I was in Cape Town and the surrounding towns of Stellenbosch and Grabouw two weeks ago. Decided to share some SA beauty with you. The pic quality is not that good as we were driving.

The first pic is on our way to Grabouw from Stellenbosch.  The second pic is part of the Hottentots Hollandse mountain range.








The next two pics are of the mist that flows from this mountain range.  This is a clear sign that the South Easter Wind is blowing in the Cape, which means rain for the northern parts of SA.  A good sign for the north, but the wind reaches gale force speeds... not that pleasant for the Cape Townians..  The first one is just outside of Stellenbosch and the second one was as were nearing Gordons Bay.








The following pics are of the town called Franschoek.









A few pics of the orchids at Grabouw.  This area is known for the export of apples (mostly the green cultivars) to Europe and America.  









Lastly a few pics of the town called Gordon's Bay.  This area is loved by Europeans and many of the properties are owned by them as well.  Escaping their cold winters for some delight on our shiny coasts.  Who can blame them?  :)

Warning:  I’m opinionated, crude, to the point and I swear a bit.  This is said with a lot of humor J  If you are obese and take offense easily, then this is not for you.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Written on 1 March 2006.

Since today is a public holiday I get to see some of the TV programs that is on during the day while I’m at work.   Turn on the telly and there is Ricki Lake.  The topic of today’s show: Face it… you’re fat.  Ok… *frowning* exactly how much attention and fuss can people get from this.  I missed the beginning of the show, but I summed it up:


 Case 1:

Two sisters and their mother.  Now as the title of today is ‘fat’ I’m looking for the fatty between them *looks* Ok… let’s rather pick the fatest one between the three of them.  Bit of bickering between them, a thousand times the comment of “I’m all that” and “I’m da shit” blah blah blah…  I made some Nesquick.

Case 2:

A daughter complaing that her mother is fat and she behaves inappropriately in front of her friends.  Now this kid is approx 14-15 years old.

*wild applause*

Out comes Darla…  I started laughing so hard you could’ve heard me a couple of rooms away.  Now picture this, the daughter has the voice of Eric Cartman from South Park with a hectic snot attack, so she sounds muffled.  Not sure if she just has a low palate or thumb-sucked till 10 but there is bit of lisping going on as well.  Momma Darla is wearing less than Cat Woman on a hot day.  Yup, tight bodice (black, we should be lucky… as it is a ‘flattering’ color) and a tight black skirt.  The skirt barely covers her ass, and believe me… she has one.  Darla is doing some ass-shacking-pimping-sex moves and I think half the crowd is close to puking.  Why? Oh why?

Later during the show a woman actually got up and used her jacket to throw it over Darla’s legs.  The lady’s defense:  “I’m sitting in the front row and I just have to do this.”  So… ol Darla has been showing some jewels lmao!! Paraguy??

Darla says that she gets hit on by men from 20 – 29.  Hmmm, that got me thinking, 1. men start getting brains from their 30’s and up, seen that numerous times and I’m sticking with that, 2. they ‘stare’ not admire, 3. Darla… you are hard to miss, or rather overlook.

Oh I give the daughter about 1 year before she’s pregnant.  Just looks like the type and I guarantee that Darla will encourage her to ‘catch a man’ that way.  Depressing if you ask me…

Case 3:

I know that shows like this usually deteriorate or worsen as the more people come out.  I was not disappointed…

First off, going onto a show and keeping your sunglasses on is not ‘cool’ or ‘da shyte’.  When you’re in a building take them off and put them in a holder, in your bag. 

I’m going to call the plaintive ‘Sally’ and the defendant ‘Gloria’. 

Supersize Gloria has been on Ricki previously because she wanted a career as a big female stripper.  I thought to myself, when exactly did fat become appealing?  Lucky Gloria had her breakthrough and is now a successful stripper.  She is currently making a load of money by performing, bought herself some nice nik-nak jewelry and cars and ‘shyte’.  

Sally complains that on their way to the show Gloria got so tired from carrying her bags that she actually asked Sally to help her.  Also Gloria struggled getting up the stairs…

My eyebrows raised a few more mm’s and I pictured a big ass with big tits.

*drum roll* 

Wait for it…

Wait for it….

