The Final Blog

6 months after leaving the continent of Africa, and over a year since my last post, I have decided to do this blog justice and finish it off in style. The final 7 months at Waterford were well, tough. Assignment after assignment, mock exams and tests and assessments.

Cape Town was AWESOME!!

The dreaded Extended Essay was due in May. The Extended Essay is basically the IB saying that 6 tough subjects (all with internal assessments) and Theory of Knowledge, 200 compulsory action, creativity and service hours was not enough, and they should make its students write a 4000 word essay which needed deep research and in which one hint of plagiarism could cost you your diploma (as happened to a friend.)

It’s probably better that this is written in hindsight; the language might not have been so mild if this was being written last year.

Hitler

We were due to go on a sports tour to Botswana, and arrive back the day it was due. Only 4 IB2s ended up going, with just me and Stephen on the sevens team. It's a 14 hour bus ride to Botswana, and once in Botswana we got a police escort from the border to our hotel in Gabarone! (The capital)

We did remarkably well, winning one and losing one against both opposition schools, one of which was the best in Botswana. My EE was handed in one day after the deadline, and my last contact with the blasted thing was being hit over the head with it by the IB coordinator. Pretty fitting, really.

When we came back, Stephen and I found that our rooms had switched around. Literally all our belongings, had switched rooms, and we were too lazy to ever switch back. Eventually, even the school roster registered our switched rooms. I’m willing to admit it was the best prank I’ve ever been part of.

The hours crawled but the days flew, and soon it was midterm. Needing a break, many of us took refuge in Maputo, Mozambique, 5 hours away from Mbabane. I think the best thing about Maputo was that it was by the SEA! Coming from Fiji, I did not realize before leaving how much I would miss it. Maputo was heaps of fun, whether it was drinking tea at a streetside restaurant for 5 hours or drinking cocktails on the beach or getting the chance to wear t-shirt and shorts while in nearby Swaziland temperatures were constantly below 10 degrees.

Pep talk before a match

I did keep up with tango, and what started as a curiosity ended up as being great fun and a hobby and something I can keep with me from my epic maths teacher! We had another performance, though I didn't have as big a role.

Warthogs DON’T like it when you come near them, eve
n if you didn’t see them, especially mothers with their kids.

As the depressingly cold winter came to an end, the holidays approached, and I was due for another round of Zimbabwe with Emily. Getting there proved a challenge, including a 14 hour wait to get through the South Africa-Zimbabwe border at Beit Bridge. No bungee jumping this time around, but studying for mock exams, a party (or three) for my 18th, and taking part in the Zimbabwe sailing championships. Ironically, I’ve spent more time sailing in ocean-challenged Zimbabwe than in the Fiji Islands. 

No, I don’t sail. When I say I sailed, I was lying in the boat telling stories as Emily managed the boat on her own.

whooo hooo 30 hours to Cape Town!

Term 3- mock exams. I did pretty miserably, and this caused me to lock down and study very hard for the dreaded finals.

Kyle's house was a sancturary for the rare occasions we weren't working, such as the weekend the mock exams were over. He also has a racist dog, who only attacks Black people. Seeing as I'm rather brown, noone was sure how he would react to me, though he seemed ok after getting to know me :)

 Finals made time pretty much stop, and all spare time was dedicated to studying hard. Finals came, and the three weeks and 20 papers kept me busy, though we were able to keep up our spirits. Finally- IB COMPLETE! Goodness, what a feeling. We all jumped into the pool from the exam hall. What a day. 

Post IB, there was ‘completion’ (Waterford refused to put ‘graduation on the certificates, since we hadn’t our results yet) ceremony, and the farewell was one of the saddest days of my life. 

(The second saddest was the day Andy Roddick retired,.)

Awwww... Andy Roddick :(

I did have a week in Cape Town with Emily, Kyle, Dilys and Kyle’s sister Bronwen though, and getting there was a 30 hour train ride from Johannesburg. What a place! Beautiful scenery, fun times, climbing table mountain, getting a ride around the harbour on a boat, what a dream way to end, really. My friends left and conveniently my family arrived just in time, for they too had to see a part of Africa. An experience I will never EVER forget.
If you find this you're epic

DKN

Oh, and my results? Highly satisfactory actually, best results over the two years actually. :)

We may be a UWC, but that doesn't stop pictures like this being taken

The photo pose and shoot is an inevitable part of any 14 hour bus trip

All dressed up for graduation

The rugby team in a not so frightening pose!

