Last night, I went with the work photography group to take photos of the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg. The lights on the bridge change colour and we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to get to the 6th floor of one of our buildings for the shoot. A lot of admin and organizing to get that in place, I am sure.


I learnt a lot, that there is a whole new camera language out there, with terms like aperture and F-stop and hundreds more terms to learn. I learnt that I have a manual and auto setting on my lens, as well as on my camera itself!


I learnt that if you have to use a timer and have a wide aperture setting, you can’t hurry the process once you have pressed the button. Patience is very much part of the game. So was frustration, I kept wanting to get the pretty pink and purple or electric blue colours but mostly had to settle for the red and orange ones.


I also learnt that the spirit of camaraderie is very much alive and well in my world. I had people helping me to set up my tripod, adjust my settings and just generally enquire how I was doing the whole time. I was so impressed and grateful to know these caring colleagues, who missed a whole lot of their own photo opportunities to assist me.



Also, that the goodwill reaches beyond our company, a caretaker from a building behind the bridge that was lit up and causing lighting problems on the photos, switched off the lights of the building for the duration of our shoot. How awesome was that!

The spirit of abuntu and the ayoba feelings are not just part of the face our nation showed during the World Cup, they are things that we ordinary citizens of this fabulous country encounter every day. Take time to appreciate them!

To the bunch of people at work that have a common passion for photography,
I am very grateful.

Can’t believe that I have been blogging for over 4 years already! Seems like the other day that I started. I love having this online journal of our lives.

I had a spit braai for my birthday in April. A bunch of friends and family braved the cold to join us on the day. Got a message from my friend Linda afterwards and she said something like “cold hands but lots of warm hearts”. That’s how I felt too. I am so grateful to be able to have these amazing people in my life. I was so spoilt with thoughtful gifts, calls and messages.

Been to see a couple of movies with the girls and hired a lot of dvd’s. My 101 movies on my goals list is almost complete. In fact, my list is progressing rather well. Got my vegetable garden growing well, thanks to Costa’s help. Been to my World Cup games, did the Body Talk course and went on the Ghost bus tour. Tarryn organized that as my birthday present and I loved every minute of it!


The tour ended in the cemetery at midnight!

I wrote my 3 hour exam to become an advanced test manager and managed to pass that! I love studying and wonder why I ever stopped. Being a professional student would have suited me just fine.

In May I went to watch my favourite band Uriah Heep, also Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash. When Uriah Heep played, I left our proper seats and went into the crowd and acted like a hooligan. I loved it so much, they played my all-time best song “July Morning” and I could never explain how I felt as I sang along with them!

We are in the middle of the World Cup and what a fantastic time it has been for me. I love the spirit that I feel all around me, at work, at the games, in the streets, driving in cars and seeing the flags waving about. I hope that some of it lingers for a long time after the last friendly tourist has left our beautiful country.

I got to go to 3 games and sent Tarryn and Devin to the Spain Honduras one that I had tickets for, so everyone got to attend. So far I have not been to any game that the team I support has won. Bafana should have given me tickets and paid me to support their opposition! I loved every minute of it all the same. Hope that my real team Brazil can do something spectacular. I watched the Italy Slovakia game yesterday and Italy was sent home, much to kiara’s disappointment, although the tourists made up for our woes!

Today in the draw at work I got Slovakia! Got to see 2 of the Greece games, my best was the Greece Argentina clash.


Life is good otherwise, I just have a travel itch again, no big plans made yet, did a Port Elizabeth weekend in June where we saw the Greece Korea game. Won the most awesome tickets, right at the tunnel and got close-up photos of the players

A Drakensburg weekend coming up in July, Sun City weekend in August and a trip to be decided and booked coming up for September.

I still spend a lot of time on Facebook and still play Farmville, much to the disgust of my family and friends. Still do monthly supperclub, bookclub even in pj's!


dinner with Megan, sushi with Jenny, did the Gautrain with Dee this month and that was loads of fun too!

The kids have a long holiday and I managed to get them tickets to Cape Town for a week to visit their cousins there. Mom and the kids are well, Tarryn has got 3 jobs now! Went to play putt putt one freezing evening and crossed that of the list too!

Missing my far away friends so much, so to you, know that you are always in my thoughts! And to the rest of you, I am so glad that you are all part of my life.

Have fun, keep warm and keep the spirit going!

