14 Things Learnt in 2014 - 7 from me + 7 from you

Hellooo good people of the interweb!

I swear it feels like we were wishing each other happy-happy 2015 five minutes ago. I wrote the bones of this post while commenting on this post with a similar title written by one of my all-time favourite bloggers around 7 January. My intention was to post it way earlier but as with most great things on the internet, real life got in the way.

2014 was a very core-shaking year for me. I learnt so many great things and think sharing some of these with you is great way to kick-start my blogging year – nine weeks later than the start of the calendar year but a start nonetheless. In my quest to make my relationship with this blog feel more like a relationship with a friend, i.e. a two way street of loving and learning, I thought I’d switch things up by only listing 7 of the things I learnt and hope to learn 7 new lessons from you.

I urge, OK let me not be cool about this, I beg everyone who takes the time to read this post to share at least 1 of things you've learnt during last year as a comment on any of my social media pages. They don’t need to profound or life-changing but taking the time to acknowledge to our wins in life, no matter how big or small, is essential to human advancement. (I’m tempted to quote my girl Oprah or my brother in wisdom Deepak Chopra as a source for this fact of life) However, I have no facts but trust me when I say this exercise will be good for your soul and self.

I’ll post the complete article within a week or sooner depending on the rate of feedback received, which I’m sure will be wiz fast because your minds already racing with lessons to share. Here’s my half and I’m so looking forward to adding and sharing yours:

1. I learnt the power of operating from gratitude. I read somewhere that gratitude unlocks the fullness of life and am awe of its truth every day.
2. I lost my mom to cancer, and man oh man have I got to pain, and more importantly, in her honour, I’m getting to know God.
3. I discovered Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) thanks to an Oprah Masterclass and am now more determined than ever to make meaningful contributions to society. How this is going to happen is unknown but will unfold.
4. I learnt to give my family the best of me and see the best in them.
5. I ran the 10 km Soweto Marathon and learnt that a little of discipline my body can do amazing things
6. I became oh so aware of God’s faithfulness and learning to love Him guilt-free.
7. I became more confident in my writing ability and in the workplace all round.

These are just some of the many things that have prepared me for 2015 and I cannot wait to hear what has done the same for you. Within the first week of this year, I turned 26, got engaged and moved to Jo’burg. The greatness that I’ve been on the brink of is here and through my many conversations with friends and strangers alike, I believe this year will mark the manifestation of greatness for all of us.

Love,

Lenny 

Tasting life twice

Not sure how to start this post since I’ve been shocking at maintaining a presence in the blogosphere. Typing with a tale between my legs only for a second though because”…it's a new year and another chance for us to get things right!” (quote cred to my girl O.)

This post's title is inspired by a tweet I saw in the thick of December by probably one of the coolest peeps I’ve come across on the internet, Thaabz from CT.  It said, “We write because we want to taste life twice, once in reality, and again in retrospect” and can honestly say that is the truth of my life.

Going from silly to substance in no time comes naturally to me and always find myself searching for depth in most things. That’s also why it’s hard trying to steer away from this blog becoming too “introspective” because that’s generally just my point of view?! I don’t know, no more overthinking, just posting.

Some astrologists have dubbed this the year of action. This excites me as things have been  a brewing and have already seen so many positive things happening for so many people! Also many exciting thing’s happening on the 2014 calendar.  The most exciting on my radar at the moment is this year’s elections.

I love this country; it’s tragic past, current state of mayhem and believe in its very bright future. As a nation we ended off last year on a sombre yet very familiar state of euphoria. Proudly celebrating the life of our former president and cringing for the booing of our current.  Lol, behaviour that speaks volumes for our state of affairs. Anyway, during this time we were also very inspired by the words of normal South Africans and some very influential people around the world.  

So to this being the year of action and initiating positive change in all aspects of our lives. I’d like to remind you of these words, what I like to call vote-spiration:

 

xxx
Lenny

Between two towns

 

 

I once tweeted that there should be highway directly between PE and EL. Mostly because I'm sure I've spent a good 30% of my life over the past 6 years on the roads between it.  Have met and gotten to know some of the best people. Strange and really good thing to interact with people you hardly would have made an effort to have spent with outside of normal social activities. And spend the best QT with most of dearests. Here are some of my highlights:

 

·         Realising the value of a wheel spanner

·         Delaying the usual 3 and half hour trip by hours for those bladder bursting moments caused by boozing on the road

·         Appreciating the hands that bake Beaver’s lamb and mint pies

·         Bribing a cop

·         Witnessing the shortness of life through passing accidents

·         Meeting a guy, in his mid 30’s who climbed kilimanjaro or mount Ev, not sure but saw the pic’s to prove it.

·         Party on wheels - Celebrating someone’s life we were on our way to say goodbye to.