Out comes Nelly The Elephant In Pink!  Wow!!!  Fucking hell! I have never seen a woman that can go as a square of pink bubble gum.  Geez!  Again I was laughing so hard I nearly dropped my glass of Nesquick.  I’m not going to go into detail on how she looked, but if men went to see that at a stripshow… then I can do stripping and be super successful at it.   What was very noticable is the fact that so far every single one of them had some kind of tatoo on the right breast.  I’m not sure if that is part of the ‘sleeze’ criteria. 

Their leader: “You must have a suck-ass-tattoo on your right boob to be part of this clan!”  Roses seems to be the in-thing among the super sized… weird…

I don’t care who you are, but if you have nails with which you can scratch diamonds from your ass, it says a lot about you. 1. you are high maintenance and 2. you don’t work at all, especially around your house.  The nails I’m talking about are easily two inches long.  For the Europeans and me roughly 6 cm.  Hectic! 

Ol’ Gloria can’t even cross her legs and I’m thinking to myself, exactly how do you split during your strip shows?  A pillar of concrete instead of a pole?  Performance runs only 2 minutes and then you ‘roll’ off the stage?  Or does the place vibrate enough that the body just ‘goes with the flow’?  The movie Flubber just came to mind…

Besides, dancing and stripping is exercise, so shouldn’t she be losing weight already?  Dragging that ass over a stage must burn a couple of calories, did her food intake increase to compensate for that?  That is even more depressing than Darla’s early grandchildren…

Case 4:

A lady from Alabama, also complaining that her friend is overweight and she is unhealthy.  Saying how her friend would be out of breath from just going to her mailbox and back.

They were by far the most decently dressed of ALL the people there.  Their language was also quite better.  Not sure if Ricki wanted to ‘up’ the class a little notch, makes the others look far worse…  The rumptious lady does have a pretty face and says that her husband loves her and… get this… “I’m the picture of healthy.”  Fuck… these people are going to make me spill all my Nesquick…  How can weighing around 300 lbs be healthy?  I don’t care if your cholestrol is low, your arteries as clear as the plastic straw you use to suck up your milkshake at McD; the impact of that weight on your joints, back and especially the knees are terrible.  With every kg that you lose you lessen the pressure on your knees by 10%.  That is a big deal people. 

This lady claims that she gets hit on alllllll the time, that men can’t leave her alone.  Now I have a question for the men…. Do you like fat that much?  Since obesity rates are increasing, is it forcing men to accept larger women in general?  Do men force themselves to love fat as there are so few slim women around these days?  Do men crave the softness and warmth of such a large body eventhough she might be high maintenance and bitch in his ears all day long?

Here are my criteria if you want to appear on the show:

1. You must have multi-colored hair, split ends and the hair has grown out roughly one inch.  The most high-lights are a pinkish color.
2. You think ski-pants/tights are the best clothing for women, especially as it is known as ‘whisper pants’, a lot of lip movement but no sound…
3. You had your first kid at 15 and consider yourself the catch of the year as you work flipping burgers and bitching in your husband’s ear.
4. Every second sentence you use contains the word “I’m da shyte” or “I’m all that.”
5. Your view on a ‘grand entry’ is immitating sex-moves, shaking your ass and tits all over the place.
6. If you think having all your teeth are upperclass.  Gold crowns, fake rubies, emeralds, diamonds and amethyst in your teeth is ‘da shyte’.
7. If you use rapper like hand gestures to get your point across you are ‘so in’!
8. If you use the words “Oh no you didn’t” to express a bit of attitude and a bit of arrogance you are welcomed with open arms.
9. If you like nik-nak jewelry that sparkles at all times due to a fake glossy overcoat and rings on every finger (including toes), you are definetely welcome.
10. If you think a great education is finishing grade 10.

A few things to remember:

1. To be classy does not depend on your income.  Being poor is a terrible excuse for having no class, same goes for a rich person with no class.
2. Being overweight and obese is not a sin but you can do a bit more to help yourself.  It is not healthy in the long run… if you live long enough to see ‘the long run’
3. Always leave a bit for men to guess about when it comes to your body.  Don’t show all you’ve got in one sweep.  They have powerful imaginations and if you leave them nothing to wonder about they will tire rather quickly.
4. Beauty is only skin deep and should be dealt with accordingly.  Unfortunately we are not all blind, looks goes a long way.  I don’t care what people say, appearance plays a big roll.
5. Sex is a dangerous tool of manipulation, if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t even try it.  All women are born with the will to manipulate be very careful…

I didn’t finish watching the show, it was just too damn much to take.  Instead I started this lenghty blog.

