What's happening...

Sooo...you can see from today's Ten Things Thursday post (and a number of others!) that tomorrow (Friday the 28th), I'm leaving for Montpellier! I'm SUPER excited, but (obviously) also a little nervous.

Anyway, today I FINALLY got my paws on my visa (it's been sitting in Joburg up till today), and it's such a relief to finally have the stupid thing where I can keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't go anywhere (they've proven themselves to be sneaky little things). Of course, as with my passport, I look AWFUL in the photo, and I wouldn't be surprised if the customs and immigration officers have a hard time believing it's me (or even human). This has happened to me before, in China - I was suspiciously asked if the person in my passport was actually me; luckily they believed me! But I digress.

My mom (tentatively) informed me this morning that I may have yet another unpleasant problem when I leave tomorrow. Let me explain. My family always travels business class. Always. Not because we're snobs (even though we are snobby about airline seats), but because my dad gets discounted tickets because he works for the airline company. Why not go business class then? Anyone who has ever travelled business class AND economy class will know that if you have the choice (and you're smart), you choose business class. Then you can actually get some sleep on your flight. Anyway, my ticket for my flight to Germany is a business class ticket, but before I booked my ticket, some selfish, idiotic person booked out the WHOLE of business class...this means (horror of horrors) that I may have to go economy class, if all those people do pitch up (which is unlikely - we've had this problem before and they almost NEVER do). This is REALLY annoying because I was really looking forward to my nice cushy business class seat (I haven't flown for a while so i was really excited). I HOPE that one of those silly people has decided to cancel (they often do, who knows why?). Oh well, at least, if nothing else, I get to sit in the business class lounge. I'm such an aeroplane snob :P

So there you have it, my latest update. There probably won't be too many more for a while - I'm going to get quite busy this next while...speaking of which, I mentioned that the school does excursions - here's their program for the next few days :

1/10 - guided tour of Montpellier - the historical centre
3/10 - cheese tasting
4/10 - restaurant "Moules Frites"
6/10 - excursion to Aix-en-Provence
8/10 - guided tour of the city - Antigone (the new city)
10/10 - the underground museum "Crypte"
11/10 - Oriental evening
13/10 - excursion to Provence

Maybe to some of you, this doesn't sound exciting, but I think it does! I'm particularly looking forward to the tours of Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence, Antigone, and Provence (especially Provence).

More on these and what I'm up to soon!

Ten Things Thursday - Montpellier

So it's Thursday again, and this isn't just any Thursday for me...tomorrow I'm leaving and jetting off (first class of course :P) to France! As a recap for anyone who didn't read my previous post about going, I'm off to a city called Montpellier, which is a university and language school hotspot.

There's lots to do there, and so my theme for this Thursday is 'Things to do in Montpellier":

1) Visit the zoo - I know zoos are a bit of a controversial topic, but I can't help liking them!

2) Visit the Odysseum - This place sounds like a SERIOUS mall (being a serious mall rat, this suits me just fine). It has an ice rink, a planetarium, a big cinema, and loads of shops. YES PLEASE!




3) Visit the beach - Alright, so I'm going near winter, but from the sound of it, it will still be warm for about half the time I'm there, so hopefully I'll get to sit on some of their beautiful beaches. There are also supposed to be natural flamingo colonies - which I hope I might get to see, if they haven't left for winter or something!

4) Visit old buildings / historical sites - As in most European cities, Montpellier has loads of stunning old buildings and churches, statues, and historical places to see. Some people my age wouldn't be interested in this type of thing, but I am (must have something to do with being into art).

5) Visit the parks - Montpellier's park "Le jardin des plantes", literally "The Garden of Plants" (creative), is meant to be the biggest botanical garden in France. They seem to have lots of other parks and gardens too, all so beautiful. Normally I'm not into gardens, but these really are pretty, so I'm definitely going to see them...my mom would be so proud!

6) Visit the caves - Montpellier is quite close to the Pyrenées mountains, so there are some beeg caves in the area. I'm actually scared of caves...but I'm not going to miss an opportunity to take photos of these (bragging rights you know...)

7) Go to the markets - There are a few markets in the area, but the one I'm most interested in is the Flower Market. I love flowers, and although nobody ever buys them for me, I still like to look!

8) Hopefully visit the nearby towns - The school that I'm going to has classes till 12:30, then they go on excursions some afternoons of the week. They do tours of the nearby cities and places, like Provence, Camargue (where they do horse riding), Avignon, Pont du Gard, Carcassonne, Nimes, Uzes, Aix-en-Provence, etc. I'm really excited about these excursions - they look like they organise really interesting things to do!

9) Visit Le Bookshop - I found this on one of the websites about Montpellier (yes I've been looking, I'm excited OK!). It sounds like a big bookshop, that sells all kinds of things, and also runs conversation swaps. They do this is other countries where people wanting to learn a language (either the local language or English) come to speak to people who can speak it. Hopefully I can go there to practise my french or even to speak English to someone! Buying a few books never hurt either....

10) And of course....MOST IMPORTANTLY - have an amazing time, eat lots of yummy food, make new friends, and speak french :D



More on whether or not I actually get to do all this coming soon!!

