Cheers to the first semester!!!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

"I look my best when I'm totally free, on holiday, walking on the beach."- Rosamund Pike

Finally, after all the blood, sweat and tears, my semester has ended. Exams are like so yesterday. Or the day before that....

I SURVIVED!

Let's drink to that!!!

Cheers to the first semester!

Now my fun-packed holiday can start. I am talking chilling, sleeping late, spending time with the friends and the for the Grand Finale: SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS!!!!!!!

Hope you have successful exams and fun-filled holidays.

Xxx

Painting for holiday fun

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

What do you do when you get bored? You get creative (sometimes).

This year, I will have my own room at my residence and it will be a lot bigger, so I need to decorate it with more things. But decorations are expensive and not exactly what I want, therefore I decided to buy and paint my own decorations with my favorite color: Blue, especially turquoise.

Adventure: my word for 2015

"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure."- Christopher McCandless

This is my motto for 2015. I simply want to have fun and adventures. Read about it here.

Happ(y)iness: My word of 2014

My motto and word for 2014 was: Happiness and the motto: Happiness is an inside job. I had an extremely happy year and it was because I chose to be happy. Read about it here.

I am impressed with my attempts at painting! I will take orders (ha-ha).

Travelling starts locally

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

One of my biggest dreams is to travel the whole world. This has been my dream, since I went to France and London in 2011. I have discovered that I have a wanderlust. According to the Urban Dictionary the definition of Wanderlust is:

1. A very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.

2. Strong longing for or impulse toward wandering


I want to see and explore every country. I want to eat the weird and wacky foods of those countries and learn about the traditional foods, the traditions. I want to experience EVERYTHING!!

But what does it help if you travel the world, but you never explore your own country?

This past week, we went to Uvongo in Kwazulu-Natal on the South Coast of South-Africa. Here are some photos of our time there and the surrounding areas. I decided to use photos, because they are worth a thousand words.

Beautiful mountains on our trip to the coast

We have arrived! Rock pools at Uvongo

Sister taking a photo of me at the rock pools

Sisters ready to go to the beach

The beautiful beach, Uvongo.

My flip flops in the sand

A coffee tour at the Beaver Creek Coffee Estate in Port Edward

Taking a walk at the Clearwater Trails in Port Edward

I find the name Clearwater Trails ironic, when I look at the river. 

Travelling back home, my sister made a fort for herself out of pure boredom

Travelling starts locally and then internationally. I had the best time this past week and I realized all over again, just how beautiful my country is. South-Africa truly is majestic and amazing!

Me becoming a lawyer?

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I am always a sucker for a December holiday job. Most of the time I use the money to buy Christmas presents or to put into my study fund for next year.

Previous holidays I have babysat, i have worked along with Cinderella in shoe stores and I did interning at my dream job as a Public Relations Officer... Yes, I have worked in a huge variety of jobs...

One of the motto's at the shoe store, where I worked

This year, I'm working at a law firm, where I have to answer telephones and help the people with requests. My first day went pretty smoothly. Except for the power that went out, me being alone in the office, finding out that I'm deaf and struggle to hear the people over the phone (making them repeat their case a million times over) and getting a few things wrong, but what is a first day without those glitches and itches?

At the end of the day I wanted to give people legal advice and wanted to charge them a consultation fee (Just kidding! Or am I?).

In a very professional company, I also drank out of a Winnie the Pooh mug and felt very rebel, but it's the firm's mug, so I'm in the clear.

My very professional coffee mug!

All in the day of a phone answering person at a law firm!

I always appreciate a bit of extra bucks over the holidays and also to add more jobs to my CV.

The holiday mood is falling over campus

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

This morning I was walking on campus and was shocked to see this...

Why, would you ask? Because usually I have to push through the crowd of students to get past them. They are usually waiting for classes to start here and this morning, there was not a soul in sight! The university closes on the 28th of March, but it seems that this memo didn't reach everyone, or they decided to extend their long weekend.

I must admit, the holiday mood is creeping slowly into my bones! I struggle to get up in the mornings and I am missing my parents' food! I want to sleep late and enjoy the holiday vibes! Only a few more days, where I have to survive on my own food and getting up early.

This has been a hectic quarter and the work is still pilling up for my second quarter, so I think a holiday is in order.

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.” 
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

How will you spend your holiday? Me? I'll be on the couch watching mindless TV...

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.

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?

Last day at shoe shop

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Like I have mentioned before I was working in a shoe shop. But all good and bad stuff must come to an end.

I have learned to work with customers nice or rude. Some come in already, ready for a fight and others will be so friendly that you are almost stunned... I have also lost a bit of faith in humanity because most customers don't even acknowledge you, after you have greeted them heartily and they can really be unreasonable for no reason at all.

I have made new friends with my colleagues, they welcomed me with open arms and we really had good times in the store. We had a good laugh at customers, who went crazy or started shouting at us for a pair of shoes... If shoes ever become so important to me that I start shouting at the shop assistants, then I must know that I have totally lost it... It was fun knowing them and I'm going to try to make regular visits there.

We have also established that i can't dance, especially not to house music... But i have known it for a long time now!

Also one of the perks of working in a shoe shop is that we have first pick at what shoes we want. If we get more stock from the suppliers and open the boxes and there is shoes in them which we like, we get to buy them first, before they are even on the selves!

Today was my last day in the shoe shop.

All in all, it was yet another great year and now I have money to show for my slavery in the shop. But that money is going straight to my study fund for 2014!

What a merry Christmas it was!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

I wish all my readers a very merry Christmas, I hope you got everything that you wanted!

I am going to do a photo post of my last two days spent with family.

