ask you, before
01:41we continue with our conversation, you know many would love to visit South Africa. I want you to
01:46say a word, one or two, to anyone who wants to visit South Africa. What's South Africa like
01:51as a country? South Africa is a very interesting country, I would say. I think, I haven't really
01:58traveled that much, but having left the country, I can almost attest that we have the friendliest
02:03people in the world. A very friendly country. So if you had to go to South Africa, you would never
02:07feel like you don't know anyone. Like, even if you were there on your own. Because when you're
02:12standing at the taxi rank, waiting to go wherever, people will be talking to you. When you go to the
02:17mall, people will be talking to you. So I think the biggest thing that's beautiful about our country
02:20is that it's very friendly, and you feel very welcome. There's always going to be someone around
02:24helping you, and you know, telling you about whatever it is that you'll be needing at that
02:28point in time. So yeah. Wow, that's great. We all have to go visit South Africa one day. Wow,
02:36nice one. So let's continue with our conversation. So why England? Why UK? Because you could have
02:42gone to US, Canada, even Ghana. So let me ask you, why UK? So I think I always just had a desire
02:51to travel. So those who do follow my channel know that I love K-pop. So the first place that I
02:57thought of going to when I was still in university was South Korea. But I just always had a fascination
03:02for cultures and traveling. Like you can imagine, South Africa is a rainbow nation, multicultural.
03:07So I'd always been exposed to differences, and I wanted to see even more. And then the UK happened
03:13to be the place where I got an opportunity. I literally was just applying everywhere, and this
03:17is where I got a chance. I wasn't very particular about where, like it was either South Korea or just
03:23anywhere else, so long as I knew I would be safe, and I would, you know, engage in culture. And it's
03:29like, there's always home to go to. Just go. If it's not work, you could just pack and go back home.
03:34And then the UK just happened to be the first place where I got a good opportunity, and then I came.
03:38So talking about cultures, I want to ask you, have you had any cultural shock experiences or challenges
03:43in the UK? Oh, I think obviously culture shock, like, and it comes in the tiniest way. And it's
03:51often things that people can't really tell you in advance. And a simple example, I'll give you ties
03:57in with my first answer, like friendly people. I got to the UK, and then I'm used to talking to
04:03people, and it's not the culture here. And it's not that people are not friendly. It's just like,
04:08people are just a bit more reserved here. Because when you do talk to them, you realize that they're
04:13going to be nice, they're going to engage, but they would never take the first step to have a
04:16conversation with you. So that's more different to realizing that, oh, I'm not in a space where
04:20people are always talking. You can even think of being in a mall. Like when you're in a South
04:24African mall, you can hear the jubilancy of people talking and being noisy, while here in the UK,
04:29it's probably going to be slightly less noisy, because it's just not the culture. So I think it's
04:33the culture shock, and it's not going to be in the big things, just the very small things that
04:38often cannot be described. You can only see them when you get to the place. I think, yeah,
04:43that's probably been the biggest challenge for me. So what surprised you the most when you entered
04:48the UK? Was there anything else that caught you off guard? I think the weather, to be honest,
04:54as much as I knew that's going to be different from South Africa, I just didn't think it's going
04:58to be this different. Like, I didn't know we could go weeks with gray sky and literally no sun.
05:07The sun comes out for like four minutes. So I think probably the weather, like just how extreme
05:12it actually is, very dull. And I've grown to feel like it also contributes to the mood of the people.
05:18It makes sense why South Africans seem to be a bit more friendly than the British people,
05:24because you will see that in summer, people just have a bit more energy. You can literally feel
05:29the shift in energy. So for me, it's the weather. That was the biggest shock for me. I knew it's
05:33going to be cold. I came with all my clothes, just not this bad, not this extreme. Yeah.
05:39Whitey, talking about the weather, I want us to look at some of the things that normally people
05:44don't tell us about UK. Are there things that people don't tell us about UK? Or are there
05:49things that normally people don't tell us about the UK? Certainly. I feel like when we move abroad,
05:57especially to these Western countries, we have a sense that all our problems are going to be solved.
06:02You're going to move to like a mini haven where everything just runs smoothly and is okay. And I
06:10like to think of it as you moving to a new place which has new problems. In South Africa,
06:18we may have had the problem of, what can I say, maybe low chilling. We have low chilling in South
06:24Africa. They don't have low chilling here. So here you're going to come and you're going to experience
06:28the problem of a very intense working culture. Like they take working very seriously. You need
06:33to be at work at a certain number of hours. People work really long hours here. And you can imagine
06:39that with a very unfavorable weather. It's always raining. It's always cold.
