Karoo-sing Through SA

I’m really soz that I haven’t posted in what feels like ages, but is actually only a week, but alas the web access at home is not quite the 24/7 res-net that we all know and love :)

Had a great trip home and got to spend some time in the grand old Karoo and have another adventure – this time with tigers! (canned sound effects: “ooooh”) Leraine and I have decided that when I’m big I’m going to write a children’s story book about The Adventures of Janice… and it will definitely include the tale of our trip home in July where Janice’s ‘top gasket’ (this is the sum total of my mechanic lingo knowledge! :p) gave up the ghost.

This time round… there were no car hiccups (many thanks to the Big Man Upstairs for this :D) and in addition to getting to meet tigers, we got to meet buckets of cute children and become well acquainted with another of SA’s tiny Karoo towns.

Philippolis is the home of two ferocious (but SO beautiful) tigers, Ron and Julie and it’s also the birthplace of a writer called Laurens Van Der Post… also it is all of FOUR streets in width and about ten houses long… not a place I would EVER suggest that you spend copious amounts of time in… but it was great for a day and a half… really felt like I got in touch with my inner Free-Stater! We also saw this AMAZING community project which Kate, the lady who we stayed with, is doing in Philippolis with the Coloured community… this December a whole lot of school kids and people doing gap years are coming to help build a new crèche for the little ones - their current creche is hectcically dilapidated and dangerous for toddlers :(

Soz 4 the short post, but just to say that being home is great but I REALLY REALLY wish HP could come all over the country with me (there is one here in Jhb but it’s kinda far and it won’t really be the same) never the less… God is EVERYWHERE and He is GREAT! :D

For those of you all who are still holding up the fort in Gtown… hope all is going well and yay for home being soon soon… also, good luck with all exams… go forth and conquer! ;)

Also, I will try and put photies 4rm Philipposlis in the gallery asap but sadly our comp is being ridiculously slow at the mo!... be good :)

With love...

This pic is so that you don't forget what I look like... in all my worm-catching glory! hehe :p

So this is gonna have to be my last post for a while since I'm embarking on a long round-a-bout trip home with Leraine tomorrow which will only end on Friday and then I'll be in a tecnologically dry, resnet-less place which will make blogging a little more challenging... I will, however, do my utmost! :D

This week has been ok... wasn't thriving yesterday and had to apologise to some special people for the icky grumpiness, but today has been SUPA great! :D I have actually enjoyed packing for once in my life... usually I DETEST it and i get stressed out in a very beeeg way (and i don't really ever stress bout exams... but PACKING!...yuk, yuk, yuk... go figure :p) One of the nicest things about packing has been getting to see all the special little notes, cards and random bits of paper which I have collected this year... brought many smiles to my face :D

I considered making another list (:D) about my highlight from this year but then I realised that it would take me about a week to compile the list and if I were then to post it... your NECK (hehe... ok, I can put this in... developing the art of neckology at D's farm is definately on the list :D) would get sore from reading such a looooooooong list.

I must now be off since I have to pack Eric (my computer) away and have about a million little things to organise before tomorrow dawns.... just to say... it has been a privelege to be alive this year (is that cheesy? Hopefully not :p)... being at Rhodes has changed my life... I have made friends for life... I have learnt how to be responsible for my own life and to make of it what I want with the standards that I choose for myself... God is faithful :)

My Weekend in a Nutshell

"Vanessa Kensington: Always looking to have fun, Austin, that's you in a nutshell!
Austin Powers: No, this is me in a nutshell! Help! I'm in a nutshell!"
- unfortunate man to be quoting from... but REALLY great quote... makes me laugh every time :)

I know it seems appalingly drab of me to be blabbing on about my weekend, but so far I've had a pretty good one (well, as good as can be in the middle of exams) and I am in the mood to share.

On Friday night I went to Caitlin's sis' digs for her farewell thingymabob (she's goig on exchange to the beeeeg US of A for 1st Sem next year) and had a great time chilling with everyone. It finally struck me on Friday though that she is actually going and I am really really sad about that! Caity is one of those people that you can rely on no matter what and she brings a phenomenal amount of colour into my life... i'm gonna miss that in a big way at the beginning of nxt year.... but much joy to know that she will be back after shaking up the entire campus at Maryville College in Tennessee!

(To see more photies from Fri night... click on the Photo Gallery link)

On Saturday morning I marshmellowed around in my pijamas and tried to ignore the fact that I am writing two exams this week. Jules and I did, however, significantly recover the studying situation by spending EIGHT HOURS studying Gerard Manley Hopkins in the aft/night!! My brain was fried after that!

