The Wimp

September 2007. Lerato Onkwe (Keri Dodge), Kealeboga Pule (Chris), and Reamogetse Sebogo (Me) at the Wimpy in Zeerust, NorthWest Province. Lerato got coffee, coffee, coffee. Chris got a burger and iced tea (neither of which tasted like stuff in the States), and I had a cheese, tomato, and egg toasted sandwich.
Wimpy is a fast food chain in South Africa that is EVERYWHERE. The coffee isn't bad, they have pretty okay milkshakes, they offer waffles with different flavored syrups (toffee and chocolate) and ice cream for breakfast, I've heard their burgers are pretty awful, and, for some reason, I've been there a bagillion times. There was the Wimpy in Zeerust, our shopping town while we were living in Gopane, our training village. We went there a few times for breakfast when we were trying to readjust to some modern conveniences we could find here after being in the village for a little while. There's the Wimpy in Tzaneen that I went to with Wanda right after we moved to our villages. We wanted a place to sit and calm our nerves after trying to buy things for our new living spaces and struggling with being on our own at our sites after 2 months of constantly being around other volunteers. We ended up next to the ball pen and jungle gym area for the kids in the non-smoking section. It was not calming. There's the time I was in the Riverside Mall in Nelspruit with Keri and because every restaurant was packed, we settled on Wimpy even though we knew we just might regret it. And every time someone has come to visit, I take them to Wimpy because it is a place a lot of South Africans seem to love. When my parents were here we went back to the one in Zeerust after we spent the day in Gopane. It still wasn't very good. I took my sister, my future brother-in-law, and my cousin, to the one in St. Lucia. When I'm in Pretoria and on my way to the Peace Corps' office, I get a takeaway cup of coffee for the walk or taxi ride. When Abby and I were on holiday, staying in a hut without amenities, we welcomed ourselves back into South Africa with a trip to Wimpy for breakfast. I seem to find myself in a Wimpy quite a lot more than I ever thought I would.
A couple of weeks ago, Jenny and I sat in a back booth in the Tzaneen Wimpy and drank coffee. A Wimpy Mega Coffee for me and a Cafe Mocha for her. I've been on the hunt for a Mega Coffee cup for a while now... and finally was able to purchase one. As the manager who sold it to me said, "You just want to remember all those times you had a good cup of the best coffee in South Africa. You want to take this back so you can remember all your fun times at Wimpy restaurants." Um, yes, yes... you are right. I think that just about covers it.