06:44Having that resilience to continue even though you feel so exhausted, it's often difficult.
06:50You'll still see other problems. You'll still see homelessness around you the same way you
06:54probably see it in South Africa. And it's very hard to imagine it because you think, oh, Britain is
06:58such a wealthy country. But you still see people sleeping on the street. You just realize that
07:03it's still another world. Every world has the goods and has the challenges.
07:10I'll give you a simple example, for instance. You have to do your own service in the shop.
07:14You have to pack your own bags. You have to put your own petrol into your car. While in South
07:18Africa, you'd have people that are hired to do those jobs. So I think when you go shopping,
07:23it's a bit more comfortable in South Africa. When you go to the petrol station, it's more comfortable.
07:27While here in the UK, at 3 a.m., if you want to fill in your car, you're all on your own. You
07:31have to get there. And you have to go out there and put in the petrol yourself. You have to pump
07:35your own wheels. So yeah, I think in summary, moving to a different country, you may leave
07:43your own problems behind, but you're going to get there and you're going to find new problems. I
07:47think every place has challenges of its own. Every place has challenges of its own.
07:52Yeah. If in case you just joined us,
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08:08this video. Thank you. Boyeti, any worst experiences in the UK?
08:13Any worst experience? Yes, I have actually.
08:22I don't even know how to explain it. I've had really weird encounters in public
08:26where I'd be working and then somebody would just say something really weird. Probably two
08:30weeks ago, this one man said a very strange comment to me like, go home or something like
08:36that. But he was old and he was in a wheelchair. And also it takes a while to register because
08:42I'm just like there working in the street thinking, oh, I'm going to Tesco. I'm thinking
08:45of the bread I'm going to buy and my eggs. And then this weird man just looks at me and
08:49says something like that. So I think that's probably the I think I've had like two or three
08:55experiences like that, which has been strange for me because you can imagine coming from South
08:58Africa, which is majority African people. Everybody looks like me in a way. So now all
09:04of a sudden being in a space where you are the minority and then people can say such
09:08things to you, it's very strange. But I wouldn't say it's a thing that happens. I think it's
09:12probably a very small percentage, probably like this man was really old. So probably
09:17like because he lived in the olden ages, things are still a certain way for him in his mind.
09:22Yeah, I think that's about it. Yeah. Oh, OK.
09:26So has traveling abroad changed your mind and perspective?
09:29Hundred percent. Hundred percent. If anything, it's made me love home even more. It's made
09:35me appreciate my home country even more and think about how it's important for us to stand
09:42up for ourselves in our countries and stand up to our governments and ensure that we have
09:46a government that cares about the people and can make things happen, like be more interested in
09:52building our country, because at the end of the day, that's where home is. And I think
09:56it probably ties in with the answer I gave you about how going to another place that
10:01like the UK is considered a developed country compared to South Africa, which is a developing
10:05country. So technically you would think you would be happier in the UK than you were in
10:09South Africa because there's a lot more benefits this side. But yes, that's the case. But at
10:14the same time, it's like you swap problems, you get new problems. So that's why I feel
10:18like wherever you're going to go in the world, you are going to be tolerating some sort of
10:22challenges, which for me just says, why not just invest in home? And we all focus on fighting for
10:29a great government and building our country. So in the next 10 to 20 years, we have a functioning
10:33society that doesn't have crime and has, you know, less poverty. And yeah, it's like I've
10:41grown to love my country even more. Yeah. Boite, I want to ask you, what are some of
10:47the things that you've learned about yourself since moving abroad?
