THE FASHIONISTAS

 KaNyamane Ladies Sewing Club Fashion Show

(I might add it was an event)

Elder Hunt and I were invited to the KaNyamazane ladies sewing club's fashion show.  Sister Nobela  and her son Bhekisisa have been sewing for the past 5 months with these ladies and at the end of the term there was a fashion show.  It was scheduled to go from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  We also had Seminary that day so I decided we would go 30 or so minutes late and leave early.  When we got there they had been waiting for so they could start-----duh we were the honored guests.
The Fashion Show begins:

 LOCATION

One of the ladies in the sewing club had the event in her front yard.  Many yards do not have grass other than the natural grass that comes up during the summer months.  In her yard was a pile of junk with long metal things that could have cut off your leg if you rubbed against it. So, it was kinda like a war zone with land mines. They had put up canopies to protect the guests from the sun (bless their little hearts--the sun here is blazing).  They had invited their neighbors and others from around the area.  They had draped the front of the house in white draperies.  They had a nice table with flowers where the MC of the fashion show sat.

It was a pretty festive look!

The Canopies were helpful.  In this picture

there is a white man and lady.  RARELY have we seen other whites in the township.  Mostly just us.  But, The lady owns a sewing franchise of some sort from the states and she teaches sewing to some ladies and they go back into their townships and hold these sewing classes.  They are not free by any means.  Any little cost is pricey to the folks that live here.  She was going to be the narrator and he was braaiing for us.  At the fashion show they served wors (huge hot dogs), some bread, and juice.  I am use to little sandwiches, and cakes at fashion show, so that was a change.  But, it was okay.

 

All of the friends really like the braii.  Elder    Hunt is in the back of these two pictures of    the guests.  It was funny because a couple    of drunks wandering down the street walked  in and sat by him.  They loved the braii and the models.                                                 

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These folks were a great audience. They hooted and hollered and did the tongue click thing.  It was fun.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

Throughout the show they had these little dancers.  They did traditional dances.  They had on little Zulu skirts.  The leg kicking is a common thing in this dancing.  They will kick so high that they fall over backwards and that is part of the dance.  By this time I started too see why the fashion show would last so long. 



THE MODELS

The night before the fashion show I was talking to Sister Nobela.  She was all worked up because the lady had told them they had to do this pose or that pose.  She was terrified and said she did not think she could do it.  But, I knew better because these Africans love to pose for their picture.  I was right, they were fashionistas and they had it down pat.

Now, it is important to remember that this was a beginning class these ladies had not touched a sewing machine before the class started. They started by sewing some shoulder bags, of which I am the proud recipient of one given to me as a gift by Sister Nobela  I was pretty amazed at what they had made.  The pictures show them modeling their own clothes that they made.

 

Bhekisisa Made two pair of pants and two

T-Shirts.  This kid is so off the wall and people like him.  He is known all over the township.  But, he is a bit ADD and it is a hard to believe he was focused enough to do this.  But, the sewing ladies loved him.  He kept them smiling.



Sister Nobela made her self these jammies, some sports wear, a couple of dresses and some tops.  And, her poses were just great.  It was fun to see how excited all these ladies were.                                                             

 

The dress to the right is the one she  made for her cleansing.  I was impressed.  In a prior post I talked about the cleansing and there is another picture of this dress in that post.  At the time I did not know she had made it.  I was impressed. 

The models below all made the clothes they are wearing.  Some were hesitant, but a few really thought they were models.  The was fun.  And the audience, what can I say, they whooped it up for their friends. 



The Fashion Show was at the lady's house dressed in the black suit.  I would say that is pretty good sewing for only 5 weeks            

 

This lady was the real model.  She kicked up her heels and she had the moves.  Very cute and she had been sewing the world up making outfits.

 

 

THE FINALE

 

 

 

I WILL SAY THIS IS A FASHION SHOW I WILL REMEMBER.  I AM NOT SURE ELDER HUNT LIKED IT,  BUT, I DID!  IT WAS PRETTY FUN!

 

 

 

 



 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

 

HAPPY  NEW YEAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Elder Baxter was the decorator...
I felt like I was at the Gold & Green Ball.  (if you are too young to know what that was...don't ask)!

 

 

I am too old for this....made it to 1:00 a.m.

The South Africans love the fireworks!

 

Wishing Everyone a great 2014!

I Met a Sheik --- A Mission Vacation!

On Tuesday the 19th of November I took off on Air Emirates to visit my adventurers (Wade and Katelyn). They seem to find themselves in strange lands and places. They moved in September from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Whitt arrived on November 3rd and I took a little time to see this new little member of our family. 