Leopard stares majestically over it's kingdom (a small enclosure)

If you do the IB, you must chill out anytime you can

Pajama Day at Kyle's after mock exams?

Just another way you can die in Swaziland...

Graduation

The original crew... the final minutes :(

"Zimbabwe"

Walking cheetahs, just another day in Africa!

Cheetahs walking humans

"Uh oh"

Back from Botswana, I'm about to find that my room has all of Stephen's stuff in it now, so it's no longer my room

And FINALLY, one of my favorites, right after I had completed my bungee jump at Victoria Falls :)

Good day all. I have been extremely slow with the updates this year I’m sorry. There has been a lot happening recently, from April Fool’s Day to rugby to everything else. Here’s what’s been going on this term apart from work:

April fool’s Day War

Stephen, Kyle and I doing up
Anna's door-with a decoration

Dan was sleeping peacefully on Sunday, 1st April when he was awoken with a start by Agathe (of France) and Emily. The two mischief makers broke into his room as he slept and poured a cup of cold water over him! He took it well though, and congratulated them, in the spirit of April fools day. Dan would later collaborate with Kyle against Stephen, and tape up his room. Poor Stephen. He could not access his door. On top of that he could not navigate his room without a scissors afterwards! Stephen responded by putting Dan’s Fiji flag up on the tree outside hostel. Kyle, a very particular person, lost one of all his pairs of socks. However, that was nothing compared to what was to kick off before lunch time…

From left: Basti, Agathe, myself, Stephen, Kyle, Martha,
Dimitri, Lisa and Yannick

Steve, Sebastian (Basti), Kyle and Dimitri had earlier that morning played a prank on the Martha, Basti’s girlfriend, phoning her that Basti had hurt his head with a concussion and could not remember her or anyone (Dan refused to partake in such a horrendous act).  Martha’s response sparked off a war in boys side. Attacking the culprits one by one (and Dan, for no reason) she got them all in the face properly with shaving cream! What followed was chaos. The boys plus Martha, Agathe and Lisa became engaged in an every-man (and woman)- for himself fight to the death end involving shaving cream. Every person involved, as well as many innocent passers-by was soon covered in shaving cream. (These passers-by soon became more than just passers-by). Dan discovered that shaving cream makes great hair gel. Tawanda (Zimbabwe) discovered that water is a great deterrent of cream-wielding crazies. Before long, everyone was wet and covered in foam. Tawanda was in just his shorts and was armed with a water bottle, and had taken several hostages, before escorting everyone out of hostel- Somali Pirate style! The hostel was a mess, a bit like Suva after the hibiscus festival, though instead of half full barbeque packets there were puddles of water and foam. 

me: 'let's raise this on the school flagpole!'
(Didn't happen)

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“There’s no trees in Botswana, right?”
Kang Ho (Swaziland)

Waking up Rituals in Triple Distilled

School starts at 8am. Breakfast is served at 7. Of course, that means that we IB students usually must get up before these times. This may sound like a simple task, but believe me, waking up after an average 5-6 hour sleep is not pleasant. Triple Distilled is the name of my corridor. It includes Kyle, Stephen, Basti and Rohann. Stephen is quite good at waking up in the mornings, really good actually. Despite my setting an alarm, it is usually he who gets me up, beating me up with pillows if I had forgotten to lock my door the previous night. I’ll admit, getting me up is no easy feat. (Get this- I continued to sleep after Agathe had dumped water on me). I then normally get up Kyle. This is not easy. I usually open the door and stare at him, which usually gets him up. However on occasion I resort to jumping into his bed with him making him feel awkward. Even this does not always work. On certain occasions it takes me spooning him to get him out of bed! He then will go to brush his teeth. Once, comically after I had gotten him up by jumping into his bed I fell asleep there! Rohann once joined in giving a strip tease. Usually, none of us are thinking straight on the way to breakfast, and usually end up singing talking absolute nonsense. It usually takes until breakfast to fully wake up...

