Month: September 2015

Fun visit to the zoo

Sibo at the zoo

Last Sunday we went to the Zoo – right in the centre of Pretoria. What a fun day it was too!

We got up nice and early and took our dog for a walk first. Then we had breakfast so that our tummies were full and we had lots of energy. We drove – but you can also take the Gautrain and get off at Pretoria station and then you can get a bus that drops you off right outside the zoo.

It costs R55.00 for kids and R85.00 for adults. It’s really good value for money because you can stay there all day. If you are clever you can take a picnic with you – there are lots of grassy places where you can sit and have a snack or a meal when you are tired of walking and looking at all the animals. You can even braai.

It’s a good idea to wear comfy shoes because it’s huge. Huger than huge in fact. Sometimes I feel sad to see all those wild animals stuck in cages, but mostly the cages are big and the animals don’t look unhappy. It’s not like one of those awful places when the poor creatures sit in little concrete boxes and they hardly have space to move.

The National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria is  an awesome place. It’s also a bit like a science centre because there are notice boards that give you all sorts of different information about the animals, like where they come from and what they eat.

We took the cable car and zoomed right up to the top of the hill. Sjoe! But it was high and I was a bit scared. It was amazing to look down on all the animals.

The lions and the tigers were magnificent. I was very glad that there are big fences because I swear that one of the tigers thought I looked like a tasty little snack.

We saw all sorts of animals, birds and reptiles – kangaroos, giraffes, hippos, a rhino, lots of different types of buck, monkeys, apes, baboons, snakes, crocodiles, lizards and many brilliant birds with different colours. There were zebra, leopards and elephants too. My favourite was the bear. He looked all big and cuddly. He just wallowed – half in and half out of his water pool and watched all the visitors. Just like the people were in the zoo – instead of him.

Oh! Wait! Silly me – we were in the zoo too, weren’t we?

Tell your parental agents you want to go to the zoo – for a family outing, a school outing or for your next birthday. It’s such fun.

Until next week!

Sibo

Texting on the go.

Sibo standing

I very nearly got trampled the other day, twice nogal!

We were saying goodbye to my auntie at the airport and I was strolling along like a normal little kid. I realised that somebody was coming towards me, towing his suitcase with one hand and texting with the other. He was not looking where he was going and he would have ploughed straight into me if I had not jumped out of the way.

However, the elderly lady behind me was not so fast and he did bump into her.

He did not even bother to apologise – just went on his way and kept on texting. She had dropped her bag and some papers went skedaddling all over the floor. Dad and I helped her pick them up. She looked a bit flustered by the whole thing.

I turned around to carry on watching the rude man – which was a rather stupid move because another lady bumped into me. She was also walking along with her cell phone glued to her hand… texting.

At least she was polite and said she was sorry.

What’s with all these people walking and texting and not looking where they are going?

Can’t they just stop for a minute – get out of the way – finish their texting business and then carry on walking. And actually look where they are going.

When we sitting at the Wimpy, waiting for it to be time for my auntie to board her plane, I checked out the place. I notice that half the people in the restaurant were on their cell phones. Often – one person was sitting there looking sad and bored, whilst the other person was busy staring at a small screen.

Sjoe! I’m not sure that this social media stuff is very healthy.

We’ve got rules in our house. Mum is not allowed to look at her phone while we are having dinner. Dad hardly ever uses his cell phone. He says it’s for work and he does not want to see it when he’s at home relaxing. He’d much rather read a book or come and work with me in the garden. Mum, on the other hand, is addicted to Twitter.

Apparently I am too young to have a fancy phone – I have what is lovingly referred to as “the brick” and it can’t do anything smart.

Watch where you walk please!

Sibo

Doing jobs properly

Remember last week I made some money at entrepreneurs’ day at school? Well that got me thinking…

Why are there so many people who lead a life of crime when they could just put their mind to making some money legally?

Sometimes it is easier to offer a service if you want to make money – like babysitting or maybe doing odd jobs for your neighbours or for older people who can’t do stuff themselves so easily. This way you don’t have to have any money to start with.

Of course if you do offer a service, you have to be really reliable and do what you say you are going to do. Like if you are babysitting – then you need to be sure you look after the kids. You have to watch them and keep them occupied so they don’t get bored and get into trouble.

Once, when I was a bit younger, mum got one of the neighbour’s older daughters to babysit me for a few hours. She ignored me totally and sat chatting on her phone to her boyfriend the whole time. I got bored and decided to investigate my mother’s make-up stuff. I made a really pretty picture with all the nice colours. Of course I knew I was being naughty but was so bored I did not really care.

