2007 Here we come!

My first blog for 2007! I’ve been meaning to post something since 3rd Jan but as we can see that didn’t happen. Here it is at last. I have such great photos but I can't seem to upload them. It says they've been uploaded but when I check there's nothing there - I think it might have something to do with the server here at work. I'll have to make another plan.

We had such a fantastic Christmas. On the actual day we went to church that morning and then off to my folks house for Christmas lunch along with my eldest brother, Brian, and his family. Of course we all ate too much & walked around with bulging tummies for the rest of the day. It was great being with my folks – our second Christmas home after Taiwan.

Then on the 26th we flew up to Johannesburg to visit with Brad’s dad & Sharon. They REALLY made us feel very special and spoilt us absolutely rotten. For Christmas they blessed us with a DVD player and a 48cm (I think I’ve got it right) LCD screen TV – wow wow wow – how incredible is that! Thankfully we were warned not to bring too much luggage and were able to take it back with as hand luggage. The weather was strange – just not what I’m used to in Cape Town – but very similar to the Taiwan – humid (well, according to other people – humidity needs to be very high before I feel it) and clear until the afternoon when the sky clouds over and the afternoon thunderstorm arrives.

We did lots of relaxing at dad-in-law’s house (they have a beautiful home with a lovely garden and swimming pool), walking around the various shopping centres, eating out (thai, Vietnamese, sushi etc) and catching up. We all drove up to Sun City on the 31st December and spent the day at the Valley of the Waves. We’d never been there before so it was quite a treat. For those of my overseas readers who aren’t familiar with it, Sun City is a big casino/hotel/entertainment venue in the bushveld. The Valley of Waves is basically a man-made beach – with waves and all. Brad’s dad had originally hoped we could spend the night but as it turned out Oprah was having a big bash with some other celebs (Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce to name a few) and had booked out a large portion of the hotel which only left 11 rooms at R8000 per night (that’s NT$40 000 for my mates that understand Taiwan dollars). We spent that evening with Brad’s dad & Sharon and saw the new year in with them.

Unfortunately the week went by far to quickly and before we knew it we were on the plane back to Cape Town.

I had to start work on 3rd Jan which felt FAR too soon for my liking. I am however the newby at work and someone had to do it – so it’ll be my turn next year to have a nice extended break over Christmas.

My b-day (11 Jan) was fabulous. I must say that I was quite reluctant to transition from 25 to 26 (I think 25 is a nice number & would have liked to keep it) but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I took the day off from work (I don’t believe in working on your bday J ) and spent the day with family and friends. Unfortunately Brad had to work but managed to go into the office a little later so that we could enjoy a nice relaxed breakfast together. My folks, aunt & uncle came around for cake and tea in the morning and then after they left Julie (who was visiting from the UK) and Chantelle came to spend the afternoon with me. It was good to have some girls-time again. Goodness, its been years since the three of us hung out like that – swimming, laughing, catching up. Then that evening Brad took me for dinner at a Thai restaurant – which was delicious. We got chatting to the waitress – who we could see was clearly not Thai but in fact from Mainland China. She’s actually studying HR at a technikon in South Africa and working at the restaurant to make some extra money. It was such a treat talking to her.

On Saturday evening I had a get-together for my b-day with my friends. Leanne offered her house as the venue as ours was too small – there were about 20 people. We had a braai (my poor hubby slaved away over the braai – but I know he loves it ) and it was good catching up on everyone’s news. Leanne baked me a very yummy chocolate cake and decorated it with caramel, mint and those darn candles that light up again each time you blow them out. All in all a fantastic evening.

What’s on the cards for the Kirsten family in 2007? Well, I’m going to be starting a 10 week photography course as from next week – once a week in the evenings for three hours at the Cape Town School of Photography – which I’m really looking forward to. Other than that I’m hoping to make a Chinese friend or two along the way so that I can brush up on my Mandarin. I would ideally like to enrol for a Mandarin course but I can’t commit to that now so we’ll have to see what happens.

Travel plans are sketchy at this point. We’d love to plan a trip to Mozambique or Zanzibar sometime this year. I’m looking at South America as a future ‘overseas’ option. Then of course there’s that trip to Canada we’ve been talking about for a while now. We’ll have to see how it goes this year as we’d also like to look at buying a small place of our own around the middle of the year – and then we’ll have the stress & pressure of a monthly bond-repayment.

Mr Kirsten is enjoying his job and is learning lots of new skills. I think this year he’ll master his CSI (Corporate Social Investment) training and keep playing the drums.

That’s all for now….
Bye J J