Another bad sign!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Yesterday, I posted a sign that I saw at one of the university's toilets. This sign, I saw a few weeks ago at my grandmother's complex.

I am a grammar nazi ! I hate it when people can't spell right, especially on a sign like this. Before I run for my life in an emergency, I will first correct this sign!
I feel that these people, who made this sign, could at least check in a dictionary if their spelling was correct.

Like what??

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, I went into one of the campus' toilets and saw this sign.

I don't know about you, but I was thinking WTF??
Oh no, I brought my body wash to the toilets, you know, just in case I decided to take a bath in the basin.

This sign did however lighten up my day a bit!

Good to be back!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Yesterday, I moved back into my dormitory and I really missed this place.





It is fun to catch-up with most of my friends and also to hear how everyone's holiday was and all the gossip. What I didn't miss was our small rooms!











I already miss my dad's awesome and delicious food. He always puts so much love into his food and we can actually taste that love. Here the food is also nice but is not AWESOME!

Tomorrow, I will be registering for my 3rd year in Communication studies and I am very excited because the classes will be much smaller and I will be getting my degree at the end of the year. We are also meeting the first years tomorrow, who is living with us in the dorm.

This is going to be a great year, I can feel it in my bones!

'Yes' to opportunities

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

The year 2014, will be the year that I say 'Hell, YES'!! to any and all opportunities.

Tomorrow, I am going back to university to do my third year. I will also be catching my degree at the end of this year. I am very excited to see all my friends again and to catch up with all their holiday stories.

The only regret I have, is not saying yes to enough opportunities or taking more chances at things.Many times I said no for a evening out or doing something else and afterwards I hear how fun it actually was. Well, this year I want to tell everyone how it was.

If you've seen the movie 'Yes man' then you will know what my plan is. I am going on adventures and I am going to enjoy it a lot! And I also want to complete more things on my bucket list (check it out).

Watch this space in 2014, because you will read all about my adventures this year :)

Funnies while working at Aardklop

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Aardklop is an Afrikaans musical festival here in South-Africa. But with every music festival, you get funny people, drunk people, angry people, they come in all shapes and sizes.

The awesome team I worked with

As part of our work, we were responsible for tearing the tickets, keeping late-comers out and showing people to their seats. Easy enough... That's what we thought...

One day, we were sitting outside while a show was already on for an half an hour, when a woman came storming up to us, furious. She was demanding that we let her in, but our job is to keep late-comers out. Her excuse is that we were supposed to fetch her in the car before the show started. Like I said our jobs entitled us to tear tickets, keep late-comers out and show people to their seats. Not to fetch them in their cars. My mom also taught me not to go close to strangers when they are sitting in their cars, that's when kidnappings happen...

My favorite artist, Karen Zoid

We also worked at the festival's main stage. We were responsible for checking the tickets of the Golden Circle audience. A man, three times my size, came to us, saying he wants to be in the Golden Circle, because the people at the gate charged him double for normal standing tickets. I told him that we cannot do that, because the people who actually paid for it, had allocated seats. He then attempted to climp over the rails. I went to stand in front of him and said, "Try me!", he then looked me deep in the eye and scoured away. I was scared of this huge man, but apparently I'm fierce.

We made the newspapers

The artist, Steve Hofmeyr, is very popular under the ladies for some unknown reason. The shows usually started at 7 pm at the main stage, but on the day of Steve Hofmeyr's performance, the ladies already took their seats from 9 am that morning. When he finally came on stage, the ladies went wild! They were screaming like crazy people. He then decided to walk between the audience, the ladies were touching him and when he came back on stage, he easily had 10 bras in his hands and over his head.

My friend, who worked with another group, was assaulted by a woman. She was an hour late for her show, but still demanded to be let in. The poor guy had a black eye to show for his bravery.

All in all, it was loads of fun. It was the best holiday job I ever had and the payment was also not bad. I, also met great people who became friends.

This bookworm is not happy!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I HATE it when I am excited to start reading a book and I spend 2-3 days on this book, just to come to the end and say WTF?

