Santi and Cara May 2004 – Cara’s Tour of Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a sight to behold with the many themed casino/hotels. Santi and Liese had been there before, I think in 2002, but when she and Cara were in the states in May of 2004, she wanted Cara to see what the attraction is. Yes, you can see all of the lights and colors of Las Vegas on TV but you can’t experience it from photos or TV.

Santi and Cara flew into Las Vegas and I met them at the airport. Their flight was delayed because of technical difficulties with the landing gear! There were many of us standing around waiting for that flight to land and finally someone spilled the beans that there was an extremely dangerous situation on the flight! With the landing gear not working properly no one was sure how they would manage to land. Can you imagine being up in that plane at the time? I think Santi and Cara kissed the ground once the situation was resolved and they were able to land an hour and a half to 2 hours late! This was still at a time when they were flying all over the country and didn’t have their own van yet.

They came during the Memorial Day holiday when they didn’t have trunk shows planned and they had a few days. Las Vegas was packed and it took some time to drive down the Strip, especially at night when the families would take the kids out to see all of the lights! The light shows in Las Vegas are better than most holiday light shows!

I think this was when Santi got me hooked on Star Bucks. You all know she’s a Star Bucks fiend right? She hasn’t passed a Star Bucks coffee shop that I know of unless she was flying! She now has Peter addicted as well! I told them both when we were in Phoenix last year (2008) that we spent more in Star Bucks than gas on that trip. Santi’s drink is a Venti Latte while Peter and I both go for the Mocha Latte when we stop. Santi loves her coffee hot, hot, hot which is how Star Bucks serves the lattes! For those who aren’t familiar with it a latte is expresso with steamed milk in it. The mocha latte’s are the same thing except it has chocolate in it as well.

I tell you this so you’ll know what I mean when I tell you that for those couple of days we spent a lot of time at Star Bucks. You have to keep in mind that Santi and I are close in age and then there is Cara! Cara who is energetic and young! We walked down one end of the Strip one day and up the other side the next day! That’s a long walk when you’re in and out of the casino/hotels along the way! There were many times that Santi and I just sat and waited as Cara jogged through the entertainment areas of the hotels to see all she could see! I told Santi she was just trying to kill us!

You don’t have to gamble to be entertained in Las Vegas, aside from the casino/hotels there is also Hoover Dam that Cara and Santi wanted to see. We ran for 3 days and that’s no story! Las Vegas is known as the town that never sleeps and this trip was no exception to that motto!

There are so many things about that trip I’ll never forget. First was meeting Cara for the first time! I had heard so much about her but never had the opportunity to meet her and now finally I got my chance. I wasn’t disappointed. At dinner one night Cara and I talked about the misconceptions of South Africa and we laughed because I had some of the same misconceptions as so many of our other ladies. First, South Africa is a country on the southern tip of the continent of Africa. I don’t know how many countries occupy the continent of Africa but it’s a lot and so many of them have split into smaller countries over the years and then there are the countries that have changed their name. Many of the countries on the continent are not as politically stable as South Africa is.

I think the confusing part for us is that the continent is Africa while the country that Santi and her family are from is South Africa. Another difference between here and there is that America occupies a good part of our own continent and we have states to mark different geo-political areas, where Africa is composed of countries. South Africa has states of it’s own although there aren’t the 50 that we have here and if I took a few minutes I could probably Google South Africa and give you that information but if you would like more historical/geographical information, just go to www.google.com and type in the search box “South Africa” and you will get several links to look at.

South Africa has cities just like we do. Their inner cities look much the same as ours do. Farm lands look like the farms here but it’s safe to say that Kansas alone grows more corn then the country of South Africa does! But then you need to look at the differences in the sizes of the state of Arkansas and the country of South Africa! As Cara is trying to explain the area they live in I found out things that I couldn’t get from Google links because they were from a personal point of view and not what the books tell us. Unlike many countries in Africa, South Africa doesn’t have armed soldiers sitting on every street corner. Other than monkeys that run wild like our own squirrels here on the West Coast their wild life is confined to the rural areas. Granted, their wild life is different than ours is, we have deer they have impala! We have elk and they have kudu… The more things change, the more they stay the same! OK so they have lions, leopard and cheetahs, we have bobcats, mountain lions and cougars! I’m not finding much that would equate with ellies but I’m working on it! I think the buffalo is more like a wildebeest… nope, I can’t find anything like it here!