Love
Tasha
:-)

My office is decorated, air tickets and car hire booked. Flags are up at home. The vibe in the country is amazing at the moment. On Friday I wore my Brazil kit to work and on the way a taxi driver gave me the thumbs up! It feels so good to be part of this amazing event. My first game is on Saturday at 4pm Greece vs Korea can't wait.
YAY! YAY! YAY!

A very busy couple of weeks!

In January, we went down to Ballito to visit my mom-in-law and she was not doing well, spent some real quality time with her and said our goodbyes. She was still making wisecracks and entertaining us at that stage but said she had had enough. Sadly 3 weeks later she passed away at home in her own bed, the way she wanted. My father in law did an absolute sterling job of making her as comfortable as possible and seeing to it that she had, and did, everything she wanted to. I am really glad we had the time with her and memories of her bring a smile to my face.

We had a memorial service down at the Ballito beach in February. It was a lovely way to say goodbye and it was wonderful to see cousins and friends. We really had a great weekend.

Got back into swimming and now do a kilometer every time I get to gym. Try to go 4 times a week and this is my preparation for the Midmar Mile. I have until Feb 2011.

Tarryn and Trevor are teaching on a Saturday morning at on outreach programme. He does the high school computers and she does the primary English, math etc. She had a photo shoot done by a work friend of mine and I loved the results.



Devin has given up BMX for the year and although it gives me a lot of extra time, I miss being part of the whole thing. He has crazy about soccer and that is all he cares about at the moment.

Kiara is also working on a Sunday now. She is waitressing at a nursery and is enjoying it so far. She is also teaching kiddies for a couple of hours each week at the local ice-rink.

Bookclub was at my house this month, followed 2 days later by Tarryn’s 21st. We had a tea party for the oldies and had loads of food drink and speeches. We took photos and videos to record the occasion. It is such a nice feeling to have family and friends over to help celebrate an occasion like this. Grandad made the effort to be there for her day too! For her “real” party, she is taking 6 friends away to Sun City for the weekend.

Work wise, the trainee tester graduate program is underway for the next yesr, they have completed their classroom training and are now doing “on-the-job” training until they write their final exam on the 30th April. It is such a good feeling to interview these people, see them being trained in a brand new (to them) discipline and watch how they handle the challenges. Their first presentation of their case study was as stressful for me as it was for them. They have all done really well.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the team that was chosen to share
R1 000 000 as prize money for being part of the innovation campaign that we have at work. Our internal training academy for Hogan Cobol, operators and test analysts that we set up was a winning team. It was a big team that shared the prize, but really cool nonetheless :)

I went on a week’s training and then wrote an exam that had to get couriered to London for marking. It was quite stressful, waiting for the results, as a third of the paper was from a module that I wrote over 3 years ago and threw the notes away! I passed :)

My mom is much chirpier, she has joined a “friends” group at the church and now has something to look forward to on a Thursday afternoon.

Other than that, life is good.
Still working on achieving my goals and having fun, the tickets for the Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash are booked, so are the World Cup football games.
Thanks for keeping in touch, I love hearing from you all.
Tasha

Christmas has come and gone in a flash, not a very festive time for me. I’m glad it is over. Perhaps this year will be better. I certainly hope so.

My goals are progressing nicely, I have finished a few more and need to just get my head down and accomplish some more. I just feel like I am not anchored at the moment and have yet to establish quite what the thing/s are that are causing this in my life. I have been so disorganized and not at all motivated to change at the moment, I have not even planned and booked our holidays and weekends away. I usually do this in October the year before!

One of the causes of my lack of time at the moment is my addiction to the Facebook application called Farmville. I do not usually play or enjoy any type of computer game but this one has me hooked. I stopped for a week and felt such relief, but unfortunately I was lured into the game again. One of my friends was banned from playing by her husband and I saw other people commenting on her Facebook page saying things like “How did he get that right, wish I could get my husband to stop”, and “My girlfriend has no time for me anymore, wish she would quit”.

Tarryn is having a wonderful time. She had her boob op and is very pleased with the results. I am very proud of her for having the courage to make a decision, save for it, plan and select the doctor and then follow through on the whole thing. It has given her a lot more confidence too. She is loving the job she has and the people she works with are fantastic.

Kiara is in the final phase of high school. He boyfriend’s name is Devin, causing much confusion in our home with the names. She did very well at the end of last year with minimal effort again. Her dream is to go to Paris with her friend Meagan for her 16th birthday this year. I am not sure how feasible that will be at the moment but we will have to see.

Devin goes to his final year of primary school and I have no idea what high school we are going to. I guess I better get my act together soon and sort something out.

