This is probably a chain email, but thanks to Marlene who sent it to us.
A few days ago while driving along the beautiful Sunshine Coast I mentioned to my partner that I was feeling a bit homesick. Thats odd, he said. How can you feel homesick when you dont really have a place that you call home?
January Our African safari is now a wonderful memory. As much as Australia is now our home, Africa will always be the red clay around our roots and the sights, sounds and smells of the bushveld is a tonic that needs regular topping up. We tackled the trade winds across the Indian Ocean to spend our holidays in deepest darkest Africa.
It was a terrible two days, back in 1980 in Port Elizabeth. My dentist expected me to go back the following week to have the wisdom teeth on the left removed, but after he yanked out those on the right hand side and I spent the next two days in agony, I never went back. Ive avoided the dentist chair as far as possible ever since.
November Bianca and I went out to dinner at Wellington Points Legends Restaurant, which was having an African Feast evening where R200 gets you as much food as you want. The menu included oxtail, paella, chicken a la king, babotie, wors, pap and sous. Just when my belly button was about to pop off and my stomach burst open and scatter seven metres of intestines everywhere, they brought out the deserts, which included koeksusters, peppermint crisp pudding and melk tert. When we could take more we paid and rolled home.
Forget the Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach and even the thrill of being in this stunning city during the famous New Years Eve fireworks. Its a celebrity sighting that got my daughters vote.
Score the potatoes with a fork. Add the finely chopped onion and all other ingredients, except oil, to the potatoes and mix well so that the potatoes get a thick coating of the yoghurt mixture all over.
Meeting Steve and Tracy Marais one cant but be drawn into the enthusiasm that this dynamic duo impart to everything they take on. It is no surprise that after only eight years in Australia they have achieved so much success, both personally and in their business. Steve and Tracy head the Queensland construction and development company Condev, which they started six years ago on the Gold Coast. The company specialises in commercial and industrial developments of up to $35 million as well as multi unit residential and high end residential developments.
Migrating from one country to another is a big move, but the actual relocation of goods is made easier by the packing being done for you. Although most of us wish and hope that well never have to pack up and move again, there are often occasions when we need to: We buy a house, we need to move out of the rental that were in, we relocate to another city or suburb, for example.
I love summer on the Gold Coast. It gets light at 4.30am and is only dark after 7pm. That means you can paddle a canoe on the river in the morning before work and go for a surf after work, or vice versa.
So youve moved to Australia, youve set up a new life together and youve fallen in love all over againor maybe not. Relocating can be incredibly hard on everyone, but women do seem to struggle more than men and most men just dont get why.
Human rocket fuel. Foul tasting white liquid chalk that underplays its power to make this 50+ year old break land speed records from the sofa to the nearest toilet Every sense is alive with the knowledge that at any moment I will have to respond with a stink spoed. It will be a matter of survival over dignity, speed over manners... As I type this, I am concerned that I am going to remove the porcelain off the toilet bowl and make the neighbourhood dogs start howling. Why am I in this predicament? Let me explain.
Scottish country villages are renowned for their desperation to cling onto the historical past. This has a lot to do with the constant denigration of anything Scottish by their dominating neighbours. Perhaps it also has something to do with the fierce subservience to the Presbyterian Church, which has striven for centuries to keep the lower classes firmly in their allotted place.
Sorry Im late, said my patient. I was caught in a pile-up in Woolworths and now Ive got trolley rage! Could it be the heat gone to her head? Perhaps not. Being bumped and blocked while trying to shop with a deadline is known to do dangerous things to otherwise normal women.
In this issue SAbona launches the Ask Heidi column for anyone who has a question to ask clinical psychologist Heidi Germann. If you would like to Ask Heidi a question, send it to editor@sabona.com.au. Missing Home More Than Ever I have been living in Australia with my husband and three children for just over a year now. I thought that I was over the most difficult settling-in-time, but recently Ive found myself missing my family, friends and familiar things in South Africa more than ever. Why do I feel this way now? Sue
Life is one great adventure and you have it in the power of your mind to make it the greatest adventure of all time. You only have one life, so it is up to you to make it the best you can. My life has been stupendous and it just seems to keep getting better and better, it is only now that I realize why. Its because I have always had mindset energy the will and the determination to get up and go.
September We invited some friends around for a Thai curry dinner which Bianca catered for using the local restaurant menu. A great evening was had by all with the delicious food being flushed down with vats of wine.
Well, its that time of the year again, which reminds us that were a year older and weve been in Australia for a year longer. With each passing year we might reflect for a moment: Has it been a good year (financially, socially)? Did we do the right thing by leaving South Africa? Are our friends wishing they were here too, or are they glad they stayed? Each of us will, of course, have unique answers. Such is the nature of free moral choice, and we see the results of those choices in the diversity that exists all around us. Not surprisingly, human nature being as it is, us and them issues, even xenophobia, often ensue, whether by ignorance or intolerance, which might help explain why Saffas have been branded as arrogant.