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For those who are (still) confused:
Country=Swaziland
People=Swazi(s)
Language=SiSwati

Waterford Krunch Time

Waterford is full of drama. Fights over girls, boys, food, etc. Personally I have never been one for drama. It’s just a little bit of a waste of time in my opinion. However, some people live for it it seems. A new Facebook page called Waterford Krunch Time has been circulating explicit rumours around the school. Of course, I and many people have boycotted it. It is really ridiculous, set up by some poor old sod of mysterious identity (though there are suspects) with no life or something. Anyways, like it or not, Krunch Time has caught much attention, and the identity of the page manager is a common topic of conversation, leading to many jokes and conspiracy theories. Personally there have been no rumours about me (yet). Rumours don’t really bother me anyways…

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A few of my more crazy friends

Rugby Players feel the pain.
By Daniel Naidu

Two rugby tournaments were played over two weeks at the Waterford Kamhlaba international stadium field. The first was held between Waterford, Sisikelo and Manenga schools, and the teams all met twice each, in sevens encounters. Waterford lost their first three matches, before beating out Manenga 12-7 in the final match of the day. The top try scorer for Waterford was the Daniel Naidu of the Fiji Islands, who ran in two tries against Sisikelo in the 17-15 loss. The lucky-number-13 ended the day with a groin/hamstring injury, which put his chances of playing the following week in doubt. Of the 12 man Waterford squad, 9 ended the day with injuries, ranging from minor sprains to broken ligaments. Waterford ended the day third out of three, a rather disappointing result for the hosts.

Waterford and Sisikelo played another tournament the following week, joined by the intimidating Wembley College from Grahamstown, South Africa. Waterford lost the first match of the day to Wembley, 21-19, and later lost to Wembley again 24-17, after the latter scored a last minute try. Waterford went on to smash Sisikelo this time, 38-0 in the final match. Chris (Mozambique), our 100m sprinting champ was the top try scorer this week, with something in the region of 6 tries! Naidu, that brilliant player, who was injured, bravely played about 12 minutes at flyhalf, and set up two tries and kicked one conversion.

So that (totally unbiased) article sums up what went on during the two rugby tournaments. I am happy to have got my first two tries for Waterford, and hope more are to follow! I wasn’t really forced to play in the second tournament, but I kinda wanted to, and took the offer from our coach. I am extremely ill disciplined when it comes to waiting out injuries.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….-----------------------------------


In addition to that, I played in a soccer tournament on the last day of school, as a last minute replacement. I was goalkeeper, but we lost the first match 7-0! The second match we lost 12-0 (though, to my defence, I wasn't goalkeeper) and in the third we drew 2-2 (this time thanks to my goalkeeping! :P )

Anyways, that is about it for this term. It’s been a great one. Michael, Phyllis, Emily, Marcus and many others have joined me as Fijians Overseas. It’s been cool talking to you guys!

‘Remember, happiness is a means of travel, not a destination’

For now, it is Moce Viti from this side! ;)

DKN

The Good and Horrors of Year Two

PSSST

So… Six weeks have gone by and I haven’t given an update in 2012. Gosh. Who the hell is still reading this?  Well, the first six weeks of term we have been absolutely jam packed with work. I haven’t had time to write a blog yet. (That would be my first lie, technically I have had time but I cherish every moment of free time I have right now)

The trip back to this side was a lot of fun, especially since I met my good old buddy Jennifer on the plane on the way to Hong Kong! She was nice enough to take me around Hong Kong, both of us in flip flops, me in shorts in the seven degrees weather. Typical conversation in the department stores:

Jen (trying on scarf): Omg Daniel try this scarf on!

Dan (tries it on): Oh wow it feels so amazing! How much is it?
Jen (looking at price tag and laughs): Never mind.

