Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A "Lucky" Surprise from Jessica Alba!

After we were at the park in NYC, we took a walk to Big Niko's where we really enjoy going for dinner. While we were there waiting for our food, Betsy showed us something really interesting. I still can't believe it till this moment. First, Betsy told us that she could fit her whole fist in her mouth and guess what?   She put her whole fist in her mouth and it was so unbelievably amazing that it was stuck in my head to whole night.

So we came back to the apartment and I was still trying to figure out how she could possibly fit her fist in her mouth while typing my blog.  Meanwhile we were waiting for Erin (Betsy's daughter) to arrive from Washington, DC . Then she arrived and we just all sat around the table while she was eating and Betsy asked if she's going to show me my surprise.  Erin asked, "Does Lucky know about the surprise?" and I said "No". So she went to fetch an envelope, but not a normal size one, one just a bit bigger.  Alan went and got the camera and asked Erin to come sit next to me and that made it even worse because I really did not know what was in the envelope.

So at that moment she pulled out a big photo that was taken of me next to my "dream board" in the boy's room at Nkosi's Haven.  On that copy it was written "Lucky never underestimate the power of knowledge. Reach for the stars my friend! Much love Jessica Alba".  I just went crazy!!!  And not only that but as I was busy going crazy, Erin pulled out a photograph of Jessica Alba holding up that photo of me and my dream board that she had written on!  I so could not believe it!!

Erin told me that she had spoken to Jessica Alba and now she knows who I am!! Erin works for The ONE Campaign and met Jessica when they traveled in Africa together.  On my dream board I had a picture pasted of Jessica Alba and I don't really know how to thank Erin for letting the girl of my dreams know about me!  It was just an amazing night which Erin has made for me.  It was really hard to fall asleep after that and I eventualy slept properly at like 4:50.  I guess I was a little too excited.  It was a realy great surprise, I must say.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Overcoming fear...on a roller coaster! Net Buddy, Keneilwe, blogs about her experience at Kennywood Park!

WOW!!!   Smile Monday the 14th of JUNE was the day I overcame my fear.  We went to Kennywood Amusement Park.  I left the house telling myself that I HAVE NEVER AND WILL NEVER go on to the roller coasters except the easy ones.

My first ride was the Merry-Go-Round. That was so easy!

I don't know what convinced my heart to do the RACER roller coaster.  I guess it was LUCKY, LORI and BETSY.  I was nervous before the ride started.   When I went on I was now cooled down . The best part of experiencing  the ride was that the car I was is the one that won. TheSurprised surprising thing is that when I got off I actually wanted more! 

I went on to try the THUNDERBOLT.   It was scary, but I did it like 3 times. 

Then I thought I was too hot.  I went to do the PITTSBURGH PLUNGE.   There I got completely wet!  I also did it 3 times!  I went to try dry myself on the WHIP. 

After the Whip, Christina and I went on to do the BIG and most SCARY PHANTOM'S REVENGE!!  The moment I came off, I was all dry and dizzy.  I didn't believe that it was me that went on the Phantom's Revenge. 

At the end of the day everyone including myself was proud of me.  Thanks to Christina and Lucky for going on most of the rides with me.  If it was not for the two of them I was not going to do the roller coasters.  Thanks Guys.  Driving back home I was so tired, I just fell asleep in the car.  IT WAS A GREAT DAY!!  I ENJOYED IT!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Everything is "Just Ducky" in Pittsburgh...even the Pirates! Another blog by Lucky, visiting Net Buddy

Here I am, having my breakfast and my apple juice.  After that I just hanged around while watching t.v, drawing and patiently waiting for the time to get to 1:30, because this will be the time I will be getting on my first bus here in America and we will be hearding to town.

So we got to the bus stop and took a picture next to the bus stop sign and then continued to wait for our bus. After a few minutes the bus finally arrives and we got on.   Well, it was realy comfortable but they turned the fans on so it started to get a little bit too cool but it was nice. After the nice ride we got to our fist stop which was in the city and we took a walk down to Betsy's work place.  It felt so good to walk again and it was a nice day for that too, I must say.

When we arrived at Betsy's work we first met Susie who works with Betsy.  What a very welcoming woman!  Then I met Joe who also works there and after a minute or so while we were talking, Fred (who Betsy works for) came and he walked up with his hand out to shake mine and he said to me "well you must be from Switzerland right?" but I knew he was kidding.   He gave me a paper weight which had the abbreviation of the name of where Betsy works and it was printed UMF (United Methodist Foundation). He said it is something which should make me remember where I was.  I was realy honoured to have that as a gift. 

Then things just go better, he invited me to step into his office and offered me to sit on his Big Chair and I had pictures taken while I was sitting on the chair and everyone was standing around me and I realy felt like I was the Boss (The Godfather).   I also got to see photos of his children.

