dimensions

i have been here too long.

it is spring now. i spent the past few months in blocks. work. hospital. carefree with chris. home in london. greece. in london with chris. stressing back in sa about my non-existent life.

the next block is in new york, miami and bermuda. did i tell you i won a holiday?

into the wild

i recently read a book called 'into the wild'. it left me wondering how certain people get to have such an exaggerated sense of adventure. you'll see what i mean when you read it. there is a powerful passage in the book which i wanted to share:

"I'd like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that i think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty....Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon."

I think he might have a point. Though it was written by someone who dies, alone, in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness due to his passion for advenure and desire for a nomadic lifestyle. Anyway.

26 weeks, 4368 hours, 182 days...or just plain 6 months

it has been six months. 3 months longer than my ticket originally said; 6 months shorter than the year that i had originally given myself. six months ago, i got off the plane all tired and miserable, but so excited that i had arrived and everything was going to start. it feels very strange that so much time has gone by since then as some times (most of the time?) it feels like i have just arrived. my plans have changed, adapted and evolved into things that i could not have even guessed before i left the uk, but each experience has taught me something new and led me somewhere unique. but on the other hand, i feel so settled here that it feels like i have been here forever – except for the map book in the car. tell tale sign of my being a newbie in jozi!
i have a feeling that i should go through my favourite memories and be all cliche for you...i'm hesitating but here goes:

1. first night at doors and meeting the man
2. birthday trip to kwa maritane and my actual birthday
3. folding napkins with desi
4. making pancakes for the boys
5. tokyo star in early jan
6. getting a job and earning some foreign money
7. finally getting my passport and id
8. going to the ballet in pretoria
9. photography course
10. every second spent with the man

so there you go. i think that's enough. and i'm starting to get soppy.

so before i get too nostalgic, i just want to say thank you to my absolutely brilliant godfamily who have put up with me for the past 6 months…i’m not sure if they realize this, but i wouldn’t have been able to do any of this if it wasn’t for them. their hospitality, generosity and love can never be thanked enough.

a little challenge

i told my man that i have updated my blog. he doesn't know where the blog is, has only seen it once (didn't see the url), but has threatened to search for it. i don't really mind if he reads it, but i thought i would make it fun for him...

...if he finds this...he gets to this page, reads this post and proves it...i will treat him to dinner, a movie, an epdisode of lost, and a packet of chips....and i will even make him the promised galaktoboureko and tiropites.

time limit: end of the day!

UPDATE: in case you haven't seen the comment...he found it. so now i have to find my apron and my wallet!

things i need to write about

1. the ads in soweto
2. my accident
3. trip home for easter
4. john legend gig
5. winning a competition - trip to bermuda

watch this space...i might actually write about these things within the next couple of months!

black is the default

i have now been here over 5 months. i am still at the isp, still a recruitment specialist, and still looking for a permanent job (i didn't get the one at noah; but i've just applied for another one at a health and development agency).

first things. the job is going a bit better, though i am not enjoying it that much. it isn't much of a challenge and i do the same thing day in, day out. namely, i try to look busy while the other run around like headless chickens. i am managing 25 vacancies throughout the company. what impresses me is the salaries for it people. if i was motivated by money i would go and learn how to be a java/C#/.net developer and hey presto!

the other thing that interests me is that i have to write a motivation for all non-ee appointments (ee being employment equity). i have to basically suport us wanting to offer a job to a white person. i don't think i agree with the whole bee thing anyway, and the motivation just makes my job that much harder. also, seeing as most of the people i am hiring are in it, it is hard enough trying to find people with those skills, let alone black/indian/coloured people with those skills. there aren't very many of them at all! and as the subject states, black is the default in south africa. i guess it hasn't filtered through yet? and all the skilled people have emigrated to australia or wherever. it is a very strange state of affairs.

similarly, my man has been headhunted from the post-production house that he works at now, to a new company. the company is part of this whole bee thing - it is a government initiative with private investors (i think i am explaining things right, but don't quote me on this!). a certain percentage of the board has to be equity - 100% of the board is black. one of his friends from film school is part of the board. they already have contracts and now they are in the process of setting everything up to get going properly. it's a great opportunity. and the initiative is very interesting to me; though i guess the uk has the same thing in terms of ethnic minorities.

the company i work at had a 'conference' last saturday - weirdest conference i've ever been to! about 200 of us were bussed to soweto to help out at a center for children with special needs. it was fantastic - everyone got their hands dirty painting, digging, fixing, drilling, sewing etc. the looks on the kids faces when they were watching us was very special. apparently, companies over a certain size have to fulfill community service quotas for the year. well i guess it is one way to make people 'give' a little. and everyone in the company seemed to enjoy themselves too. i think they all felt worthy!

and now i'm bored of writing about work and equity. i think perhaps i should actually go and do some work instead. hmph.

something different

I found a job.

I am temping at one of SA's biggest ISPs as a Recruitment Specialist. I don't know what's funnier - that I'm working for an ISP or that I'm a 'Recruitment Specialist'. I hadn't realised that I was a specialist at anything, let alone recruitment. And an ISP? I've sold out!

It is going well, though I hate doing things that I don't enjoy doing and this is one of them. I have to wake up at the crack of dawn, sit in traffic there and back and interview most of the day. If only most of the candidates were any good - I'd be laughing! Apart from the moaning it is good that I am working. It's made me see another side to South Africa that I had only glimpsed before and opened my eyes to the harsh reality of the employment sector here. I feel lucky that I was hired so easily. OK, so it is only a temp job, but others struggle to find even that; especially with BEE.

Besides recruitment, I have also applied for a job with an NGO called Noah as a Research Assistant. I have my second interview on Monday. The woman who interviewed me the first time round seemed very concerned that I was going to up and leave SA at the drop of a hat and that I was going to get bored in the role.

But no one understands. This is my second home.