When mum came home she did not yell at me I like expected her to. She yelled at the babysitter for not doing her job properly. She also refused to pay her. Even worse, she bad-mouthed the babysitter all over the place so she never got a job in our street again. I overheard mum saying that children were very precious and if somebody could not be trusted to look after them properly – then they should not have the job. I guess she was right.

I all boils down to that old saying “If a job is worth doing – it’s worth doing properly.”

Our neighbour across the road never has time to walk her dog. I’m going to ask Mum and Dad if I can become a dog-walker. My friend Wayne could come with me – we’ll share the money and then we will be safer too.

Good idea hey!

Sibo

 

Word of the week: Dollop

Meaning: A blob of something.

Example: I put dollops of mums blue eyeshadow on the paper to make the sky in my picture.Sibo and Wayne walking Zona

Making money.

Sibo 5

Last week we had entrepreneurs’ day at school.  I enjoyed it much more than I did the year before – probably because this time I actually made money!

Last year I didn’t give much thought to what I sold. I had lots of beans growing in the garden and so decided to sell fresh beans at school.

Silly me – I just didn’t think that kids don’t particularly like eating beans. And they definitely would not spend money buying them. So I landed up giving all my beans to the teachers instead.

Dad said I was a bit of a nutter – I should have offered them at a discount, rather than giving them away.

Oh well! Live and learn.

But learn I did. There has to be a market for what you are selling, otherwise you are wasting your time (and money).

This year I sat and thought long and hard about what to sell that would make money.

Mum suggested making cupcakes. That’s always a good idea because they sell, but the problem is – lots of other kids do the same thing because it is easy.

The same goes for popcorn and chips – junk food always sells well.

Dad offered to take me to Macro to see what was available and how much everything cost.

We trawled through the sweetie aisle. There was so much stuff it was unbelievable. I wandered up and down taking notes.

I only had R100 to spend. I also had to give R10 of that to the school to have a stall – which meant I really only had R90 to spend. I needed to buy something that everybody would want that I could make money on.

In the end I bought 3 bags of different flavoured Fizzers for a total price of R77.85. There were 24 Fizzers in each bag and one bag cost R25.95. This meant that one Fizzer cost R1.08c.

Fizzers take long to eat and are value for money.

I sold them for R2 each.

After paying R10 for my table, I had R12.15 left over.  I asked Dad to give me R1’s and R2’s for this money so that I had a float in case I needed to give somebody change.

I sold all my Fizzers in the first hour and made a total of R144.00. That was R66.15 profit (excluding the R10.00 I paid for the table).

Smart thinking hey!

Sibo

 

Word of the week: Profit

Meaning: a financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying or producing something.

Example: I made a profit of R66.15 at Entrepreneurs’ Day – which I am saving so that next time I will have more money to spend to make money.

Life.

Sibo and mum

The other day one of my uncles passed away. When my mom told me about it my first thought was… well, okay – he was old and we did not see him very often. So how does this affect me?

I went outside to play.

But then I started thinking… I quite liked that uncle.

He always used to come and visit and produce sweets out of his pocket like magic. Sometimes he pretended he found them in my ear! But more importantly, he talked to me like I was a real person. Not just some dumb little kid. He used to ask me questions about school and what I was doing – it seemed like he cared what the answer was. He listened to me.

I just took that for granted and maybe did not appreciate it enough.

You know, we often take people for granted. We just assume that they are going to be there forever more. And then sometimes… pooof! They are gone.

People pass away. Important people in our lives, people who we care about. And once they are gone, they are gone for good.

We will never, ever see them again in real life. Sure, we can look at photos but it’s not the same, is it. You can’t touch them. Or talk to them.

We won’t be able to hug them. Or ask them questions about special stuff that only they knew about. They are just not here anymore.

But we are just little kids and we are not supposed to worry about stuff like this… are we?

I sat on the swing and thought about my uncle. Realising that he was no longer here anymore made me so sad that I cried a bit. I went inside and gave my mum a hug. I was glad that she was real, and warm… and here.

I think Mum thought I was a little bit crazy – but she hugged me back anyway.

Your uncle will always be with you, she told me. Just think about him – and he will be there in your head and your heart.

So I thought about him and could almost see him. It made me smile.

I guess people really do live on in our hearts forever.

We should appreciate the people around us. We never know when they will be snatched away.

Hugs,

Sibo