Excitement.

So...today is Tuesday. Ordinarily, this wouldn't really mean much to me (sitting around doing nothing means you lose the use of your internal calendar), but THIS Tuesday, it means that there are 3 days left until Friday, when I'm jetting off to France! 

After a lot of hard work and effort (mainly on my parents part - thank you, dear parents!), I finally get to go. Ok, so it IS a little scary making such a long journey all on my lonesome - I'm going from Durban to Joburg, from Joburg to Germany, from Germany to Paris, then from Paris I'm taking the train to Montpellier. Yes, I KNOW, it's quite a "leggy" trip, isn't it? 

But I'm REALLY excited! I have never lived away from home for such a long period of time before (10 weeks), which is a little daunting. But, I'm hoping it will be good for me, and I know it'll be good for my French! I'm also really hoping that there are some younger people at the language school, and that they're not all old (this is a possibility, but not likely, I think)! More on that to come...

So this Thursday, I'll be posting a list (the Ten Things Thursday list) of some of the things that I hope to do in Montpellier (awesome things!). But because I'm very impatient, here's a little preview of some of the "to-do's" in Montpellier - beautiful beaches (obviously this had to be the first thing that came to mind) ; churches, abbeys, mansions ; beautiful architecture ; a massive mall that includes an ice rink, planetarium, big movie theatre, and loads of shops (I approve!) ; beautiful parks and gardens ; markets ; a zoo and aquarium ; visiting other nearby cities ; wild flamingo colonies (which hopefully haven't gone anywhere for winter yet) ; lavender farms ; maybe a perfume farm ; so much more!!! 

So, now do you see why I'm excited???

Oh, and then, below is a picture of WHERE I'm going - Montpellier, which is in the Mediterranean (be jealous)....

Word of the Week

So I've decided to do a post every week about the "word of the week". I got this idea from another post I was writing (which you will see in the future!), because there are so many awesome words in this language of ours (and then some in others).

So my first word is:

ASTEISM - no, not atheism, asteism. An "asteism" is an "ingeniously polite insult". As a big fan of sarcasm, innuendoes, implications, inference, and clever language in general, this appeals to me!

For example (I didn't come up with this)-

"Oh, I love your dress! It does wonders for your figure."

And then, a quote I like about insults:

"The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, then it's probably deserved." - Russell Lynes

Yippeee!

By now, everyone who speaks to me, reads my Facebook statuses, or reads my blog will know that I have had some problems with my Schengen visa and the documents for it...

The really good (awesome) news is that that document that I needed finally arrived yesterday morning (after a long wait)! My mom phoned the visa people to ask when she could come in to finish my application, and they said...."TODAY!" So, my dear, darling mother went off to Joburg (I couldn't go because it's too pricey to fly around two people for just the day), and at long last, that silly visa was applied for.

Today (this afternoon to be precise), we got an e-mail informing us that my visa and passport are ready to be collected! How's that for you - ONE day to process and give me my visa! Kudos to you, Capago people!

So, what does that mean??? That means...everything is SORTED and I am most definitely going to France next week Friday! YIPPEEEEEE!

Ten Things Thursday - FOOOOOD

Ok so of course, I have to do a Ten Things Tuesday about food. I mean, everybody loves food. Everybody. Even anorexics love it deep down....

So here's list of some of the yummiest foods :

1) PASTA - Have I mentioned before that I'm MAD about pasta? Yes, yes I have. I'm not lying here, I really do love pasta. it is without a doubt, my favourite food in the whole world. Lasagne is probably my favourite type of pasta dish, so here's a picture of it for you to drool over. YUMMY.

2) NUTELLA - Nutella has become SUCH a major thing with everybody - and for good reason. It is pure goodness in a jar. If you haven't tried it yet (which I doubt, everyone has), for your own good, TRY IT! There are loads of super tasty looking recipes that use nutella, and because I'm such an awesome person, here are the links to some:

Nutella Caramel Hazelnut Brownies
Nutella Milkshakes
Nutella Filled Doughnuts
Nutella Dream Cookies
Red Velvet Cake with Nutella Fudge Icing
Nutella Crème Brûlée
Nutella Ice cream

3) PIZZA - Everybody loves pizza. I don't think I've ever met anyone who dislikes it. Although there probably are some oddballs out there who don't like it. But really, this is good stuff. Unfortunately, here in South Africa, it's hard to find really nice pizza. When I've had pizza in America, the slices are massive and dripping with cheese, covered in yummy toppings. That's probably not even close to what you can get in Italy. Here, the shops are are bit stingy, with the size and the toppings. But, oh well, we'll just have to make do with what we've got! Or you could always make it yourself!

Pizza Recipe


4) ROAST POTATOES - Come on, who doesn't love some good roast potatoes? I mean the really good kind, the ones that are crisped just right, with just the right amount of seasoning...mmm.
Personally, I'm very disappointed if my family has a roast of some sort without potatoes. It's just not the same. I really want to try them the way they're done in the second picture - wrapped in bacon with a dip. MIAM MIAM.

