Ouma

I received news from Zimbabwe yesterday after lunch that my grandmother/Ouma had passed on. I know she has been really bad for a while, and to a certain extent I should have been prepared for it, but one never is prepared for that sort of news.

My parents had just gotten back from their holiday in South Africa, and my Ouma was still in Dandaro medical centre (which is like a medical centre for older people). My mom says she had visited with my Ouma already that morning for a long time, but something told her she should visit again in the evening. When she got there my Ouma was making a fuss with the nurses etc and her medication, so my mom told them to go and she would sort it. Once that was done my mom was going, and at the door, whem my Ouma called her in a very sweet and quiet voice asking if could just come and rub her feet for a little bit (My Ouma was in so much pain all over, esp. her feet). So as my mom was doing that, my Ouma stopped breathing.

I am so thankful that my mom was there at the last, and that my Ouma passed peacefully. That is always what I prayed for her, that she would pass peacefully when it was time.

My Ouma was an amazing person in so many different ways, not just as a grandmother for me. She was persistent and mostly successful in things that she put her mind to. She was loving and kind and had one of the most beautiful hearts I know. She was very loved, and I know will be missed sorely by more people that I think even she realised! I could go on about the times we spent together, but I think it will suffice to quote something I often wrote in cards to her; "Thank you for being the Best Ouma in The World".

Ouma, I know you are up in Heaven right now, and I just ask that you nudge God in the side and ask him to send just a little bit extra strength and understanding to my family right now.

I love you Ouma. Forever.

3 months later, many uncomfortable nights

I should be getting my couch today... Yay!!! Can you people believe that is the highlight of my weekend!!! So yeah I ordered it with the rest of my furniture and it only came into stock recently... I think (I dont remember fully) that is is a VERY soft suede and is a darker beige sort of colour... Should look really great, and it was comfortable too...

Then I also got a new PC here... (Yeah a lot of spending I know). Its a P4 HT 2.8 on with Intel and SiS MoBo components, 160 GB SATA drive, 1Gb ram, DVD-RW. But something is not working and i suspect it is the windows installation cd... anyways... when it starts working it will be a nice pc!!

My Vancouver visit

So this past weekend I went to Vancouver. I flew in on the Sunday afternoon and I walked around a bit and it seems like a very pretty city, but it has that big city feel. Y'know! I went there for training so the next two days were perty boring! It was mostly irellevant to me and I feel I got VERY LITTLE out of it. Anyways, I got to the see the city.

Monday night was awesome coz my Great Aunt Thea just happened to be in town from the UK for a conference. I hadnt seen her since I was like 10!!! We went out to dinner and just chatted, and it was really really kewl. She is such a nice person to chat to! She's like 83, but only in body (and thats only her back which makes her bend over), she is still a vibrant interesting person when you chat to her. So that was great, I look forward to seeing her again if I can next year if/when I go visit the Uk.

On the last night we went out as a group to some restuarant, which was kewl, had a very nice meal then some few beers. The partner then decided it was time for him to make an exit, but apparently when partners make an exit here it doesnt necessarily mean they stop paying... He told someone that they should continue paying and he would approve the expense claim... So we went from there to some pool lounge and had a pool tourney....

It was kewl coz we had Canada vs the rest of the world (there were a lot of immigrants there)Now any of you who have played against me in pool know that I can play, but not what you would call good.. Then how is it that team Zimbabwe/China won the whole thing!!?

So that was great and then one guy and I decide to walk home now, it is only apparently a few blocks away. So as we are walking he recognises this club that his mate works in, and yeah we get in for free there, felt v good coz there was a long queue of people to get in the door!! So it was quite a nice club, pretty girls, alright music. We had two drinks there and then left, it was pretty late by now and I had a flight at like 7 in the morning!!

Well thats about it - not much time for sightseeing etc, but its a great place, and definitely somewhere I would like to visit for longer and get to see more fully.

Now back in Winnipeg!

Its been a bit of a hectic week workwise, but its the weekend now, which is great! On Thursday night I went with Peg and co to some "Folkorama pavillions". Basically what happens is that countries set aside a hall and do a song/dance and serve the local food for that country. Its actually pretty well organised and there are like 26 different countries doing it. I went to the "African" one and the Israeli one.

The "African" pavillion was ok, very commercialised as you can imagine, with lots of dancing and drumming etc. Didn't want to burst too many people's bubbles, but it was NOTHING like the stuff I have seen in Zim or elsewhere in Africa. And the food was basically stewed beef and samosas (they dont call them samoosas here, and they also dont pronounce it with an "oo" its an "o" - so when I tried to order one the other day I got some v strange looks!!)

The Israeli one was also pretty good, but I am sure just as commercialised as the African one. Enjoyed it none-the-less. Last night (Friday) I looked after Rick's kids, coz their eldest, Robert is now the "legal-age" to baby sit, so I was jst there in case something horribly wrong happened. They are such good kids really, polite and friendly, so was actually a pleasure. I stayed the night at Ricks place afterwards, and today (Sat) we are going to Gimli, which is on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Its basically like a beach town I have been told. If you have time sometime, to
understand how big Lake Winnipeg is, have a look at it's size in comparison to somewhere like Kariba. Kariba is 5,580.00 km2 (thanks to some Googling) and Lake Winnipeg is 24,500.00 km2 - around 4 and a half times as big!!