We are Rugby World Cup Champions!!

Go Bokke!!! We are the World Cup champions again after South Africa beat England 15-6 at the Stade de France, on 20 October ,in the Rugby World Cup 2007 final. We had to wait 12 years for this after the Springboks won the World Cup back in 1995 and now again in 2007.

Weeks before the game, the whole of South Africa had rugby fever and where dressed in green and gold. CD shops only sold “Ons vir jou Suid-Afrika” and Leon Schuster’s – “Hie’kommie bokke 2” and sport shops had long quess of people lining up for green and gold jerseys. Even the French public started favoring South Africa and they went as far as decorating the Eiffel Tower with green and gold lights.

The big day arrived and a bunch of us went to a local rugby bar called "Oppiplaas." Everyone there was ready for action, drinking springbokkie shooters and dressed in their Springbok jerseys. South African flags where waved around and green face-painted men smiled nervously while they drank their castle bears. We watched the clock tick a way and as it approached 9 o clock a deadly science fell on the crowd.

The game kicked off, and in the first 7 minutes Percy Montgomery scored 3 points for South Africa. We were in the lead!!! Then Wilkinson equalized the score and the cameras panned to the English crowd and showed a close up off Prince Harry. A tipsy gentleman not too far from us started shouting: "Ooh f-off Harry, you stupid Harry Potter." In different circumstances I would have laughed. Half time came and the score was close 9-3 for South Africa.

The second half started and things got even more emotional. The Tv ref had to decide if England got a try and I found myself eating my nails and walking up and down waiting for his decision. Percy Montgomery was also pushed into a Telivision camera by number 21 of England. This idiot didn't even get a yellow card, and Percy had to play injured for the duration of the game.

5 minutes before the final whistle blew, we were leading 15-6 and all the people at Oppiplaas started singing: "Ole Ole Ole Ole, We are the Champions, We are the Chamions." We could all smell victory and we didn't have to wait long to see our Captain John Smit lift the Web-Ellis trophy high up in the air with President Thabo Mbeki at his side.

It was a sweet victory for South Africa with our winger Bryan Habana also winning the IRB Player of the Year Award and Jake White the Coach of the Year Award. Apart from winning the World Cup, South Africa was also named the IRB Team of the Year.

I'm really proud to call myself a South African.I'm going to say this again: "Go Bokke - We are the World Champions, OLE!!"

Enrique Iglesias concert in Johannesburg

Last night I had the privilege to go to the Enrique Iglesias concert in the Johannesburg Dome. Jaco spoiled me with tickets for my birthday, and it was definitely the best birthday present ever - thanks Jaco!!

The concert started at 9 and Enrique dressed in Jeans and a Blue T-shirt, sang his opening song "Ring my Bells". He went straight into his next so songs before he greated the crowd: "Hello Joburg, fuck it's good to be back." He then told us: "Tonight I'm going to give you everything I have, all of my songs." I can't remember the order of the songs but I remember he sang: "Don't turn of the lights", "Love to see you cry", "I will survive", "Do you Know", "Push", "Hero", "Don't you forget about me", "Escape".

Apart from his stunning voice, he's also got the most amazing stage presence and he really interacts with the crowd. He pulled various people unto the stage and chatted to them. He danced with one girl while he sang Hero, and she was so excited she almost fainted. He also got a gay couple on the stage and they were lucky enough to sit on a couch while Enrique sang 3 songs.

Enrique told the crowd that he was born in Madrid Spain and they moved to the US when he was 3. He learned English from this song, and then he started singing:"Knocking on Heaven's Door."

My favourite part of the concert was when the whole stage was dark and then on the big screen, a ping-pong table made from lights appeared and the ping-pong ball went back and forth. Enrique then started singing the ping-pong song. He ended the night with his biggest hit – Escape and he told the crows: “You’ve got a beautiful country, the best one in the world. Take care of it.”

World Cup Final this Saturday

Go Bokke - Suid Afrika is in die finaal

Groen en Goud is al waaraan ek gaan dink hierdie laaste week voor die rugby world cup 2007 finaal. Wow, 12 jaar later en ons is weer soos in 1995 in die Rugby World Cup finaal. Ek is seker dat ons soos laas weer die beker huis toe gaan bring. Saterdag speel ons in Parys in die finale Wereld Beker 2007 teenoor die "defending champions" Engeland.