I'm still asked where I live and even when I say my country's name people still have no clue.  Here are a few links.  Now please take a good look at the map of Africa.  South Africa is the southern most country on the continent.  My neighboring countries are Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and we totally surround Lesotho.


http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm



For a bit more info on my country, and a great site to look up information on other countries:


http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sf.html



Please read up and learn a few things. 

At last, Friday I got to the correct shop to buy a stationary bike.  I’ve wanted to buy one for a few months now but just haven’t gotten around to it.  So now was my chance.  Finally picked one and then waited for the store assistant to bring me one out of the storeroom.  I’m not sure what I expected, but what he brought out was definitely not what I imagined.  From one big bike to a rectangular box; my eyes moved from the one to the other.  While waiting for the assistant a lady and I started a conversation.  After the box was brought out, she asked me: “Will you be alright with this thing?”  “Yes, not going to be a problem, I’m fairly good with stuff like this”.  Ok; this is going to be interesting and quite a challenge.  Make no mistake I’m good with assembling bits and what not, and I’m even better with taking things apart he he

Tried to lift the damn thing, didn’t move an inch, nope can’t do it, I need somebody to take this out to the truck.  Finally got a guy to trolley this thing out, get to the truck, we both lift and get it in the back.  Thankful that I have Kameni with me, so I have somebody to help me to get this thing into the apartment.  Drive to King, get it into the apartment, two more hours at work and now…

When I opened the door, first thing I saw was this box.  Giving myself a mental high five and telling Tim the Tool Man to step aside, this woman is on a mission.  Try to lift it again, nearly broke my back, ok, moving in pieces then.  Open the box, what the hell?  Go to study room, get some music going, Korn.  Nice inspirational music.  Started to move this bike piece by piece, the more pieces I take out the more the words “What the fuck is this?” passes my lips.  Finally got all the pieces in the study room, now the manual…  Start going through it, where is the tools?  Oh geez…  The more I look at this thing the more I wished I had a man to do this stuff.  Between reading and learning what a spring washer, nylock nut, allen head bolt, carriage bolt and a plain washer is I realized this is going to take me the whole damn weekend.

Take a look at the part list… 84 parts, now how the hell can this thing have so many??  And reading more about nuts, now there are ring nuts, 35 mm washers and 10 mm machine screws.  What the hell??  Take a look at the chart.  Oh my…  My confidence was just shot to shit.  Started putting the pieces in a bit of order; got the first bolts through the footings, ok if I take my fingers off; the bloody bolt things fall out, but I need to lift the heavy bike-piece-thing up to move this under.  A few more swear words; this is definitely for more than one person to assemble.  Get my landlord, Trix.

Ok now things seemed to make a bit more sense.  We figured out a few things, looked at the tools, the washers, nuts, bolts, spanners and a wrench, which to me is an LM key.  While he is going through the manual he asks me: “What country made this?”  Instant answer: “China?”  It seemed the reasonable answer at that time. Both smiling we got back to this thing.  Figured out which parts are 7 – 84.  Learned what the role of a spring washer is, what I still can’t get is, if it’s not a ‘moving’ part why would they put a spring washer on it??  Parts 7, 8, and 9 follow onto each other, did that, tightened it, Trix finished tightening part… what can I say, I’m not Zena Warrior Princess. 

Now there is this one thing, I showed him this is the tightening knob, and I can see it goes with this little flippy thingy, but what does this flippy thingy holds and tightens?  Him giving me this big smile: “The handles”.  Oh, um, yeah.  Oopsie, I totally forgot about those.  The pedals were left for last. I’m telling you if I have to put straps on pedals again I’m going to have a fit, in the end I just gave them to Trix.

So after this whole mission I’m finally ready to slowly going nowhere.  Nice!

 My thoughts are wandering to contentment.  When does one really reach that state?  When are we content with what we have and content with what we will never have?  If you have reached that place, does it mean that you long for nothing ever more?  And as soon as you start longing for something, does that mean that your contentment flies out of window?

 I look at the world and my eyes fills with tears.  So much hurt, pain, destruction and greed going on.  Where does all of this come from??  I believe that one of the reasons is jealousy.  Lusting for what others have and what you know you will never have.  Criminals trying to get back at people, trying to make themselves feel better?  Convincing yourself that you are a god in your mind.  Bringing peace to a distorted and demented mind.

