Posts Tagged ‘PE’
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I don’t know who dubbed Port Elizabeth “The Firendly City” but I’m gonna have to disagree with them. I think I prefer Gareth Cliff’s nickname – “Port Elizabeth: The armpit of South Africa”. On the other hand whoever named it the Windy City was spot on. Now Cape Town gets windy…like the kinda wind that blows you away if you don’t hold on to streetlights wind, but it’s not windy ALL THE TIME. I mean seriously, PE weather sucks!
Since my dad and sister and brother moved to PE last year, I’ve been visiting quite frequently…uhm well, more than before. The first time I spent every single day at the beach – very cool being within walking distance of the beach. The second time I spent every other day at the beach. My third visit I spent my afternoons watching the world cup, then I’d stay up till 3 or 4 in the morning stuffing my face with pop-corn and watching movies, then sleeping in till about 1pm the next day and wake up just in time for the next match. I ended up only going to the beach once – on the last day of my visit – and I was so out of shape from the couch-potatoe’ing that the walk to the beach felt like quite a workout.
This last visit I was determined to not let that happen again so I planned to do lots of exciting things. Then I got there and remembered that there really aren’t any exciting things to do in PE. I had planned on going to see my cousin’s band (New AfroTeens) at the boardwalk, but it was so cold and windy I decided to stay indoors instead. The only thing I really did the whole trip was hit the mall (3 days in a row, same mall), go out to dinner for my brother’s bday and then a couple of days later for my sister’s bday, and take a walk to a mini-shopping center they call a mall…sadness! Didn’t see the beach once…felt like too much effort for such crappy weather. There was one day of good weather though, and the siblings and I decided to go swimming – which was cool.
The unfriendlyness was from every store cashier that I dealt with. Seriously, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. At some point I had to go check in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t wearing a “Please be rude to me” sign on my forehead or something. Then there’s the people from NMMU…such rudeness…really? I don’t know if they can’t read or what but I was basically yelled at for something that was their fault – sheesh! I’ll be so happy when my dad finally buys a house and we move from the NMMU campus housing.
And then there was the monumental fight I had with my dad, but that’s another story for another day.
The trip was only saved by the fact that I got to spend time with my siblings and laugh like there’s no tomorrow. Funny people, those two.
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On my return to Stellenbosch Saturday morning I got off the greyhound bus at 10, and on the way to my flat I ran into two of the girlies from my first year of Vision K who are now in Matric (12th grade). They had just finished writting their entrance exam for University for next year and I was so amped for them. It just kinda hit me that 2 of my girlies are in matric (there might have been some jumping up and down and clapping and singing “yay, y’all are in matric” on my part and a bit of embarrassment on their part) and it was seriously one of the proudest moments of my life.
Anyway, I got back to my flat at 10:20, and went downstairs at 10:30 to catch my lift. Me and 6 other people took the 12 kiddies from the Vineyard House out to Butterfly World to see butterflies and then had a picnic lunch with them. Very Fun! Very Rewarding! Very Funny seeing little kids running away from butterflies cos they were afraid of them, but then they don’t run away from the snakes…odd!
By the time I got back to my flat I was so very tired, but I didn’t want to sleep just yet cos I figured I if I did I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. So I went online, downloaded some new music and had a one man dance party. At some point I think I just passed out – don’t actually remember going to bed…fun!
On Sunday I went to church and had a very serious massive God-moment…which was really cool – been missing those. And then again in the evening service (enGAGE). Just super freakin’ blessed. Afterwards a bunch of us went to Gino’s for dinner and there were so many laughs…my stomach hurt so bad when I left there.
All that to say, the two days I spent back here in Stellies far outweighed the 7 days I spent in PE. I have decided that I could NEVER move to PE…EVER. Now all I need to do is find a way to get my sister and brother to move back to the Western Cape so that I can see them more often.
update on no updates
Posted on: June 23, 2010
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i was on holiday last week. although i had access to a pc and internet, i really thought the time was better spent with my family…or at least sitting with my family yelling at the tv as we watched the fifa world cup action. you can see all my rants at the players and referees on my twitter. i also sporadically updated my tumblr page. my stupid phone however will not connect to my pc so i can’t upload my pics from the vacation or the world cup match i attended, so facebook albums are feeling a bit lonely, however i’ve uploaded a few to flickr so you check those out.
this week i’m just lazy…there really is no reason for me to not be blogging. but i’ve decided to prolong my holiday from blogging a bit. there might be a reads of the week this coming saturday but i’ll only really get back into the weekly groove next week.