I then went to see where Betsy works (her office), and Joe showed me a lovely photo of his family.  Betsy then took me around to where they would have their board meetings.  Then Susie showed me pictures of her family and her grand children too who are twins.   Then she offered me a soda that I had that on my way out because Betsy and I had a Just Ducky Tour to go to.   Then we said goodbye to everyone. 

Well before we went to the Just Ducky Tour we visited an Art institute where these works of art are on display by students.  There were realy amazing work of art there and I know that, because I am an artist myself.

After that we continued with our little walk and the weather seemed to be pretty and we also had to cross a bridge over the Monogehala river.   I asked how old the bridge was and Betsy wasn't sure so she took a photo of me on the bridge.

Then we had to get our Just Ducky Tour and so it finally arrived. We started by passing the bridge we walked over and it was built in 1883, so I guess I got my answer on how old the bridge was.  On the Just Ducky Tour you learn a lot about the area and in this case I was learning a lot about Pittsburgh.  I won't state everything that I have learned but one of the things is that Pittsburgh used to supply and a lot of steel to the world.  I found out that it has produced more steel that Japan and Germany combined during the world wars.  I learned a whole more other stuff as well.

The other thing about the Just Ducky is that it goes on land and also on water.  I think a lot of people were waiting for the time when it gets to the water.  When it got to the river it really floated!  I was the first one in the group to drive it on water.  It was a realy amazing experience!

We then walked back and Betsy called Alan to find out where we should meet him.  We met him where he works.  I got the chance to have photos taken with him at his work place and also got to see his office.  The building is realy tall especialy when you have to look up from the stair cases from the inside.  It is really high.

And so after that we went off to where I had chosen and it was to Mc Donalds (my favourite restaurant).  I ordered a cheese burger but I don't realy know if I had charmed the girl who was taking our orders or what, because she had put down a doulbe cheese burger for me instead of a cheese burger.  Oh well, I just had to enjoy it.

After we were done with our meal we then went to the Pirates Stadium (PNC Park) to watch a baseball match.

We then watched the game and we had a beautiful view of the city as well so it was really awesome.  The Pirates weren't winning and we were just hoping to at least see a home run by the Pirates, because apparently there will be fire-works going off.   After a while one of the Pirates players hit a home run and we got to see the fire-works and it was so beautiful!  Alan took a few pictures of that as well and once we were done watching the game outside the stadium there are statues of the legends of which used to play for the Pirates. I also got a photo taken in front of one statue and I think his name was Roberto if I'm not mistaken.

Then we got back home to get ready for New York..........

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Pittsburgh from an African Perspective = Green and Friendly~!

Hi to you all beautiful people, I am just going to tell you a little more about my experiences in Pittsburgh, the green city.


I am now three days in Pittsburgh which is very nice.  I have done a lot of interesting things.

Day 1 Friday(11/06/10)

When we got to Atlanta airport it was very scary for me as I was told that people/consultants at the airport are not friendly at all, so I got there ready for the treatment.  Unexpectedly we were helped by the most wonderful consultant who looks just like WILL SMITH....very friendly indeed. Our day got a little spoilt when we went to get our luggage.  We found out that Tipsy's(Lucky)wasn't there so we waited for the next flight hoping to find it.   But it was just not there.

BUT WE COULDN'T LET THAT SPOIL OUR WONDERFUL TRIP......


We went through customs, got some CANDIES(SWEETS) from the security guard at the airport and waited for our connecting flight to Pittsburgh, the flight was delayed so we had to wait a little longer but it finally came and that wasn't such a long one like first one from Johannesburg. 

When we get to Pittsburgh Dana, Lori's family, Betsy and her husband and Des were all waiting for us with all these beautiful gifts (wooden flowers,wild American sunglasses and some colourful pearls).  We all gave each other big hugs and took a lot of pictures. There was only one person missing.  Guess Who?????  Liz my mentor!  That made me so disappointed and sad, I cried a little.  Although it wasn't her fault, I was looking forward to meeting her in person and give her a big hug.


When Liz finally arrived I was so happy and I couldn't believe it.  That was the most unforgettable moment of my life....wow what an amazing life to have.

Liz and I are staying at Shannon M's house while in Pittsburgh.  Shannon is a wonderful person, a mother of three lovely children.


That night we had an amazing dinner at Shannon's house I met the LIFE SAVER: Mr Owen!!  A very lovely, smart person indeed.  After dinner it was a good night sleep for me as I was tired from flying.


These are some of the words that I learnt from America
South African Way                       American Way
Tomato sauce                              Ketchup
Permanent marker                      Sharpie
Chips                                              French fries

I personally don't think Pittsburghers get stress or depression at all as they have these  lovely green trees and flowers all over!


Will write more tomorrow okay and by the way Americans drive on the right side of the road while we do the left side.   Isn't that interesting?

I am open to any kind of questions about the trip, so you all know where to get me, right?

Looking forward to answering all your questions.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Lucky to be Lucky in the USA!