5) CUPCAKES - So maybe cupcakes are a little bit childish, and only for little girls...but I don't care because they're so good! It's so much easier popping a cupcake into your mouth that cutting pieces of cake and having to find a way to eat your slice without ending up wearing it as well. I love making cupcakes, and all my friends and family are plied with cupcakes whenever a birthday or celebration comes round. Here are a few recipes I found for cupcakes :

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon-Blueberry icing
White chocolate, Peanut butter, and Banana Cupcakes
Milky Way Cupcakes

6) PANCAKES - This is for my brother. I actually don't like pancakes all that much, but pancakes for him are like pasta for me. He would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 365 days a year if he could. Pancakes are pretty versatile, I mean you can eat them with chicken, mince, creamed spinach, cinnamon and lemon, bananas and caramel (a good one), ice cream, syrup, and of course, NUTELLA. Nutella is good on pancakes. Actually, it's good on anything.


7) BILTONG - I sometimes feel sorry for people who aren't South African because they miss out on biltong. Sure some other countries have some form of nasty dried meat, and America has beef jerky (I don't know what they see in this), but we're the only people who can buy biltong at the drop of a hat! All South Africans will tell you that biltong is good - how can a whole nation be wrong? :)

8) CHIPS (CRISPS) - Here we call them chips. We call the ones you fry or get at McDonalds chips too. We're cool like that. Either way, both forms of these, crisps AND fries as some would say, are extra yummy. My family used to call me "The Chip Monster" (which I actually find insulting), because once I start with chips, I can't stop. Can't. I don't know anybody that is as bad as me...oh well, at least I'm unique. Like everybody else.

9) CREAMED SPINACH - Most people think it looks like vomit. Most people will disagree with me and say they don't even like regular spinach! I, on the other hand, looove it. If you have to eat vegetables, why not eat them doused in cream, with bits of feta cheese? I don't see what's so horrible about creamed spinach at all! So leave me to eat my vomit in peace....

10) NOT PEAS - I'm breaking the trend here, and adding something that is NOT yummy. I repeat, NOT YUMMY! I don't really know what it is about them that I hate so much. They don't taste particularly good, and it's not like they're worth all the effort of eating them. I mean, you chase the stupid things all around your plate, and after five minutes of performing an extreme balancing act with a bunch of peas, you end up with two on your fork. It doesn't work for me. Nope.

Newest News!

Ok, so here's a quick summary of my newest news....

Not that there's very much, since I have been imprisoned at home with chicken pox (blah).
Firstly, the chicken poxes (yes, I know that's not a real word) are going away....YAY!

For anyone who hasn't yet had it - please, when you do, just stay home. Don't go spreading your misery, seriously! Chicken pox is the MOST annoying disease - you don't really feel too bad (except for the incessant, insane, INFERNAL itching), but you can't go anywhere because you might infect someone (not that you look particularly wonderful at this time anyway!).

Secondly, anyone wanting to learn French in a fun way? Try watching cartoons in French! It's immensely amusing, and you might pick up something! I've spent my imprisonment time at home watching TinTin and the "Penguins of Madagascar" in French (yes, you can do that). Although, what I mainly learned from watching TinTin was: "Tu es vivent!" (You're alive!), "Il est disparu!" (He/It has disappeared!), "Au Secour!" (Help!), "Mille Sabords!" (Captain Haddock's "Blistering Barnacles"). The amount of times they say "You're alive!" and "It's disappeared!" is amazing!

Anyway, the main news is that I'm now leaving a week later. So I would have left tomorrow, but now I'll leave next week Thursday / Friday. This is disappointing, but actually a really good thing. Obviously, I don't want to jet off to France, and meet the people I'm spending two months with, looking (frankly) a bit scary (I look like I've had some disease - appropriate), plus you never know with airports - they might stick me in quarantine just in case! Also, my idiotic piece of essential paper is STILL not here. Apparently, it's in Pietermaritzburg and will be here on Friday (how it will take it two days to make a ten minute drive is a mystery to me). But, I mean, really, it TOOK IT LONG ENOUGH!!! It has taken it a week and a half to accomplish what is supposed to only take you days (such is the way of the South African Postal Service). Ugh.

Anyway, there's my little bit of news (and rant) for now....feel free to come back tomorrow for Ten Things Thursday! :D

A few things about chicken pox...

So you know the other day when I said
"I have a whopping dose of flu"?

Well, I was SO WRONG! In fact, I have
 chicken pox...delightful. Before you ask,
 no, I haven't had it before. But NOW I do,
 make no mistake.

Anyway, here's a list of ten things about
 chicken pox :

1) Spot.
2) Spot.
3) Don't scratch the spots!
4) Spot.
5) Spot.
6) Spot.
7) DON'T scratch the spots!
8) Spot.
9) Spot.
10) DON'T SCRATCH THE SPOTS!!

Yup, I look like a polka-dot swarm attacked
 me...and they're itchy polka dots!
Oh well, at least I can be dramatic about
 it! I mean, come on, it's a suuuper
 contagious disease!

Also, some news about my French trip -
 it's been postponed by a week, because
 my piece of paper won't arrive in time
 for me to leave this week! So it will
 be the week after (not so bad!) .