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that city life is city life! Middleburg isn’t a large city like LA, Chicago or New York is (oh we’ll get to New York and what Santi did to me there… patience). Rural life is much like our own here. Crime rates are high in some of our cities while they are in South Africa as well. I could go on and on about the crime rates etc and to be honest, if I hadn’t known Santi and her family I don’t know that I ever would have traveled there. I keep thinking there is enough to see in our own country that I could spend time seeing J

Anyway, back to Las Vegas… One attraction that I did want to see was the Star Trek attraction at the Hilton hotel. My brother and I are both fans, as is Cara by the way, and Brian, (my brother and I) had promised each other that we would see it together for the first time. I kind of cheated on this one, I was in Las Vegas and playing tour guide so I kind of had to LOL. We had lunch on the day they arrived at the Bajorian coffee shop and we wandered around the Star Trek “universe” there for a while. During the time that we were there, we met a “Borg”. The Borg are an alien civilization who are part man and part cyborgs, thus the name! They want to take over the universe because they believe that their mechanical and logical ways are the only way to save the universe from themselves… too much information? Well, the Borg want to conquer the visitors to the Star Trek “universe” as well. Their trademark line is, “resistance is futile”, meaning that in confrontations with them, they usually win. Santi got into an argument with this actor in character, thinking she could get him to come out of his character and smile, but she was not able to! We did have a great time there and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it!

The other place I’ll remember is Circus Circus. It was built as one of the first “family” casino/hotels. There is an upper level filled with carnival type games to occupy the kids and let me tell you, you can spend more money there on the games, playing for cheap stuffed animals and other prizes than you can downstairs gambling! We played up there for several hours. Santi really got into the “horse race”. OK you have a ball that you roll up the board and it falls into numbered holes and those numbers determine how many spaces your horse moves on the “race track”. She was actually good at getting the ball into the holes with the most moves by the horse! I don’t know how many “toys” she walked out of there with that night but she had a few!

I think some of my favorite memories are of my “vacations” with Santi and her family. I’ll be adding more of these vacation blogs as I go along. My hope is that you get to know them and how they view our country as we go along.

Santi and Liese - The First Trip 2002

Santi and Liese 2002 was the first Hatched US tour and the first time I met Santi and Liese. They made this trip on a wing and a prayer. It was their first time doing a trunk show. I guess on the map America doesn’t look that big because they were flying all over the place, landing in strange cities and not knowing anyone. They accepted invitations from ladies who they had only met on the Internet! How scary was that?

I remember the day I got an email from one of our Team SewAmused members telling me that I had to see this new digitizers work on the Internet. I went to the Hatched in Africa site and was instantly impressed with the quality of their work. I downloaded the free floral spray design. I was in the process of developing a new workbook for the Singer PSW software and I just had to use this design in one of the chapters! I contacted Santi by email and asked permission and she graciously agreed that I could use the design for the workbook and so the relationship began! We emailed back and forth a little bit about business and when she said she was coming here and she would be within a 4 hour drive I decided that I had to go.

I was living in the San Fernando Valley (a suburb of Los Angeles) at the time and Peggy Jo wanted to go as well so I picked her up. I grabbed Karen out in San Bernardino and we were off to Redlands to meet Santi. Imagine my surprise that when I introduced myself I got a huge hug from Santi! I didn’t think that she would remember me just through email, but she did!

My true confession here… at the coffee shop where the 3 of us (Peggy Jo, Karen and I) were having coffee before the trunk show I saw ladies running around with embroidery all over them and here sat a beautiful African-American lady and what did I assume? You’re right, I assumed that this was Santi! Hey, Santi was from South Africa where the population is predominately black! I think it was years before I told her about this little assumption on my part! Remember how to spell ass-us-me…

Her schedule was full so I didn’t have a lot of time to get to know her but I new then that I really wanted to!

So here they were, Santi and Liese from half a world away and I got to meet them AND Santi knew who I was… How much better could the day get? The trunk show was awesome! And she was introducing the AWESOME Apricot Blush quilt! WOW! At that time she also had an umbrella that had been covered with matching fabric and AB designs. She no longer carries that with her because she had to repair it at every stop! It was a little delicate to say the least.

I thought it odd that this woman was not that delicate little thing I assumed (again with the ass-u-me thing) that she was like her work. She’s not. She is a down to Earth woman with so much inner strength that she’s almost unstoppable in her determination! She dresses for comfort at the trunk shows, not to impress anyone.

Although her native language is Afrikaans, she speaks English very well, but phrases in South Africa and America can mean a few different things. One of the jokes Liese told at the time was about floppy disks, which were the large 5” disks that were used in some of the first computers. When the computers went to the smaller 3.5” disks they called them “stiffies” in South Africa… well that whole thing of floppy going to “stiffy” … well these are the kinds of phrases that over the years we have worked on! I know that Liese’s comments were a joke, but based in fact.

