Monday, June 27, 2011

Freshly Ground and Ntate Hugh Masekela#Central Park NYC

As you know I live in Providence, RI which is equivalent to me living in "Blom" and NYC being "Jozi Maboneng"#lol.  Lerato told me about the concert a week ago and I knew it was a show I did not want to miss and thank goodness I didn't.  I took the 9am bus to NYC, and arrived at 12noon.  Twinky, who is also South African and currently residing in New Jersey met up with me at the bus stop and we took the subway to Central Park.  To our suprise we had boarded the express subway which did not stop until 116 Street and we were supposed to get off at 72nd Street.  We had to take another subway back to downtown.  It appears we weren't the only ones that were on the wrong subway, almost three quarters of the people got off at 116 Street and had to make their way back downtown#lol.  After a bit of walking around Central Park we eventually made it to SummerStage venue.  The queue wasn't too long at the time and we met up with other South Africans#YAY


Batweng aka Twinky
She's from Mafikeng and has been in the USA for 8yrs.
Met her for the first time at the bus stop, but felt like we had met before#loveher


The day was absolutely gorgeous, the green grass was blowing gently in the summer breeze.  People were jogging and some walking their dogs. Kids laughing and playing with their parents.  Lovers walking hand in hand and basking in the ambiance...total bliss.  I absolutely loved watching everyone whilst walking to the concert venue (pity I didn't get pics as we were rushing so we wouldn't have to queue for long considering it was a free concert)




The opening performance was by Somi;  I had never heard of her but thoroughly enjoyed her performance.  She was born in Illinois to immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda and spent her early childhood in Zambia.  She sings African jazz and soul, I'd describe her music as captivating, surreal and all so soulful, really enjoyed her performance.  


Somi




The second performance was by our very own home grown talent Freshly Ground.  I absolutely LUUURRRRVVVEEEDDD this performance, Zolani is so animated and so engaging#WOW


Freshly Ground






Then they performed waka-waka#YAY!!!

Thato and Tsholo "waka-wakaring" lol

Vuvuzela blowing#world cup memories

The closing performance was by the legendary Ntate Hugh Masekela.  This was the first time I had ever seen Ntate Hugh live...it was PHENOMENAL!!! When he performed "Stimela" I felt the hairs on my arms and neck literally stand up...he was Ahhh-MA-ZING!!  His performance was entertaining, engaging and definitely a memorable experience#WOW!! WOW!! WOW!! I must add that Ntate Hefner...I mean Hugh should have an uncut version...the things he was saying#haai...can't even repeat them#lol

Ntate Hugh






The concert was totally awesome and the people that I hung out with are definitely good peoples and got mad love for them, it felt like we had met before;  guess its the familiarity of home...mh!


Good Peoples#fact

"Chameleon" would like to remain a mystery hence the name#lol (he's convinced people will be asking for his contact details & he'll become an overnight "celeb" assured him that none of that will happen as I have 14 followers#lmao. Not sure where home is but all I know is uyathetha kaloku#hinthint
Shaun hails from the beautiful Jamaica and
Twinky


Thato and I
Thato is from "Blom" and I met her through Keitu#beautifulsoul

Thato, Tsholo and I
Tsholo is Thato's friend & now my new buddy#lol


Nomsa and I

Zolani, Nomsa, Tsholo and Twinky


"Chameleon" and Thato#don't they look cute?!
 & no they are not dating...


Nate and Thato


Tsholo, Nomsa and Thato


Nadia and Nomsa getting their groove on#lol

Safina, Maria and Tsholo

"Chameleon" having some chow

Thato, Jackie and I

"Chameleon" and I
Think I had misplaced my MAC powder for a sec there#lol


Crowd before the concert, got mad packed as the day progressed...
 

I missed my 19:00 bus back to "Blom" ended up catching the 21:30 one and was only in bed by 01:30.  I struggled most of today at the office as all I wanted was my bed,but hey...it was worth it#smiles


Thank you so much to:
  • The Almighty for a safe journey and opportunity.
  • Tsholo and Thato the snacks were delicious#thankyou
  • "Chameleon" thanks for being my photographer, greatly appreciate it#mcwaah
  • Twinky, thanks for meeting up with me, waiting with me for the next bus and for dinner#loveyoulongtime
  • To everyone else, mad love and hope to see you soonest#peace
Stay Blessed xoxo


