Yesterday was Bianca's last holiday netball session. She absolutely loved the netball sessions and I'm hopeful she's learned a few things that will help her with the remaining matches next term. So for the session yesterday they decided to have a shared afternoon tea.
Bianca insisted that she was going to make a cake to take. And it had to be a netball kind of cake. So we consulted our trusty friend Google to get some ideas and some inspiration. In the end Bianca decided that we would do a netball court cake. And it had to be pink. And so we made a rectangular cake and made some pink butter icing. Bianca then used pink sugar paste icing and made the lines on the court. For the poles we got some red liquorice sticks with round circle bits cut from left-over cake and for the people Bianca stuck lollipops. Red ones and yellow ones for the two teams of players. Oh and Bianca added little marshmallows all around the side.
I think it looked really cool. When we got to the netball everybody was so impressed and all we heard was "oh wow! It is a netball court! I have to take a photo!" Bianca felt so proud. And there wasn't even a tiny bit left when I picked Bianca up at the end of the session.
Photo taken by the holiday programme netball coordinator
Then you will likely appreciate this. I have to thank Cat from Juggling Act of Life - she commented on my post yesterday asking me if I knew the story from Dana Snyman about Anneli van Rooyen's Neem my op vlerke. So I consulted "trusty friend Google" and stumbled upon this story. It has been a long time since I laughed this much!!!
I can't actually remember what I was looking for on Youtube. But suddenly it was like a trip down memory lane. Songs that were popular when I was very young still popped up in the suggestions on the side. There are actually quite a few songs that when I hear them they instantly bring back memories and I can instantly remember that moment as if it was yesterday. Except it wasn't yesterday. It was a lifetime ago...
The moment I hear this song, I remember 1989. I was in Std 5 (or year 7) (oh wow! That's 22 years ago!!!!!!). One of the subjects we had was needlework and that year our project was to make a top and a skirt which we then had to tie and dye. And I chose this bright yellow. I thought it looked stunning. And of course didn't realise that it should be washed separately and so washed it with my brother's brand new white Bart Simpson shirt. The moment I took it out of the washing machine and realised that thanks to my beautifully tie-dyed outfit, my brother's brand new shirt now sort of looked a very faded yellow. Or rather white with these yellow splotches. Panic!! Big time!! We had a block of sunlight soap and boy did I scrub that shirt of my brother's and thankfully it worked. Phew! But back to the memory. That year we had a fashion parade at the end of the year to show off our sewing to our parents and this was the song that played:
1990 / 1991 (can't actually remember but it was one of these two years) I was very much into Roxette. Like in big time. Especially this one (but actually all of them) -
And my cousin made me this mixed tape (oh wow, when last did you see a tape?) and it had amongst others also this song:
1992 -
In 1992 at my high school we also had singing competitions where each class chose a song to perform on stage in front of the whole school and then at the end of it one class won. Can't actually remember what the prize was, but our class did not win. One class did an amazing version of Grease - Summer Nights. My class did this one (apologies to the English readers it is an Afrikaans song):
And then still in 1992 one of my best friends really liked these two songs. She could actually play it on her guitar and she often sang / hummed it. What I remember from that time was that her and our other best friend and I were going to start a band. We actually started trying to work out a band name and everything. And that's a great goal to work towards... except this particular friend was the only one who could actually sing or play a musical instrument. So not sure how well our band ambitions would have worked out :-)
Ahh, and this one (well this one must have been way back in 1987 or 1988), but for some reason I really liked this song and so promised my brother I would sing it at his next birthday (I'm not sure he was very impressed with me, but anyway) -
Oh those were the days... Of course now I simply feel old!
And this one deserves a mention (even if Terence will cringe at the thought), 1997 was the year that Terence and I met and started dating. And of course in those days he was very much still trying to impress and I really liked Coleske and so he actually booked tickets for us to go to their show in Durban that year. He actually went with me to their concert :-) And he actually bought me their CD at the time. And he actually allowed me to play it in his car (now if I want to listen to something that I like - I have to either listen to it when he is not around or on my ipod) :-). This song in particular played a lot on the radio prior to their show -
Last night Bianca and I had A talk (not yet THE talk). Not sure when we are supposed to have THE talk, but so far we've not really had any kind of real questions. Like she knows babies grow inside mummies' tummies and only once did she ask "so how does the baby get out of the mummy's tummy?" We were in the car driving to the city at the time and told her that we would discuss this when we got home. We didn't really feel ready to go into all of that with a 4 year old present. But Bianca didn't ask again, so we haven't discussed it yet. It's a tricky one because 8 feels so young, but then she's growing up so fast even if we desperately want her to stay little. Before we know it it will be boys and make-up and wanting to go to the mall with friends and buying fancy clothes and all things teenager...
But back to last night.
Bianca likes Justin Bieber. She's liked him for a while now. She really likes his music and so for her birthday last year we gave her one of his CDs and a poster for her wall. And so the poster has been on her wall ever since we moved here. Last night as I was about to go and switch off her light I noticed the poster was missing. Asked her where it was and she said "I don't really want it on my wall anymore". "Really? Why not". "I don't know, I just don't" And so after pushing a little bit it came out - her friends who sometimes come and visit said that Justin Bieber is gay. Sigh! So here it starts. The way friends can influence your decisions...
I explained that Justin Bieber has a girlfriend. And Bianca said "yes he does". And then I explained that that means he can't be gay because if he was gay he would have a boyfriend. Not a girlfriend. And that whatever his decisions - whether he was gay or not, it really didn't matter. What mattered was that Bianca likes him and likes his music and that it didn't matter what her friends thought. We then discussed how we can't judge others and how sometimes people might choose things or like things that are different than what we choose or like but it didn't matter because what mattered was that we like the person. I then explained that she really likes her teacher's songs. But other than that we really don't know that much about him. But that didn't change the fact that she likes her teacher and that she likes his songs...
I really don't think her friends fully understand what "gay" means. Which is not surprising considering they are only 7 and it just shows how kids hear things from adults and don't always put it in the right context and then could potentially use it in a way that is not very respectful and potentially hurtful. But it is tricky because no doubt Bianca will hear things and unless she tells me about it I won't know and I won't know if she understands the context of whatever is said or able to realise the context might be wrong. I certainly don't want her to judge others or to use phrases to - I guess one might say - insult others. Sigh! Parenting is hard!