I remember so many times telling her, “you cant say that here” LOL. So we would have to come up with other phrases for her to use on her trips to the States! I don’t say this to make fun of Santi or her family, it’s just a fact. When I was in South Africa I had the same problem! My own phrases were sometimes questioned and I could tell by the way some of Santi’s friends looked at me that I had to be a little careful about what I would say!

Anyway, Santi and Liese about killed themselves on that trip. At one point they took a Grayhound bus in an area that I didn’t think was a good idea and I had to have a talk with her! She had taken the bus from Fresno to San Bernardino and I told her this wasn’t going to work! For that trip, I could have picked her up and delivered her! I mean seriously, the Grayhound bus was a good travel option back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s but in 2002? I don’t think 2 women should have been doing that! I told her that if she gave them a chance, her ladies would take care of her and make sure she got to where she needed to go! And so they did let the ladies help with transportation! Neither Liese or Santi was ready to drive here in the states yet, remember, they drive on the “wrong” side of the car and the road! I know how I felt being in South Africa for the first time and the whole driving situation!

But that’s Santi and her family, she doesn’t want to put anyone out or have them go out of their way for her! As I said, she’s strong willed and determined at times and she can be just a tiny bit stubborn too! I know that I always present her and the Team in very positive terms but let’s be real here, we all have our “ugly” moments as my grandmother would have called them! They are human but 95% of the time they are content with life in general. Santi gets frustrated when her designs don’t get from her head to her computer and frustration isn’t always a pretty sight! Oh come on now, we can all get like that! But once she gets started at a trunk show, nothing else matters except for her ladies and making sure that they have a good time at the trunk shows!

At that trunk show the 3 of us managed to spend more than we had planned to! Oh like that never happens! I hear it time and time again from the ladies who attend, they budget one amount and spend a whole lot more over their budget J It’s easy to do with the designs though. Karen had been in love with the fuchsias since she first saw them. Now I’m going to have to remember exactly what it was that she made with them, but she did use them the minute she got home!

And then there was Peggy Jo. She had digitized some free standing angels, one of her first digitizing experiences and she brought 2 of them for Santi. You can almost see them in the pictures that I uploaded to the Picasa album. By the way, there is a link on the top of the blogspot page that links to the photo albums that I’ve uploaded. The album name is “Santi and Liese 2002” for this blog post.

Santi, Liese, Cara and Betsi have come a long way in their digitizing since those days and although it sounds like it was a long time ago (I guess almost 9 years later it is a while), for me it’s like yesterday. Although we have all changed, some of us more than others, in so many ways nothing has changed. I tell Santi over and over again how much “her ladies” love her and her family and she never really understands. She insists that she’s just a “normal” person!

I need to take some time with her when she has a little bit and get more biographical information from her. I know she was a free motion artist for many years before the computerized sewing machines and she’s been a florist with tons of talent there as well. She enjoys beauty in her life as we all do. She lives a simple life and the funny part... she has very little embroidery on her clothes she wears! How many of us can say the same thing?

The next trip she came with Mari and I don’t have photos of that trip or a few others that I was able to see her. They were probably lost in one computer crash or another. It’s amazing that I take all of these pictures and rarely print them out! I could fill my walls with just the ones I’ve taken though J

I’m not sure where I’ll go next, there are so many trips I do have photos for and so many stories to tell….

And I Continue the Introduction to the Continuing Blog

Mari, Betsi and Santi are the 3 sisters who are involved in Hatched in Africa and AllSorts Embroidery designs. There is another sister and brother that I have not met. Both of them live in Johannesburg I believe and although they do talk on the phone they just don’t see each other as much as they would like to.

Mari (pronounced Marie) is the administrative one of the family. She is the one who keeps the finances in order and does all of the bookkeeping. When the ladies have a problem with their order, Mari is the “go to” person. Mari has a beautifully attended garden and her husband is fond of fuchsias. There are so many varieties, I was shocked! There are photos of the fuchsias in one of the albums at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SewAmusedPat/ I hope you have an opportunity to go over and see them. I didn’t realize how many colors, sizes and shapes of fuchsias were available. In Mari’s back yard there is a huge tree that provides shade to part of her back yard. When you look up it looks like an umbrella covering you. Mari is very proud of her garden and employs a gardener to keep up with all of it! I don’t see how he keeps it all as beautiful as it is.