10:50That's a good one, because I think moving to a different country, literally you experience
10:55challenges that will then teach you about yourself in terms of how you manage these
11:00challenges. So I think I've learned that I am a very resilient person. So coming to the UK,
11:07a lot of things are different, how you apply for a place, how customer service works. It's
11:12different from everything that's at home. And nobody is guiding you. As I already said,
11:16you literally are just shocked on your own at how people do things. And somehow you just have
11:21to catch up and do it, you know, and like get used to how they do apartment applications here
11:27versus at home. You kind of just have to get into it. So I think I've learned that I'm a very
11:31resilient person. So as much as things become challenging in my space, I still have a way of
11:37picking myself up and just continuing with the struggle, which at the end, once you overcome
11:44the challenge, you just feel so grateful that you pushed yourself through it. But I think it's
11:49because of resilience that I'm able to do so. And I don't think I would have been able to know how
11:53resilient I am if I just stayed in South Africa, a country that I grew up in. I understand the
11:58culture. I know how everything works. Yes, I experience challenges, but I've never really
12:02stretched in that sense. You know, something as simple as, as I told you, people wouldn't talk
12:08to you at the bus stop. Something as simple as being that person that's constantly making the
12:12first move, having conversation with people. I think it really has shown me that I'm a very
12:17resilient person. I'm very courageous. I don't shy back from unfamiliarity. I literally step
12:24in and try to understand what's going on. And yeah. And I'm grateful for that, honestly. I think
12:30it's good to challenge yourself. You don't know your own limits in a way. Yeah. And that's good
12:35because to achieve any goals in life, you need courage. You need resilience. So yeah.
12:40I see. So we are about to end our conversation, but before we end our conversation, I want us to
12:45come to Africa, which is South Africa, your home. You know, like many will have to visit South
12:50Africa. What are some of the nice places you would recommend? You would recommend to anyone
12:55who wants to visit South Africa? South Africa is a must go. I'm always telling everyone I meet in
13:00the UK because they always surprise like, Oh, you're from South Africa. I'm like, you need to
13:03travel to South Africa. Probably the only disadvantage is it's so long, like 11 hours.
13:08You know, I told you people in the UK love to travel, but they like short trips, like two hours,
13:12three hours plane. But I always tell them you need to go to South Africa. You need to go to Cape Town.
13:17You need to go to Cape Town, go drink, go see all the vineyards. You need to go to Sun City.
13:22Sun City is a Northwest and it's a very friendly little town with a lot of fun activities. Like
13:28you'll be swimming, you'll be playing games. It's like a little city in a city. So yeah,
13:34you need to go to Sun City. You need to go to Durban. Durban has the beach, very nice and warm
13:39and very friendly people. You need to go to Joburg because Joburg is like the hub of South Africa.
13:44Things are on the go. You get to experience the fast life. It's almost like the equivalent of
13:48going to London in the UK. Everywhere else is very slow. But when you want to experience the fast
13:53life, you go to London. So yeah, I think those are the places I'd recommend for South Africa.
13:58You also need to go to Pelukwani. I'm from Pelukwani. I feel like there isn't much to do,
14:02but we have really kind, friendly people. So we are the Mbappé people, very friendly. People will
14:09be greeting you everywhere. You'll feel like everybody knows you, but it's just the culture
14:13of Mbappé. We greet everyone that we see and we try to make everyone feel at home. So yeah.
14:18Nice one. So we are almost done with our conversation. Any advice for anyone who
14:22wants to travel abroad? Like life is for the living. If you feel like you have a desire to
14:28go somewhere and you get the opportunity to go, pack your bags, go. It's going to be hard
14:34because it's different. I like to think of it as like, you know, when you're a toddler,
14:38you're sort of learning about the world. You're learning how to walk. So it feels like you're a
14:42toddler again, and that's hard. And this time there's no one holding your hand. You're kind
14:45of doing it on your own. So just because it's hard, it doesn't mean it's not worth doing.
14:50Because in a year's time, you would look at yourself and realize that you are just a bit
14:54more resilient. You think a bit more outside the box than you used to. Yeah. And you've
15:01challenged yourself. It's always good to challenge yourself and see how you can do in different
15:05situations. So yeah. If you want to go abroad, just go. Don't think too much. Go. Great. So if
15:11you want to go abroad, just go. Don't think too much. Yeah. Any shout outs to family, friends?
15:15You can also add up your social media handles to it, if only you want to do so. So on TikTok,
15:20I am Boitee Covers, which is B-O-I-T-E-E-C-O-V-E-R-S, Boitee Covers. So I do a lot of videos on skits
15:30about living in the UK, like the culture differences between South Africa and UK.
15:36Very fun skits that I think people would enjoy. You can also follow me on Instagram still,
15:41Boitee Covers, B-O-I-T-E-E-C-O-V-E-R-S. Yeah. So let's connect and let's travel the world.
15:48The world is our oyster.