The mysteries: Robert McGill
Rating: 2/10
Genre: Crime fiction

I am crazy about crime fiction. I love to solve the crime with the cops and to keep guessing until the end who the bad guy was.

It took me a few days to read this book, because it was not good writing. It was a 300-pager, meaning I can usually finish it within a day or two (If it is good writing).  I was amped to read this book, because the summary was promising and I love the title!

The summary:

Robert, a young traveller, finds himself in 

the small Ontario town of Sunshine,

in the middle of a party at the town's wildlife park. 

A stranger he picked up on the way has 

given him a dirty yellow notebook and told 

him to give it to an Alice Penderson. 

But Alice disappeared two years ago.

Six months before Robert's arrival , human 

remains have been recovered from the

local shoreline. Stoddart Fremlin has been

arrested on suspicion of murder. Daniel

Barrie, who was having an affair with Alice 

and who left for England immediately after

her disappearance, has unexpectedly 

returned. At the same time Rocket DeWitt,

one of the last people to see Alice alive,

has left town. And amid all this, there is 

a tiger on the loose.

This book didn't grab me in the beginning, which is absolutely crucial for most readers, even me! It took me two days just to get past the first few pages. I told myself to stick it out and try reading further.

There was way too many characters and way too many points of views! I couldn't keep track where the new characters fit into the story, or if they fit in at all? Most characters had NOTHING to do with Alice Penderson, who went missing. They were just filling up pages.
When I came to the end of the book, my reaction was WTF!!! Because the disappearance/murder of the Alice Penderson is still a MYSTERY.  Maybe that is why the book's name is 'The mysteries'. There is no follow-up on this book, I checked!

I am so disappointed that I spent so much time on this book. I could've just read the summary and I would know what happens in the book. Maybe this is an artsy book with deeper meaning and symbolism, but that is not why I read Crime Fiction! I want to solve the case! Not analyze a book! If I want to analyze books, I will go and study English Literature.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. This bookworm by heart is not happy!

We are one species

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I saw this quote on a wall at Maropeng: Cradle of Humankind.

Human populations appear to be different in terms

of colour, body size, limb proportions, hair texture

and other physical attributes.

Beneath the surface, we are all virtually identical.

There is no genetic boundary for race.

We are one species.

Maropeng: Cradle of Humankind

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Yesterday, we went to visit Maropeng: Cradle of Humankind.

Sister got scared on the boat ride

Looking into the endless mirrors

Going on a nature walk

We had a lovely time there and I would recommend it to everyone. I just wish the Sterkfontein caves were included in the hefty price., so we could also go and see them. We will do the caves another time.

We all are winners

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, we went to go and watch my sister running at her school's athletic event.

Sister and me

She was very upset when she didn't win (or even close), she was third last. Just after she finished running, she already had a sad face and said that she lost. How do you explain to a 5 year old, that winning isn't everything?

Children grow up believing that it is very important and it's not...
I, also never won. Our family is not really athletic. We have the brains! One day she will win other kids in grades, whereas they will in sport. Everyone wins in their own way and every person is unique and no one else can be the same as you.

The awesome blue team

We all are winner, just in different ways!

This Lady is getting 2 crowns

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I'm getting two crowns, just not the one's that is put on your head, but on your teeth! On the 22nd of February, I will have a beautiful smile! The excitement is so HIGH!

When I was 11, I got braces. when my braces came off, I had sore teeth. It was abscess' in two of my teeth.

The dentist took it out, but afterwards he closed it immediately, causing my teeth to bleed and nowhere to drain. They turned BLUE! So, I had bluetooth x 2.

I have been for a few whitening sessions and my teeth look a little better, but it's still discolored and I'm very self-conscious about it. I want a beautiful smile again that is all-white! Now, finally it is becoming a reality in less than 5 weeks!

Watch this space-in 5 weeks!!!

"Be true to your teeth and they won't be false to you"- Anon.

Baby sis is in Grade R

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Sister with her big bag

 Today, Mieka started her first day at Grade R (Grade 0). She has been looking forward to this day for ages! She was always telling us that her hair would be like Rapunzel's and that her eyes will shine. She was also convinced that after Grade R, she will be joining me at university. She still has to get through 12 years of school before she can go to university and then I will most certainly not be there anymore.

