My Christmas

I was woken up by my friend Itu, who was complaining that the sun wasn’t dancing, (it is urban myth that the sun dances on Christmas day at sunrise.) and for some reason he had missed the passed 20 years of the dancing Christmas sun.

I assure him that, he can’t see the sun dance because it doesn’t. The whole theory is just a ploy to get you out of bed early so your mother could clean the house and get you ready for church.

Christmas day for many South African kids, means new clothes and a heavy lunch meal. Well I have passed that phase so no new clothes for me *boring*. Since I am not at home I must make my way to church, after church my inlaws hosted me for Christmas lunch, it was a bit awkward at first, but after the food was served all went well and I felt at home.

My mother called to check if I was having a balanced meal or if I was eating at all. Apparently someone told her I lost a lot of weight and she is concerned, so I have to go home in the first week of 2010 so she could see I am still in one piece.

Christmas is the one holiday that sees a lot of people heading back to their homes in whichever part of the country, I decided to miss it this year. I was not up for the traffic on the roads and the heat as well. I also had an opportunity to interact with my inlaws on a family day.

My phone couldn’t stop ringing with people interested in my place. I was asked if I was in the drug trade, as my phone was so busy, I ended up switching it off. I had a good day that ended up at a party in the southern suburbs.


Dress rehearsal for Christmas lunch
















Mama Kena sharing the from the bible
















"Family feast"
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rude awakening

I came home around 2 this morning, went for a movie with my better half when we ran into an old friend and the conversations kept flowing, we talked about everything from sports to politics to christmas to relationships.

Later in the evening we were joined by Nat (full name Natasha) from Scotland, she was watching "Earth" and was disturbed by the footage with the polar bear floating on ice with its young. she came asking for a lighter for her cigarette and she ended up joining us and helped with the draining of the wine. the restuarant closed and the staff left us there. we were removed from the premises by security personnel as our cars were the only ones left in the parking lots.

Even though she is from Scotland, she has a certain passion for South Africa, which is just amazing. When we got home the security at our complex is asleep, I had to get out to open the gate myself *not on*. Anyway 2hrs later the alarm at our neighbours goes on. It is LOUD, we are forced to wake up. the security company is on the scene in no time also with their loud sirens and they assure us there is not intruder the sensor outside the neighbours' yard captured the movement of a cat or something. they said this the next 4 times they came and all this between 4 and 5 in the morning.

The 3rd time the alarm went off, we placed an ad on gumtree to put our poperty on the market as of now we are looking for a new address. my baby left for work at 8h00 o'clock. my phone hasn't stopped ringing since. I am now going through a list of potential tenants. noone stands out at the moment.
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Reconciliation outing

As we approach the gate of the Voortrekker Monument, we are met by groups of people living the monument and some how you can see we are the topic of discussion. we managed to get a discount into the monument, as we went uphill towards the monument a lady yelled "Hi, welcome to our territory." It made me more comfortable as our hosts were Afrikaners and for some wierd reason certain people still believe this culture to be racist, I was raised by afrikaans teachers, matrons and capable hostel masters. I don't remember being illtreated by these people. hell they intoduced me to melkkos and variety of biltongs

Within the monument there is an exhibition on the Afrikaners in the 20th century. very interesting exhibition. One thing I took from there is the pride the Afrikaans community portrays towards thier country and culture. As we walked through the monuments grounds ms. madam was compalining about the heat, so off we went to the Ice cream vendors, now these guys made a killing. There was a crowd around all their cycles, Reconciliation day was definitely a good day for business.

Unfotunately we missed the highlight of the day(at 12 o'clock on the 16th of December only, a ray of sunlight shines through the opening in the upper dome of the monument onto the cenotaph) but we went to the top of the monument to see the different angles of Tshwane. It was a fun but hot day, It was one of those days were you are happy and proud to be South African.


voortrekker monument
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Journey to pretoria

This sure was one of the most memorable days of my entire 2009. so the 16th of december is a public holiday in south africa known as day of reconciliation. neo and myself decided to go to the voortrekker monument in pretoria from johannesburg to check out how they celebrate this occasion. neo wil give u more insight on what this day is al bout. i wil tel you about the journery geting to pretoria.

1st of al we met 2hrs late then planned because i wantd to spend time with my sister,naledi of 7yrs. i had to meet my dad at a central point so he could bring naledi aka mis madam to me. he took 4ever to arrive and eventualy he came through and we left to catch up wid neo. neo was late and mis madam could not stop asking why my friend is late and where he is. i decided to get her a few goodies to keep her quiet and 10min later neo joined us. we made our way to the taxis to pretoria and al was goin wel,except for the time management factor. awhile afta neo and myself caught up,he fel asleep,giving my sista and i 2 do our own catching up. smart as ever mis madam counted from one to twenty in one of the elevn oficial languages.proud as ever i promised her ice cream wen we arrived. oh and she keept telling neo and i how ice cream cools you down...cute!

Eventualy we get to pretoria and my feet problems began. looking stunning im a green dress and a beautiful pair of extreme high heeld shoes,by the time we left pretoria,i wasnt feeling stunning. the taxi dropped us bout a kilo metre or 2 away 4rm the mounent and we began our journey. the start of the walk,iws working that catwalk. naledi and neo seemd to be getting along and so they chatted away. mis madam got tired of walking afta a while and kept teln us how nt fun it is using ur feet and she eventualy opted we ran so we could get to the gate quicker. not realising with this scorching sun nd big sis in heels-she wont be having fun wen she gets blisters the next day. neo couldnt disapoint and instead ran with her leaving me behind with the not so cool ice cream. calves hurt, shoe strapped snapped-totaly not fabulis. we eventualy got there anda thats where our minds started openin- neo wil folow through with wat went down inside the moument and post pibs! mwaa
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My weekend

Good Morning beautiful people

What a wonderful and suprising weekend i had. Started my new job on saturday and boy was i excited. The weather did not allow great excitement for people as the festive season had just begun and on my side, the flu i have just gets me down. I have been struggling to communicate with you but i have finally mastered these new advanced cellphones and i can now post daily...can't wait!!!( @@,) With me working at a mall i got to talk to people and get their views on how they feel about the 2010 Fifa world cup being so near and hosted in their homeland.