Bob stayed home and "missionaried", and I went off for a week.  The best part of the trip was seeing our cute little family that lives there.  It had been a long time since we had seen them (summer of 2012) when they came on their yearly excursion to the home land. 
They were all great and have a busy little life in the Arabian Desert.
Bode has own style walking around in soccer clothes and is African Drum made out of Elephant hide. He has lots to say about everything,
Tessa is still a ballerina, rides her bike and has grown up. She goes to an English School so she wears her uniform and she looks dang cute.  Bode goes off to pre-school
and his gymnastics class. I got to watch him right before I left to come back to SA.
Christmas trees were decorated,  Hibibi(sp) the Arab elf arrived from the North Pole and we were all excited.  It was fun for me to see baby Whitt.  He looks great after his scary entry into the world.

Dubai was so much more than I expected.  It is an oasis out in the middle of a very arid desert.  As you drive from one place to another it is sand everywhere.  Then you come in to these little areas that are amazing.   The city has three different business areas.  Each is amazing, you drive into the area and the landscaping is beautiful.  The architecture is unbelievable.  It is like you are going into a city of the future.  The look is ultra modern and then sprinkled with a few amazing building with traditional architecture.  The two hotels below are examples.
Everything is very new, while I was there they were celebrating "National Day", the beginning of United Arab Emirates.  The country is officially 49 years old.  Forty Nine years ago the Sheiks of Abu Dhabi and Dubai realized they had a dying area.  The source of income was pearls!  They decided to develop this international  financial mecca.  Pretty wise.  The current Sheiks are still committed to being at the very edge of all new tech stuff.  It is a very international community.  Some of the best Tech minds from all over the world live there.
The crime rate is extremely low, almost non existent and it is immaculate.  In one week I saw one item on the ground.  A cigarette but tossed in a bush and that was it. The standard of living is high, it is expensive and it is very pleasant.  I worry that the wanderers will never come home.  The seem happy, like the job, like the ward, like the friends....Echhhhh.
The ward building is a restored villa.  The church had it redone so they could have a place to meet.  There are two wards in Dubai.  There are no signs on the building.  However, I was impressed that I saw a number of references to Christmas, decorations etc in the malls. Generally, that is a no go! But, it is a very progressive culture and society.

The malls are something else.  There are something like 7 in Dubai. They are a shopping women's wonder. They have all of the big name boutiques from around the world.  I did see a Bloomingdales.
The two largest are 1) where the Burj Khaif  is (Burj means tower and Khalif is the name of one of Sheiks).  2) The other is where ski Dubai is located.
Burj Khalif is the tallest building in the world I think I was told it is once and a half taller than the Empire State Building.  I kept looking up at the windows to see if I could see Tom Cruze crawling around outside, no such luck.  This mall was four stories, surrounded by a lake, dancing fountains, apartments, and really pleasant places to eat dinner.  You sit outside on veranda and watch the dancing water as you eat. The shops were stunning.  There is an aquarium in this mall.  Wade told me the large piece of Plexiglas below was the largest single piece ever constructed, it was broken as they were trying to install it.  They just had another one made.
Mall 2 is the home of Ski Dubai and a Cheese Cake Factory!  It is also the home of an artificial eco system that allow the Arabs to ski.  They do it.  It was strange to see them in their big robes with heavy quilted Jackets. There was a bakery similar to the Magnolia Bakery in NY, NY.  I tried to take a picture to two young girls in their garb (Women there are beautiful.  They look like they have their make professionally done before they leave the house), I wanted a picture to show you all how beautiful they are.  Suddenly, they rushed over to tell me that I had to erase their pictures, it is not allowed. They wanted to see the pictures in the my camera and they stood there while I deleted the 3 pictures of them.  They said their family does not allow it.  I did not argue, because I did not want to end up in a jail in the middle east with my name plastered all over the world as the dumb broad that took pictures of the Sheiks princesses or something.   They really were very nice and we chatted for 15 minutes.  They asked how I liked Dubai,  I said it was wonderful.  They said yes, just like the United States.  I told them that I love the United States, but most places are not as clean and beautiful as Dubai.  They liked that and did not call the military police on me!

 I really think Little Mr Hollywood thinks he lives in Hollywood  (but, it beats Hollywood all to heck).

Below are pictures of the most fantastic aquarium I have ever seen. It is located in Hotel / Resort In the pictures talking about architecture.  This place is on the beach and huge.  It is on Palm Island,  This is a man made island extending out into the ocean.  It is in the shape of a Palm Tree.  How they ever made it is beyond me. And, how do they keep the land eroding from the water? The aquarium is designed after the lost city of Atlantis that sunk into the sea.  It is pretty realistic.  You walk through chambers with fish and artifacts all around you.  The fish were awesome and the designed artifacts seemed that they could be authentic.  It was pretty neat! The little princess and prince are residing in a huge oyster shell.

I liked it a lot.  I definitely want to go back there sometime when I can spend more time and go to the camel races and visit the attraction more in depth.    I just need to keep reminding my kiddos....There is no place like home!