Lightning in Swaziland. (This storm wasn't even in our school)

If you want a pen pal from Swaziland don’t hesitate to mail me a letter. You can find me at the following address:
Daniel Naidu
Emhlabeni Hostel
Waterford Kamhlaba
Mbabane
Swaziland

I promise I’ll reply any letters I receive! J

This went on until we were both drunk with tiredness (why else would she try to pay me HK$10 with 10c Fiji? Hahaha!) I think it was about 26 hours without sleep for the both of us by the time she came back to the airport with me at 10:30pm for my flight. It was an amazingly good time though! (owe you one Jen)

So uneventfully returned to Swaziland, it was great to see my friends again. Back at school, and meeting the first years was good as well. Many new friends. School has been intense though. The maths portfolio caused me to sleep after 3am for at least 10 nights straight! You would see students dropping off to sleep in class during the maths portfolio. My immune system still hasn't quite recovered 4 weeks later! But our task was pretty cool: We had to design a casino dice game! Obviously to do this properly I had to watch the movie 21. Epic movie.

I’m sure I mentioned this to everyone, but I was lucky enough to visit Emily in Zimbabwe over the holidays. We had such a great time there, with Anna and Dimitri as well. The highlight definitely had to be seeing Victoria Falls and going bungee jumping down there! 111 metres, it is the second highest bungee in the world! Emily had my funeral plans ready before I jumped, and we started singing Leaving on a Jet Plane. Anyways apparently her scream was louder than mine but I enjoyed the jump so much! I totally recommend it! Funnily enough two weeks after I jump some poor Aussie snaps her rope on the same bridge! Kinda scary and my mum is freaked out now.

Reaction after surviving the bungee jump :)

We had a swimming gala last week, and I was assigned to swim freestyle. For me, swimming is basically not drowning, so I was always going to struggle. Anyways I ended up somehow doing breast stroke for my house and I managed to come second! (from the back). Next week is the interhouse atheletics. 1500m here we come!

What about this? I met a girl from the Netherlands named Lisa, who was born in--- yeap. Fiji! Although she only spent 9 months of her life there I call her the Fijian. (She still thinks I was tried to pick her up by talking about how Fijians used to be cannibals 200 years or so ago. Long story don’t ask haha.) Anyways, apart from that, I met another kid called Daniel at this school who had spent the last year in Lautoka! Freaky huh? And he had actually met Tamiana! Small world isn’t it.

It was going around hostel, Fiji was officially listed as the happiest country in the world. I can actually believe that but it was really nice to read and hear! :) Keep it up Fiji!

My community service for this year is gardening. We go to the Salvation Army camp in Mbabane and plant vegetables for their kitchen. Well, three weeks, and three snakes spotted! The second one I only saw after I felt it slide over my foot! Luckily I’m kinda a calm person and didn’t scream or jump. Snakes here can be quite nasty apparently.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Anyways, that’s half of term one gone!

Be happy NOW, or you’ll regret it later! ;)

Moce

DKN

Under the Weather

GOOD DAY ALL.

Long time no updates aye. I have just been that busy with essays, portfolios, presentations and stuff. It has been a long 3 weeks.

So, what has happened? Damn. Seems like nothing’s happened and same time like so much has happened. The only good points I seem to remember were rugby practice and… yeap that’s it. Kamau and I combined epically yet again to set up tries between us each week.

We’ve basically had 2 weeks of thunderstorms. I think of the past 14 days, we’ve had at least 8 lightning storms. Kyle, Raymos and I sprinted from the cafeteria to our hostel (no short distance- about 400 metres at least I think) in the middle of a thunder/lightning storm. It was epic, funny and scary. It felt like a lord of the rings sequence or something. It was also probably a little dangerous. But we had work to do. Our lives are not as important as our homework obviously. Hahaha. But honestly, do you think teachers will accept ‘stuck because of the lightning’ as an excuse?

Leavers party

Sometimes it feels like our life is based on school work and examinations doesn’t it? Are exams that good a way of evaluating us anyways? Is it really possible to reflect 2 years (730 days and nights or 731 on a leap year) in just 3 hours or less? I think this is really stupid. At least, I think unlimited time should be given for papers. Think about this. The point of exams is to find out how much we know. Not how much we know in 3 hours and under immense pressure. We should be able to show how much we know altogether. Unlimited time. Agree? Also, I think exams are not a great reflection on how much we know, it is a reflection on how well we can cram/how well we can study. Just saying.