On one trip to the states I had Mari and Santi at a friends house down in Southern California. We took them to a small farmers market in the area to find some veggies for dinner. We have a wider variety here than they do in South Africa and a lot of our veggies are year round here while they are seasonal in South Africa. We bought a flat of strawberries and I think that was most of what we had for dinner that night! Karen had made some “goop” a marshmallow mixture of some type that was the hit of the party! Santi still asks Karen if she’s made any when they talk!

Betsi is the quiet one of the family. I’ve spent time with Betsi here in the states and a little time with her in South Africa. I’m going to tell a story on Betsi here in a minute, but when I saw her for the first trip with the family, she hugged me and said that we always seem to end up in a van together! When Santi, Liese and Betsi have been in the states, before Peter because the official “tour director” I did have the opportunity to have that job at different parts of their tour of the states.

I played tour director here in California a few years ago with Liese and Betsi, we did a few trunk shows while traveling north to Oregon where I handed them off to Sherry in Newburg. On the trip up the coast, we crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and Betsi had a small bottle of wine in the back seat of the van and she thought it was a good idea to toast the her first crossing of the bridge! AAAAARRRRRRRRRR! LOL

I think I’ve been more than lucky to spend time with the family both here and in South Africa. On a 5 week trip or the North East with Santi and Betsi we were heading down to Missouri where I was dropping them off for the next leg of their tour. At one point we crossed over the Mississippi River and Betsi commented at how big the river was. She said that one day she would love to see the Mississippi River… I told her we were crossing it at that point, but it was dark and late at night so she couldn’t see much. But she was still so excited! We stayed on the river that night and I noticed the next morning she was just standing there staring at the river.

It’s things like that I’ll remember, the first time they saw ….. that I was there to share in that experience. I was there the first time Cara saw Las Vegas… When Santi and Peter saw Sedona Arizona and Peter, in his shorts mind you, played for a bit in the snow just north of Sedona on one of our sight seeing trips. The funny part about some of these places is that it’s the first time I’d been there as well! I’ve lived just a few hours from Yosemite for years and I had never been there until I had Liese and Betsi for those days as we traveled up the coast!

It was that same trip where Liese and I tried tofu at a restaurant at the salad bar. We both decided that it wasn’t really for us. I don’t think either of us cared much how healthy it was for us! Betsi just sat there and laughed at us!

After the things that Mari showed me while I was in South Africa I really hope I’ll have the opportunity to show her more of America one of these days. Mari and I spent a day touring Middleburg and the surrounding areas including Botshabelo Historical Town, Museum and Nature Reserve. What a wonderful adventure we had that day. It was one of my first “tours” of my visit and Mari was there to take me. Botshabelo is a historical town and it has a lovely town square. I remember driving up through the town seeing a troop of monkeys, sitting in the shade of the trees in the courtyard in the heat of the afternoon. Mari stopped the van and although we could have gotten out for a closer view of the monkeys, we were both hesitant. They don’t call them wild animals for nothing you know. I was awe struck just seeing them sitting out there! They were grooming each other and some of the younger ones were up in the trees playing.

I think the best way to do the blog at this point is to go back through the original blog and expound on some of the places and days we spent together. At the time I was busy just trying more to keep notes than to go through what I was seeing and how I viewed it and memories from the day. I think I also want so share some of my feelings on those wonderful days. When I left California that day in February I had no idea what to expect once I arrived in South Africa and that’s kind of scary in itself!

I think I also want to go through some of the pictures I have here of visits by the team to the States and share more of those experiences with you all. I think this list has been such a part of my life for so many years now; I’d almost be lost with out and without all of you! So many friends I’ve made over the years through this list. Some I’ve only emailed with, some I’ve spoken to on the phone and some I’ve had the opportunity to meet in person because of the time I spend with Santi and her family here in the states. You don’t know what I’ve done to get to see her on the East Coast and I don’t think she does either LOL. I just know that it’s all been worth it over the years…

I think by now you have a good idea as to who these people are that we all love and adore so much.

Continuing to Ponder South Africa

There is no what I would call “typical” day for Santi. Her day generally starts very early as she becomes inspired in her dreams I think. She was usually up and working when I got up while I was there. She was also the last one who crawled up the stairs for bed as well!

Three days a week Pretty is there. Pretty is Santi’s housekeeper and she speaks very little English. This probably would have been a good thing to know before I had a conversation with her though! Santi and family communicate with Pretty through Afrikaans. She knows a few words, like “your welcome” and she is just a sweetheart. I don’t remember how many years Pretty has been with Santi but it has been many years now. She comes in 3 days a week to help keep the house and laundry caught up so that Santi can concentrate on her digitizing. She spends 1 day at Liese’s house and 1 day with Cara as well. Between the family they keep her working full time. She has 2 daughters and also grandchildren at home as well. Her husband is having trouble finding work, so their family pretty well depends on what Pretty brings home.

