You'll Always Be A Part of Me

I'm feeling a bit homesick this weekend, so I thought I'd share some pics of people I miss!

Cousins, Chickens, Dignitaries, Apples, and Zucchinis

In the past few weeks, I've come to the conclusion that my family is very fertile.

I spent about 3 weeks in Swaziland (which explains the decline in communication--I was busy every day and didn't have a lot of computer time), where I was born, where my mother was laid to rest and where her family resides. These are the people I really remember from our various vacations here so long ago. I have five aunts and uncles, and a grand total of 26 cousins! I'll save you the trouble of trying to pronounce all of their names and just include a pic:




For most of my time in Swaziland, I stayed with one of my uncles and his family, which includes my aunt and three cousins. I remember this group most of all, because the kids are around my age--Vuma and I, for instance, are only 4 months apart in age. There are pictures of us as babies together, then a little bit older, sharing our toy car collections. It's funny, because even today we have a lot in common. Including making faces:




But we can be handsome too (here with my camera-shy aunt)




Then there are the two girls, Nozazi:





And Tebe, who was only a little tiny thing when I last saw her:



It's great to have cousins around my age, and we all have things in common, including music (they fight over my iPod), fashion, tv, even academic interests.

My uncle works at a bank, but also runs a farm, where he raises chicken and cattle. After "processing," the meat is sent to local distribution centers and supermarkets etc. When I was first told about it, I thought, "Oh, ok, a small chicken farm." To my surprise they have almost 17,000 chickens! The first day I went to the farm, the chickens were just wee little things:

(And that's just a fraction of them)



Did you know it only takes about 5 weeks for a chicken to mature? I went back a week and a half later and these things doubled in size:




Though I have no intention of being around for the slaugthering process, I must say it's interesting to see the chain of events and everything that's involved in getting the products to the stores.


Along with family, there were friends of the family that I visited with as well. One of my mom's closest friends, my "Auntie" Constance, is now the Deputy Prime Minister of Swaziland (something close to the US Speaker of the House). I surprised her one day after church by greeting her and introducing myself--she was so shocked to see me, it was precious. I then met with her at her office, which was a little bit intimidating because of her position; but then she invited us for dinner at her house, where she cooked everything, and it was there that she felt more like the Auntie Constance that I remember. This is the woman, who, along with her sister, is solely responsible for my love affair with BMWs. When we last visited Constance, her car was in the shop, so she was using her sister's BMW 3-series. I fell in love with that car over the course of that week. But of course, the day before we left, Constance got her car back and gave the BMW back to her sister...I wasn't sad about leaving them behind, but the car? I cried and cried and cried lol. Here's a pic of me and the Deputy Prime Minister (!):





My cousin Nozazi's university is in Jo'burg, so I rode back here with her and her parents. The past few days have included visiting more clients and continuing to get set up. Tuesday was nice for me, as one of our clients is a television advertising company, which I might be able to get an internship with. It was exciting to meet people in my field of interest, and even more fortunate that through my dad, I already have a strong contact with them.

Then we were looking for a place to have dinner, when we came across this shopping center, which, besides having a great little Italian restaurant, Zucchini, that will probably become one of my new favorites (Sette Luna comes to mind--Hey, Gabby!), had an Apple Computer store (another brand that I'm passionate about). That got me excited, as my love affair with Apple started in 2005 at Ithaca, and has grown stronger and more fervent ever since, even though I haven't yet been able to actually get a Mac. But at this store they had last year's model on sale at a great price. The great thing about Apple is that they make solid computers/electronics, and they also update their models every year or so, meaning that last year's model (which is still an excellent, fast product) comes wayyyyyyyy down in price. I took advantage of those price drops when I bought my iPod for 38% off the regular price. All in all, a very nice day for me indeed.

I was also able to talk to some friends for a few hours online with my webcam...after a few minutes we were laughing and joking like I'd never left.

This weekend I'm going to do some bed shopping, as the one I'm currently sleeping on hates me and likes to hurt my back; then mailing some college apps in between clients.

So, I'm staying busy, and hoping you are all well!








Listen: "Black and Gold" - Sam Sparro