 Last night I woke up from a sound, sounded as if somebody was fiddling with my front door.  My first thoughts were of course a break-in.  A paralyzing fear overwhelmed me, and after about 10 minutes lying there eyes as wide as can be, I thought to myself, to hell with it.  If it’s my time, it’s my time.  Nothing that I can do to prevent that, do I really think that my hockey stick is the ultimate weapon?  Ridiculous to think that.  So this brings me back to life spent on earth, your end, when it will come, how will it be.  All sorts of things… like a liquorice all-sort pack.

 So wondering about the time we spend on earth and accomplishments and goals etc., got my mind working quite a bit.  What is the ideal way of measuring success and what is the criteria used to measure contentment?  There are of course different forms of contentment, content with your work, your surroundings, your success.  But… if you are content with your work, is that a sign that you no longer strive for more?  Can you have the one without the other?  If you always strive for more does that mean that you will never be content with you current situation?

 Then there is of course contentment with your friends and family, the one you can choose the other you simply you have to cope with.  Needless to say both sometimes brink on the edge of murder…, yet the only reason keeping you back is the current jail conditions in SA.  Ok that is taking it a bit far I know…

 So then when do you reach contentment?  Does your dreams keep you from reaching that high place of bliss?  Makes it seem quite unreachable?  Something only meant for others?

 Why can’t I just be happy with what I have, with what I have lost and with what I know I will never have.

Clearly I never have a dull moment at the office or in the field…  Yesterday was spent in the forest again.  Which was a delightful change from the monotonous surroundings of the office. 

 Take note that the following is written in retrospection of certain events.  So the dramatic effect has somewhat been subdued.

 I will start with the semi-boring stuff first.  I was lucky enough to have the wonderful presence of Mr. Kameni once more.  A true blessing indeed.  The knowledge that man has gathered over the years will take me eons to match.  A true blessing indeed.  Well that aside, it did not keep us from misjudging our exit point from the forest, we got lost.

 Now obviously the forest is not only the habitat for trees.  There are various little insects, creatures, birds and ghastly tics!  A very humbling experience… turning around and let a colleague spot tics on both your ass and back.  Very humbling to say the least… but then the experience is shared by both.  He underwent my scrutinizing eyes as well.  What is good for the goose is good for the gander… The one hand washes the other… Or so to speak…

 Some of you might agree with me on the following: as soon as you see the first tics on your pants you minutes later feel them all over.  It firstly starts with your ass, I can only assume why.  You start getting this nervous ‘twitch’, this nagging crawling feeling of something searching gold in an area definitely not suitable for gold mining.  Well at least not by insects and so forth…  And that’s where it starts, it soon escalates into numerous twitches and crawling feelings.  And make no mistake you pluck your hat off every 10 minutes, totally convinced that the buggers are in your hair.  Seconds later you place your hat back on… you don’t know what else might be taking their chances…  After all a head of clean glossy hair does not pass through here everyday… the buggers will be taking their chances for sure.  Bastards!

 Now after this clear show of discontent for these, these ‘creatures’ Mr. Kameni soon gets the idea…  This is not our first trip in the forest and it will for sure not be our last.  Not long after, he would make comments of, “Don’t worry, we’ll not take that path, that thick area, that is where we get these things.”,  “I know you are very sensitive for goggatjies.”  Goggatjies, Afrikaans for little bugs.  Such a pleasant and humorous sounding word to describe such vile little creatures.  They are blood suckers after all.

 Wishful thinking had me believe that this will be the worst for the day.  Oh no!  This is Africa after all.  We walked through a plantation into indigenous forest, main aim is so that I can learn where previous research plots have been laid out.  Me looking and walking around, in a world of my own, getting the idea of the dimensions etc.  Mr. Kameni all of a sudden yelling in Xhosa.  Now my Xhosa is terrible, but I know a few phrases.  First instinct, stand still, listen, he is quite a few meters away.  My first obvious question was, baboons?  Monkeys?  Bush pigs?  Him, “No, it’s poachers”.  Standing still for a few moments, realizing we are only two, we have no weapons with us, so basically we are sitting ducks.  Instinctively I move closer to him, he is still asking and yelling a few phrases in Xhosa.  Me translating here and there and waiting for his nod as an answer that I was spot on.  Getting good at this guessing game… 

Both standing still, listening, branches breaking, twigs snapping.  And then very peacefully we continue talking.  Strange how crime is just a normal part of our life here.  A few more breaking branches, we both stand still, listening.  Your eyes scanning the whole area.  Listening once more, I don’t hear dogs, well that is a relief, no more sounds.  I think we are in the clear.  The feeling of your heart pounding, the exhilaration in those few minutes makes you realize again you are actually alive.  On retrospect things could’ve been worse, far worse, FUBAR to be exact.  We were very fortunate.  This fortune may not fall on us twice, a very depressing thought.
 

