The crossing straight from hell

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Each and every week, I am forced to cross a four-way stop, which I personally named as the Crossing from Hell. I don't have a car, so I am forced to cross it by foot. I have to cross the Crossing from Hell, because on the other side lies my groceries and needed study material for the beginning of a semester.

I cross this Crossing from Hell, at least once a week maybe twice or three times. 

Crossing from Hell

Each time the crossing looks quiet but as soon as you want to cross it, there are 1 000 000 cars who have to cross it as well. I gave this crossing its name, because I had many near death experiences here. Students say that they know how a four-way stop works, but it's a lie... They don't. I know it because I have had too many near death experiences... So, to save everyone who crosses this crossing or any other like it, I decided to make a guide on how to cross it.

How to cross the Crossing from Hell:

1. Run. I repeat: RUN! 
2. Make sure there is a group of people who want to cross it as well. (This helps that you don't make mistakes and walk in front of a moving car)
3. Make sure you are in the middle of this group (If a car hits, you are the safest)
4. When crossing, close your eyes and walk as fast as lightning.
5. RUN! I repeat: RUN! 
6. Imagine you are walking to 'I'm walking on sunshine', but put it on fast forward and move your buns!
7. If you see a cute guy/girl, keep yourself together and RUN! Once on the other side of the crossing, you can smile at him.
8. If there is a bicycle who also wants to cross, you better put on your takkies, 'cause you're gonna run for your life and keep up with him/her to not get hit.
9. Make sure you wear bright colors (Neon colors, Red, Cerise Pink, Blue, Lime Green, Yellow) any color that will make visible to drivers.
10. RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!

Have you ever crossed a crossing like this? What is your experiences?

Marching for our rights

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, we made history! We, as students, fought for our rights to be educated in our home language, Afrikaans and to have English and Tswana, as interpretation services.

Merieke and I at the march
Second poster translation "Media stoking anger, what about my degree?"

Our university has been receiving bad advertising from newspapers and television since the beginning of the year, making false accusations of the university endorsing a Nazi-culture, which is rubbish!

The university was forced to appoint a new Vice-Chancellor after all the bad media, but this Vice-Chancellor made promises that he will not change our language of instruction. So everyone was happy, until he made statements on TV that he had other motives. Yes, he was considering to change our language of instruction.

Now, here is the defense of the students and the university:

Since our country became a democracy in 1994, we had 11 official languages. Talk about a rich culture and traditions of a country! I absolutely love it! There are so many types of people here and each and everyone is individual. We all have different backgrounds and we are a Rainbow Nation. One of our rights in this Rainbow Nation, is that we have the right to be educated in our home language.

Why not go to another university to receive education in your home language?
Because we are the last Afrikaans university in South-Africa. All English and Tswana students have translators in EACH and EVERY class.
There are so many English universities, who provide interpretation services for all languages of South-Africa, except for Afrikaans.

Lizanne, me and Merieke

Thousands of students marching!

It will still take some time for the Vice-Chancellor to realize what he is doing to our student culture. He will cause the separation between students and friends, because of this. And Nelson Mandela, his hero fought so hard to prevent exactly the things that are happening now at the university.

How do you feel about this? Please share your views.

Funny campus signs

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today was the first day of my last semester as a final year student. Yes, it was the beginning of the end... Feels great even writing this. Next year is still a mystery, but it's not today's worries.

Point being, it is great to be back and it is great to see that students haven't lost their sense of humor. These are two posters which were on campus, everywhere:

This translates to: "Have you maybe seen this dove?

I met this dove in front of the SS (Student sentrum) and we chilled for 5 minutes and he flew away.

Within 5 minutes he became my best friend.

If you maybe see him, tell him that I miss him.

Thanx

Gerrie"

"Free pieces of paper"

Thank you random students, you made a Blue Monday a little less blue! I love being back!

Day 12: What makes me laugh most?

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I'm posting yesterday's post for the #writersbootcampZA. The task is to write about the things that make me laugh most.

My clown of a sister

What makes me laugh most?

• Lame jokes! Yes, you heard me... LAME JOKES! I always try to imagine what the people were thinking when coming up with that joke. 

Boy to his teacher: Will you punish me for something I didn't do?

Teacher: Of course not!

(Drum roll please)

Boy: Good, 'cause I didn't do my homework!