Its Friday afternoon and Curtin Universitys Bentley Campus is ghost town quiet, the complete opposite environment to the one in which I last saw the organiser of Zimfest Perth, Guy Cockcroft. In the midst of Perth Zimfest I found 20 year old Guy barefoot, carrying a beer in his hand and directing Zimfest activities like an ADHD-infused traffic cop.
Petina Gappah is a delight. Describing herself modestly as a lawyer who writes, yet a reader above all else, she was recently on a whistle-stop trip to Melbourne for the Writers Festival warranted by An Elegy for Easterly, her first book, a collection of 13 short stories. This sanguine, satirical Zimbabwean writer is every inch the what you see is what you get kind of person.
A column about little things that are deceptively similar, yet decisively different. Read & be prepared. Yesterday I went fishing. Actually, my family were the ones hoping to catch a fish. I was sitting on a deck chair reading Nietzches Beyond Good and Evil. Ever since I overheard one of my students at Rhodes telling a friend that he thought he might have found Nietzches best ever quote, I have wanted to spend a few quiet hours working out exactly what this controversial 19th century philosopher really stood for. So here, 10 years later, was my chance. You couldnt really call it reading, as such, because for every one of Nietzches sentences you need about 10 minutes of deep thinking to work out what he was trying to convey, and longer to work out what he might not have meant to say. Anyway I came across this passage: From now on all my writings are fish hooks If nothing got caught I am not to blame. There were no fish!
I am on leave, at home with the kids. My wife has gone away for four days. For the short stabs of time where I sleep, I dream of tropical island hideaways and silence. And drugs. I made it through my first 30 years of life without resorting to hard drugs, but this is different. Ok, there were one or two incidents, but the charges never stuck. I just need something to calm my nerves. A shot of Pethidine through the eyeball into the brain would do. We get through the first day okay, so I let my guard down, and they sense my weakness. The first night is a sleepless circus of bottle feeding and screaming, nappy changing and crying. I do most of the crying.
July Bianca and the boys picked me up early from work on Friday and we headed off to Prestbury Farm near Toowoomba for the weekend. The food box and esky held supplies for more than a week. We arrived to a warm welcome from the farmers wife Sally and one of his three daughters who showed us our cottage which already had smoke billowing out of the chimney. Our friends, the Fields, arrived a short while later and it wasnt long before we had our feet up and were nursing some red wine in front of the fire.
April The boys went back to school after a lovely long weekend in Burrum Point National Park near Woodgate, a small seaside resort village four hours north of Brisbane, which is only accessible by 4x4. The Swanepoel family joined us at this lovely out-of-the-way camp site at the mouth of the Burrum River, which is full of pelagic fish. Our dinner on the second night comprised of fresh Silver Travelli caught by Fred. My Giant Herring caught on a lure off the back of Chilly Bean our canoe, was too bony to cook. Our stay also included some 4x4 exploring along the river, a walk along the Banksia Trail and lots of relaxing in the perfect champagne weather.
The audio book that I listened to this month was Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella. I really enjoyed listening to something light-hearted that got me laughing. The story follows Becky Bloomwood as she heads to the shops of New York, accompanying her entrepreneur boyfriend Luke who decides to move there for business. Becky is totally addicted to shopping and finds a way to justify her every purchase, but then things go wrong, and Beckys career, her relationship with Luke and even her access to credit are in jeopardy. Shopaholic Abroad is entertaining and funny; a welcome book to listen to in between some more serious and thought-provoking reading matter.
Greek mythology regarded mercury as the fleet-footed messenger of the gods. A patron of translators and interpreters and the cleverest of the Olympians. He ruled over wealth, good fortune, commerce, fertilityand thievery. He bought the souls of the dead to the underworld, and was honoured as a god of sleep.