She enjoyed her first day and we were glad to see that one of her friends, was NOT in her class, because they always have some sort of fight.

What was your first day like in school?

Are you happy?

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, I was walking in the shops and I was thinking about how happy I am. I realized I am EXTREMELY HAPPY!

Me and my study buddy, Merieke

Why am I so happy? Because I realized, happiness is an inside job! No one else can make you happy, except for you! You can not wait for someone else to make you happy, because they are only gonna disappoint you.

Not even your Prince in shining armor can make you happy. You have to D.I.Y.

Happiness is also my motto and goal for 2014. In every situation in every day, I'm going to choose to be happy! I am going to see the beauty in each day and enjoy it to the fullest. Carpe diem!

Hope you have a awesome evening, my amazing blog readers! xxx

Cure for being gay?

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

This Millenium Lady is on her soapbox again!

The other day I read an article, which made me chuckle a bit. A mother asked the doctor for advice on how to cure her son for being gay.

Usually the doctor responds to the question, giving advice, but with this article their whole interaction was printed, which I think was brilliant.

(I am paraphrasing, because unfortunately I didn't get to save the article.)

The mother asked the doctor to help her to cure her son from his gayness, because she already had a sort of arranged marriage for her son. She would love for the two of them to get married soon.

The doctor replied that in order for the son to 'recover', she must be a lesbian for 1 month.

The mother was outraged and said that she had been straight her whole life, how could the doctor expect her to be a lesbian for even a day?

Ha-ha, Oh the irony! The doctor then replied and said that her son is gay, he has been his whole life, how can she expect him to be straight for even one day?

The mother didn't reply after that. I hope she realized that her son is gay and she should accept him for who he is. But the doctor really handled it well and she sure made a good argument.

Fun filled weekend

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Weekends with my family is never boring, because we always go places and do fun things.
This weekend started off with my sister getting a haircut, just to get rid of those nasty tangles.

At Chop-it kiddies hair salon

We went to the Planetarium on Saturday, it was a lot of fun and Mieka enjoyed it very much.

At the planetarium

Afterwards, we went to Mike's Kitchen Parktown, where I found no. 19 of my bucket list. 

   

That evening we had a kiddies party, which my sister enjoyed a lot!

The birthday cupcakes

The kids enjoying the party

And today, my sister gave me a hair-do.

  

I hope you all had an amazing weekend! 

One thing crossed off my bucket list

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I have a bucket list and today I did/found number 19. I found the best squidheads (so far) at Mike's Kitchen Parktown. It was in an amazing sauce and it was not overly cooked that it turned into rubber. It was perfect in every single way.

The masterpiece

It may not look like much, but believe me, this was unbelievable!



Here is the rest of my bucket list: (Warning! May contain content of extreme awesomeness!)

1. Backpack through the WHOLE Europe.
2. Go to Texas to visit my uncle (Happening in 2014)
3. Learn more about other religions and cultures
4. Take up my French and Dutch again (or it will get lost)
5. Visit Machu Picchu
6. Learn an African language like Zulu
7. Go to class in my pajamas
8. I want to experience a white Christmas or even just see snow
9. I want to volunteer at Rehab center for animals that got hurt and nurse them back to health.
10. I want to name a star after myself.
11. For a birthday I want to have a dress-up party, where we dress in awesome clothes like the        1920's
12. For a day I would like to dress-up like a guy and act like one. (I don't know why)
13. I would love to go to Egypt and see the Pyramides.
14 Do a boat cruise.
15. I want to do a diving course and do deep sea diving. Experience the wonders of the ocean.
16. Learn to meditate.
17. Visit catacombs in all the countries that has them. I was already in Paris' catacombs.
18. Experience the mysteries of the world. (Bermuda Triangle, lost treasures, etc...)
19. Find the best squidheads to eat in the world. The best so far was at Primi Piatti.
20. Read all the books I possibly can. I LOVE READING!!!!!
21. Meet James Patterson, I am his biggest fan! He is an author, in case you're wondering.
22. Find a book I have been looking for- Children of the dust. But can't find it anywhere.