I suppose this is also a good thing because
 of the chicken pox - the airport people
 may have caught me and quarantined me
 for an infectious disease otherwise!
(That's a joke - I don't think they really
 would!)

Schlep.

I have a bit of a dilemma.

Remember in a previous post I mentioned that we were struggling to get a Schengen visa because of ONE STUPID PIECE OF PAPER???

Well, it looks like that stupid paper isn't going to arrive on time for me to fly on Thursday the 20th as planned (I blame the postal service). We even phoned customs to find out if it had arrived in SA - "No, no, it hasn't arrived yet. You should only start looking on Wednesday!". WEDNESDAY??? Bleh.

THEN I go onto the French postal site (awesome French-understanding took place), and used the thing's tracking number to find out its whereabouts. What does THIS source say? Oh, it left France on Tuesday the 11th. Now, customs lady, please tell me how it flew out of France on Tuesday and STILL hasn't arrived in SA?? Ahhhhh, will the chaos never END?!

So now we have to try and work out if, as usual, our sucky systems have failed and it IS here (this means I can go on time...BEST OUTCOME RIGHT HERE!), OR if it's gotten lost somewhere in the air between France and Africa (BAD option!).

So there you have it - my dilemma.

To top that all off, I have a whopping dose of flu.

I hope you all feel sorry for me now!!

Haha.

So I thought it was about time I put up a picture of myself.

So, here's one of my more recent ones...aren't I beautiful?

And that guy behind me, isn't he gorgeous???

Haha, if anyone is a Mac user, I would recommend having a look at their Photo Booth app...

the results are HILARIOUS. We've spent ages sitting taking stupid pictures like this one, and laughing so hard that we cried and had sore cheeks :)

Ten Things Thursday - Location, Location, Location

So I've noticed a lot of blogs have a list that they put up on a certain day of the week (like 7 Things Sunday or whatever), so I'm going to steal it for my own blog.
So today's theme / topic is.....dudumDUM....

Ten (really awesome) places I want to go:

1) ITALY- Italy is at the top of my list for so many reasons. The first of which is the most obvious - FOOD. I am a pasta MANIAC. Im not kidding. I have been known to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if it's available. I feel I need to stuff myself with real Italian pasta before I die. Then, of course, there are the pizzas, the gelatos, coffee, you name it. Being an art freak, I also want to see the famous buildings, artworks, churches etc that Italy boasts. And maybe, just maybe, I'd want to have a look at the Italian men too. It wouldn't hurt.

Is a beautiful, no?

2) CHINA - OK, so I've been to China already a couple of times. Technically, though, Hong Kong (the only chinese city I've been to) doesn't belong to actual China. I want to go and see (specifically) The Great Wall, and the Terracotta Army, and the Forbidden City and all those cool old things. This would need a LOT of transferring and transiting, but to me it would be worth it. Ever since I was small I have been fascinated by the Terracotta Army - this is from watching Arabian Nights too many times! There was a story about the Terracotta Army in it, and even little-me wanted to see them!

Ah i get so excited even looking at pictures of it!

3) VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA - So I know most people wouldn't even think of going to places like these for a holiday, but actually they look like the most amazing places to go! Vietnam has beautiful lagoons, and Cambodia has so many interesting things to see - the Temples of Angkor Wat look so interesting to me. It just sounds like such an experience!

4) MACHU PICCHU - I know it's fairly cliché to say you want to see Machu Picchu. It's one of those typical bucket list items. I mean it though. I really would love to see Machu Picchu. I don't know why I am so fascinated by old buildings, things, architecture (the Great Wall, the terracotta army, temples of Angkor wat, now Machu Picchu). Im not sure what the draw is. Maybe it's the mystery behind places like this. I love that they're abandoned, dark, and a bit like a maze (I also have a thing about mazes). Anyway, Machu Picchu is just the type of thing that I'd want to see. Hopefully I'll get the opportunity some day.

5) IRELAND (AND SCOTLAND) - If you look at pictures of Ireland and Scotland, they look like the most beautiful, picturesque places. The pictures always show rolling green hills, lakes and castles. It looks like some sort of wonderland. Ok, so generally they have terrible weather...I STILL want to see them. Also, I am of the opinion that the Scottish and Irish people are lucky enough to be the owners of the BEST accents in the entire world. Eat your hearts out, aussies!

6) CONTIKI TOUR - Alright, so it's not exactly a place. But they do go TO a lot of places. I particularly want to do their European tour - I so badly want to see all the sights and beautiful things in Europe!

7) GREENLAND / ICELAND / ALASKA - For those of you who can't remember, Greenland is the icy one and Iceland is the green one. Or so I've heard. Anyway, I'd like to go to on eof those to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), and the fjords, and ice and snow and all that. It would be an amazing experience, and a totally unique holiday! Chances are, I won't ever get a chance to do it, but I can dream right?

naaaaaaaw, look how CUTE they are....


8) EGYPT - I have heard that visiting Egypt is not really so nice. Apparently it's similar to visiting India...I would still like to do it. It must be my like of old places. I'd love to see the pyramids! To me they seem so mysterious, and such amazing feats of architecture. And I'd go camel riding (even though you can do that all over South Africa).