While Pretty is cleaning the house, she also brings Santi tea on a regular basis. I think of the times that Pretty was walking up behind Santi with a cup just about the time she was going to ask for it! So I guess we can say that Pretty knows Santi pretty well. Pretty also makes a killer cup of instant coffee as well! She kept my cup full and hot as well. Normally, I’m not an instant coffee drinker and I thought to myself… oh no! But the South African instant coffee there is wonderful and I couldn’t tell it wasn’t brewed! Of course now I wish I would have filled that suit case up with it to bring home for those times when I just didn’t want to brew a full pot of coffee! Peter was also pretty quick on the spot with tea for “Mom” and coffee for me.

Calling Santi “Mom” started with us calling Peter “Dad” at night when we would want tea/coffee and he was in the other room. We would kind of talk loud about how nice it would be to have a hot cup of tea/coffee and he either couldn’t hear us because he was so into his tv or he was ignoring us… So I just started to ask “Dad” what he was doing LOL.

Pretty reminds me of a woman from my childhood. My great-aunt Ruth, lived in South Carolina and worked long hours in the textile mills. By the time she came home from work she was covered head to toe with lint from the spinning room (where cotton was spun into thread). She would come in the door and go straight to the bathroom and change from her working clothes to her house clothes. As you can imagine 2 dresses a day means lots of laundry. Ruth had a woman who did her laundry for her. She would drop it off one day and pick it up 3 days later or something. Every thing was washed and starched! I would go with Ruth to “fetch” her laundry. I remember that this woman knew exactly who I was even if it had been over a year since I had seen her! I even used to know her name… This woman had disabilities that wouldn’t let her work in the mills and this was how she fed her family, by taking in laundry! Of course this was the 60’s and you could find someone who would do the work affordably. This was the aunt who thought that a dime was more than enough tip, regardless of what the bill was!

Pretty and my great aunt’s laundress both take pride in their work and it shows. I wasn’t overly comfortable letting Pretty do my laundry, seriously, I had been the chief cook and bottle washer for 30 years while I was married! Santi explained that Pretty would be insulted if I didn’t let her take care of me the way she took care of everyone else in the house. It was hard for me to let go of that independence of mine and now wish Pretty could have come home with me! It doesn’t take much time to get used to being pampered!

Pretty would come and go to work by “taxi”. Now wait a minute, I need to explain what a South African “taxi” is. They don’t have bus service the way most of us do, they use passenger vans and pack them as full as they can and call them a “taxi”. It’s nothing to see a van with over a dozen people jammed in there! While I think any of us would find it shocking, it’s a way of life there and no one thinks much of it, it is what it is! There are times when Santi, Peter or one of the girls will take Pretty home, if she has shopping to carry with her or for whatever reason.

Keep in mind here that not only do they drive on the wrong side of the car, they also drive on the wrong side of the street for me! Going out was always an experience for me. First I kept trying to get into the “drivers” door. A mistake that Santi frequently makes while she is here and I used to laugh at her, but no longer! Then when it looks like we’re going head on into traffic I would be looking for my brake peddle! There wasn’t one on my side of the car! Can you imagine the traffic accidents I would have been causing? I don’t know how they do it when they come here! I wasn’t brave enough to even try once while I was there!

While we stop for traffic lights, in Middleburg they stop for robots. I guess I can see where they could call a traffic light a robot, being automated and all but every time someone said something about a robot I’m looking for Robby the Robot! LOL I think Santi was ready to send me back home when I walked slam into on coming traffic not long after I had been there! I am use to looking left, right left again to cross the street, there it’s right, left and right again and I NEVER got that one down!

There is a lot of traffic in Middleburg in the downtown area near where Santi lives. On our trips out and through downtown, there were so many people going about their lives. The streets are busy with cars, taxis and people hustling about. There is a familiar feeling about Middleburg, the look and feel of it, with their busy streets and the brick houses that line so many of the residential streets. I feels much like the South, which I still call home after 49 years in California.

Even so many of the country areas bring back memories of our driving trips to South Carolina, yet some areas are so very alien, so different. Like so many parts of our own country, there are so many different shades of green that it stimulates both the eyes and the memories. Even the friends of the family were familiar in their gentle ways and manners. Their hospitality and their open hearts and homes to a “stranger”. Many of these friends of Santi have never met a stranger.