Just to give a good reflection of lightning storms here: I was standing at the window of my room in the middle of one, and decided to count the number of strikes a minute. (If you don’t know me well you should know I do things like this). I counted the number of strikes in 5 different minutes. The number of each minute was 17, 21, 16, 25, 22. That’s more than 20 a minute on average. Or one every three seconds. And remember, most of these were forked lighting, down to the ground (not always on campus though). Ok, obviously the one we sprinted through was not this intense. We’re not THAT crazy! When its not a thunder storm at night its depressing fog.

Who agrees with me? There is NOTHING wrong with going to sleep at 4:30pm and being woken up at 10:30pm to check into boys hostel, then going back to sleep again. It’s a free world right? J If Emily decides to bang on my door and I don’t hear it, how can you blame me?

Tiredness... happens

The last two weeks has been maths portfolio week. We had an interesting maths project, with which we basically have to prove stuff, make up formulas and come up with mathematical conjectures and stuff on a topic. The feeling of getting rid of it handing it is so liberating it is hard to describe. Wow. We were like French snails- continually stressed!

Our second years have left the hostel. They are done with their IB. We will miss them (or will we? Sometimes I think the unpleasant truth no one admits is that we will simply forget them). Hostel is unnervingly quiet now.

Mats Portfolio... isn't it beautiful?

Guess what? I am finally a First Aider! The test was the most informal thing ever. Especially since the supervisor gave us some answers! But yeah. Cool aye? Now we can try out even more life-threatening stuff at home!  This DOESN’T mean you can start having near death experiences around me now ok? (Though near death experiences make cool stories afterward)

Eish, this Swazi economy is kallas. No paisa left. The government can’t even pay its own civil servants. Someone told me they were about to print more money. If that is true this place might turn into a new Zimbabwe! (and I am taking my money out of this country!) Even our school is too scared to keep its money in Swaziland. I guess this is what happens in monarchies. But I heard a very interesting quote about democracy the other day. Not that I agree with it (and don’t let it spread around Fiji- we already seem to have enough trouble grasping democracy) “Democracy can be two wolves and a sheep deciding on dinner” Hmmm. Food for thought much?

Table tango. Yeap. It exists. Dancing on a small a space as possible (on a table). Tests your turning skills and balance. It’s quite fun. Speaking on tango, we re-did the performance in front of cameras, so now we should shortly be getting a pretty cool (and edited!) video!

(yay)

All right. Time to go. Sevens season starts this week. Come on Fiji! Thanks for the last title. You really, REALLY made my week. Particularly beating the ABs in the final.

Not everything we do has a point. Sometimes it’s just fun. :)

DKN

Putting the 'Dan' in Dance

Heya peoples!

How is things going in Fiji? Things in Swaziland are pretty cool. Exams are over. Think they went ok, but I am not going to talk about them (especially maths). I take pride in my maths, and my maths mark is almost as important as my total mark. Ok, I promised Tango pictures this time eh? I got plenty! I put some at the end of this post. Proof that Daniel Naidu does tango. Hahaha. Haters.

Part of the performance... Girls being checked out by the guys lol

Raymos after the maths exam: ‘Bros, we’re never going to mention that paper ever again. Agreed?’

Love it!

Hey, ALL BLACKS WON THE WORLD CUP! Mr Tinney, our rugby coach invited the rugby team over to his house to watch the match (at 10am Swazi time!). Most people were behind All Blacks, but I am sure I was the only genuine supporter! Steven was going for All Blacks because he was still so incensed that France squeezed past his beloved Wales team!

Watching the match was fun, with popcorn, crisps, soft drinks, etc and the rowdy rugby players. We had all anticipated a beating, but it turned out to be so so close and nailbiting! Everyone was laughing at me, I was just a little ball of tension and stress on the sofa! When we won, I jumped up and screamed. To put into perspective, this was the first time the All Blacks won the world cup since I have been alive on this earth!