I chatted to my sister yesterday and it made me really bleak 'cause she was having a day of rugby house-'hopping': watching the England/NZ game at one friend's house and then the SA/Wales (which we won by the way :D) game and having a braai at a another of our friends' houses.... (in voice of a two-year old throwing a tantrum) "ALL i wanted to do was be with her but NO... i was studying POETRY!"....but I got over myself and look forward to rugby at home next week :)

Had HLP this morning and my heart was so touched when I realised that if you reach a child in the right way and if you add enough love into the mix they will open their hearts to you and respond to what you are teaching them. Today I learnt what it means to really teach a child about God and how great it feels... God has definately been answering my prayers about teaching HLP... yay for Him :D

Soz for the long and relatively pointless post... welcome to the mind of Lindsey - it's very rambly and not particularly well ordered :p

Deck the halls with boughs of lists... tra la la la laa

So these random bits of holiday plans/goals/potential events have been floating about in my head for the past couple of weeks and I have decided to put them together into a holiday list (ooo... that phrase 'holiday list' just sends shivers of excitement down my spine... I ADORE Christmas time/Christmas holis) so here goes...

(I think this is a great Christams pic with the whole family and a TREE... and also it was accompanied by a poem which began "Bring holly, rich with BERRIES red..." who me? Biased? NEVER! A journalist always strives for objectivity! :p hehe)

1. Read I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
2. Read Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris
3. Go to 'Bosveld Bosveld' with Leraine
4. Go to Cape Town with the Family
5. Hopefully spend New Years with Leraine and Kirst (my sis)
6. Get organised for Delirious? Jhb concert
7. Put up the Christmas tree asap (my mom has a thing about only putting it up on 1Dec at the earliest, put I believe I could charm her into altering this warped perception for her youngest child :p)
8. Go to Rosebank Flea-market... it's one of my most favorite places in Joburg to indulge yourself on a Sunday afternoon
9. Get a beeeg prism/crystal type thing to make rainbows in my room next yr at Rosebank Flea-market
10. Go to Oriental Plaza (it's like a real-life bazaar!) and get a Hubbly *mischevious smile*
11. Somehow earn some money to be able to buy/do all this stuff
12. My sister's 21st (sppeeeeeeeeeecchh! *GULP*)
13. Organise her present
14. Keep blogging (I'm an addict now :D)
15. FINALLY finish reading Walter & Albertina Sisulu's book In Our Lifetime
16. Take TONS of photies

Well... that's about all I can think of for now... but I will be adding loads more as I think of them :)

English, Anglais, Engels...

So I am just about to go forth and write my English exam and I was thinking about how beautiful language is and the amazingly beautiful pictures we can paint with words. Also, I had another 'Does language really signify what we mean/Language is the ultimate failure of man' discussion with someone this morning (man, I detest Beckett!) and I just feel the need to explain somewhere and somehow the beauty of language (yay for cyberspace).

Alas, I must stop this post now because I sense that this could easily end up as a waffle/ rambling bit of self-indulgence (and I'm only on my second post!) and my head is too full of Romeo and Juliet at the moment to make much sense anyway, so I'm off to write my paper and put u out of your misery :) I will, however, leave you with this great pic which shows that a thousand words paint a picture! :p

this is a painting which is made up entirely of words but which shows the face of a man :)

and thus the madness begins...

Wowness for this!! Yay... this is me... Lindsey Moira Berry... being a bona fide blogger! :D Much, much, much excitement for this despite the fact that I am probably the only person who is going to read this blog for a long time since I refuse to give people my blog address until I feel that my little slice of cyberspace is decent enough to be shared with my adoring public :p

Part of my extreme excitement regarding my blog is that I get to learn SO many new things! I'm very un-educated in the world of blogs and am embarking on a teach-yourself adventure with great potential :) The greatness of blogging is that I can spew out reams of information about myself and then people that I love (and even people that I've never met) can share my life with me. This will be really great because my heart has been sad since I've come to Grahamstown that all my friendlies from school and my fam don't get to share all the little details of everyday life with me... blogging shall change that!

Ok... well despite the addictive potential for typing reams and reams of useless information about myself I do need to go and study for exams which I have this week (wow... setting up a blog in the middle of exams... that has to count as an impressive form of procrastination! :D) Au Revoir (yup...wrote Frenchies today)