At Cinderella Kids

We went to see Cinderella at the People's theater in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Dad and sis at Cinderella Kids

My sister also got invited on stage because she had her birthday a few days ago.

Go see my post Li'l sis is 5

Sister on stage

Later, that evening Santa paid a visit to our house, ate my sister's cookies and drank her milk and left a letter.

PROOF!

Opening presents

Then today we spent it with the rest of the family.

Mom and dad

Our table is set

Grandma, me & Petite Peu

Sister look fashionable

Grandma & Grandpa

Opening presents

A delicious duck on the braai

Colouring in

Mom and Aunt Debbie

BRAAI

It was really a day well spent with family! One of the best I had so far. I got everything I wanted and more! I am very grateful for my family.

How retail works in a shoe shop

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Many people walk into a shop, buy the shoes and walk out but never realize what is going on in the background. I thought I would share this with you, because it was even interesting to me. And like I have mentioned before I'm working in a shoe shop for the holiday season to earn some extra money for 2014. 

Kgomotso and me working

There are so many things that it is even hard to know where to start.

If a customer comes with a shoe that was on the display and asks for a size, there is a sticker in the shoe. The sticker has a name on it and the bar code. Then we look on the boxes for the same name, then we have found the shoe! So next time, you're looking for a shoe, you can do it yourself ;).

Shoes sell so fast that everyday we have to put new stock in the empty spaces. Every second day we receive more or less 90-100 boxes, which can almost immediately be put into the empty spaces. A box contains more or less 12-20 shoe boxes. That means 1200-2000 shoe boxes that we get every 2 days.

Customers make it hard when they put the shoes back in the wrong places, because there is so many types of shoes. If a customer puts the shoes in the wrong place, we struggle to find it when it was supposed to be in the assigned row, but it's not there. The shoes can sometimes get lost that we only find it months later.

Also, because we sell so many shoes, the shop's shelves looks different almost everyday, because we have to make space for the new boxes and also fill in the spaces. It is hard work, because if you move one row, you have to move ALL THE ROWS! No spaces are allowed!

Tomy takkies

The photo above shows Tomy takkies. They are very popular and everyone from young to old can wear them and not look strange. Well, these shoes are so popular that they make 40% of our budget. Yes, that is how popular they are.

Customers love to ask if we have any more stock in the stockroom and they hate it if you say no, because you didn't even go and check, but what they don't know is that we work day in and day out in that store and we pretty much now the store in and out. But sometimes I can see that the people are not nice so I sometimes just pretend to go in there, wait a while and go out again, telling them there is nothing. I know it is wrong of me, but like people always say: "The customer is always right".

I always laugh at the families coming into the store. The dads usually goes and sits on the nearest bench they can find in the store. The moms usually run around and try to find shoes even for the husbands. And the children usually run around and play games. The best is when the wives asks how the shoe looks to their husbands, the reply is always: "It looks fine, honey, buy it so we can go." MEN DO NOT LIKE SHOPPING!

Customers also ask why we do not extend the mall's trading hours. Let me tell you why, You may be with your family in the mall, shopping. But, we have lives and families as well, so we would like to see them before 12 o' clock at night. The hours are there to accommodate the employees.

The next time you walk in to a store, please be friendly to the shop assistants. We really appreciate it to be greeted friendly. We are also people. We also have feelings.

Also, see my post For the love of SHOES!!!!!

Please feel free to leave a comment. Tell me what store has the best customer service and what you as consumer expect from people working in stores?

Jingle bells, jingle bells...

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Don't you just love Christmas time? Me? I'm a sucker for it!

I love the Christmas songs, the decorations, the whole feeling... Some people hate it but I REALLY LOVE IT! For me it resembles a time of love and when family comes together.

I also love to do Christmas shopping and I always try to make my presents personal. I don't buy expensive gifts that has no meaning, I will even buy them a cold drink if i know that it is their favorite.

Like I mentioned, Christmas is a time when family comes together and every year me and my family go and watch beautiful lights in Randpark Ridge at 14 Appelblaar Avenue. So, if you would like to check it out, it is really worth it. Last night, we went there again and there were people camping out there and bring picnic baskets. There was even girls using their entrepreneurial skills by selling sodas!

Do you love Christmas? Please feel free to leave a comment :)

Feeding elephants

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Feeding elephants

One of our favorite activities for the holidays is to go to Glen Afric in the North-West. It is a beautiful restaurant,which overlooks the bushes and one can see a lot of animals and the highlight is of course to feed the elephants some carrots.

Bonding time

I am a huge nature freak and love these type of outings. I can spend the rest of my days out and about in nature!

Please feel free to leave a comment :)

Vacation at Mabula

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

A giraffe

We were out of touch this week, because we were in paradise, also known as Mabula Game Lodge in Limpopo.
I am crazy about this place, because there is no city lights and noise of the city. All you could hear is the sounds of birds, bugs and animals.
There was no reception for cellphones, which was quite nice.

On a guided walk, 20m away from Rhino

I, especially love the game drives, which they offer. You get to see 4 of the Big 5. The leopards almost never show their faces, so to see them is a special treat.
We also got to do a guided walk with a game ranger. He is very intelligent and showed us many amazing things. We also got the chance to walk with Rhinos, we were able to get within 20 meters of them. It is such a same that they are going extinct, but hopefully they can be preserved and that even our grandchildren will be able to see them.

There was a great kiddies program on for kids, which my sister enjoyed a lot.

A crocodile demonstration for kids

We love going to Mabula, I don't know how many times I have been there, but each time I enjoyed it immensely. I hope we will be going there soon.

Grandma and me on a game drive in the rain

Please feel free to leave a comment :)