Last issue I briefly introduced Sabona readers to the seven DaWei Laws. It is the seventh, which states serendipitous events are living proof that the universe is conspiring to provide whatever we need, to which I would like to give special attention in this issue. Whilst happily going about my job of teaching English to foreign students, I was suddenly confronted with the harsh reality that, while I might be a knowledgeable and diligent teacher, the students actually expect to have a bit more fun in class and not be bombarded with grammar, reading and writing. A discussion about their favourite meal or movie, would be quite adequate for their needs, providing them with ample opportunity to better their English while interacting with each other, without much input from me at all. Last issue I briefly introduced Sabona readers to the seven DaWei Laws. It is the seventh, which states serendipitous events are living proof that the universe is conspiring to provide whatever we need, to which I would like to give special attention in this issue. Whilst happily going about my job of teaching English to foreign students, I was suddenly confronted with the harsh reality that, while I might be a knowledgeable and diligent teacher, the students actually expect to have a bit more fun in class and not be bombarded with grammar, reading and writing. A discussion about their favourite meal or movie, would be quite adequate for their needs, providing them with ample opportunity to better their English while interacting with each other, without much input from me at all. The fact was that I could be a more effective teacher by not being such an efficient one. Once aware of this, I resolved to change my teaching style. The change wasnt at all painful to implement and it reminded me of a previous lesson I had learnt when I realised how to lead people through situations without necessarily taking the lead. When asked by my employer a few weeks later to take on the additional role of teaching hospitality management, I decided to adopt my newfound teaching style from the word go. Rather than present myself as the expert in hotel management and risk teaching my students things they might already know, I would simply make myself available to fill in gaps in their know-how that they themselves would identify. To do so, I allow the students to take the mandatory multiple choice test for each new module before I teach them anything. That way, both teacher and student discover what the students already know and dont yet know, so we can cut out unproductive lecturing time and optimise the productive use of our contact hours. By the end of each module, the students are able to achieve 100% in the quiz and demonstrate adequately their mastery of the required competencies through a comprehensive practical case assignment. It means the students and I cover 20 hours of work in just 12 contact hours, while they have flexibility around the remaining eight hours each week. The arrangement works well because my afternoons are freed up, my employer saves a lot of money (as I am paid by the hour), and I can continue to teach my English classes two mornings a week. Now, before the sceptics start to point out that my new improved teaching style just did me out of afternoon teaching hours, heres the serendipitous bit: In the very same week that my afternoons became free, I was invited to lecture at another university. The invitation came totally out-of-the-blue and the times they needed me corresponded exactly with my availability. Whats more, the rate per hour is a lot more lucrative than the afternoon work I would have had. I have found over and over that serendipitous events, often precipitated by a coincidence or even an accident, open up new opportunities for our optimal survival, learning and personal growth. Sometimes, serendipity stares us in the face and says give me a chance to help you. Dr. Dave Robinson is a lecturing professor at Central Queensland University, principal director of The Academy of Business Acumen, adjunct professor at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, an entrepreneur, director of companies, consultant to business, author of books academic journals, surfer, musician and poet. He currently teaches English Language, Hospitality Management, Marketing, and Human Resource Management on the Gold Coast. Write to Dave: acumen.dar@gmail.com
Some of you may think this article is a little bit whacky, and the ideas unattainable. Some of you will hope its not, because you are experiencing the effects of doing business in the old world. (Were not talking AfricaAustralia by the way). And many of you will know, we either change, or we go out of business.
Stradbroke Eiland of Straddie soos meeste mense dit noem, is een van die jaarlikse bestemmings vir die Afrikaanse Klub. Dit was die vierde jaar wat meer as 300 lede, die kamp bywoon en soos altyd was dit n naweek vol heerlike kuier. Die slag het die klub besluit om eerder in Amity Point te bespreek as Point Lookout en na aanleiding van die terugvoering van almal, was dit die regte beluit.
I turned on the TV to find Bonanza was showing. There it was, just as I remembered it from my childhood Ben Cartright, Little Joe, and the infamous Ponderosa Ranch. True to the spirit of the Ponderosa, I found myself wondering why things dont always go smoothly, why we migrants sometimes seem to be working so hard in Australia for sometimes react to us in ways that dont seem to make sense? What I have discovered, through my reflections, is that the key to understanding such anomalies lies in recognizing the socalled bigger picture. And I do mean the big bigger-picture!
In the last edition of Sabona I wrote about the two choices that we have in business when it comes to finding customers. We can either chase after customers or we can attract customers
March Having been living in Australia for almost two and half years the question of Australian passports has become a reality. The one thing about immigration is that you leave a mile long paper trail of submissions, applications, approvals, certificates, clearances and licences before you become eligible for citizenship. All this paper work and hard work culminates in a final test to qualify as a fair dinkum aussie to show you embrace their traditions and culture. This I finally passed with an automatic induction into the Aussie hall of fame on Friday when our touch rugby was moved to the Manly Hotel Pub due to wet and dangerous conditions. Here I become a member of Australias elite when my raffle ticket was drawn and I won the meat tray and a six pack of beer. Traditionally all Aussie pubs have a meat tray on raffle which is normally rigged and won by a battler who is a struggling local.