Suid-Afrika en Engeland is altwee uit groep A, en het al teen mekaar gespeel in die wereld beker, toe SA vir Engeland 36-0 gewen het. Maar nou is Engeland se troefkaart, Johnny Wikenson, weer in goeie vorm en hulle belowe om stywe mededinging vir die springbokke te wees.

Iemand om voor uit te kyk in Saterdag se wedstryd is Sa se super vleul - Bryan Habanna. Hy het in die semi-finaal teen Argentinie, Jonah Lomuse se rekord van 8 driee ge-evenaar. So as hy Saterdag nog 'n drie teen die pommies aanteken dan is hy die nuwe rekord houer van die meeste driee in 'n wereld beker. Percie Montgomery is ook die voorste punteaanteker in hierdie jaar se wereld beker.

Nog net 'n week, tot die groot wedstryd en ek kan al klaar nie meer wag nie. Go Bokke!!

My Birthday Celebrations

Last week Saturday I celebrated another birthday. (I'm now at the stage of my life where I don't have to tell you my age).

Plan A was to go to Gold Reef City theme park, but that rained out so we all met in Sandton Square instead and started the day off with a champagne breakfast at Baglios. Then we went to the movies, saw Knocked Up, and had Lunch at Pappas, also in the square.

After that we moved over to Sandton City for late afternoon coffee and cake and we ended the day at Pauline's house. Very hectic day, as you'll see on the photo's.

No Electricity = Bordeom

Yes, I know I'm spoiled and that half of South Africa never had electricity and still cook their food by candle light. That didn't changed the fact that yesterday when the whole of Gauteng suffered serious power cuts I was mad - not because I couldn't finish my work, but mad because I was bored. Ever tried doing something without electricity when you're bored? It's impossible.... you can't listen to the radio, watch TV, go to the movies, bake something or even read a book in the darkness.

The only thing that still worked was my cell phone that I luckily charged the day before. As I called all my friends I realised that they were no better off also stuck without electricity. My plan to go grab a quick coffee at a coffee shop wasn't going to work since all the places where plunged into darkness for as far as we could tell. Venturing into a road was also madness with all the traffic lights out of order. It was then that boredom inspired me to try some old fashioned physical labor.

I walked over to the in-laws place and soon I was helping them unpack an assemble their brand new garden chairs and table while listening to news reports about the power cuts on their battery powered radio. We were just figuring out what to cook on our "gas braaier" when the electricity came on. Today's going to be the same story, with power cuts taking place later this afternoon. While the power still lasts I'm multi-tasking trying to get as much done as I possibly can. This means that I'm now listening to the radio, working, blogging on my laptop, charging my phone, watching TV, seeing a movie and baking goodies all at the same time. Ooh the joys of living in South Africa.

My new office space

Yesterday I moved into my very own office. This isn't a corner office of some big corporation, this is my very own office where I pay the rent every month and got to decide on the wall colours and floor tiles when they where busy building it. My father in law owns the building so I'm actually renting from him and he renovated it for me as a present.

Not since I was a little girl and played office-office with my sister did I ever imagine that I'll have my own office. Now sitting behind my laptop I'll try my best to describe it to you. It's a medium sized room that is divided off with a dry wall that leads into a tiny kitchen with my microwave oven and fridge. The walls are painted white and the tiles are a grayish white colour. A sliding door opens up on a view of the street.

Next to the kitchen I have a white storage rack with my filing in it and a few cactus plants. Then in front of the kitchen is my trendy little desk with my laptop on it. Next to my desk I have table that can be folded or extended to fit 2 people, 4 or 6 with a brand new orange table cloth. You'll soon realize that everything in my office is orange, I decided to stick to just one colour since the walls and tiles are white and so far its working beautifully.

In front of my desk I have two orange squares that you can sit on. They are very comfy and don't take up loads of space. Next to them is my bookcase with my books, radio and a photo of my husband. On the other side of the orange squares I have a very long but thin orange carpet with a huge orange giraffe standing on top of it. I had a very successful shopping trip yesterday and picked up the giraffe at the crafters market.

We had a hectic Highveld storm here last night and most people even went home earlier because there were reports of a tornado. Luckily the tornado reports where a hoax but it still rained a lot last night. So this morning when I stepped into my brand new office it was full of rain water and my brand new carpet was soaking wet. Nothing that a towel couldn’t fix and everything is again back to normal. I'm already planning to invite a few friends over and have a type of "office warming" party.