Korreltjie Sand

Pyltjie geveer en verskeet (Little arrow, feathered and shot,)

Liefde verklein in die niet (Love shrinks into nothing)

Timmerman bou aan 'n kis (Carpenter, build a coffin)

Ek maak my gereed vir die niks (I'm preparing myself for oblivion)

Korreltjie, klein is my woord (Little grain, my word is small)

Korreltjie, niks is my dood (Little grain, my death is nothing)

Korreltjue klein, korreltjie sand (Little grain, little grain of sand)

--Ingrid Jonker (the translation is mine)

I finally have my computer back from the repair shop, so hopefully I'll be able to update much more often.  The past week has been rather full.  Mostly, I've been going to Chris Chameleon concerts, barbecues, and moving.  Again.  

Chris Chameleon is a South African singer who rocks my face off.  He was once with a band called Boo!, but he went solo by taking a bunch of poetry by Ingrid Jonker and putting it to music.  (Korreltjie Sand is one of my favorite songs from this album.)  It is rare that you find someone with a voice like Chris'.  I'm not generally a big fan of live music because, frankly, most people sound much better on CD.  Not Chris.  He's even better live.  He does the craziest stuff with his voice, and it's always on key and beautiful.  Check him out, I highly recommend it.

Koos had a bbq birthday party on Friday, and the whole gang was there.  We cooked, ate, played darts, talked, laughed, ate some more, and drank a surprisingly small amount of alcohol.  Good times.

And yesterday, I moved.  Again.  This is the 6th, and Inshallah, the final apartment that I've had in this country since last June.  But it's really nice.  Most of the apartments in this building are just one big room with a little dividing wall in the middle to give a tiny touch of privacy.  My other room in this building didn't, for some reason, have this little wall.  My roomie was nice, though a bit quiet, but I didn't like sharing just one big room.  So I moved.  And my new roomie is awesome, but even better, she's leaving.  :-P  She's leaving the country on Friday, so by the weekend I'll have my own room again!  What a whirlwind trip through the apartments of Leiden.  The housing people know me by name....

For now, I'm working on Sinuhe, watching the wind blow through the leaves outside my window, and listening to Ek Vir Jou, Chris Chameleon's rather depressing album about relationships.  It follows a relationship from first sight to horrible break up and ends with the beginning of the healing process.  The first half is pretty great, but after the klein klein jakkalsies (lit. the little little foxes; the little things that bother you) start to bother him the CD gets just too depressing.  Though the last song is uplifting again.  :-)

Sal ek noit die genot

Of die gawe wou ontse

Om ooit bemin te word

Of lief te hê nie.

--Chris Chameleon