Why do we say on this earth? Are there other earths? I actually mean on earth.

Moving on (for Marcus’ and Itu’s and Sekaia's sake) Eli the American and Leo the German have started pulling off absolutely massive pranks on each other. It all started when Eli spread a facebook rumour about Leo having herpes. Leo changed all the contacts on Eli’s phone to Stone. Eg. Stone 1, stone 2, stone 3, and tied string all around Eli’s room so it was barely possible to walk through. At the moment, we’re at this:

now note, more than half of these cups, which are filled to the brim with water are stuck down with blue-tack

It must be said, this is pretty darn epic.

Emily and I have exactly the same mindset, seriously. It’s quite brilliant. We were studying maths the day before the paper the event which was very foggy and lightning-y. Conversation after about 3 hours of hard studying:
Emily: Let’s go for a walk. To the dam.
Dan: Wait WHAT? In this weather? Are you serious?
Emily: Yeah I’m serious.
Dan: Ok! J
We went out to the dam, which was a less brilliant idea than it seemed back in the hostel, and the lightning started to intensify. When Emily gets worried that’s when you should be worried! We slinked on the side of the field, and got stuck near the music room, where we were stranded for about half an hour. Just one of many crazy adventures between us two!

Some songs I’m listening to now: Need you now, I love a rainy night, I’m Yours (my stress relief song), the Lazy Song (my theme song), Leaving on a Jet Plane (by Justin Timberlake).

We (as in Stephen, Eli, Emily, Ingrid, me) watched the new Johnny English on Sunday at the Gables, which is about 40 minutes by kombi (minivan) from town. Loved it, we were laughing the whole way through. Good thing about the only cinema in Swaziland, its ALWAYS empty! :D Hahaha. 

Er, yeah. This post is incredibly unstructured. I don’t have anything particular to write about that’s why. We are performing the Tango number again this week in assembly for some very rich Germans. When I say very rich Germans I mean Germans who are providing two billion Euros to help fund the new United World College in Germany. So yeah, big pressure much? Hahahaha. Looking forward to it.

Stephen bet me today that he could land a drop kick from 40 metres out. I told him I would shout him a pizza if he did (initial reaction: ‘what’s shout?’ LoL).  He missed the first one, and asked for three chances. He actually landed the third one, to my dismay. I’m usually the better one at drop kicks, and he gave me three chances to imitate the feat to get the pizza back. I missed the first two but landed the third one. 40 metres! Now THAT’S not bad! :D (barefoot as well)

A view of the school from up the mountain. THere's the rugby field, our hostel is
to the bottom left there. The classrooms are at the top right.

Have I ever mentioned what is the United World College? They are basically about 13 colleges around the world, in places like Wales, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Canada, Swaziland and other random locations where students from around the world attend, and usually provided with scholarships. There is (supposed to be) no discrimination in race, colour, sex, socio-economic status and so on. It is really cool.  Meet crazies from all around the world!

Ok. I'm looking for a funky way to sign off but don't have one.

Stay safe! (but not TOO safe!) J

Moce

DKN

Me displaying some soccer skills. ;)

My beautiful partner Ximena Buller and I...

     

Opening move, and here's me praying I can control the ball!

            

The final pose; Stephen is dead, noone else really cares!

"Just like in practice!"

Ingrid and Eli in the dress rehearsal.

10 Reasons why the All Blacks will in the Rugby World Cup

1- We just beat the world's second best team by 14 points... with our third choice fly-half.

2- Graham Henry has finally come to his senses and started putting Weepu as first choice halfback.

3- France can't even score a try against a 14 man Wales team.

4- France don't have Ma'a Nonu.

5- We have never failed to win it when we have hosted the World Cup. Ever.

6- The All Blacks haven't lost to Tonga recently.

7- Even the All Blacks don't choke 6 times in a row.

8- They have finally learnt to drop kick (and the number 10 is not putting the 'crud' in cruden anymore!)

9- A Northern team cannot win the World Cup.

10- Wayne Barnes is not the referee.


And here's 3 reasons France will snatch it:
1- France played bad against Tonga, good against England, bad against Wales, they're due for a good showing.

