Everybody loves the soleil
Ok so I’ve been playing truant… again… and you’re cntrl-f5’ing, wondering whereTF I am right? Well thanks faithful representahs, this time round I have a valid alibi. Confession… it was the SUNLIGHT. You see sunshine in Europe is just not the same as sunshine in South Africa – here it’s a timid, elusive creature whose presence should always be celebrated and never taken for granted. And that’s exactly what I came to realise in 2008 when I spent my first full summer here in Belgium (ok bar the one in 93 but I was a youngun then and weather didn’t matter) Sunshine is a commodity, and one that I sadly traded when I got here. But in every trade there is an exchange and the upside of the trade off has been 1. the opportunity to learn what it is to have 4 clear-cut seasons (and rock the winter coats and boots for real) 2. the realisation that I took sunshine for granted So in summary, when the sun called, I answered. This stay in Europe is exactly that, a stay – it has been a mind-opening, earth-shifting experience that has enlightened moi in so many ways and definitely upped my French levels. I’ve been here for 2.5 years now and on Saturday night at a Brazilian friend’s crazy wild party, I got all blushed up and shy due to a bunch of Frenchies digging my francais… I smiled and nodded and had another drink, making sure to offer them one too… knowing it was the lubrication of the tongue that let the French words flow as they did, in both directions, vous voyez. But yeah, I do suddenly feel like the language and I are merging into one sweet mashup. I’ve always believed it takes at least two years to settle into a new city or country, to feel that the streets are yours, the beats are yours and the summer is yours for the taking. The point is, this summer has been sublime and even if my premonition two weeks ago that we were seeing the last of the very brief heatwave is turning out to be supa-accurate, a summer that lasts 6 weeks or not, I’m sucking up every drop of sunshine I can find. In Nice, France next week 😉 Sorry, had to drop that in. SO… for those of you in winter… here are three summer songs for you – the first one is 3 of my favourite bands remixed into one sweet track, the second one is ROCKING EUROPE this summer as the official summer anthem and the third… well who can’t love...
BIEN VENUE 2010
Delighted it’s a new year. I love nothing more than a glittering scratch-free canvas to fill up with all my must-doings and dreams – we only have 355 days left of the much-vaunted big TEN OH so get a move on buddies. And now that I have officially joined the ranks of those once-upon-a-time rather elusive but much-admired Mums, I have even LESS time to fill in my trusty blogazine… BUT, my gorgeous baby aside, our fabulous holiday in South Africa over December and into January just inspired me to get Represent a-bloggin once again and so… here goes. In case you’re confused, I’m Editorista, the once devoted (later disillusioned) born-and-bred Jozi aka Joburg aka Johannesburg resident (now refreshed). I’ve always kept an extremely low down sporty-cap darting-eyes approach to Represent, only sporadically talking from the heart and ‘putting it out there’, I kinda liked keeping my opinion under wraps. But some things change, for one, I have been living in Europe for the last two years, and two, I’ve got lots to say now I’m a mommy (we just don’t give a damn… poohpooh to all that jazz) and I won’t be laying dodgy-low any longer. In line with my straddled existence of living both in Africa and Europe… (long story) Represent’s content is due for a shift too, i.e. it’s not just gonna be a freaking calender place to advertise mediocre art exhibitions, nor will it be a parking space for spam-filter dodging posts with Russian lettering (cyrilla?) …. And while I will still continue to bow down to my mothercity Jozi, it’s also going to be about so much more than that. Truth is, I don’t really know what it’s going to be, but it will be. And I hope you will be here too. And with that profound ending, I invite you to carry on with us on this mad journey called Laaf. Many bisous all over you! Editorista aka SJ PS: See you at the soccer! PPS: Thanks DF for the fabulous...
We will be back!
