since the last
let's see. the past week has been something else.
sang at that concert last week Friday...it was a business thing for a local swim studio (the owner sings with us) and we only started singing at 9pm. was nice though and she had the most delicious butternut soup with home made breads and pates after..heh heh
saturday, we played and sang at a wedding. They didn't manage to find trumpeters to play the trumpet prelude so we improvised and did it on the violin. yeah! after the wedding we tootled down to Dundee for the re-enactment of the Boer war. lots of guns blasting and impis running around and red coats glaring at the boers..that sort of thing. was rather interesting tho most dusty.
sunday. church as usual and dinner at our local chinese restaurant now called DRAGON PHOENIX. how Different and unusual. hmmmm.
I find it paradoxical that I now eat more authentically Chinese food than ever before.
Tasted century egg the first time ever here in our little South African town..we eat Peking duck, drunken chicken, funny Taiwanese dishes regularly at the restaurant..
and I had wanton soup delivered to my office today!
Monday. A GREAT DAY. Was invited to our local newspaper's champagne breakfast up in Smoky Mountain and it was exquisite. We were taken about 30 km out of town and then climbed into open backed 4x4's for a really vertically challenging ride. Drove for about an hour right up to the top of the mountain, at times over sheer rock. takes alot of 4x4ing skill.
we hung onto the sides of the car, got our hair combed for free by the wind, ducked lethal branches and neighed at passing horses. Is that the life or is that the life??
Journey's end was a magical cove tucked away from whipping mountain-top winds, complete with tents, bacon, eggs and champagne. aaaaaaaahhh. i had orange juice of course :)
got back to the office covered in dust but i was one happy sun kissed dustman!
Tuesday started at 4am for me. Had lectures in Pretoria which only finished at 3 that afternoon so it was a LONG day. enjoyed catching up with lecturers and fellow students though. and got some really good tips for the exam. A rather fine line between being energised to approach my swamp of work with some measure of enthusiasm and depression at realising how DEEP and WIDE this swamp actually is. Quicksand more like.
Wonderful news today. We're in the process of establishing restorative justice cases for our big event coming up on the 24th.
At the moment we're dealing with cases of housebreaking, armed robbery and rape. The rape one is very sensitive cos the girl was 6 when he raped her and is now only 12 years old. Could be opening a can of worms. Interestingly, even the guys in prison have a thing about sexual offenders. Almost like they're another breed. In a way they are because if you've raped a little girl of 6 and you weren't under the influence of drugs or alcohol at that time, there is something seriously wrong with you. Somewhere.
Anyway, on to the good news.
I received a letter from one of our guys in prison asking me to contact his mum as he wants to apologise and make up to her. He stole from her repeatedly, was arrested for housebreaking, was heavily hooked on drugs, alcohol and sex... He's been on our program from the beginning of the year and has made grand progress. Kevin has the most amazing talent at writing! He really should write a book, though at the moment he only writes true stories and very heart breaking ones at that.
I called his mum this evening.
And she's willing to make amends. Come see him.
I'm going to speak to him tomorrow and I know that this is going to be a major breakthrough for him.I am so excited and happy for them. Difficult to describe.
I love my job!
sang at that concert last week Friday...it was a business thing for a local swim studio (the owner sings with us) and we only started singing at 9pm. was nice though and she had the most delicious butternut soup with home made breads and pates after..heh heh
saturday, we played and sang at a wedding. They didn't manage to find trumpeters to play the trumpet prelude so we improvised and did it on the violin. yeah! after the wedding we tootled down to Dundee for the re-enactment of the Boer war. lots of guns blasting and impis running around and red coats glaring at the boers..that sort of thing. was rather interesting tho most dusty.
sunday. church as usual and dinner at our local chinese restaurant now called DRAGON PHOENIX. how Different and unusual. hmmmm.
I find it paradoxical that I now eat more authentically Chinese food than ever before.
Tasted century egg the first time ever here in our little South African town..we eat Peking duck, drunken chicken, funny Taiwanese dishes regularly at the restaurant..
and I had wanton soup delivered to my office today!
Monday. A GREAT DAY. Was invited to our local newspaper's champagne breakfast up in Smoky Mountain and it was exquisite. We were taken about 30 km out of town and then climbed into open backed 4x4's for a really vertically challenging ride. Drove for about an hour right up to the top of the mountain, at times over sheer rock. takes alot of 4x4ing skill.
we hung onto the sides of the car, got our hair combed for free by the wind, ducked lethal branches and neighed at passing horses. Is that the life or is that the life??
Journey's end was a magical cove tucked away from whipping mountain-top winds, complete with tents, bacon, eggs and champagne. aaaaaaaahhh. i had orange juice of course :)
got back to the office covered in dust but i was one happy sun kissed dustman!
Tuesday started at 4am for me. Had lectures in Pretoria which only finished at 3 that afternoon so it was a LONG day. enjoyed catching up with lecturers and fellow students though. and got some really good tips for the exam. A rather fine line between being energised to approach my swamp of work with some measure of enthusiasm and depression at realising how DEEP and WIDE this swamp actually is. Quicksand more like.
Wonderful news today. We're in the process of establishing restorative justice cases for our big event coming up on the 24th.
At the moment we're dealing with cases of housebreaking, armed robbery and rape. The rape one is very sensitive cos the girl was 6 when he raped her and is now only 12 years old. Could be opening a can of worms. Interestingly, even the guys in prison have a thing about sexual offenders. Almost like they're another breed. In a way they are because if you've raped a little girl of 6 and you weren't under the influence of drugs or alcohol at that time, there is something seriously wrong with you. Somewhere.
Anyway, on to the good news.
I received a letter from one of our guys in prison asking me to contact his mum as he wants to apologise and make up to her. He stole from her repeatedly, was arrested for housebreaking, was heavily hooked on drugs, alcohol and sex... He's been on our program from the beginning of the year and has made grand progress. Kevin has the most amazing talent at writing! He really should write a book, though at the moment he only writes true stories and very heart breaking ones at that.
I called his mum this evening.
And she's willing to make amends. Come see him.
I'm going to speak to him tomorrow and I know that this is going to be a major breakthrough for him.I am so excited and happy for them. Difficult to describe.
I love my job!