Now due to all this excitement and luck, I made two mental notes:

1. Get quotes for the following: 9mm Glock, double barrel pump-action shotgun, Uzi and just possibly a few hand grenades just for the final blow.
2. Enjoy life to the fullest for you never know when your light might be snuffed.

Let me firstly explain as to why I’ve been watching soaps lately.  The last two weeks I’ve been at the office, bad weather, and my work colleague’s sister died.  Now funerals on the African side are a huge thing, it’s been two weeks now, the funeral will finally be tomorrow.  Communities form a big part of African-culture funerals here, an ox is slaughtered, calling the ancient ancestor’s spirits etc…, ok that is a story for another day…  

Now since I’m at the office… which means that for approximately 9 hours I’m behind the pc to begin with and 7.5 hours are spent surfing the net, found a few interesting things…very interesting…  So by the time I get home a computer is the last thing I want to see.  Easiest substitute, the TV.  How nice, replacing one screen with another.

Now “female-peak-time” on the South African TV-channels is from 4:45 - 7pm.  Meaning soapy time.  Now I place the soapy watchers in the following categories:

1. The couch – this is the kind that are lying fully spread out on the couch, the eyes have this blank look.  Quasimodo looks like a genius next to this person.  Any swift movement near this person could result in a heart attack due to shock.  Now the reason for this clear ‘blank’ look is due to boredom because the whole soapy is a load of shit.  Any question asked to this person will result in the monotonous answer of “uuuuuuh”, and that’s about the best response you’ll ever get.  Now in real life this person will tend to be the relaxed kind, not much bothers them but then time and opportunities might fly past them, which means that in the end they loose out.

2. The relaxer – also in the horizontal position, but this person’s eyes are still flickering, the brain is still active.  Now this person does not look at the soapy at all, in fact the noise of the soapy actually stimulates thought in this person.  In real life this person is active, a bit cautious, not often caught with their pants round the ankles, that kind of thing.  They tend to be calm, thinkers and just might possibly show a bit of arrogance.  You want this person on your side.  I strongly suggest that you bribe this person with snacks the whole time, for you never know when it’s your rainy day…

3. The recliner – also in the horizontal position.  The feet will be moving, either to a song in the mind in order to drain the shit on the soapy, or due to anxiety, will explain that right now.  This is a popular position for men who are forced by their wives to watch the shit in the first place.  Hence sometimes the display of anxiety, for he knows that after this whole drama came to an end she will want to discuss the issues and make it relevant to their own relationship.  A very entertaining sight and a very evil manipulation technique used by women…very wicked indeed.  Tsk tsk tsk…

4. The edge-sitter – the position of sitting right on the edge of a chair.  See a couch is far too relaxed for this person.  Usually this person sits alone.  You can place pillows behind this person and there won’t be crinkles.  Now as the ‘drama’ in the soapy increases so will the gasps from this person.  Also the telltale hand over the mouth, trying desperately to stifle the gasps from shock and horror.  This is the worst person to have as company, and this goes for any kind of situation.  These kind of soapy watchers tend to take everything way to seriously.  In real life they are the worriers, no matter what is going on in their life, be sure that it is ‘the worst that can happen to anybody!’  These persons are also more than likely to stick their noses in everybody’s business.  At barbeques they will pitch up with 3 salads and the neatest napkins on earth.  Most probably made by aunt Ruth, or something similar.  Avoid these kinds of people at all cost.