• My baby sister- she does funny things which I find hilarious, but she still has to find her sense of humor...
• Me- I really have blonde moments and would give blonde jokes a run for their money... Yes, I do stupid things (A LOT)! But I can still laugh at myself.

Yes, these are the three things that make me laugh most! What makes you laugh most?

Trip to the zoo

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, we visited the Johannesburg Zoo. Here are some pictures:

Lions tanning in the winter sun

Baby sis throwing a tantrum

Fish over head

Day 11: For the rest of my life

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

The challenge for today with the #writersbootcampZA is to write about what we would choose if we could only have one food and one drink for the rest of our lives. Now, this is hard... especially the food part...

My one food and one drink would be:

Wine and pasta! 

Yes, I would be able to live with that for the rest of my life!

Day 10: The best advice I ever received

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I've missed a few days of the #writersbootcampZA, due to being very busy with birthday celebrations that happened and then the studying for a test and catching up with friends. Finally, I'm back! I decided not to write about the days that I have missed because it won't be relevant anymore.

My mom is my biggest role model and she taught since I was a little girl that no one can make you happy, except you! You determine your own happiness. I wrote a blog post about it earlier this year: Are you happy?

I believe that every moment of every day, you choose to happy! Don't complain about the little things, appreciate all the little things! Do not depend on other people to make you happy, you will be disappointed! BOOM!

Happiness is an inside job! 

That is the best advice I received from my mother. I always choose to be happy and I AM! 

Extremely blessed

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

This weekend, I celebrated my 21st birthday. My friends and family made it extremely special. I have tears in my eyes of thankfulness to each and everyone.

At my 1920's Gatsby 21st

First of all, I would like to thank my parents and especially my mom. They did so much effort with my party and with my birthday. The tables looked beautiful, the food was amazing and I even had a birthday cake! I think this was my first legit birthday cake! It was amazing! Thank you Mom and Dad, you are everything that children wish for. You spoiled me rotten. I really love you.

My aunt Debbie, my grandmother and grandfather for the wonderful and big presents. You really spoiled me in ways, I cannot ever say thank you enough!

The cake!

I would also like to thank my friends for enjoying my party with me and all the wonderful gifts I received. Without my friends I would be hollow. we had the best night and danced our feet off doing the Charleston on the dance floor!

My friends dressed beautifully!

My gorgeous sister and her outfit

My 21st was everything I hoped for and I couldn't ask for more because it was THE BEST!  Thanx to everyone that made it so wonderful and great!

Day 5: In the life of a Junior Events Manager

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

It is day 5 of the #writersbootcampZA. The task for today is to take a newspaper and find a job ad, then we have to write about how it would be to live the life of that person working in that job. There were lots of jobs to choose from, but I chose the Junior Events Manager.

The ad in the paper

My life as a Junior Events Manager:

My name is Kiara and I am a Junior Events Manager. I am 23 years old  and I started as a Junior Events Manager a few months ago. I am passionate about life, I am energetic, organised and dynamic. I am the bossy kind, because you have to be when you have to organize events, like parties, weddings, bachelorettes, etc.... Otherwise you'll never get what you want and how you imagined the party to be. Yes, people don't always like me, but I get things done.

I have lots of contacts in every imaginable business there is, so I can call on them when I need their help with an event. There are also a lot of discounts because most of them owe me favors or they are my friends and insist on better prices. 

I have two closets. One closet is my wine and dine closet, it is spectacular clothes, so my clients will be impressed by my appearances and believe that I'm sophisticated and successful. In my other closet, I have my normal clothes which I wear to work and on days when I'm not working. 

I have a boyfriend, but we don't see each other a lot, because I am always working even on weekends. It puts quite a strain on our relationship, because we never have time for one another. He complains often, but what can I do? I am good at my job and I need the job!

I have two cats. Maybe I'll become a cat lady, because they understand that I cannot always be there. They don't need the attention that my boyfriend does. Yes, I'll become a cat lady.

This is just a little bit in the life of a Junior Events Manager.

Day 4: Living without this would be impossible...

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

It is day 4 of the #writersbootcampZA. Happy Independence Day to all my American friends! Hope It was a great day! Today's challenge is to write about the thing which I cannot live without. Now, the people close to me will already know this answer very well.

What is the one thing I can't live without, you ask?

My wild imagination!

Yes, my wild imagination. I sometimes wonder where these images come from. Like how did I ever think of the things that pop into my head? 