Elsie is a long time friend of Santi and she reminds me of my own grandmother with her in her mannerisms and her personality. Her home is an older home and they are doing some work on it right now but I think that they are trying to keep the “feel” of the house as original as they can. I wish I had taken pictures of the home but I felt that would be so very intrusive and I wasn’t sure she would understand why I wanted to have them.

Unlike my grandmother though, Elsie is a sewist. She does alterations for Santi and others and her sewing room is stacked with fabrics, trims and other crafting supplies. She is an older woman who has the vitality of a woman half her years. I am still sew amused with Santi and her family and friend. When Santi’s mind races she breaks into Afrikaans without ever realizing it! She does it in the trunk shows at times as well. There is no need to be offended, she isn’t talking about us, she just communicates faster in Afrikaans at times. When Santi and Elsie realized they were doing it as well it was easy to laugh with them. I knew they meant no offense, it was just habit.

I can never tell where these blog entries are going to go. I start off with one thought on my mind and it just wanders and one memory will bring up another. At times it’s hard to end the blog and move on to other things I need to be doing.

Starting to Ponder

I remember how excited I was to see my first Impala with Cara. She never laughed but said I would get “used” to seeing them around! Oh how could that be? Such a beautiful animal with it’s horns majestically poised on his head, how could I ever get tired of seeing them? I never did Cara. I really can’t imagine a day when I would!

As I sit here at my desk, far from the wandering animals of South Africa, I do have a constant reminder above my desk. It is an enlargement of one of my photo from South Africa. It’s of two elephants in a meadow a large male and a smaller female. They are quite content as they grab bunches of grass in their trunks and sort of whip it up into their mouths. Even at the distance from which these photos were taken you can still see the eyes and how peaceful they are. They are not sad eyes but soulful eyes.

The brush is a light lemony green with darker thorn bushes thrown in. There is a shadow on the hill that pushes up the hill to the larger thorn trees in the full light of the sun. I remember the day this picture was taken. Cara, Stefan, Liese, Poppy and I were at Kruger Park. Those poor kids would stop at every elephant they saw for me. Keep in mind that they go to Kruger a couple of times a year and they have seen it all. There was a sparkle in their eyes when they found an animal for me to see.

As I never tired of seeing all of the animals, the kids always had a twinkle in their eyes when they found something other than a rhino-rock! For those who may not remember from the original blog, a rhino-rock is a rock formation that kind of sort of looks like a rhino! We found many of those on our wanderings.

Most of my memories of South Africa seem to go back to the animals I saw, out wandering in the open! But that’s part of the mystery of South Africa and for the continent of Africa as well for us I guess. Just as the animals have a different kind of a life, so do the people.

Middleburg is a small town that reminds me of the South during the ’60s and ‘70s. For me to sit here and say that race isn’t an issue there is foolish, just as it would be for me to say the same thing about our own country! Race is always an issue and unfortunately I can’t see that changing in my lifetime. The downtown area is hustling with people on their way to or from, stopping to see the vendors on the sidewalk to see what they have to offer.

Since blacks are 90% of the population they also occupy a large percentage of the service jobs in both Middleburg and in the country as a whole I would suspect. Most of the inhabitants speak more than 1 language and in so many cases more than 2! I’m trying to remember how many official languages they have in South Africa and the number escapes me now but there are quite a few. Most speak English as one of their languages though. I guess, at least in the areas that we were in, English was a common ground we shared.

Not all blacks are poor in South Africa just as not all whites are rich! I think this is a common misconception given the population of the country. What I found most interesting was the class struggle among the economic groups. I think it is safe to say that South Africa is still in the midst of a Reconstruction period in their history. Many things have changed since Apartheid ended some 10 or 12 years ago. They were faced with many cultural and political changes in a very short period of time. They are all still struggling with these changes. We know from our own history that change doesn’t always come easy to everyone. I think the “kids”, Cara and Liese’s generation, will come a far greater distance in a very short period of time.

I tend to equate South Africa to the years after our own Civil War ended but it’s not that simple. By the end of the Civil War, we had tamed the “Wild West” while there are still primitive cultural areas in South Africa. They haven’t tamed their “Wild West” and brought industrialization to all corners of the country. That’s one problem they face that we never did. And here is where I come very close to stepping on toes here without even wanting to, but, although things did change drastically in our own country after the Civil War ended, one thing was constant, we were still a country where the majority of the population was white. What, 150 years later we have finally elected our first black president? Oh no, we aren’t going to go there really, I use this as a contrast against South Africa where they went from white rule to black rule over night. I search back through all of the history I’ve learned trying to find a parallel to what they are going through there. I can’t find one in our own history. The world can only sit back and watch to see what will happen and how the culture will evolve.