just thought i’d update you a bit. kthanxbai
Dec ’09 – Jan 10 holidays
Posted on: January 19, 2010
- In: likes | music | my life
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Dec ’09 – Jan 10 holidays
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Holidays started at 5pm on December 22nd – last day of work for 2009. On the 23rd I moved my stuff out of my flat, but didn’t have keys to my new flat yet so I stashed my stuff in the Anderson’s garage…yay for church being church! then my sister and i boarded a bus and drove 12 hours to Thaba Nchu in the Free State to my grandmothers house, which is where i grew up. so many childhood memories…and yet my small little town keeps growing and i barely recognise some of the places anymore…guess that’s what happens when you don’t go home in 5 years. we spent Christmas in the Free State surrounded by my grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc…then on the 29th we boarded the bus again and headed to Howick, Kwa-Zulu Natal for “Arise Fest”. It should have been an 8 hr journey, but because of delays ended up being 14 hrs…oh, and actually the bus only took us as far as Peitermaritzburg (mouthful) and then my friend Katie picked us up from there and we went with her to Howick.
i generally don’t celebrate new year’s day/eve/whatever…for me it’s just another day/eve/whatever. i was born on april 4th, therefore for me the year ends on the the 3rd and starts on the 4th…of April, that is. i actually just prefer sleeping on the 31st rather than doing the whole count-down thing. i don’t mind going out on that night…but then it’s like a normal going out night. well, this year Arise Fest – a christian music festival – was organised from Dec 30 to Jan 1st so I decided to go because i’m a live music junkie – turned out to be the best thing i could have done. i was introduced to much new music…and they were all south african musicians/bands. anyway, i think i’m gonna take a break from buying international music and get more acquainted with the local scene.
as i said, it was a christian music festival so most of the bands i’d never even heard of…no christian music stations in my town…and they are local so they don’t get any airplay on TBN. i decided to go cos John Ellis (formally of Tree63) and New Altum (one of my favorite bands right now) were playing, but i was genuinely and pleasantly surprised by all the talent that i encountered. i’ll list the bands at the end of this post. Arise Fest was organised by Arise Ministries who apparently do a lot of youth events in KZN…check them out if you live in that area. anyway, so we brought 2010 in with worship, and i hope to daily live in worship till there are no more calendars to buy.
on Jan 1st we went with Katie back to her house for breakfast and oh my stomach! i usually don’t eat breakfast, but on that day i ate! such a feast! thank you so much to the Wirth’s for their hospitality and the lifts from the bus station to howick, and back again. again with church being church…love!
ok so noon’ish we boarded the bus once more and headed back to Free State. got there in the evening, went straight to bed and woke up to a very rainy, wet morning so stayed indoors the whole day. the next day – the 3rd – we loaded up the car and began our 9 hr trip to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. I then spent the next few days either sleeping, reading, or on the beach watching surfers do their thing. was super awesome. i have to say, Summerstrand beach in PE has sealed it’s place as my favorite beach i’ve been to so far (side note: summer strand beach? summer – english; strand – afrikaans for beach; summerbeach beach? and why the double language? anywho…) the highlight of PE though, has to be when I got to watch my cousin and his band (New Afro Teens) open for an international artist – Puff Johnson, whom I don’t know but apparently she’s big on the R & B scene…but yea, my cuz (Melikhaya) has a VOICE!!! Talent in that kid! Anyway, early on the morning of the 10th of Jan my mom and I packed up our bags, said goodbye to my dad, sister and brother and headed back to the Western Cape, she to Cape Town, I to Stellenbosch. another 9 hr trip – of which I drove 6 hrs. I then moved some of my stuff into the new flat, met my new flatmates and…well, the rest – as they say – is chemistry.
List of Bands from Arise Fest
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the more church-worshippy vibes
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John Ellis (love love love John Ellis live, he makes being on stage look fun…but then he dissed me and my sister in front of hundreds of people – not cool, Johnny, not cool)
5 Fold(have heard Brad Klynsmith’s solo stuff before and still love “let me found…” and “Majesty”)
Hilton Greig Band
Harbourlight (bagged me a new autographed cd and they provided me with a soundtrack to my drive from PE to Stell)
Tomfoolish
Tracing Sunday (lead singer/guitarist is also lead for Arise Band and was main organiser for the festival if i’m not mistaken)
Arise Band (played us into the new year which was awesome. i would have been bummed if they had stopped to do the countdown cos…worshipping is so much more yay than changing a calendar!)
the more hardcore stuff
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New Altum (bagged me a pin…and a future_glasses tank – read about future_glasses here)
Truth Revealed
Show and Tell (the event managers had to stop their set cos things got kinda out of hand in the mosh pit and things were being thrown and hecticness)
for the less hardcore rock lovers among us
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Coals of Juniper (instrumental)
Scarlet Hill
the Ranks (bagged me a new t-shirt)
jersey
for the dancing fools
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superlative
Cr8 (dj)
and the hip-hoppers
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Remix’d
The accoustic sessions:
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Arlyn Culwick (accompanied by Stephen Wirth) – Arlyn’s voice is UH-MAZING!!! Wow! Also, got a cd of him covering Donovan’s “Young but growing”.
Miles – his guitaring left me speechless…oh my wowness!!!
Molly And I – who were also the Ranks, with lead/drummer switching and bassist and keyboardist switching…classic.