9) NEW YORK CITY - So, yes, I have already been to NYC. But I'd really like to go back and see one more thing that I missed out on (due to my accursed minor-ness) - the jazz bars / clubs. I've heard such wonderful stories of the music you can hear in New York, particularly jazz. Being a lover of all kinds of music (this doesn't include rap, RnB, or bad house music - that's not music), this is right up my alley. Of course, there's lots of other things to do in New York - the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, 5th Avenue shopping (if you're super rich), Times Square, the HUGE Toys'R'Us...although I've seen that all already, I'd like to see it again!

This was taken four years ago...ie. I DO NOT LOOK LIKE THIS ANYMORE!!

10) MORE OF SOUTH AFRICA - Although I would never choose a South African holiday over an overseas holiday (traitorous I know), I still feel bad that I haven't seen too much of my own country. South Africa has such beautiful places to offer, and I would like to see them someday. Maybe after I've travelled the world :P

My family took these, pretty huh?


So there's my list of places I'd like to go to. Of course, there are more, but I'm limited to 10 here!

Photo Scavenger Hunt...

I am dead set on doing this. I got the idea for doing one on the indieBerries blog, and now I HAVE to try it.

The photo scavenger hunt has the same basic principle as a normal scavenger hunt - you get a list with things on it that you have to try to collect, and you work in a team of four or so. Each item has a different number of points, so obviously you try and get the ones with the highest points. That's the aim of the game - most points wins, so collect the most stuff! The photo scavenger hunt works differently - the items on the list are things that your team has to photograph (believe me, it sounds way more fun).

So I can just imagine the hilarious photos, and how funny it would be trying to get them! I came up with my own list based on one I found on the Net (because I have too much time on my hands am awesome). I'm going to try to organise in December, and organise a prize....any takers? :P

Anyway, here's a few things that are on my list -

• Entire Team crossing the street duckling style
• Entire Team playing Chubby Game (that game where you stuff as many marshmallows in your mouth as possible)
• Entire Team fighting with Cluedo board game weapons (you know, the lead pipe revolver, etc)
• Entire Team wearing one pair of pants (i.e. get a REALLY big pair of pants)
• A photo of a calculator spelling "HELLO"
• A photo of something that starts with a "Z"
• A photo of 3 store employees doing "Charlie's Angels" poses
• A photo of a dog-pile (min 5 people)
• Someone holding a team member upside-down
• Stranger giving a team member a piggy back ride
• Team mate asleep on a bench, hobo style
• Team mate having a tea party with stuffed animals
• Team mate dragging another team mate by the hair (caveman style)
• Team mate having their "birthday" at a restaurant, being sung to by employees
• Team mate with blacked out teeth (tape or chocolate)
• Team mate shaking hands with a pirate (they HAVE to be weird so they're harder to take photos of!)
• Team mate eating green eggs and ham.

So those are just a few things off of my list...

Really hoping that I can get it going when I'm baaaack from La France :) 

Pusheen

I have recently discovered the Pusheen the cat comics...I love them! They're so cute. This may perhaps be because I am destined to become a cat lady, but I don't know...
You can find all the comics at pusheen.com.

 Don't ask me why they're moving....

For the Win.

The last few days, I've been worried sick that my stupid piece of paper that I need to get my visa wasn't going to make it here on time. Yesterday, though, we got an e-mail saying that it's been sent!!

So the French mayor does work harder than our mayors in South Africa. French system for the win!!

Visas...

So by now, just about everyone knows that I am going to France. In fact, I'm supposed to be leaving next week Thursday! So that leaves 10 days...

Of course, it couldn't all just work out perfectly. As I said in a previous post, it HARD to get a visa.
For starters, they don't have an office in Durban, so I had to go all the way to Joburg, just for them to tell me that, no, I don't have all my documents (of course, they don't TELL you on their website checklist that they WANT these all-important documents). I am missing one called the Attestation d'accueil - proof of where I'm going to be staying.

And, of course, this piece of paper happens to be the hardest one to get. They HAVE to have the original, posted here all the way from France. It HAS to have a stamp with it that costs 30 Euros. It HAS to be signed by the mayor. Yes, the mayor. I'm not kidding.

If you ask me, this is all absolutely ridiculous. WHY does the mayor have to sign my stupid piece of paper? Honestly, it's like an endurance test for you to prove that you actually do want to visit their country.

Anyway, I have 10 days left. The thing with visas is, they won't give you one unless you've already organised your flights and accommodation. So you set all the dates, and they don't get your visa to you on time. Murphy's law.

Right now, I'm holding thumbs that the mayor is NOT anything like our mayors in SA, and that he has signed my piece of paper. Hopefully it all works out.

If not...hmm, c'est la vie.

On a mission...

Today at church was Missions Sunday. I always like Missions Sunday - the missionaries that come to speak are so interesting, and without fail I am amazed at how brave some of them are. I personally wouldn't have the guts to live in a Muslim country and risk being shot for teaching about the Gospel.

