some South African music!

If you want to make friends in South Africa, you just need to do one simple thing: dance. Even if you are bad at dancing, people will happily laugh at you, mimic your "moves" and then teach you how to "dance like a South African." Now I hate dancing. A lot. I like to watch other people dance. But if you try to pull me onto the dance floor, then you're going to end up with your arm chopped off. Or worse.

Most of our coaches and friends would have completely cast me out if it were not for my one redeeming quality; I love South Africa music! Today I'm going to share with you some of my favorite South African tunes:

Bojo Mujo - Thando Iwam (Marry Me)
This is House music. Similar to European House music in that it has a strong beat and is great to dance to (not that I dance - I've been told it's great to dance to...), but it has it's own distinct, African feel. The last minute of the video is great because you can see how South Africans dance!

Liquideep - Still
Another House song. This song was one of the most popular songs in South Africa for a few months when I first arrived.

Zahara - Loliwe
The number one South African artist. Her album Loliwe went platinum just 13 days after it was released, this song was at the top of South African music charts for over three months and she recently won 8 awards at the South African Music Festival in May. This is a song that I often use during Skillz Street graduation videos and it is so awesome to hear the whole room start singing along when it comes on (and often times the girls end up singing so loud that you can't even hear the music anymore).

AKA - Victory Lap
A taste of some South African Urban Street music. AKA is becoming one of my favorite artists.

DJ Cleo - Facebook
And we're back to House music with a song about Facebook - how awesome is that? Facebook, Myxit (another social networking site) and LinkedIn are huge in South Africa. Parts of Africa even have more advanced 3G/4G mobile technologies than the developed world because although people don't have access to computers, they all have cell phones. DJ Cleo has other songs I like better, but this one just really entertains me.

Freshly Ground - Nomvula (After the Rain)
Freshly Ground is the band that produced the Official Anthem of the South African World Cup, 'Waka Waka,' with Shakira. I've had the pleasure of seeing them live and they are fantastic performers.

South Africans also love American music - Adele, Akon, 2pac and 50 Cent (if one more person asks me if I'm "west side" or "east side" I'm going to shoot them), Carley Rae Jepsen and the Biebs are just some of their favorite artists - but I figured you probably hear enough of that crap those songs on U.S. radio, so I chose to do you a favor and not to include them in this blog post (you can thank me later).

I hope you enjoyed that little taste of South Africa! And I hope you'll play some of these songs in the background every now and then so that I'll have someone to sing along with when I return home!


Note: Music videos are not mine. They were all found on YouTube and the songs and videos are property of the artists. 

things and stuff...

Hi. I'm still alive. I just haven't written because my life has been really boring recently. I know most of you live vicariously through me, so I apologize for my current doldrums... but it happens to the best of us, right? Todays blog is simply an update about the things and stuff that have been happening for anyone who is interested.

We finished another round of Skillz Street and I think I put on the best graduation yet. I made a 35-minute video for the girls to watch and they loved it! They cheered and hollered whenever they saw pictures of themselves or their friends and they belted out the words to every single song I included in the movie. Most of the time they were even louder than our speakers!

I'm sure you saw some hats and jackets in that clip - winter has arrived in Kim. And it's cold! It's not too bad during the day when the sun is out, but as the sun sets, an icy chill settles over everything making everyone miserable. It doesn't help that houses have no central heating and no insulation. I currently wear two pairs of sweat pants, two long sleeved shirts and a sweatshirt to bed and I sleep under three heavy blankets. Worst of all is there isn't even any snow.

Oh yeah, and the activity taking up the most of my time is planning my future. Yeah... I'm trying to figure out what I want to do next. I know what I'd like to do. There are lots of things I'd like to do; I'd like to continue working in the realm of "international development" getting to run programs, collect and analyze program data and writing grant proposals. I'd like to return to my school roots and do some geology fieldwork. I'd like to...

Okay, not really... but I'm hoping I got a few chuckles. 

But sometimes we don't get to do what we'd like to do. I was fortunate enough to do something I liked doing for the last year. But now it is time for me to leave my haven and find a "real" job (Note: When I say "real" job, I simply mean I need to do something where I get paid... the amount of work I do in Kim definitely constitutes a "real" job).

But hey, I'm smart, I'm talented, I have experience, I'll be fine! There's just one teensy, tiny, itty-bitty little problem... I can't seem to find a job... I'm on almost ten different list-serves, I have more job sites bookmarked on my computer than anything else, I've filled out what feels like a million applications and I've even had a few phone interviews. But alas, no job.

Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help.

There has been one bright side to this whole job application process and that is that my wonderful parents have told me it is all right if I move back home. So at least I won't be homeless! I'll just have to put up with...

And then there's...

On second thought... I think I'm going to wrap this blog up. I've gotta get back to some job applications! I hoped you enjoyed my attempt to humorously show you my life right now. Not too exciting but at least I have the genius of Jerry Scott, Bill Watterson and others to keep me going. 

Oh. And there is one more thing that some of you might find interesting. I only have six weeks of my contract with GRS left! See you when I see you!