Crossingpoint (another hardcore one) was on the line-up but ended up not playing because the first night things went on way past the planned stopping time (i heard some people from another camp next to us came and complained about the noise and the lateness)…but it’s all good cos they sent me a tweet and apologised for not playing (shweeet!!!)
- Did I leave out anyone?
Anyway, I tweeted about Arise as much as I could and took as many pics as I could before the battery on my phone gave out on me so if you’re on twitter search for #arisefest. I also posted a few pics on my flickr page.
2009 in review
Posted on: December 22, 2009
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So I was trying to remember 2009 so that my last post of the year chould be a review of sorts…but I really couldn’t remember anything.
So then I went through my facebook photo albums and the ones that stand out the most are (in no particular order):
1. day in the park/beach – in Jan, Brett decided that for his birthday celebrations he was going to help out with a take-the-kids-from-an-orphanage-out-for-the-day-to-the-beach-and-love-them-day thing…and he invited people to go and help out, and i went, and it was awesomtastic. then in april and again in november some people from our church organised a take-the-kids-from-an-orphanage-out-for-the-day-to-the-park-and-love-them-day thing and once again i decided to join in. and again it was awesomtastic. i’m not the most kid-friendly person in the world…like, i would suck at being a kindergarten teacher, but i really do enjoy spending time with kids and just loving on them and making them feel wanted and loved and adored and listened to and whatever, even if it was for one day atleast they got to feel special.
2. vision k/youth/scripture union camp – as i said, i would suck at being a kindergarten teacher. and i would probably suck at being a middle/high school teacher as well, but if i had to choose, i would go for the middle/high school age group. so i’ve talked a bit about my exploits with vision k this year, and i may have mentioned the scripture union leadership camp as well – can’t remember, but yea, both of those and the youth group at my church have been highlights in my life this year. i truly do enjoy hanging out with youth and finding out where they are and if possible helping in their journey towards adulthood. i’ve been through the teenage years myself, and sometimes i still act like i’m going through them, and i remember how hard it was for me, so any help i can give someone else…
3. turning 25 – i liked turning 25. scary, yet…super cool. like i felt like i was finally an adult in a lot of ways. turning 26 is not scary, but it feels kinda sucky, don’t know if i’m going to enjoy it much.
4. namrock/baptism – so wrote a lot on namrock, and wrote about getting baptised. and definite highlights they were.
5. worship team – lots of memories. lots of laughs. lots of growing. thankfulness.
6. http://tsholo.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/worship-setlist-september-27-2009/ – i’ve been to PE quite a few times, and i always…well, i guess hate is a strong word but…well, it’s the right word. i always hated it. i was ok with like 2 days, but after that i was ready to leave. this year my dad moved to PE, then my sister also moved there. at the end of the year my lil bro is also moving there. so it will just be me and my mom in the western cape (sadness). but yea, the visit in september was so awesomtastic, i didn’t want to leave. and i’m looking forward to visiting again first week of next year…and throughout 2010. PE Love!
7. flatmating – had a super awesomtastic flatmate this year. i learned a lot from her and i totally appretiate the flatmate she was and all the talks and all the laughs and discovering “The OC” together and our late night dvd’ing and sms’ing each other from the other side of the wall and the sharing and all of it, it’s been great Lindz, will miss sharing a flat with you.
8. music and friends – the south african music scene is wow! and it’s even better when it’s live, and it’s shared with friends. new altum, flat stanley, just jinjer, aking, gravity wins again, straatligkinders, irvine, lua union, the lottery tickets, heldervue, black markets riots, 3rd world spectator, saint fearless, the rescue, tree63, the arrows, bed on bricks – just off the top of my head. memorable moments also include: being kidnapped and forced to go to the beach at 2 am when i was working the next morning, sneaking into the botanical gardens after it was closed and having a photo shoot after making a 20 minute video of us talking nonsense, TEAM AWESOMTASTIC, awesomtastic enGAGE dinners at Ginos and awesomtastic cricket watching at Ginos, SUPER inappropriate conversations and the birth of SOKs…and so much more…I really thank God for friends!
and then two more not in the photo albums, just to round it off
9. blogging – nablopomo(?) was really good for my blogging…blogging everyday for a month is not easy, totally respect those who do it year round. good and challenging. blogging has been so good for me though. it’s been a place for me to just spill what’s in my head onto something else and just get it out of my system so that it doesn’t take over. so thank you for reading.
10. God – lots of up and downs, lots of screaming and shouting, lots of late night pop-corn and cookies and ice-cream (He loves those), lots of laughing, lots of reminders, lots of fulfilled promises, lots of pouring on of LOVE, lots of us time, too much ingnoring from my side, lots of forgiveness, lots of convictions, lots of happiness and joy, more love and more reminders, lots of blessings, lots of breathe, lots of guidance, lots of mercy and grace, more love, lots of comforting, lots of more reminders for/to hope, lots of everything. Everything and LOVE!
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and one more that had nothing to do with me but stands out this year was the wedding of the fish and TBV…read about it here.