I will not be able to complete all of these things on my bucket list, but at least I can try :).
What is on your bucket list for 2014?

Funny Friday #2: Blue eyes

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Have a great weekend, my awesome blog readers! Much love xx

Attacked by a dog

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today my mom, sister and I took our dogs for a walk, which they absolutely loved. They are always attempting to escape our garden. So, this walk was freedom x 10000.

*Petite Peu and Benji

The dogs tired easily, because they are unfit due to the reason that we don't go and walk with them a lot.

In our complex, there are lots of dogs and they bark at everything even at an ant walking in front of them. So, when we entered the complex, the dogs started barking loudly. Our dogs are very small but can get very arrogant against big dogs, when we know they will come second to these dogs.

We were almost at our house when suddenly a huge dog jumped over his wall. I couldn't believe my eyes and he ran straight at us and was aiming for Petite Peu, the black dog. My sister luckily ran to the house, while we were fending off this big dog.

All I could think of was to get PP away from the big dog, so I picked her up by her leash and was holding her in my arms. The big dog's mouth went over PP's head, but she didn't bite because I pulled her away. My mom kept screaming "NO!" at the dog. I wasn't even worried about myself getting bitten by the dog, I just wanted to protect my dog.

It is really strange how we react in a crisis. My sister ran, my mom screamed and I just tried to save my dog. Luckily none of us got hurt, not even PP, who was so arrogant against this big dog.

This big dog that attacked us, is to large for our complex environment. The dogs are not supposed to be higher than knee height, this dog was about hip height. HE CAN JUMP OVER WALLS! That scared the living crap out of me!

It was scary, but I'm just glad that no one got hurt.

*Petite Peu stands for 'little bit' in French. She was supposed to be way smaller than she is, but we still love her and Benji, all the same, even if they are arrogant towards very large dogs!

The best food ever

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I am not a very good cook, but some recipes are easy enough for me to make.

My creation

This is called an Egg Pancake, it is easy to make for breakfast or whenever and kids love it because it tastes great. My mom learned this recipe from her friend, Yvonne. It is a dish quite popular under the Dutch. They also love to throw extra sugar on top, but the sugar in the Egg Pancake is enough for me.

The recipe:
1 egg
1 tablespoon of bread crumbs
1 teaspoon of sugar
A little bit of salt

All the ingredients must be mixed together and then be cooked in a pan. Check the Egg Pancake regularly underneath, if it turns brown, flip it over. If both sides have a satisfactory color to you. It is ready. Easy as 1 2 3. You can tweak the recipe anyway you like.

I am proud to say that I can also make something!
If you have tried my recipe, please let me know how it tastes!

Feeling like a broken toy

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

As I have mentioned before in a previous blog post, I struggle with stut-stut-stuttering.

Super Girl

Recently, my stuttering started up again. My stuttering is stress-related and I believe it started again after my vacation job at a shoe shop. The job was stressful in its own way, with a boss who was very demanding and she worked on every wrong nerve there is.

I hate it when I stutter (well, who doesn't?), because people sometimes lack patience when I start to stutter and will lose interest in what I'm about to say. Sometimes I want to tell people something, but decide against it, because I stutter. I REALLY HATE TO STUTTER! I feel like a broken toy.

Every rose has its thorn. Mine is stuttering. I once met this beautiful girl, but she was like drop-dead-gorgeous and she had the best personality anyone could ask for, but her thorn was that her IQ was so low, she struggled to pass in school. She is an inspiration to me, because she now owns her own beauty salon and she is doing well for herself.

Every time, I start stuttering again, I try to think of everything my speech therapists have taught me. Yes, it works sometimes, but mostly I have to take a deep breath and try again.

There are different types of stuttering. Some people stutter on sounds, some on words and like me, on sentences. Yes, a person can stutter on sentences. I'm one of those.

There are also different triggers for stuttering. Mine is stress-related and will come and go. Other people stutter permanently.

It is not easy to be a stutterer, but everyone has to embrace their thorn and make it part of their self-confidence. I am Super Girl. Nothing will get me down, not even my stuttering.

What is your thorn?

