some unexpected.......yet positive

would like to think that I am someone who enjoys the unexpected and believes that life is always throwing them a positive curve ball.( ok ok I am trying to overcome my addiction to cyanide and near suicidal feelings ..er .. but that is another discussion :))
To be honest however, when I arrived at the office today to find two somewhat dodgy looking men alone in our little NGO moving our desks around and dismantling the computers, I must be honest I did not put an immediately positive spin on it....
Luckily as I have no intention of a being GI Jane ( or any more up to date funky SUPER HERO ) i did not head butt, call the police or assault the men, but merely asked ...." What are you doing?" ( in what I hope was a fearful and commanding voice Angie Voice)
And as it would turn out they were delivering three new computer donated to the NGO by the Gauteng Education Department. Which while totally unprecedented, is wonderful!
Then later today a huge ad agency donated a whole lot ( like hundred files).
I have ended the day a reformed super- positive . ( away with the razor away away)

Perhaps their is a SUPER HERO in this for local casting. In a society that seems intent on always bemoaning failure.Eternally positive person , the problem is they would probably end up either some terribly boring nun, or someone who looked like they had taken to much e lost the plot ... just like my note has...mm mm..... Good night.

Good Night, and Good Luck aka Depression

Last Night Neil and I watched a really good movie " Good Night and Good Luck " co-written by George Clooney.
It was an excellent film and I would recommend it to anyone. It focuses on one television show's fight against the unreasonable restrictive public association laws in America in the Cold War , particularly advocated by one Senator.
Of course there was a direct parallel as to what is happening currently under the Bush regime in the so called war against terror and the implication is obviously that "we" are failing to fight it as we should.
It ended with a very moving quote , talking about the television, but which could be equally paralleled to the internet ( and I am paraphrasing here because I cannot remember word for word) :
" This box can be used to educate , to enlighten, to bring freedom, but only if we allow it. Without that that it becomes a meaningless bundle of flicking tubes and lights . Good Night and Good Luck."

It was in so many ways such a strong indictment on our current apathetic society that I had to write about it.
It really touched me because yesterday I was handing out food parcels ( for work ) in Kya Sands. This is one of the groups Optimus distributes to. The people I distribute to are HIV positive , unemployed , live without running water or any sustainable source of food ....... and yet this misery starts to fade compared to Zimbabwe , Chad , Dafour , ....
I feel that we talk and talk and talk but nobody ever does anything ( myself include). That is why this movie touched me.
Good Weekend and good luck .. the Angie in despair purple

New Adventures in Teaching

Well after many snide remarks from people I have decided to post---
yes another entry detailing my terribly exciting life.

I am now teaching a subject called life orientation for adults once a
week at night schools. In general this subject is very useful and
should have been around when we were at school. It discusses things
such as the constituion, your rights if you get arrested , what is
expected by your employer , the function of the CCMA etc.
However sometimes the boundry of reasonableness are pushed a little
bit . A few weeks ago I had to teach Human Sexual behaviour . The
classes are at night as most people are adult who previously did not
have the chance to complete their education. Most students are working
during the day as domestic workers or gardeners. The age range is from
17 to 60 . Most of the student's English is not very good .

ANYWAY back to human sexual behaviour . Most people in my classes do
not understand in English concepts such as penetration , ejaculation
etc. Yet the Gauteng Education Department in its infinite wisdom had
decided on this new sysbus:
FETISHISM : " Derives sexual exitement directly from an inanimate
object or body part such as hair or hair ribbon , feet or shoes"
BESTIALTY :"is a sexual deviation in which animals are the preferred
objects for achieving sexual grafification"
SADISM :"is the condition in which one achieves sexual exitement or
gratification through inflicting physical pain . the sex object can be
human or animal , adult or child , a person of the same or opposite
sex."

I do not in anyway consider myself a prude but I really battled to
teach this class and explain all these concepts to third language
users without blushing. A colleage suggested I bring in a porn video
and stop at the relevant parts . Hmmmm?The lesson was going relatively
well with me managing to pretend I was not actually there , until
about half way one eldery student, Meriem, said in all seriousness,
"Angie I still do not understand what Oral Sex is."Well if I haven't
even explained that properly girl then the world of S & M is
definitely lost ...

Woe woe woe

Blogger Beta won't post stuff, but I bet this will post just to annoy me.

Teaching Finance in Diepsloot

Well Friends , I had a few reallyinteresting experiences this week.One of which is :

The NGO ( Optimus ) has a teaching contract for teaching business skills in Diepsloot . I was teaching the finance section of this three week course . Part of the " lesson" was not to use loan sharks ( most of the people are unable to get bank loans as they have no assets to secure them ).
To begin the lesson I asked " Has anyone ever used a loan shark ?" I really
I nearly fell over when one of my students confidently replied " Yes, I am a loan shark. Last week I took two peoples' shack who did not pay me."
mmmmm - lesson derailed.
I then tried to proceed calmly , when reaching the part about never use a loan shark the same student became very upset :" You cannot publish this. What about my customers? How will I feed my family ?"
Well , to tell you the truth I had no answer. It against the law ? errr. Just did not seem as power.And suddenly Mr Loan Shark seemed a whole lot more human when he was one of twenty students. ( plus I was a little tiny insy winsy bit scared)
"Moving on to the next topic people ......."