Always when I'm talking I'll make the most random comparisons, which makes a lot of sense but no one would ever think of it in that way. I would usually describe my future as a kid who smudged cake in his face meaning it's blurry and I don't know what I'm going to do in the future, but I'm sure as hell enjoying it to lick the icing off my face, meaning I'm enjoying the uncertainty and still enjoying life.

I am way better at writing fictional stories than I am with writing realistic stories. When I was little I used to believe in fairies, trolls, gnomes, you name it and I believed in them as a child. I think the world would be wonderful if we really had such mystical creatures roaming the earth. My imagination never stopped thinking of them and I still love to write stories about these creatures. 

When I was about 10 years old, a friend and I decided to build a house for fairies and we put it in the field below us. We had fully believed that the fairies would be staying comfortably in that house, I was really crushed when there was nothing when we paid a visit a few days later. 

My wild imagination is part of my daily life and I would never give it up! It makes my life interesting and more than never, I want to laugh out loud about the things that are going on in my head because it is an imagination which is priceless. 

What is the one thing which you cannot live without?

Day 3: One of my greatest fears

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today is day 3 of the #writersbootcampZA and the challenge is to write about One of my greatest fears. The challenge was given last night at 6 pm, since then I have done a bit of introspection about my greatest fears and which one stands out. Now, like I have mentioned on day 1, my big fear is the dark, but it is not my GREATEST FEAR!

My greatest fear is the fear of being MEDIOCRE

I don't want to be the girl in the crowd, who no one notices and just walks past without thinking or looking twice. I want the people to look, walk on and have the urge to just look back. 

I have always been afraid of being mediocre/normal/plain/unnoticeable and not being remembered.... I always had to do things to make me stand out from the crowd, to show that I am better. 

I have always imagined myself having an exotic job and an exotic life with a man who fits into the lifestyle with me. It can still come true, because I still have my whole life in front of me. I just have to dream big and everything I do, must be towards my goal. But yes, I am afraid of ending up behind a desk and no one even knows my name. I have this picture in my head, where I walk to the office next to me and I ask them a favor and they reply: "Sorry, but who are you?" I think I would die right there. 

I want to be the type of person you meet and afterwards you can't stop talking about how cool I am or how I have changed your perspective about things. I just want to be remembered. Am I crazy for feeling like this? 

I don't want to lead a normal life and I most certainly don't want to be normal. Yes, that is my greatest fear.

Day 2: My 5 most favourite words

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

So, like I said, I joined the #WritersBootcampZA. Every day, for the month of July, we have to follow the task given and write a blog post about it. Day 2's challenge is to write about your 5 most favorite words. So here goes:

1. LOVE: I love love! To me it resembles all things beautiful: passion, integrity, appreciation. Love also means that you know the faults of the thing/person which you love and yet still choose to love them/it.
2. HAPPINESS: Happiness is my life motto and it is the conscience choice that I make every single moment of every single day. No one is going to make you happy, except you! Happiness is an inside job!
3. MEDIA: I am a lover of all things media: Social-media, Mass-media, Ora-media... You name it and I love it. I love to spend my days on anything media-ish!
4. WATER: Yes, water. Why? Because it takes away the thirst, it gives life to plants and all living things. It resembles calmness and all things relaxing. 
5. CHOICE: One always has a choice. Nobody determines your course in life, except you. Yes, people can persuade you, but the choice is still yours! 

This is my 5 favorite words and they have much more meaning to me than these small explanations! Join the #WritersBootcampZA, there is still time!

Even if you know me well, you don't know this...

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I decided to take part in the #writersbootcampZA hosted by @WritersBootcamp. The first assignment is to write a post about the things that no one knows about you. Challenge accepted!

Even if you know me, you don't know this:

When I was a little girl, I developed a very big fear of the dark. When I say big, I mean really big. I used to switch on the lights everywhere I went and didn't like switching them off again afterwards. A had a huge teddy bear and I used to take him everywhere and sing gospel songs very loudly to make the long hallways a little bit less scarier.  Yes, every little kid is afraid of the dark, so what? Well, I'm still afraid of the dark! A 21 year old student! I live in a dormitory and the hallways are just as long and a dormitory is scarier than my old house used to be.
I'm not so much afraid of the dark, as I am of the unknown. The unknown which awaits in the dark.

Yes, there are many things that you don't know about me, but it's good to be a bit mysterious sometimes, don't you think?