But I always agree with them when they say that we are called to teach others about Christianity, and I feel that we should do something to help. Of course, most people can't (or don't want to) jet off to a foreign place to live and work with strange people who don't look like you, talk like you, or even eat the same things as you.

I'm one of these people. I wouldn't want to live in a third world country or an Islamic country. I'm afraid I just don't have the fearless nature to do things like this...

But today, the speaker brought up something that really interested me. He works for OM, a worldwide organisation that sends missionaries to other places. He has a passion for working with Muslim people, but he briefly mentioned that OM do short-term programs in July in the Mediterranean area.

THIS I was interested in...next year I am going to Stellenbosch University, where Im going to do a degree in languages. In first year you do four modules, and I'm going to do four languages (this is either a very good or very stupid idea) - French, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and one undecided language (maybe Italian). Given that I already know some French, and will know some Spanish by next year July, I thought, wow, maybe I could do that!

Then when I got home, I went onto their site and looked at their current short-term missions. Obviously, the one that goes to the Mediterranean isn't listed because July isn't coming around again any time soon, but the ones that were there were also promising! There are upcoming missions to France and Belgium, both of which I would LOVE to do.

So now, hopefully, next year I can organise to go on the July mission, or maybe even to France or Belgium in between going to University. Why not put my languages to good use right?

I also hope that once I've finished my degree and can speak some Mandarin, I can get involved with some Chinese missions...

Why am I putting this on my blog, you ask? Really, it's because I'm excited. It always seems like you can only do work for God if you are a pastor or a full-time missionary. Actually, you can get involved as just any old normal person. I'm so glad that I will be able to do something so exciting in the future!

Also, I'm putting it on here as a reminder to myself. Future me can look back at this post and remember what it was that I wanted to do...

Although hopefully I will have done it and won't have to look back!

Just a thought...

I have heard SO many guys say this - "Women are so complicated. We'll never understand you!".
There are endless jokes about how women never know what they want, we are too complex for men's liking, blah blah blah.

I am going to let you in on a little secret.....
WE'RE NOT THAT COMPLICATED!

Ok, maybe some ladies don't know what they want. But I can tell you now that most of us do.
Guys in a relationship often don't seem to know why their girlfriends are moaning about not feeling "special" enough or whatever the case. I can never understand why males think we're so hard to understand - we only drop hints every chance we get at what we want!

My little secret is this - you want to know what women want? We want to feel special. We're not your buddy that you can greet with a slap on the back and a "howzit". We don't want to be idolised or showered with expensive gifts day after day (although it never hurts!).
It's little things...a lot of guys never seem to realise that little things count for a LOT. Things like...sending an SMS saying good morning, giving them one little flower that you picked (no it doesn't have to be a whole bunch!).

There are so many things that guys could do that are so EASY (and cheap) to get girls to fall at their feet, but do they?
No, it seems most guys just don't think of it!

What a shame. It's just like shooting yourself in the foot, really.

So, you could carry on thinking that us girls are complicated....or, you can take a hint, do something SMALL that's nice for your girl, and watch the magic happen.

Nocturnal.

Apparently, I post my blog posts between midnight and three in the morning.
At least, these are the times shown underneath the posts...

I don't know why it does this, it must be set to a different time zone.

But let me just tell you, if you think I stay up that late without good reason, you're wrong.

I don't.

I like my sleep OK.

Why I hate buying shoes.

I know a lot of people believe that all women love to buy shoes....I don't know how other women feel about this, but I can tell you that I do NOT love (or even like) buying shoes.

Let me start by saying that I have a problem finding shoes (such is the curse of people with big feet...sigh...). I'm talking about normal flat shoes here, not heels (THOSE I can stand buying ;) ).
Either they're actually nice shoes, and they cost the earth (which I don't have), or they're the horrible little plastic-y shoes you buy from Mr. Price that are actually affordable but make you feel like complaining like an old lady about how sore your feet are!

So, recently I went on a mission (I often do this) - to find shoes that I could afford, that I could actually walk around in for more than 5 minutes. This has taken me the WHOLE week, and I won't ever do it again - it was NOT a fun mission.

I walked the mall flat (in my cheap Mr. P shoes!), with no luck...then tried the factory shops, like Meltz and Tsonga in Failsworth, with no luck. By this point, I was seriously beginning to think that people no longer actually made comfortable shoes (except for granny shoes and sneakers, neither of which I will be caught dead wearing).

Then I remembered someone mentioning another shop in town - Kingsmead shoes. It's also a factory shop. So we took ourselves off there, and - amazing- they actually had shoes!

Now, there's another aspect to buying shoes that I hate - have hated ever since I was little....the shop assistants! Of course, they're in every shop, sometimes they even follow you around (which I find very annoying and have to restrain myself from shouting at them to go away). Unfortunately, the assistants in shoe shops happen to be that kind.

So anyway, in we go, and are immediately ambushed by one, "Can I help Ma'am?". Luckily my mom was with me, to tell them that we actually just wanted to browse and NOT be followed around.
Sadly, it didn't last long...

Pretty soon, we had ourselves a tag along. They just sort of zero in on you, set their sights on being helpful annoying. Then comes the next problem - once you have yourself a tagalong, they start making suggestions!