It was sadly back to work on the 3rd with a very slow and long week with a daily craving for bacon and eggs around 10am and a nap after lunch. The start of the touch rugby season was very evident when I fell out of bed on Saturday morning and could hardly walk. I woke up the other morning feeling a little tired but a carton of beer richer and my sporting pride firmly reinstated after I witnessed the Proteas convincingly whip the Aussies.
Sure, the Aussie Barbie has its place, it is efficient, clean, and quick. Thats fine for a quiet Monday evening, but its no good for the big party, or if you are with a woman. Stay with meIn both cases, you never want the fun to end. You want to enjoy the experience, savour the flavours and scents, and get to play with fire. You want it to last all day and night if possible, and finish exhausted, satiated and well lubricated. The great South African braai ticks all these boxes, which is why South African men who braai well are fantastic lovers.
Unlike the position in South Africa, employment relationships in Australia are heavily regulated. Any South African who intends to become an employer or an employee in Australia should be aware of the general employment arrangements in Australia which are outlined below.
These tongue in cheek diary extracts are from Australian immigrants Andre, a frustrated camel man, his wife Bianca a real madam and their energetic two boys Tyle 10 and Keal 8, who share their adventures and experience of everyday living Downunder.
Its been a roller coaster six months since I stepped off the plane at Brisbane International Airport, and I say with great relief that life has become gradually more enjoyable and, wellliveable. Before moving schools I was faced with the decision of whether to fly back home and seek refuge with my grandparents, or try another school. Deep inside I knew that returning to South Africa would be like a man trying to conquer Everest but retreating a few hundred feet because the challenge seemed too daunting. I decided to put the matter in Gods hands; all I wanted was a happy school life and some real friends. Simple as this request may seem, it felt unfathomably distant for me, distant as a miracle.
The story behind Workforce Partners, A recruitment company dedicated to helping Southern African rural employees My husband Ralph and I have been cotton farming in SW Qld for over 25 years. Faced with a worsening labour shortage crisis and the reluctance of Australians to live west of the Darling Downs Range we were forced to rely on backpackers to fill our labour requirements. It was not that we were dreadful employers; we always paid well, provided good on-farm accommodation and never asked an employee to do anything we wouldnt do ourselves.
I recently drove from Sydney to Perth. It was hot and dusty and the distances are intimidating. There were wildlife hazards, plagues of flies and sections of road reminiscent of Kazakhstan. Here are some observations, and tips; for those planning this epic drive. I left Sydney at 5am, and made good time, tag-free; on the toll roads. I needed to take out a personal loan for the unpaid tolls and speeding fines, but it was worth it. The Blue Mountains are pretty, but slow going.
How very big of the little man Smiley did what JH never could and apologised to the Aboriginal folk in Australia. BK now wonders how long it will be before the knocking on his door starts with the hat in the hand and the other hand held out. Funny how such a proud people have no problem asking for money.
As I have said before, BK is not a political person: the doings of the leaders of this country, your country and the old country can only be described as a dark and mysterious art, resembling smoke and mirrors. They must know what they are doing and how they are going to do it, because to BK it looks as they are walking around a dark room with a blindfold, but at the end of the day everything is still the same as it was yesterday and the day before.
I spent last Valentines Day with my wife, in sabona romance My FunnyValentine I spent last Valentines Day with my wife, in sabona romance Bermagui, South Coast NSW. We were camping! I know, you would think I could pay for a decent room on February 14th, but I am really tight like that.
Having gone around the sun a few times on this spaceship called earth and recently celebrating just such a birthday, BK finds himself in a strange mood today.
We were rudely woken up this morning, on my 4th month and my wife Biancas 2nd month anniversary of being in Australia, with gun shots. Can you believe it, the baddy obviously needs practice cos both shots missed what ever he was shooting at? Big news over the weekend was a car hijacking with the guy using a knife.
Its a good thing BK kept his old army uniform since the World Cup is being played in France, the beret might just come in handy. Mind you, they have a habit of kissing each other and even if its on the cheeks, its still not something that BK would enjoy, if you know what I mean.
You know when you take part in a psychological experiment and you show up and theres nobody there? And you wonder if its part of the experiment? Well, this morning BK feels a bit like that. I mean, how do they decide who plays against who in the Rugby World Cup? Who is in the same pool? Do they draw lots, or spit in their hands and hit it to see which way it flies (like we used to do as kids when we were lost in the veld)
n Boer maak n plan! BK has the solution to the drought problem in Aus elect him praaim minister! John How-again and that other poepol thinks the answer lies with making more water, but BK knowsthe answer is in using the water you have better.
STILL learning the lingo? No worries, mate, shell be apples. As anyone whos been in Oz for even a day knows, that means that the local slang is easy to pick up. There are some words and phrases, though, that do not translate quite as you might expect, and this guide is just a start.
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