YMJG

http://youmakejoburggreat.wordpress.com/

Worth a read.
No doubt having the ocean at your front door and the mountain at your back door is something extraordinary, living in Joburg has its moments too. As a born Capetonian, living in Joburg for more than five years, I’ve grown to love this city – it’s trees, people, energy and gorgeous sunsets. Visit YMJG and share your special moments in this wonderful city we call home!

Johannesburg

I moved to this city almost five and a half years ago. It feels like home. It is home. My original home town, Cape Town, had become a holiday destination to me. A holiday destination where I have family.

I do love this city -crime, beggars, pollution and all.

But in a weeks time I'm off to the coast - Durban coast :( not Cape Town coast. Either way it's the coast and it's away from the city than demands you run with it. I feel like i've been running since forever and need to take a time out and catch my breath.

One more week of some serious deadlines and then I'm free for a glorious ten days :) Can't wait!

About time!

I’m going to Durban!


I got invited to spend a week on the coast to write my thesis with the ocean in the background and the fresh sea smell as inspiration. But as usual when it comes to taking leave, work suddenly jumps out of absolutely nowhere and messes up your plan.

Not for me.

I coincided the holiday/thesis writing trip with a work trip! Absolutely love when things work out just the way I want them to. Let me explain.

If I accepted the invite to Durban it would mean packing light so that everyone else’s luggage could fit in the car, driving for six (or more) hours there and then a week later another 6 (or more) hours back. Not ideal.

What I really wanted to was ensure that my organization gets the ethical approval it needs to start interviews for a study we are conducting at UKZN (University of KwaZulu Natal). Then, tell my dear boss that I am keen to do the interviews and what better time than the week that I will be in Durban – saving the NGO I work for accommodation cost – something my boss loves to hear!

So on the 6th February I will be flying to Durban, doing a bit of work from Monday to Wednesday and will be spending the rest of the days lying on the beach, writing my thesis, lounging at the pool, having fancy dinners and exploring Durban. Yay me!

I’ll be out of the office, with no domestic responsibilities and thinking with a clear head while I do my work and try to put together something comprehensive that looks like a master’s thesis.

PS. The excite has nothing to do with the fact that I am going to Durban (not a big fan of the place) and everything to do with being away from everything routine.

Me!

I’m a strong woman who perseveres, works hard and never gives up. I’m passionate and caring and my determination lies in the improvement of the lives of women in South Africa. I’m friendly and open and very easily make friends. I’m approachable and helpful and kind with little bouts of aggression when I hear of gender based violence, child abuse, government officials taking advantage and animal abuse.


I love yoga, reading and writing. I dislike a dirty kitchen but love to cook, hoping someone will come along and help tidy up. I love cats and going to the zoo. I dislike lies and tofu. I am loyal and will always offer my shoulder for a ‘snot and trane’ session.
The most freedom I have felt and can actually put into words is driving 160km pre hour on the N1 from Cape Town to Johannesburg. I believe strongly in human rights and equal opportunities. I’m a great aunt to my nieces and nephews and will never turn down the opportunity to hold a new born baby.

I try my best to do my bit for the environment and tend to get annoyed at people who drive ‘fuel guzzler’ cars and forget to switch lights off. I think we should stop drinking bottled water in places where the water is safe to lessen the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans.

I love to travel and see and experience new things. I love talking and learning and feel that you are never old enough to be taught what a denominator or numerator is. My spelling is bad… on a good day and atrocious on a bad day… thank God for spell check.

I believe in God and prayer. I also believe in religious freedom and tolerance. I believe that God created all things and that there is beauty in everything.

The Weekend

I'm now done with three of the four books in the Twilight series. Do not ask me why I am so addicted to the story, the books, the characters and the romance - I'm not one to read fiction but this series seems to draw me in.

I am hoping to start reading the last book, Breaking Dawn, this week. I'll get going on my masters thesis once I'm done with this book :) (Will post on this subject soon)

Had my first yoga class for 2010 - it still hurts in so many places :( Had a successful shopping trip with B, T and Y. Finally bought the pillow that my mum never stops praising.

Had a smoked trout and cream cheese sandwich at Woolies Cafe - Wow is all I can say.

Spend Sunday reading, sleeping, watching movies. Sometimes that is all you need to get you energised for the week ahead.

Am loving this grey skies, cool air, rainy weather!

Pic unrelated to topic.

My brother got a new camera and took this gorgeous photo of his cat Felix - he emailed this to me to show off.

The little things

It's the little things that make me smile - like the pic above - my two favourite males.

Been a bit irritable this week. Not having things go my way makes me irritable :) But after picking my car up this morning I feel a whole lot better. Hopefully I won't have to go back to Daihatsu for a long long time. They claim it was a manufacturing fault on the oil filter but I think they put it in wrong when they changed it and OVERFILLED THE OIL causing it to spring a leak.

Deep breath.

I got home yesterday and my darling cat*, Asif, wrapped his tail around my ankle and looked me in the eye waiting for me to take the hint and rub his tummy :)

Yes, it's definitely the little things...

*I have two... will do a post on them soon.

Banging my head against the wall

My little car - the one in the pic - taken while the wheel alignment was being done. Sweet, happy, easy going car. No real trouble in the 9 years I've had her.

So why the title of this post? Let me explain.

Early December 2009 I took my dear car for it's 100 000km service. It came back with more problems it didn't have when it went in. I complained. They told me nothing was wrong. My father drove the car and wrote a list of 7 things they need to check.

They checked the things on the list and my car was back to it's old self. Forward a week later and I begin to notice the now countless oil circles in my parking space at home.

Early January I complain to head office, the customer relations manager, another branch and one of the managers at the original branch. No positive response.

Rather pissed off with no real way of expressing my anger (really not good at expressing my anger) I call up B who being the lovely man he is, makes a few calls and tomorrow morning I head back to the original branch to be seen to the minute I arrive!

I am beyond angry and frustrated - I'm dissapointed in the service we get in this country. It's disgusting to say the least. I have stories of bad service that will take weeks to tell you about and no i'm not an unreasonable person. I'm actually rather timid and very, very rarely do I get angry - ask anyone who knows me.

I'll post an update on my car tomorrow. For now I'm going to leave the office and buy a big ice cream to cheer me up :)

Almost Thirty

I'm 411 days away from turning thirty.

It's the 11th of January 2010 - new year, new decade. Time for a fresh start. Hence this blog. I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time now. Not because EVERYONE else was doing it, but, because I wanted to have a place that I could write down what I was thinking, feeling, doing, etc. without revealing my identity.

That space has now been created :) Welcome to my blog!