Tag along- "What kind of shoes are you looking for, Ma'am?"
Me (reluctantly) - "Flat, that are comfortable to walk in."
Tag along - "OK, I'll see what I can find."
Me (under my breath) - "I didn't really ask you to..."
* comes back with a pair of ugly granny shoes - the clunky-heeled black type you'd wear to a funeral*
Tag along - "What about these?"
Me - " Uhm....weeell....maybe, uh, something a little bit more...stylish?" (trying to think how on earth to tell this woman that I'm not a granny so WHY would I want those....but at the same time not wanting to be rude.)
Tag along- "OK...well how about these?"
* presents a pair of peep toes *
Me (thinking: "wow, I must really look like I like granny shoes") - "Uhhh...no sorry, I'm not crazy about peep toes...I want a closed shoe..."

And so the suggestions of ugly shoes continue...until eventually you get up, and get ones you like by yourself, all the while being watched by the "assistant".

THEN, when you do eventually find a few pairs you want to try on, what do they do?
They stand and watch you try each pair on, and of course they have to give their advice and even hand you pairs of shoes (how helpful). If that wasn't enough to make you feel self conscious, one of their tag along friends inevitably comes to join in and give their opinion - leaving you with an audience, their "show" being your feet...nice.

Anyway, EVENTUALLY I did find a pair of shoes. Was it worth the whole experience?

Probably not.

And THAT is why I hate buying shoes.

And you thought we had strange expressions...

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm planning on studying languages (why else would I want to go on an über expensive language course in France), particularly French and Mandarin Chinese.
I've gotten a head start with learning French this year by going to lessons with the Alliance Française, and getting as much French exposure as I can.

Recently, I got my hands on a Collins Dictionary of French Idioms - for those of you who didn't pay attention in English class, an idiom is an expression commonly used in speech.
They say when you can speak a language idiomatically, you can say you speak it fluently.

Anyway, the French have some very interesting strange idioms (lots involving butter and cats....um...).
I've made a list of the best ones (by best I mean the strangest ones I could find).

1) "avoir le cafard" - this is the expression for, as we'd say, "to have the blues" or feel down. In French it means "to have the cockroach". 

2) "faire la grasse matinée" - to have a lie-in, in French it means "to have a fat morning".

3) "être aux petits oignons" - to be perfect, in French it means "to be cooked with pickling onions"

4) "manger de la vache enragée" - to go through hard times, in French it means "to eat rabid cow"

5)"donner sa langue au chat" - to give up, in French, "to give your tongue to the cat"

6) "raconter des salades" -  to tell stories (lies), in French, "to tell salads"

7) "avoir une arraignée au plafond" - to have a screw loose, to be crazy, in French, "to have a spider on the ceiling". I think this one's somewhat appropriate - having spiders on my ceiling or anywhere) makes me feel like going crazy too....

8) "vouloir le beurre et l'argent du beurre" - to have your cake and eat it, in French, "to want the butter and the money for the butter". See, they like butter.

9) "avoir un chat dans la gorge" - to have a frog in your throat, in French, "to have a cat in your throat"

10) "ménager la chèvre et le chou" - to sit on the fence, literally " to show consideration for the goat and the cabbage"

11) "avoir d'autres chats à fouetter" - to have other fish to fry, literally, "to have other cats to whip". Shame.

12) "peigner la girafe" - to do a pointless task, literally, "to comb the giraffe". Yes, that would be a pointless thing to do!


So that's my list of fairly odd idioms....and one more that I might possibly hear whilst in France, "tu parles  français comme une vache espagnole". You speak French like a Spanish cow.

Let's hope not.

Oh, the irony...

I found this picture on weheartit, and thought it was one of the silliest tattoos I've ever seen.
Underneath the picture of the anchor is script that says "I refuse to sink" - rather dumb, since that's EXACTLY what anchors are made to do.....

Moral of the story? Think before you tattoo...

Quote of the day.

Bored?

Sometimes the best thing to do when you're bored is go Internet surfing...

I've made a little list of some great sites to try to get rid of that pesky boredom!

1) indieBerries blog - This is a personal blog written by a girl from my own little village who has been
                                   on so many awesome adventures. It's nice to know that small town people can
                                   also get out there and do exciting things! She also does really cute cartoons.

2) Engrish.com - You know when you buy some made-in-china type product, and you read the
                            instructions and the Chinglish is so bad that you want to roll around on the ground
                            laughing? This site is a collection of pictures people have taken of such things!

3) peopleofwalmart.com - Here in Pietermaritzburg we have the Oribites (people who you look at
                                         and have no words for the way they are dressed or look). In America they
                                         have the people who shop at Walmart.

4) Etsy - Etsy is a site where people sell handmade things. There are so many beautiful things on this
              site! I could just spend thousands....

5) punch fork.com - This one is a website where people post recipes. There are heaps of really yummy
                                things to make, and a large selection of recipes. The best part though, is the
                                pictures! I go on there just to drool over the delicious looking things....