The word Apartheid literally means “apart”. Is that any different from out own “separate but equal” period of history? As I said, they are struggling with these changes every day. The crime rate is high in South Africa. Farmers are leaving their lands and coming to the cities to make a better life for their families but there aren’t enough jobs for everyone. So I guess we all know what happens in those cases. With our current recession our jails are fuller as well!

I keep going back to the day Cara and I went to the Shangaan Village and since it was just the 2 of us, we had an opportunity to talk to the 70 some year old chief of the village. He said that many of the younger people had already left the village, his own older son had go to the city for work. They just couldn’t make it any longer in the village. The Shangaan were losing their cultural identity and it was sad. But how do you keep the “old” ways while fitting into a modern society? I guess we could ask our Amish or our Native Americans and see what they have to say! I’m thinking that it isn’t an easy task. It’s all about change and how well do we change.

In my own family history, 75% came from Europe, mostly England and France with a few Irish thrown into the mix for fun. Somewhere running around are some Cherokee but I can’t prove it. My Anglo lines pretty cut and dried and honestly boring to read about LOL It’s the Native American connection I’d like to make and let that become part of my personal history! I mention this because I have to wonder how many of those leaving the farms are going to miss those ways in a generation or two. You can’t have progress without giving up something though.

You may notice that I write these words with a series of checks and balances. I know that things are different there in South Africa but are they really a lot different from here? Every one is just trying to make it through to the next day. I'm still pondering my visit and my experiences in South Africa and now that you started to ask me more I guess I have to figure this out with you along!

If you have questions, please email me privately at: sewamused@aol.com and let's see if we can all figure the answers out.... I'm not totally sure of what you want to hear about.

Nuss/Brauwer Family Dynamics

My perspective on the world is based on my knowledge of the world. I am the first to admit that my scope is limited to mainly the United States. I was born in the South and spent many summers there but I was mainly raised in California, a more liberal state than South Carolina in so many ways. Add in that things in the ‘60s and ‘70s were different then and yes, my world is colored by those events as well. I am also the family historian which has given me the opportunity to study history in a different way than what we were taught in school. Remember always that history is written by the victors in any society. We re-write our own history on a regular basis.

What I offer here is my own perspective of what I saw and learned in South Africa. I don’t brand it as the absolute truth, just my own humble musing. It is no intended to be a political statement of any kind. I will avoid that subject to the ends I can. And yes, my view of the world is different now than it was then. I believe one thing the reader has to keep in mind that my experiences in South Africa were limited.

With that said, I will give you my impressions of the Nuss/Brauwer families without violating their privacy past the point where it does become quite private. As with all very good friends, some information is never to be shared, by either party.

The family as a whole is “healthy” in their relationship with each other. Of course there are the occasional disagreements but that doesn’t stop them from being close knit. They have the love to work out the problems that occur between then. No one really stays mad at anyone for any length of time. I call that “healthy” because that isn’t the way it is in my family! They don’t walk on egg shells when they are together, they say what’s on their mind and then they talk about it. There don’t seem to be a lot of secrets between them, they are very open and frank with each other.

Santi…she’s an artist and like an artist she can become very frustrated at herself and her art at times. She is a perfectionist where her art is concerned and she is very involved in the work of others on the team. She’s harder on herself than she is anyone else where work is concerned. They all work so well together most of the time. They take the time to sit and critique each others work but not harshly. It’s actually amazing to see it happen! I’ve been around other artistic types before and it isn’t always a pleasant place to be when they start “sharing” ideas!

While most of us know Santi through the trunk shows, I’ve seen her as a mother, sister, friend, mentor and grandmother all at the same time. Declan is just the apple of her and Peter’s eyes. I know that Baby Zoe is here now but I don’t expect to see any change in their time or feelings for Declan, they will just grow more arms to open up for the newest member of the family! Santi loves to take Declan off for a weekend or take him off of Liese’s hands for a weekend! She gets him on Fridays and life comes to a screeching halt from the time he gets there.

Peter completes her. Peter brings a very special balance to her life, he’s calming when things around Santi get crazy. Peter doesn’t get caught up in the business drama at home. He takes his role as her new “tour director” very seriously and when I was there he was busy mapping out routes and calculating time between point A and point B.