 

·         Being reminded of the 10 commandments by a devoted farmer somewhere in between PA and Alexandria

·         Falling over and over inlove with Daryn

·         Never-ceasing excitement as we approach the “sout-panne”

·         Witnessing a born and bred Joburger’s amazement of the lush green hills and valleys

 

I could probably go on forever but the best part of chilling on the backseat, front seat, bus, still gathering the courage to get into the driver’s seat is gaining perspective.

 

Love,

Lenny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Vietman with love

I’ve been toying with the idea of blogging for a long time. It’s no secret that I enjoy operating in virtual reality - tweeting, liking, hash tagging, re-posting, sharing and engaging with dearests and strangers alike is my shit. Have also recently developed a slight knack for writing which gives me a very welcomed sense of win. These two abilities or pleasures got married had a baby and there a blog was born!

I also never really felt like there was anything interesting enough to share but inspiration recently hit on the back of a fascinating experience.  The universe did its thing and 2 weeks ago I spent a week in Vietnam.  Since I’d never been out of the country I had absolutely no expectations. Small/ hometown living was also adding its usual dose of dull to life in general so my imagination wasn’t up to its creative self.

After what felt like weeks in transit we landed in the capital city, Hoh Chi Min. Named after their “father of the nation” and equivalent to our Mandela.  The first thing that made me realise I wasn’t anywhere close to home anymore was obvi the people (lack of brown skin bros and sisters), then the roads. Most people own and drive vuka type scooters so there’s constant roaring of engines, beeping of hooters and gunning for a gap. They drive it for the same reasons we do, because it’s economical and mostly because they zippy enough to get through any side street, market, grassy path or gravel road. Watching this chaos through our tour bus window nipped all traces of this thing called jet lag in the bud and I knew I was in for a treat.

We spent the first 2 days in this buzzing city, 3 days in Phan Thiet along the coast and 1 day in Bangkok (which deserves a post of its own) , know it sounds like a mere few days but a funny thing happens when you determined to soak up every ticking second. This is what all my peeps told me to do and exactly what I did. It’s like time flies but it doesn’t. We were on the go and busy but unlike when this happens in our daily routine, we weren’t preoccupied with thoughts of our next to-do.  

Another reason why it feels like time is there but there aint is what one of my friends says is their favourite thing about travel, your awareness of everything and being present in all 5 senses. This was part of a reply to my catch up message on day 3 where this friend also told me to not only soak it up but also hold everything I’m experiencing in my soul.

So…don’t panic, I’m not about to pour out my soul but in attempt to keep my posts short and sharp so you can come back for more *rubs hands slowly together like a scheming villain* here is some of what I saw, felt, tasted, heard, smelt and did in some words and pics:

• Chilling – most of our chill time was while we were commuting  via every possible means of transportation; bus, plane, tram, cable car, speed boat, gondolier –like rowing boat,  motorbike driven donkey cart type, bicycle and ironically not a minute on a motorbike! Other good times chilling was around the dining table be it for brekks, lunch or supper, alongside the pool and while rowing along the river.

 

• Tasting – so much of tasting! They eat mostly if not only local produce so there’s always lots of rice, fish, fruit and veg and use very little seasoning so the flavours are all fresh. Presentation is also everything when it comes to dining. They create images on your plate by slicing carrots into beautiful flower shapes or plating in an interesting way.  I’m not a beer drinker but mostly sipped on the local Saigon beer which tastes like our Millers draft. There was also the local brewed rice wine, which the locals sell as vodka because it looks and tastes the same.

 

• Smelling – it’s taking me a while to think of what I smelt because of the overcrowding and humid temperatures, I hate to say, the air in general is a bit polluted and stank. Then obvi there’s the food which smelt yum until day 6 where we were all done being borderline vegetarians and wanted our chop.   There was a section at the market dedicated to selling pretty flowers that I get I didn't get close enough to smell.

 

 

 

• Seeing – a whole new world really. How families live and work in the same houses and streets.  Fabulously dressed woman strutting their stuff on the streets. Beautiful buildings and in all their dilapidated glory. Endless fields of rice farms, lush green bushes and coconut factories. The old-fashioned way in which they made bricks. The many churches, pagoda’s and Buddhist prayer shrines in every possible nook and cranny. The biggest bhudda in Asia.

 

 

• Listening – spent a lot of time listening to our very hospitable, which still feels like a understatement coz this guy was such a gem, tour guide Mr Bhien. Who taught us so much about Vietnam’s politics (not much diff from ours), history, economics, religion, fast facts and my favourite culture. Then of course there was the sound of the city, the absolute tranquillity of the river, chirping birds in the calm of the mountain and overhearing high and low pitches of the Vietnamese language.

And there you have it folks, the first of what will be my many experiences abroad. Also the first of many experiences and stories I’m going to be sharing with you. The web's being a bit of a pain with pic uploads so I'll load more pics related to this post as another and make sure there's always something to entice at least more than one of the senses when you get here. So Sin Ciao, Guh muun and Ciao! Vietnamese for Hello, Thank You and what I discovered is a universal Goodbye.

Love,

Lenny