Saturday, June 25, 2011

Conceptia's Birthday Celebration

Thursday was my roomate's birthday and we went out for dinner at Cuban Revolution with a couple of her friends.  I haven't been out in a while so it was good getting dressed up and rocking my heels.  Providence has made me prefer comfort over cute#smh.  With the amount of walking around that I do, I only ever wear heels when I go to church and that's because my roomate has a car and I don't do much walking#smiles

Cuban Revolution is a restaurant and jazz bar.  The setting is spirited and swanky propelling one to a tropical 50's Cuba.  The music consists of a mixture of Cuban and 50's.  The ambiance is easy going, the crowd is chilled and the service is great.  The food is absolutely delicious and reasonable too.  Hang on..this is starting to sound like a review#lol


The decor








We arrived and waited by the door just like the sign said...10min later we were still waiting, the birthday girl went to inquire what the delay was, apparently no one had noticed us#mh!


We were then seated, ordered some drinks.  I had a pina colada, Conceptia had a berry mojito and the rest of the table had water#smh#lol


I had a Garlic Tropical Shrimp dish which consisted of rice, huge ass shrimp, pineapple sauteed in garlic and plantains.  Plantains aren't really my favourite, they're a starchy vegetable that look like a banana and can be fried, boiled or used in stews and soups.  You get yellow and green ones, think the yellow ones are the sweet ones and the green, not so sweet.  Besides, the plantains I absolutely LUURRRVVVEEED my meal#YUMMY  Oh yes...and bread#smh.  Still not used to the portions here but hey...




The Party Crew

Conceptia and Jess


Conceptia and Anna
Keep wanting to call her Sarah, doesn't she look like a Sarah?! lol


Conceptia and Elana

Conceptia and I

Conceptia and Nellie


Okay...we had 2 cameras flashing here, hence Sarah..I mean Anna 
was looking the other way#lol


It was an enjoyable evening, I liked the girls a lot and they're definitely good peoples.  Need to get on facebook and start sending those friend requests especially because Conceptia will be leaving for Miami end of July 2011#sadface


Stay Blessed xoxo





Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Homesick

This week marks my third month in the USA and I can safely say I've settled in and can call Providence, RI my new home.  This past week has been a rather challenging one...I was sick with flu, the roomate incident took place, some changes at work and found out my other roomate will be leaving end of July 2011 and not August 2011 anymore#sigh

Anyone who's visited my folk's home in Heidelberg would know that the signal is almost non-existent which leads to one sounding like they're cussing and the parent control has been activated when speaking on the phone#problematic! So, to try conduct a skype call is almost impossible, thank goodness my younger sisters Motshidisi and Modiehi, have managed to sort that out and now I can skype with my folks#YAY

Our first skype call happened not so long ago and apparently, my dad came running upstairs when he heard I was on skype#cute.  My mom on the other hand couldn't look at me as she claimed I looked sad and FAT!!#lol!!  She said she couldn't see my eyes...yes, I have picked up some weight but goodness didn't think it was that bad.  By the way, that was my mom's way of telling me she misses me#lol.  My mom and I have a rather interesting relationship but its definitely evolved for the better over the years and I must say, I was always the one that made it almost impossible for us to get along.  I was always ready to attack her and had my defences up#poormom#lol  Thanks to a little bit of growing up, I have become a better daughter and our relationship has gotten so much better.  With that said, she sent me an email the other day and this is how it read#lol

from Cynthia Mokoena
to mokoena.neo@gmail.com
date 07 June 2011 06:40

Hello Neo

Hope you are keeping well that side. There is a certain colleague of mine who requested me your email address saying he wants you to buy some stuff for him over there. His name is Mazwamahle. I think you know him he is family friends with Duma and Lungile. This hereby confirms that I have given him your address and hope this is not a problem?


Keep well and love you!
Mama


With that said, I find myself feeling a tad sad after these skype chats with my family especially with it being school holidays and all the siblings being home.  It so happend that this past weekend was our annual family weekend away and they went to Sun City this year and I felt sad missing out on that.  I told my one friend this and he was like, you're in AMERICA and they're in Sun City, what could you possibly be missing out on?!?!  My response, was it doesn't matter where my family was, it was not being with them that saddened me.  I'm sure I'm like the only 27yr olds that still goes on holiday with her folks#lol.

If I hadn't mentioned that the email was from my mother,you would've guessed it was from some random person right?! Anyway, we've reached a point where we understand each other and I love how close we've gotten over the years.  My mom is one of the sweetest and most caring people you'll ever come across, she is AMAZING and I love her more than all the words in all the books in all the world#whydidigetmarried.