2- We said the ABs will get it last time, and in 2003, and 1999, also 1995, and 1991 too.

3- We are underestimating France again :/

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G'day to you.
We are in the middle of exams at the moment, and I have finished four. No more exams for six days now! I would tell you how I thought I did but thats not what this blog is for.

This is what happens when
we're on First Aid Duty

All Blacks in the final! Yeee-ees! Finally! We are gonna MAUL France this week! So, what has happened in these last two weeks? Well the tango performance went awesomely well. Don't have any pictures yet I will get some, and maybe a video too. Everyone performed flawlessly, and it was really nice after several month's work. I DIDN'T kick the soccer ball off the stage by mistake, and my partner and I didn't make a mistake. We may well be the only Argentinian Tango group in Africa, according to the teachers. I know Africa has tango as well, but is different somehow.


There was a mini-food fight at the cafeteria last night. It all started when Leo stole Kyle's spoon. Kyle then stole Stephen's spoon and Stephen ended up stealing my spoon! I got it back when I almost poured Fruit Salad on his head, and ran away to another table (with my spoon). He responded by putting a bread-roll into my water. ( I won't go into further details) but yeah, we're so mature. :P

Red Light District. See if you can find me

We held the IB2s (second year) leavers party as well. The theme was Arabian Nights, and our corridor (Red Light District) went as genies! The leaver's party was great, it was all arranged by the IB1s (my year group). I helped make the desert. Unfortunately I ate so much I forgot to leave room for it! Weilei.

We were talking to some new students who are joining the school next year on Facebook. I am the (Fijian) cannibal, Anna is a transvestite, and Stephen has grandchildren. I'm sure they can't wait to meet us!

GUESS what? I just got 24 episodes of Whose Line is it Anyway on my laptop! Yeap! Leo, Stephen, Emily, Kasper all love it. Well I got it from Emily so obviously. Leo and I spent up to 1am the other night watching it. Exam the next day as well! (don't worry dad, the exam was at 1:30pm!). I thought I did pretty well in that paper anyways. If you haven't watched Whose Line is it Anyway before, watch it. You will laugh. A lot.

It was Stephen's birthday on Tuesday. In the middle of exams. Awkward. Despite the French exam the next day,  more than 10 of us raged into his room at midnight and started beating him up with pillows, before he was ceremoniously carried by four people into the shower, fully clothed, as is tradition here at Waterford. I see Fay's birthday is coming up soon... (hint hint)

IB Class of 2012

I really hate poetry. Let me rephrase. I really hate studying poetry.I just find it so pointless. If a poet wants to express his feelings, let him. He'll understand. Noone else really wants to know what he is saying. And E E Cummings should really never have been born. That guy doesn't write poetry he writes bullsh*t that people try to fit into themes and stuff. I got better things to do than trying to figure out what some guy whose long dead was trying to say. 

Stephen: 'I don't care who wins the final, as long as it's the All Blacks!"

I had good fun talking to the rugby coach, who was making all sorts of remarks about Fiji's performance at the World Cup. He's South African! :P All fun and games of course.

Ok. That's enough.

Good luck in your exams! If you can't answer a question, yes, the wall will help.

I read this somewhere, I think on facebook (if I'm stealing your line I'm really sorry, it's too good not to share!): 'Don't fill your life with days, fill your days with life'. Love it!

DKN

When It Kinda Sucks to be from Fiji

HEya guys! I realize its been a long time since I last blogged. Its been a heck of a two weeks, or three. Whatever. But I have just been as flooded with work as New Zealand is with Samoans.

Anyways, I’ve missed a lot of exciting stuff! Anna’s 18^th birthday, and the rugby tournament come to mind first.

Thats Leo about to spray deoderent
at the camera. Classically Leo!