As promised, I am going to share some of the blogs the Net Buddies are posting to the Ezomndeni Net about their experiences here in the US visiting their video mentors!  Today I am sharing some excerpts from Lucky's blog.  Enjoy!

First thing when I woke up was that the weather was ok and both Betsy and I had planned to go to the zoo for the day but then we thought what if it rains, because it wouldn't be a good day at the zoo if  at had to rain and so we had to let that one pass but we then we decided to do something even nicer which is ice skating.... ooooh and well on our way there we stopped at the post office to post a few things and I finally got a photo taken next to a post van which I think is really fun, because every time when I am in South Africa and I am watching an American movie I would laugh every time they would show a mail van and so it was really great to have a picture taken next to one.

We continued with our journey to the ice skating place and on our way we were talking about how long it has been since we've ice skated and so we were actually nervous of basically falling on the ice but I guess it was too late for us to change our minds then and so we got there, got our ice skates and took some pictures before getting on the ice and then we finally go on the ice and we then started ice skating and none of us were balancing against the side which I think was really good after we have both never been ice skating for a long time and it seemed like it was our day, because there weren't many people ice skating, so we basically had the place to ourselves which was really fun.

We then came back to get Betsy's coffee mug and we got to this other "drive thru" where she just said bottom-less mug and she got her mug filled with coffee and she did not pay a thing.  I was really amazed and she explained to me everything and she said that she had paid $120 which is like +-R800 and she got the mug and she can go to that place and order coffee' as many times as would like for a whole year and I think that is great because I love..... coffee but I haven't had any since I came here.  I just stuck to apple juice which I also adore and I basically just decided to stay faithful to my South Africa coffee.

And so after the coffee we went down to the grocery store to get a few things, because we were having dinner with some of Betsy's family and we also got more of these other candy which I got addicted to and their a mixture of sweet and sour candy.  I love candy and so while we were at the store Betsy showed me this other way of paying for your grocery and you basically scan the products you've purchased yourself and you then pay and I think that is really awesome to do that yourself.

We came back from the store and Betsy started preparing things for dinner and hoping the weather doesn't change, because she wouldn't have liked it if it was possible to have dinner outside.   I was drawing and it was my first time that I had time to do anything normal so I then asked Betsy if she could put on for me cartoons for me so I drew a little and while waiting for dinner.
 
Then the time came when everyone started coming in and I met Betsy's father and apparently he worked at Kennywood for sometime and we spoke about that. He and his fiance had brought me a card with some money to spend while I'm in Pittsburgh and I think that was really generous of them.  They are really nice people I must say and, Betsy's brother (Bruce) , Betsy's sister in-law (Melissa), and their children Kelly and Kevin came and they and gifts for me they got me a whole kinds of different types of candy (which I don't know how am I going to start eating them) and a hockey t-shirt of a very good hockey player who plays for a team in Pittsburgh and his name is Crosby.  I also play hockey, so it was a really nice present for them to give to me.

We sat outside to have our dinner and we also have a very delicious dessert and we saw a couple of light bugs which Kevin and I tried to catch but there were so many so we did not get any which is ok I guess.   I really appreciate the time and effort that everyone took to meet me and for Betsy and to introduce me to her family, which I think was really great.  At the end I think everyone was tired including me because of how we had laughed so much.  I must say that Betsy has a very funny family especialy Kevin and Betsy's brother Bruce, actually everyone there had a great unique sense of humour. 

I still haven't figured out how am I going to start eating all of that candy! 


But well that was my day with Betsy's family!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

we should travel with people as they search for the good, the true and the beautiful...


We are relieved and excited to announce that 3 Net Buddies from Nkosi's Haven are in Pittsburgh and New York City to visit their video mentors!  Keneilwe, Lucky and Christina arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday, June 11th and were greeted by video mentors, Lori and Will Allison, Betsy and Alan Hohlfelder and Liz DeVito!  The shouts of joy and the tears of recognition were a wonder to behold.

Together with Zoleka Petse, IF SA Coordinator, the Net Buddies are seeing the sights in Pittsburgh and New York City.  In addtion to soaking up all the love and wonder of finally seeing their one another, Net Buddies and their video mentors are acting as goodwill ambassadors for the wonderful mission of IF.

In Pittsburgh there is a traditional South African Braai (or barbeque) and a trip to Kennywood, a local amusement park, where Net Buddies will meet the Infinite Family community of mentors, supporters and friends.

In NYC, Net Buddies will attend a picnic in Central Park as well as attend a rooftop event at the home of Chris Boeke and Bill Jenks, long time supporters and IF Board member.

I will be posting excerpts from Lucky, Christina, Keneilwe and Zoleka's blog right here, so keep coming back!

We're posting pictures to the Infinite Family Facebook Page!  So check out all the wonderful experiences and insights first hand through FB!!

We are all OVER THE MOON with excitement.  We hope you'll catch a glimpse of the excitement through our blogs and photos, too!