5. The guest – poor thing.  This is a new acquaintance that simply pitched up at the wrong time.  The position will vary from the ‘edge-sitter’ to a bit more of a relaxed position of leaning into the cushions.  Fidgeting are quite visible, constant remarks, a few exclamations along the way and the nervous tucking at the sleeves of clothes.  The worst in this case is the removal of fluff on clothes – clear indicator that this person is not just bored by the soapy, but by you as well.  Try to get rid of this person within 10 minutes of the warning signs.  The ‘fluffers’ make usually very sarcastic remarks.  Now absolute judgment can’t be made about ‘The Guest”, so this one I will leave for further investigation.  The outcome can be positive or negative.  I will keep you updated on the progress made in this particular research area …

Now to get back to the line-up of the soaps.  The worst in the world.  To kick it all off there is of course the well known ‘Days of Our Lives’, followed by ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’, roughly translated the last mentioned means that one particular character tries to weasel her way into every man’s bed possible.  This said character is of course non other than ‘Brooke’.  I rest my case…  The disastrous follow-up are non other than ‘Passions’ and ‘The Young and the Restless’.  Now in the good old 80’s the Young and the Restless was actually translated into Afrikaans.  The title was then of course ‘Rustelose Jare’.  Needless to say a whole waste of time, the word shit is a serious understatement for these last two soaps.  Now to make matters worse, since this is ‘female-peak-time’ of course as many fast food places will try to get their advert on every chance they get.  As a quick reminder to the woman of the house, ‘just call now and we’ll deliver this hot pizza in just 30 minutes!’, ‘no mess, no fuss’, ‘you must feed your family at the end of the soaps’.  As can be seen a whole lot of brainwashing goes on in this time period.  Due to the shit in the soaps women are very open to brainwashing and manipulation. 

So between the soaps and the food adverts you’re not sure which are the worst.  In the end you get too lazy so that just the thought of cooking is too damn much.  Which means that you start convincing yourself that the milk in ice-cream is reeeeaal good, and that there must be at least 2 kinds of vitamins in chocolate sauce.  Unfortunately the soaps becomes so boring that by the time it’s done you’ve lost both your appetite, half your brain is oozing out of your ear and you realize you just pissed yourself due to laziness. 

Thank you William J. Bell, thank you very much.  The shit you’ve come up with over the years has been enlightening to my life.  I realize that I can sleep with my boss to get a promotion, I can sleep with my fiancé, both his brothers and all his cousins and the opposition to their company, I can keep my daughter in the dark as to who her father is and a plastic/human doll named Timmie just might be the best friend one could wish for.  Really thank you from my heart. 

Now where are that ice cream and that vitamin rich chocolate sauce….

 Africa, the continent of beauty, grace, color and a cauldron of cultures.   South Africa, my home, my land, my soil, my culture.  It is very hard to try and explain to people what South Africa is about.  You must experience if for yourself.  Just know that you will be changed forever.  From the grass plains to the bush to the warm waters of our oceans.  From the Chinaman making a quick buck on the street to the stockbroker in Johannesburg.  From the Cape Malay curry to the Indian curry in Kwa-Zulu Natal.  From the wine lands in the Western Cape to the orchids in Mpumalanga.  From one language to eleven.  To a unified language for all to use.  Our world slogan is ‘The Rainbow Nation’.

 Africa creeps slowly into your soul and sure enough she will stay.  Her grace flows into her people.  The friendly nature found in all.  Humor in all situations with the believe that ‘Tomorrow will be better’, ‘Tomorrow will come’, ‘There will be more time for this’, ‘Do not rush yourself, there must be time to play’.  A very relaxed and lazy life.  Weekends filled with braai’s, the smell of wood fires, a beer in your hand and the noise of boere-musiek and a thousand crickets in your ears.  That is life!

 It has become more and more apparent to me how hurried the life is over the big oceans.  The strive for money, material wealth.  The rush for impression, status and image wanking.  How sad.  How often has a child heard the words “I can’t come to your game, for I have to work”.  You see what money has done to us?  It made us blind.  I once received this email, many years ago, it was about the Seven Wonders of the World.  A young girl sat in her class as the teacher asked the class to name the wonders.  The girl frowned and told the teacher, but there is so many.  The classmates laughed, thinking her an idiot.  Then the girl started, to see, to touch, to hear, to feel, to taste, to love, to walk, to jump, to cry of laughter, family and friends.  Makes you realize how small and quite insignificant we are.  How often we take pride in the things that will not last.

 This brings me back to Africa.  Make no mistake, the ideal life of image wanking has come over the oceans and infected my land as well.  Spotless cars, big mansions with stuck-up and sour people found far too often.  But our life of crime makes us more aware about the value of time.  There is always time for leisure.  There is always time for friends.  There is always time for a few laughs.  There is always time to help each other.  There is always time for Africa.  For She is in me and all around me.

I am an African.