When he is on the road with her, she sometimes needs to be rescued from trunk shows. She knows that the ladies have come, sometimes, from distances and she wants to personally take a minute to speak to everyone. I find her amazing in that respect. She remembers so many of the ladies from the list, I don’t know how she keeps up with all that she does! But at times, Peter has to play the bad guy and get her motivated to move on to the next trunk show or even just make her stop long enough to eat! No, she gets so involved in chatting with the ladies she doesn’t eat when she should.

While they are on the road their life isn’t so different from when they are at home really. They are simple people, just family to all they meet! So many here have opened their heart and homes to them and it gets a bit overwhelming at times. She really doesn’t understand it all but Peter sees it. If you watch Peter, you can see him smile with his eyes… or roll his eyes at her!

Santi could care less if there was a tv in the house or not but Peter likes his sports! What can I say, he’s a man! He tried to explain Rugby to me while I was there but it never really sank in. Like baseball or football here, they have their own sports heroes. And no, not all of the family shares the same favorite teams either!

Peter and his son Dylan (married to Liese) have a unique situation to contend with I think. It’s got to be difficult when one of your parents is married to your in law! It’s not always easy for the 4 of them but I think this is uncharted waters and most of us can’t imagine how that would work out! A blinded family is one thing but this? I don’t even know how to describe it!

Dylan and Liese live around the corner from Santi with Declan and now Zoe. You might be surprised how little embroidery there is in Declan’s bedroom! I was! I thought everything in there would be Hatched designs or even someone elses but there is very little there! I wonder if Zoe will be any different. Liese is a Winnie the Pooh fan so there was a lot of Pooh Bear in Declan’s room. Oh there are lots of toys in Declan’s room but then he was the first grand child of both families (Nuss and Brauwer) as I recall. Interestingly enough he really isn’t as spoiled as you would expect him to be but Liese can’t decide who is worse about spoiling him, Santi or Peter... but then Auntie Cara is up there in the running too!

Dylan owns his own business and he puts in long hours but when he comes home Declan is all over him! I know that in order to get a business going you have to put in those hours and I’m pretty sure that Dylan hates being away from Declan and Liese all of those hours but there isn’t much to be done about it at this point in the business growth.

I think right now that Liese and Cara spend more time on administrative duties than digitizing these days. I don’t think any of them thought that the business would grow into what it is! They were trying to find someone to take over some of those duties while I was there but you need just the right person to blend in to this business. It doesn’t always make sense to everyone!

Liese balances a family with a full time job and does a very good job at both things I believe. She’s bouncy and bubbly yet quiet and contemplative all at the same time… Yes, I read what I just wrote. There is always a smile behind her eyes when she is thinking and you can see her mind working I the background when she’s smiling and bubbly! Her heart is as wide as her eyes. Liese is quiet easy to read, but then there is Cara…

I had only met Cara once when I went to South Africa and she was a pleasant surprise to me! She has an amazing sense of humor. She can find the humor in just about any situation when she has to. She’s not easily defeated, nor does she give up often. She pushes through problems until they are solved or resolve themselves! Like her mother and her sister she is driven by right and wrong, they don’t seem to wander in the middle of that road very often. But they are never so driven as to close their minds to someone elses opinion.

When I first saw Cara in South Africa we had met them for a weekend at a resort. The “kids” were roughing it in tents while us old folks had small cottages! Unfortunately for the “kids” it rained a lot of the time that weekend and roughing it took on a whole new appearance! I felt sorry for them myself but they seemed to take it all in stride. We did take Declan out of the tent to the cottage though. Santi and Peter wouldn’t let him sleep out in the tent in the rain.

Cara and her friends, including Stefan, properly pronounced Stee-f-on and I had to work at that one, although he’s ok with Stefan, were busy with the cooking and chores of camping. They did find time to play in the water at the resort when it wasn’t raining. Stefan is an open book, much like Liese is but Cara is a little harder to read! LOL You always know where you stand with her but her humor is a little dryer, much like the English comedies… Maybe it comes from living in England for as long as she did but her smile will light up any room she is in. She’s as honest and giving as anyone I’ve ever met and best of all, she’s in love with Stefan!

Stefan, as I said, is an open book. He’s an easy read and he’s just a happy go lucky kind of a guy but he has his head on his shoulders even where Cara is involved! Cara is a little strong willed but Stefan doesn’t let that stop him at all! They actually have a wonderful relationship and I did get to spend some time with them together. Stefan is into bird watching and he is turning Cara into a bird watcher as well! It’s amazing how many birds he recognizes! I was impressed!

As I go along and add more to this blog we’ll get to more specific trips and observations, but I wanted to give you a little insight into the family dynamics. Maybe then you can understand more about the experience of spending that month with them…