Things I miss about home...

 My elder sister, Thatohatsi...miss our "stoopid" moments#lol 

 My brother & cousin#sweetest & coolest dudes#fact!




My godson#precious


Rocky, we've had him for 13yrs now...aging#sadface!  You should see my dad trying to play with him, he looks sooo uncomfortable, funniest thing ever#darkies & pets#LMAO
 
Our Helper Ousi Lettie, she did my laundry.  I must admit, doing laundry sucks!!  Give me dishes anyday#lol


I miss my parents painfully, my bible study cell group, my friends,  hot wings from Chicken Licken and some peanut free chocolate#lol  Popeyes chicken is good but has nothing on the hotwings from Chicken Licken#lol


Some totally useless information, I've just come back from the post office to send a parcel to my family and it cost me $86 for shipment#smh The shipment was more expensive than some of the items I bought#smh

Some midweek humour#cute#lol

A mother was teaching her three year old daughter The Lord's Prayer.  For several evenings at bedtime, she repeated it after her mother. One night she said she was ready to do it solo. The mother listened with pride, as she carefully enunciated each word right up to the end..."And lead us not into temptation", she prayed, "but deliver us some e-mail, Amen."

Stay Blessed xoxo
                                                                         
  

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

My first 911 Call#sigh

What started off as a beautiful Saturday ended up being a really horrible one.  I started off with a skype video chat with two of my dearest friends, had lunch at a Spanish restaurant and later accompanied my friend to the barber shop...the things my virgin ears heard#smh#lol. I got home home around 20:00 and was dog tired from being out in the sun.  


My one roomate was getting ready to go out with her friends and my plans for the evening were to take a shower, catch up on some reading and retire soon after that, but the universe had alternative plans for us#smh


Whilst assisting my roomate decide on hoop or drop earrings...some dude barged into our apartment and attacked our other roomate.  Allegedly and apparently the fight was over a woman...my roomate was in his room with the dude's girlfriend#liquour#smh  


Much earlier in the day, a cookout was organised by the guys that live downstairs.  When I got home, it seemed like everyone was having fun...guess this is before the liquour got the best of everyone#smh


Back to the dreadful event...after much effort by five other guys, they eventually managed to get the guy out of our apartment.  At this point he had beat the living daylights out of our roomate and had pushed his girlfriend around as well#sigh

Just as we thought we could carry on with our evening, the guy came back and started banging on our door, cussing and making threats.  This is when we made the dreaded #911 call.  After a while the banging stopped...whilst waiting for the cops to arrive, our roomate  collapsed#sigh  At this point, my other roomate's shattered nerves just couldn't deal with the stress.  She called me as I was about to shower, my first thought, was God please spare his life.  I checked for pulse as if I had done it before...my roomate just stood there and couldn't move.  She eventually ran downstairs to tell the guys that our roomate had collapsed.  They came up and within minutes of that the cops also arrived.  


The questioning began and I've never felt so stupid as we...  

  • Didn't know the second names of the dude that attacked our roomate nor his girlfriend's.
  • Didn't know where they lived.
  • Didn't know who had invited the dude and his girlfriend but assumed it was the guys from downstairs and our roomate.
  • Didn't know if our roomate was on any medication.

We had at least 5 cops in our apartment all taking turns to ask us the same questions#smh. Didn't quite understand the logic behind that...not sure if they thought if they took turns asking us the questions we would miraculously have the answers#sigh.  The rescue team arrived and assessed our roomate.  He was admitted into hospital. 

After everyone had left, my roomate and I were left to pick up the pieces, clean up the apartment, check if our roomate's keys were in his room and obviously locked ourselves in and spent the next 2hours going through the events of the evening.

Our roomate was discharged from hospital on Sunday and had suffered head injuries, a fractured nose and a couple of bruises, but all in all he will live.  

Its funny cause when one reads or hears of such stories, one thinks they would behave differently from what the person that actually experienced the event did, but shock and confusion always have a way of taking over...anyway, all I know is I am thankful that God spared our roomate's life and I am thankful that my other roomate and I had each other and she hadn't left and gone out when everything happened.

I would like to reiterate that we serve an Almighty, all powerful, and all merciful God...the worst could've happened...I could be sharing a different version of the story but thank God I'm not.