6) StumbleUpon - For anyone who doesn't know about this yet, you have to go and try it! You
                             create your own profile on the site, then make a list of your "interests" (things like
                             fashion, the arts, gardening, technology, etc.) and the site pulls random sites
                             off the Internet that it thinks match your interests. Very good for boredom busting!

7) bored panda.com - This one was made specifically for bored people pandas. Basically a collection of
                                   random interesting things and pictures.

8) weheartit.com - This is a site that I can sit on for hours on end. It's like an archive of pictures, and
                              you search whatever you want pictures of. It's very "pink" though, so not really for
                              guys...

9) tasteofawesome.com - This is like a 9gag type site - people caption pictures that they have found on
                                         the net. It's often very funny!

So...that's it for now!

Nobody likes South Africans.

Yesterday my dad and I went up to Joburg to the offices where you can get a Schengen visa.
We had gone through a major schlep to make sure we had ALL the things they say they want, and also to get there...

Of course, it's worth it to get your visa. Only problem is, it turned out I can't get mine yet.
We are short two SUPER important documents that the office needs to do the visa (of course, to find out on their site that they need these is like navigating a maze)...

On the way back home, my dad bemoaned the fact that nobody seems to like South Africans - they all make it so difficult for us to visit their countries! I wonder what it is that they don't want us to bring with us...

Maybe it's the horrible taxi music :P

Airports.

Right now I am sitting having breakfast at
OR Tambo Airport in Joburg.

Ever since I was tiny, I have loved airports.
That could be because spent a lot of time
 traipsing around in them, but I always feel so
 excited when I'm at an airport. I love all all the
 the busy, bustling people, and the sense of
 purpose in going somewhere.

Recently, however, airports have been even more
 fun than usual. The reason for this is a South
African comedian called Trevor Noah (mayhaps
 you've heard of him ;) ). In his second show,
 he has a piece on airports which is just brilliant!
His portrayal of the characteristics of an airport
 is spot on - the snooty business people who
 you overhear saying things like "yes of course
 the million rand business deal will go through!"
 into state-of-the-art cellphones ; the pilots, who,
 no matter what type of accent they have in normal
 conversation, will put on their super-professional
 voice to say "good morning ladies and
 gentlemen..." followed by a load of information
 you really didn't need to know.

Possibly my favourite piece of his show is
 how he describes the staff who make announcements on
 the intercom - everywhere else in the world
 some clipped, smooth voice is what you'll hear,
 but here....

"Attention aaallll passengahs, yes I'm talkin
 to you!" (Here the little speech is broken by someone
 asking the speaker if they'd like some
 KFC chicken) "iyesss...(gibberish) no no,  i want udrumsteeck!"
(pause)  " ok passengahs,..."

Yes, it is hilarious. Ok l'll stop now....

P.S. yeeeeah piloooot!!

Quote of the day

A quote that someone i know put up - it made me smile...

Accept that some days we are pigeons, and other days we are statues....

Things to come...

As I have mentioned (a few times, don't get sick of me!), I am going to France for 2 and a half months, in oh, 17 days!

For anyone who is interested, here's a little explanation of exactly what I'll be doing...

Ok so, I'm going to a city called Montpellier, which is on the French Riviera (yay!). Montpellier is known for its language schools, one of which I'm going to be attending. Where better to learn French than in France?
I'm going to be staying with a host family, and hopefully seeing some awesome things!

A few exciting things - Montpellier is a "student town" of sorts; there are lots of young people (read, new friends!) . The school also does lots of excursions, to the surrounding towns and any interesting places nearby. So hopefully, there will be lots to see!

Of course, I have to actually GET there first...
Believe me, this is no easy task! So far, everything is going according to plan, but I still haven't got my visa! :/ You would think the people didn't want ANYONE to visit their country they make this such a mission.

Also, it's a very long journey there...I have 4 legs to do to get to where I'm staying! Hopefully I don't get lost in transit! ;)

So anyway, that's a glimpse of what's to come for me. If you're interested in following my journey, there's more to come!!

Here are some pictures I found on the net...soon I'll have my own pictures to show!

Source: Google images

Serendipity

As you can all see, I've called my blog Sérendipité, which is the French for the English word "serendipity". It's a strange word, isn't it?

I thought I'd just quickly explain WHY I chose this odd word to be the title for my blog page...to be honest, when I chose it, I didn't really know exactly what it meant. I remember when I was little having a book about a multi-coloured loch ness monster type creature (who was actually really cute, I swear!) who was named Serendipity. Since it was a happy story (it was a NICE monster), I've always thought that "serendipity" meant happiness, of the whimsical sort. Turns out, it doesn't....

Serendipity (n.) - a talent for making fortunate discoveries by accident, or the occurrence of such
                           discoveries.

So you see, it basically it is another word for luck.
I think that's appropriate for the stage in my life that I'm in - at the moment I feel very serendipitous :)
This would be because I have an amazing experience before me, both in going to france, and in going to a wonderful university next year. Going overseas was actually a serendipity, as the opportunity just sort of materialised out of the blue.

So anyway, that's basically why I called my blog Sérendipité...
Oh and of course, I just had to put it into french, because everything sounds fancier in another language ;)


Oh, here's what the little monster looked like-