thanks

I started this blog purely for myself...as a way for me to be overly excited about good things in my life, or bitch about the crappy things.

There are currently 2 people I know of that follow my ravings...to those two people I want to say that I am really flattered that you make the time to see what I have to say. It's a quality that I hope to have in my future husband one day, and the two of you...well, really, thanks.

And I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that my blog has had over 100 views. If it is only from Aneesa and Sirferaaz, well, thanks again guys-it's really nice to know that there are people who find me interesting (or at the very least, amusing).
And if my blog is viewed by people I don't know, well, I hope that some of my ravings inspire you all in some way.

Breaking Dawn Trailer

Ok, so I caved.

I told myself I wasn't going to watch it because I was going to torture myself for the next 5 months about it...but, I caved.
I have no words.
I almost had a damn seizure here in the office watching it.

People, my family in particular, have serious issues regarding my...ok, obsession, with the Twilight series...
In my defense, I love the books...reading is a favourite hobby of mine and Stephenie Meyer's style of writing appeals to me. She's my favourite author not just because of her writing style, but also because she's managed to combine all my favourite things into one beautiful story.
And I love the movies because of all the characters yes, and all the hot guys, yes, but more because it's bringing the story to life for me.

So yeah, I am kind of obsessed. But the rest of my life does not suffer because of it.

My colleague is chasing me away from the computer.

why be in a rush to grow up?

Today we had, yet again, another 'incident' at school involving a few learners and sexual misconduct.
The main learner in question is a 15 yr old boy (still in primary school because his parents took him out of school for a few years to do hifz).

When I was 15 years old, I was still playing sports in the road with the neighbouring kids,
Yes, I did know about the birds and the bees, and yes, I liked boys, but I never entertained ideas of doing anything of a sexual nature.

Why are kids in such a rush to be grown up? Life just gets a whole lot more complicated and stressful when you're an adult...

girl's day/night?

I had this...let's call it a discussion...with a friend of mine last week.
Well, he's not a friend really, he is the guy that owns the video shop here in the area and I always pop in by him to see what new things he has.

Anyways, he's married with 2 beautiful daughters and he has a really beautiful wife. What I admire most about him is that he really loves his family and he spends every free minute that he has with all of them.
We were talking about the fact that he doesn't like his wife to go out with her girlfriends from work because they catch on a lot of shit. Ok, I totally get that. But I think it's a good thing for married couples to also have a little bit of time away from each other.

I'm not married, so I cannot say for sure, but if I look at most couples that I know, there are times when they want to be with their friends and come out of their everyday normal routine just for a bit of a change of scenery and to relax away from the stresses at home.

I've always said that if I am fortunate enough to be married one day, I would like my husband to have his own friends still and would like him to allow me to have mine also. Is that a bad thing?

romance

Yesterday was Sunday...and I haven't spent a Sunday in such a relaxing way in a very long time.
I got up, cleaned my room, helped my mom with lunch, showered and ate lunch and after I had settled my mom in front of the TV with her Sudoku, tea and sweets, I went upstairs to my room and proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening watching all my series and movies updates.

So while I was watching this one movie, one of the characters in the movie asks the question, "What happened to romance?" And I've been asking myself the same question for a while now.
If I look at couples today, it saddens me to see how guys and girls have lost the art of romancing the person that they supposedly love.

I've only had one real experience with a boyfriend situation. I was in my final year at high school, and was 'dating' this guy. I put dating in quotes because I'm not allowed to date (my religion forbids it) but when you're 16 and a guy commits himself to you emotionally, you're together.
The guy I was with, well, he wasn't really handsome...in fact, if I think of my personal preferences when it comes to the physical attributes in guys, the only thing he did have that I liked was that he was taller than me and he smelled nice. But, he was absolutely romantic.
We were at the same school, but not in the same class, and for the year that we were together, I used to get hand-written letters (which i absolutely LOVE) almost everyday. I had a box that I kept his letters in and I still had the box for a while after we broke up - the box smelled like him until the day I decided to get rid of it, 5 years later. The things he used to tell me in those letters...every second letter I received from him had an extract from some romantic poem he'd read, or that he'd made up himself.
We had a fight once, and to say sorry, he gave me 3 handpicked garden roses - those ones that don't look as perfect as the greenhouse roses, but that smelled absolutely divine.