Stay Blessed xoxo

Monday, June 13, 2011

Friendship

I recently watched the movie "Bridesmaids" and I thought it was the most hilarious movie I've seen this year.  It's the chick version of Hangover but funnier...or maybe not#lol  Anyway, besides it being extremely funny, it captured real people in real friendships and relationships.  It made me think of how my friendships have evolved over the years and somehow how complex some have got due to men waltzing in and out of our lives, career pressures and in some instances babies...but afterall, change is inevitable and all we can do is embrace it.

So according to an opinion piece I stumbled upon on http://www.educopark.com we should all have at least the following 7 types of friends.  I enjoyed the read but didn't necessarily agree with the way it boxed the friendships as I have friends that I went to school yet they remain my closest friends to date, anyway...

# 1 The “we were classmates” friends

These people are your friends because you were in school or university and happen to get along well together. You have a lot of common memories and stories from the past to share. When you met them you usually talk about past or school related stuff and discuss other classmates or teachers. You also share with them your achievements (describing yourself as super businessman or expert) in order to give them a topic for discussion with other classmates. You will most likely have their names in your cell phone because you have called them once or twice to coordinate social events, but you wouldn’t call them out of the blue “just to say hi”. 



#2 The “we hang out together” friends

These people are usually the ones we call good acquaintances. You were in school/university/work with them. You often went partying or clubbing together. You know their likes and dislikes and you happy to see them. But you won’t share with them your problems or really personal stuff. If you were to run into them in the streets, the conversations would only last for a few minutes. You’d start with “HEY!!”, give a big grin, then ask “what are you doing here?!” and end with a “okay, see you!”. 




#3 The “common interests” friends

These are the people who share the same interests with you. You both listen to the same kind of music, like many similar stuff and you think that it will be so cool to be each other’s friends. And that’s about it. These are the kind of friends who easily drift away from you once you start to lose contact, or one of you will give up some hobby.

 

 


#4 The “Online” friends

This is the most uncommon type of friend, but they can also be the most precious. You never met them or probably won’t, but this what allows you to pour your feelings to them. You probably don’t know they real name and can vaguely know how they look, but can spent hours commenting their statuses or posts. You probably won’t be too disappointed to lose them. You do not think much about them in your off-line life. But they can raise up your mood as soon as your are on-line again.

#5 The “business important” friends

These are the friends with whom you are engaged in one business, organization or cause. These can also be influential people who might help you with your business. You will always stay polite with them. You contact them in case you need to talk about business or invite them to some social event. You will always ask them formal questions not allowing yourself taking liberties. You have their phone numbers and date of births. This not the type of people whom you miss or with whom you can have good laugh with, though their can be an important part of your life.



#6 The “let’s meet up” friends

These are what you call, your close friends. They are the ones whom you would enjoy having lunch or dinner one-on-one, enjoy holding a conversation with, and enjoy joking with. They usually belong to your tightly-knit group of 3 to 4 (a more intimate clique). You guys always have a great time at dinner together, sharing laughs, memories and many great camwhoring sessions. It’s the case where, when you put everyone together, you have an even better time.The thing about this type of friend is that they make it a point to keep in touch with you because they actually do miss you, and they really want to spend time with you and know what’s up with your life, and share with you theirs. Oh, and they will remember your birthday and never fail to wish you.


#7 The “BEST” friends

Also known as your closest friends in life. They will usually be your maid of honour or best man during your wedding. You like to talk to each other on the phone all the time. You always have a great time eating dinner together with him/her alone on a semi-regular basis and chatting one-on-one for hours. Heck, you can easily spend the whole day with each other everyday. You guys can really talk about anything under the sun, and you totally understand how each other feel. Being with this type of friends can be both fun and emotionally fulfilling. They make you feel happy to be alive.


My circle of friends comprises of all 7 types mentioned above but definitely not as boxed and labelled. Friendships and relationships are dear to me and I try my bestest to maintain the friendships even with the 6hr time lapse.  This post is dedicated to all my friends, both new and old, you've each played a significant role in my life and especially since I've been in the states#madlove

However, a special thank you to Tshegofatso a.k.a Da Gal.  She truly is a blessing and I'm thankful to have her in my life.  No words can even begin to describe the depth of my appreciation for all that she does and is to me#heartsmiling.



With that said, I challenge you to take this week to reflect on your friendships and take a moment to thank your friends for being who they are in your life.  If there's one thing I've learnt is that men come and go in our lives but true friends and family are the only constant.

Stay Blessed xoxo