I have not been very good about writing blogs recently, but I promise you that's a good thing! It's means I have been very busy and going on lots of adventures. Most recently was last weekend when we joined about 20 other Americans that we met and hiked to some ancient caves near Muzenburg beach. I've been doing lots of other things too but I don't want to bore you and you can just look at my pictures! It's much more exciting.

At work I have been busy working on planning the anniversary party for Soccer Laduma. I never even imagined how much some people would pay for a party...or how much work they would put into planning one. It's enough work for the entire agency! I've also been going to a lot more meetings with clients and photoshoots (because I now have a car!) which is fun and very interesting. I'm lucky I get to tag along. I think it's cool that I am able to design something for a client and then present it to them and see their reaction/opinion. I have definitely learned how to take criticism and use it to improve whatever it is I'm working on. There is lots of criticism in the media industry! At first I thought my boss was being really hard on me but then I realized that he has to be hard on me because clients are hard on him and at the end of the day, they are the ones whose opinions matter the most.

A few (very random) observations that I have had..

When they refill ATM's there are about five fully armed guys with machine guns ready to blow anyone away at any second. haha It's not funny really but the first time I walked out of the store and saw it I really thought there was some serious murderer roaming the streets that they were after. Apparently there is a professional mob of gangsters whose sole profession is to go around stealing the armed vans with all of the cash inside.

South Africans call street lights "robots." Who knows why.

South African politics make the United States' seem simple and democratic.

There seems to be a lot of unemployment here (especially when driving outside of the city along the freeway and passing by miles of township little villages) but they have found ways of creating employment. For example, everyone I know has at least one maid/housecleaner. Even at work, we have people come in once a week to clean. So it must be very cheap but it provides them with a steady source of income. Also, in almost every parking lot there are car guards. It's hard to tell how legit they really are or if they will actually protect your car, but it's polite to tip them 2 rand when you get back to your car. I usually tip them because I don't want to seem rude, but who knows how beneficial they really are. There is one car guard who looks after cars in Obs. His name is Moses and he is homeless. He has made friends with all of the students and I guess he's been around forever. He truly believes that it is his duty to watch over the neighborhood. If we go out at night and someone has to walk home alone Moses will walk them for just a few rand.

One more thing. South African's tend to use the phrase "just now" very freely. My boss especially has a habit of saying things like, "I'll help you with this just now." Two hours later he is finally ready. I guess it's just part of the whole South African time thing. No way would this fly in America. People would freak out and get mad about being late. I think I've grown to like it here though. It's taken some time to get used to the different time demands. But then again, I have never worked in a place where there are so many crazy deadlines and time constraints. Just yesterday we got a phone call froma client telling us that the printers had gotten the measurements wrong for a few ads. It was around 4 pm and we had until 12 today to get them fixed, sent to the printers, and placed correctly.

That's all for now! Hope everyone is doing well/surviving the rainy and snowy weather!