Update soon
Tasha

Posted my goals on the left and highlighted the complete ones in green.

June 2009

Claire bought me a pink tin of mints in Wales that has the words “Spoilt Rotten” on it and I deserve that title :)

Tarryn
The last time I updated, I said “She is having a tough time at the moment as she is still very confused and undecided about what to do with her life”. Nothing has changed. This has spilled over into her relationship and she and Trevor have spilt up.

She completed her bookkeeping to trial balance course and passed with distinction. She is now doing the computer bookkeeping course. The company that she was studying through, offered her a job and they agreed to a half day position so that she could continue with the water job. She starts at the beginning of the month.

Kiara
The new love of her life is Kyle that she met in Sun City when we were there last. He goes to KES and is a weekly boarder there so it is quite difficult for them to get to see each other. She managed to get Costa to take her to Pretoria the other day to see a rugby match between KES and Pretoria Boys where she met up with Kyle.
I got her a Man U shirt, soccer boots and a Man U birthday cake from my trip. The cake survived in my hand luggage. She also asked me to buy her blue contacts overseas and she wears them at every opportunity. She sang a solo in the school soiree and really did very well, she wants to go for singing lessons now and after seeing her perform, I can’t say no.

Devin
Is doing well, busy with exams and still loving BMX. He has SA champs in Natal at the end of the month. He is playing soccer at school and then when he gets home, he plays FIFA 09 (his only request from my overseas trip) on the Sony.

Mom
Has been battling with her health this year and has been quite depressed, but she is talking about helping out at a local old age home and I think that will be a great thing for her. She needs to be busy and with people. Unlike me, she hates being alone and has a great love for people.

Patsy and Roger (other mom and dad)
We are hoping to see the folks at the end of the month when we go to Durban for BMX, dad has organised a flat in the same building that they are in, so we will spend a long weekend with them.

Costa
He is doing fine and we have been dating for over a year and a half already.
He is working hard and I get to see him mostly on weekends.

Sport
Wow, we have been so spoilt for choice at the moment, rugby, cricket and soccer. Costa and I went to an IPL cricket game and I loved that, also, to the opening ceremony and game of the Confederation Cup soccer. What fun, we caught a traditional taxi to Ellis park and then sat in a stadium full of South African soccer fans, I must say the vibe was amazing and I never felt intimidated for one second. I was very proud of the opening ceremony and the crowd’s behaviour and am really looking forward to going to the World Cup games next year.



Wales
was amazing, I had fun from the time I landed until I got to the airport for my flight home. Hated the flights, but you know I am such a wuss about flying, (you wouldn’t believe I have been overseas 6 times already, besides all the local flying I have done), and then there was the Air France disaster just before I left. BUT I survived again.

It was such fun to see how different life is in a village environment. Lance and Claire live in a tiny village where the kids walk to school, you have a postman (who is scared of the dog) delivering post through the flap in the door “a la Harry Potter” and you can walk everywhere, even to the local beach.

Claire and I spent one day in London and did the whole touristy thing again on the open top bus, to the London Eye, which neither of us had done before and then to Madame Tussauds. I remembered it as being more realistic but I was much younger then, still fun though. Never got to Old Trafford because it involved a 3 hour train and bus trip and then a walk and I had limited time.

I saw lots of Wales and fell in love with the place. There must be 23456 different shades of green that I saw there. Friendly people too.
I came home with 15 mg worth of photos. I posted a selection from each day onto my Facebook site and will think about sorting through the rest at some stage.

Various suggestions were made about ways to detain me in Wales so it sounded as if the people there enjoyed having me there too. I loved it and miss them all lots.

Holidays
We went to Sun City again at the beginning of May and to the Vaal for a weekend too. Upcoming trips to the Natal coast at the end of the month, Zebula game lodge for a scrapping weekend in July, Sun City in August, Sondela in October. My next dream is a Mediterranean cruise next year.

Work
We moved floors at work and that involved getting rid of stuff, it is such a good feeling. I was allocated to a window seat and have the sunshine all day long, so lucky, again. Still enjoying what I do, the people and the place. Our Friday lunch tradition with the boys and my glass of red wine as a reward for surviving the week continues.

Other
Monthly bookclub, supperclub, and chick flicks still going well. Jenny and I still manage a dinner about once a month. Bobbi found me again and it is so good to be in contact.

My photos from the trip are on Facebook, if you want to see them and are not a friend of mine on Facebook, let me know and I will send you the link to my albums.

Keep well and keep in touch.
Regards
Natasha