Oh and what was the deal with Fiji? Oh my gosh. 66-0? 66-0? I wish there were capital numbers so I could shout that.  Come ON man! And if you think you had it bad, I was watching with two mad Welshmen! You think that’s bad yet? Ok, get this. I trashed talked Wales before the match as well. I was reminding them of the 2007 World Cup. Yeah. At least they are my two close friends. I don’t know what was worse, the match itself or the time between the match and now. I think the worst bit was that Fiji were so pathetic that they didn’t even feel like taking the mickey out of me after the match, they rather felt sorry for me! I felt sorry for myself.
My friends, and even my teachers have been asking me ‘What happened to Fiji?’. I am still looking for a good excuse. Anyone got one? I still wonder why Nicky Little and Vitori Buatava got onto the first team… ANYWAYS that’s over now.  Let’s talk about something more not depressing aye? Lets hope Fiji regroup and sack this coach and get back somewhere near the top ten. Hope there are some tvs in Fiji that are still in one piece!

Invader Zim! 

Oh oh has anybody watched Invader Zim? That is the funniest cartoon ever. Like really. Emily Morris showed it to me, and gosh I’ve been hooked since. Ok, me and Em have a different sense of humour maybe. She’s definitely part Fijian somewhere along the line! There are two types of people in the world. Those that love Invader Zim, and those that dont! :D

On the 24^th of September was a rugby sevens tournament. Two other schools, and we played each other twice. (That makes four matches, for the mathematically impaired.) I played all the matches except the first and last ones. We won three games and lost one, and came second (again). I was playing at scrum half, oddly. I thought I did an ok job, especially since I learnt the lineout calls while I was on the field, which was quite impressive. If the rugby jerseys less resembled cloaks then I might have had a couple of tries. But those stupid kids from SIsikelo school kept grabbing them.

So yeah. Second. Not bad. Out of three. We are a new team after all. And the star fly half WAS stuck at the scrum half position! Anyways the same day was Anna’s birthday. After the tournament we went to Milwane Game Reserve for a night. By we I am talking about me, Emily, Anna (no duh, its not like we’ll leave her out of her own birthday celebration), Kyle and Stephen. Anna brought along a couple of drinks. She was legal after all. We had a fun night in the dorm, which was all ours to ourselves. Oh and no, I DIDN’T get drunk OR tipsy. Stephen says I was tipsy, but I wasn’t the one misspelling the word ‘beer’!

At the Milwane backpackers. Bubbles. Plenty bubbles. :)

Stephen’s Welsh accent causes him to often say ‘her’ when he actually wants to say here. (Like ‘hey come her’)
Dan: (to Stephen) Why do you say ‘her’ when you mean here, but not ‘ber’ when you mean beer?’ Stephen: ‘Well, beer is spelt B-A-R…’
(Everyone laughing)
Stephen: ‘no no, what I meant to say was ‘B-A-E-R…’’

So what else happened that weekend? We got told off for making noise, though it was only ten oclock pm. Well, the next morning Anna almost got charged by a warthog, oh and we saw a crocodile on the bank of the river, less than 30 metres away.  

Oh, and we had our first lightning storm of the season last week Thursday. Whooo. Before it was fully intensified and pouring down Kyle and I braved the cold rain and lightning to make it to the cafeteria for dinner (Stephen, Emily and Anna and Sofia were being wusses). It was crumbled chicken for dinner after all. We don’t usually get crumbled chicken. Ok, the lightning storm wasn’t such a severe one. But I tell you, I wouldn’t walk across the playing field for a thousand emalangeni if there was an intense storm on. Phew. The intense storms, one might find a strike on our mountain about 20 times a minute! (NOT kidding).

Tango practice with Ingrid (great shot
Stephen!)

Our tango performance is really taking shape now. It has a really cool storyline, about a party where one bad guy steals a girl from another guy and in the end the bad guy is killed. We perform for the school next week, and I must learn to wear a tie in that time. But its going to be really cool. I’ll try to post the pics on Facebook sometime. Being taught tango by your maths teacher is not as creepy as it sounds. But we do have a really cool maths teacher though!

Anyways, I’m done for now I guess. Don’t know when I’ll next post I’ll let you all know, but I got exams in two weeks and I am busy trying to finish my work so I can start studying sometime soon.

 Life is like a trigonometric function. Sometimes you’re on top, sometimes you’re at the bottom, but there is always a turning point! :D (or an asymptote)

Moce. Go All Blacks!            

DKN