Open your mind a bit!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Every once in a while, I get on my Soapbox and tell people what I really think.

I want to tell people to get with the program! I live in South-Africa and it is infamous for Apartheid that ended 20 years ago. I am 20 years old. Meaning that Apartheid wasn't even part of my life. But what irritates me the most, is people who can't move past it. Every part of their lives that don't go according to plan, is blamed on Apartheid.

If they can't get jobs, Apartheid's fault. If they struggle with education, it's Apartheid's fault... Yes, it happened and it was a bad and awful idea, but to keep holding on to the past, only makes that the past still has the power over you. You have not beaten the past, until you leave it, where it belongs... IN THE PAST!! What baffles my mind more is people the same age as me, who talk about Apartheid, as if they were there. You had half a brain at that time. So, I blame the parents for reliving the past, also for making their past, their children's present and future.

I thank my mom for raising me correctly and teaching me that everyone is equal. She raised me to be open-minded, to be understanding and to leave judgement to others.

No one has a choice of what race they will be. There is no menu for picking what you will look like, but you have a choice of you will become and be. No matter what circumstances you grew up in or how you were raised, you can choose who you become.

Everyone, including me, should stop judging and open our minds more to the Rainbow Nation that we should be.

How can you have so much hate for people, because of their skin color and the claim that you love others?

Gay, straight, black, white and whatever else there is, they are perfect just the way they are. How boring would life be if everyone thought, looked and did the same. I think it would be so boring that we would die at an early age.

To all those who are different in some sort of way.. GOOD FOR YOU!!!

"Why try to fit in, when you were born to stand out?" -Anon.

Tired of kissing frogs

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I know I'm still young, but i really am tired of kissing those damned frogs!

Today, my parents and I got talking about kissing frogs. Yes, I'm still young. No, I'm not looking for a husband to marry... YET!!!! But it is just really irritating meeting guys and very soon you realize they are the complete opposite of what you are looking for.

There is an Afrikaans saying "Elke pot het sy deksel" it means 'Every pot has its lid'. Therefore, I believe that for every person out there, there is someone who will fit perfectly with them. For the strange, there is strange. For the Mr. Beans, there are Ms. Beans who will turn into Mrs. Beans.

One of my best friends told me that she is also tired of kissing frogs. She was at a club and made eye contact with a cute stranger for almost the whole evening. She said that he was really gorgeous and was tall, dark and handsome. Later that evening he came over to where she was sitting. He started the conversation with a corny pick-up line. She got up and simply walked away. I asked her why she did it and she replied that she wasn't even willing to give this frog a try. She believes that her prince should be more creative than using a corny pick-up line, if he had used a new one or a funny one. She said that a normal 'Hello, my name is..." would also have done the trick.

I don't want to kiss any frogs, anymore. I want to meet my prince and kiss him so he stays my prince, haha! I know I'm not being realistic, but it would be really nice if it worked like that.

Well, Prince Charming, I'm waiting patiently! But please don't take too long!

This is me for a while...

*Photos were taken off the internet.

Please feel free to leave a comment :)

To-do list for the year

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Every year one makes New Years resolutions and have all these great plans, but this year I'm keeping it simple...

That... and happiness. Everything I do, I will choose to be happy.

Happiness will be my goal and motto for 2014. Life is short and wasted if one is not happy all the time!

Way to begin 2014

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Every year, I usually spend New Years at home with my family, but this year I was invited to my friend's weekend home at the Vaaldam.

Me and Melanie on New Years

I realized that I didn't take enough photos because we were so busy having fun, that taking photos hardly ever came to mind. We enjoyed our time by tubing, riding boat, riding on quad bikes, jet skiing, reading and simply just catching up on gossip and simply just talking nonsense.

Emjee and me going to ride tube

Riding the tube

Melanie riding the boat

Tanning in the sun

Their beautiful weekend home

The lapa/braai area

These are mostly all the photos that I had taken. I wish I had photos of when we rode on the quad bikes and when we jet ski'd. But we had so much fun, that it never came to mind.

I only came back today and it really was a great way to begin 2014. Thank you Melanie for having me.

How did you spend your New years?