Most of them are excited and cant wait to share the glory with the rest of the world, where as a small minority just said they not soccer fanatics but will watch the games. I saw alot of the dads wearing the new Bafana Bafana ( south african national team) and matching with their lilttle ones, it was too cute for words.

Besides all that i am very excited aout the holidays. My dad and i talking about me going back home and he might even come pick me up at school today. At school we busy with the Fisrt aid course, my partner and i will tell you more about it during our lunch time and post a few pics.

Untill then...im signing off

Thola
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Hello, my name is Neo Mohlatlole

I am a tourism fanatic. Busy with my tourist guiding qualification, with the help and support of Continental AG and Energy Guides via Tourvest Inbound Operations (TIO) and Interface Marketing. In possession of an incomplete travel and tourism operations qualification, (apparently I need a 6 months work experience to get the full qualification) I am currently staying in Auckland park, one of the suburbs in Johannesburg. I love going out and taking my brand to the people. I love parties, movies, theatre and once in a while I just want to be around nature. I would love to run my own tour operating business, I am busy with the name reservation process now. I register close corporations for extra pocket money, I also supply waiters to catering companies (haven’t got any jobs in the past six months though). I am looking at getting modeling and voice over artist gigs.

I heard about the program from Riaan Momberg, who is in charge of Human Resources at Tourvest at a tourism Indaba in Durban (Kwazulu Natal). I then forwarded my resume to him and then I was called for an interview, then like they say the rest is history. The main reason I joined the program, was to get experiential training, so I can get my travel and tourism operations qualification. I was not aware that I was going to learn so much in such a short space of time.

I must say my time at Energy Guides was well spent. It has equipped me with the necessary skills to guide my own tours am also designing potential routes and itineraries for my upcoming tour operating company. But that’s a story for another day. I have learnt more on dealing with difficult customers through the SA Host workshop, which I feel all South Africans, should attend in order to receive tourists in a friendlier way. One of my favorite learning experiences was definitely the meet and greet module were we learn and implement the art of meeting tourists from the airport and escorting them to the necessary hotels or sites they need to go to. And the best part about Energy Guides modules is that you get to visit the sites you learn about.

My typical day starts at 05h30 I exercise for 15 minutes, take a bath, have breakfast, prepare for my day. I usually leave my place around 06h45. Wait for a taxi for about 10 minutes, at this point I am still sleeping but the taxi drivers hooting wakes me up. The taxi takes 20 minutes to get to Cresta mall. Where I catch my next taxi to Randburg and get off at Prinsloo Street at the Energy Guides campus. Usually on time, or a minute or three late for the German class. After the German class, we start with the lesson of the day. Tea break at 10h00 till 10h30, lunch is from 12h30 to 13h30. We knock off at 16h00. After work I walk to cresta mall, wait in a queue for a taxi. At this time you are lucky if you get a taxi before 17h30, and most of the taxis are already full, you just get crammed, the taxi Marshall will be saying “four, four masihlalisane(lets sit together)” this is the most depressing part of my everyday. Besides being packed like sardines, the traffic on the way to town is draining. Even though the taxi is full the taxi drivers is still on his hooter.

For some weird reason I always find myself squashed between some big boned people, who are always complaining about the abuse from the taxi drivers, funny enough they never take their complains to the taxi organizations offices. In winter I didn’t mind that much, but in the summer heat this is not ideal as a lot of people had had a long day and their perspiration is almost like a concussion to knock you unconscious.

As we get nearer to my place the taxi driver wants to make a detour to avoid the traffic, as there’s a big media house, the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) and the University of Johannesburg. At this point everyone is on their way home. So we have to debate whether he joins the traffic or drops me off there and we have to argue in isiZulu and my Zulu is not that good. If he drops me off I get a full refund, if we go through he is on my case until I get off. In the meantime the other 15 passengers are also moaning that they are going to miss their train or bus from town to wherever it is where they stay.

Today though I must get home and get changed, I have to be in Pretoria for a 19h30 performance by one of South Africa’s top male vocalist Ringo Madlingos, whom I feel is the most underrated musician in the industry. He has performed to full house audiences throughout the country he is well received by the public. He is one of those guys who is never in the media for silly reasons and most of his songs are in isiXhosa, he adds a bit of Venda and Tswana every now and then.

So I got complimentary tickets to the show and one thing you should know about me when I r.s.v.p to an event I make sure I come to the event. From there I will probably go to Fashion TV lounge or Cofi in Brooklyn, haven’t been there in a while from there I will go home and rest. Saturday I will be putting the final touches to my assessment, which I must submit on Monday. Might go to a friends’ birthday braai
Or just relax, need to recover from my pervious week/end (Hectic)

Last weekend I went home to Limpopo for my cousins lobola negotiations(traditional wedding were the grooms family pays for the bride), at which I was running around like a headless chicken setting up the braai stand, and getting the fire started and performing the actual braai. When the deal was sealed we had to return most the hired equipment, which was not fun, when I finally came back to Johannesburg on Monday morning I was extremely tired.
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