I think with the advance of technology, people have lost the ability to communicate with each other in person.
Girls today get excited by texts that they receive from guys (texts that have atrocious spelling and generic messages), by how expensive a gift is rather than by how much thought went into it...

It's actually really sad.
And definitely something I won't settle for.

writing

One of my colleagues gave me a little black journal before I left for my Umrah and Turkey trip. She said I must document all my experiences while on my travel and asked if she could read it when I got back.
Me being the open-hearted and obliging individual that I am, I said thank you and of course she could read it.
On Thursday past, it was Ascension Day, and most of the kids stayed home. So we had very little to do at work and I gave her the journal to read.

She finished it before the end of the school day, and told me after that I should keep a journal because I have very good writing skills. That has got to be the nicest compliment I've received in a long time because I have been trying to write for the past 8 months or so, and have been finding it extremely difficult.
But hearing that from her (she is a remedial teacher, so her opinion on my English skills is quite important) has given me some much needed inspiration.

So, thanks you Aysha Fridie :))

Hectic weeks coming up...we start exams this week so I have exams papers to photocopy for the entire school. I am really looking forward to the holidays...I feel like doing something really fun.

What I love about Teaching

I'm sitting in the office this morning, and one of the Grade 7 students comes in and asks me for a copy of his report card of last year. It turns out that he needs it for his application to high school for next year.
At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, the learner is black (Xhosa speaking, I mean) and I ask him, just out of curiosity, why they don't apply to schools that teach in their mother tongue. It is my experience that the kids we have here who don't have English as their first language really struggle to learn in English.
Anyways, so he tells me that many of our Xhosa speaking parents want their kids to go to English medium schools. And that the only reason they send their kids to Xhosa medium schools is because those schools are free. I didn't know that.

That's what I love about working in education. Every day is a learning experience for the teacher. If they choose to see it that way. 'Coz you get some teachers who have fooled themselves into thinking that they cannot be taught anything anymore, especially not by the ones they are supposed to teach.

miscommunication

It amazes me how we can misinterpret or misread one another.

One thing that I have tried to hone and implement in my own life is the ability to communicate effectively with people. Communication has not really been a problem for me...I tend to say whatever is on my mind. What has been a problem is the way I say things...I tend to say whatever is on my mind without thinking. And so it has been a conscious struggle – a struggle that I manage with quite fine 95% of the time. I am human, and I do slip up now and again (like my epic meltdown last week), but for the most part, I am glad that it is something that I am consciously aware of and try always to control it.

I think that there are two essential skills that you need to acquire so that you may be able to communicate effectively.

One, obviously, is that you need to be able to articulate what you want to say. With the invention of cell phones and the internet, I dare say people are losing the ability to talk to one another properly.

The second thing, and what is in my estimation more important than number 1, is having the ability to listen. How many times to we talk to each other, practically shout one another’s ear drums broken, but do we really listen to what the other person is saying?? So many times, I have said the wrong thing because I wasn’t listening to what the other person was actually trying to tell me. So many times I’ve been verbally abused because the other person didn’t bother to listen to what I was saying.

Miscommunication can be avoided if we take the time to listen...and if we pause to reflect.

answers would be nice...

What do you do when someone you really love is really low...and even though you try your hardest to make life a little bearable for them, it feels like you're not actually doing much?

How do you keep from screaming at people who ask for your advice but don't take heed of it and end up making your life more difficult?

How does one take a compliment without seeming really needy of it or seeming really full of 'it'?

I'd love for someone to be concerned for me.
I feel right now like I need to be the center of someone's world...instead of trying to make people feel like they are the center of mine...most of the time they just take me for granted anyways...
Let me go decorate my cake and cut myself a big slice...

post-audit

I think Kahmilla and I need a helluva pick me up after yesterday's audit.
It's technically not part of my job description, but I am here to help out in the office when it's needed or when one of the secretaries are off (as Mariam was this past week with her wisdom teeth removal).

Wow. It was hectic here yesterday!
I was feeling so junk after the whole day's running around, when my sister came to fetch me at work, I told her to drive me straight to the ice-cream parlour (ice-cream is the only thing that soothes me when I feel like that).

Now, I need to do something really physical to get rid of the lingering frustrations.