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mrsdeanwinchester19 · 4 years ago

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The Dinner-Sequel to The Interview

Pairing: Steve x reader

Word Count: 3k

Summary: Sequel to The Interview. Steve takes his wife to meet his team after her interview

Warnings: None

“Steve, do you think this dress is ok?” I ask, coming out of our walk-in closet wearing my lace, off the shoulder red dress. Steve is taking me to dinner with the team tonight, so I want to make a good first impression. Most people would think I’ve met the team before, but Steve kept our relationship a secret in the beginning and then the team broke up because of the Accords and we got married when we were on the run, so we really couldn’t invite any of the team members.

We had our wedding in Norway, one of the few countries that hadn’t signed the Accords. They claimed they didn’t sign because if a non-government owned unit made from people from different countries called the Alsos Unit hadn’t helped them in World War II, the Germans would have succeeded in creating an Atomic bomb in their country. In Norway, there was one team member, Thor, who was visiting Earth; he vouched for us.

After our wedding, we went to Wakanda on our honeymoon and visited Bucky. We had been having dinner with Bucky, T’Challa, and Shuri when we told him we got married. He was upset that he couldn’t be there, but he understood when he found out the wedding happened when he was asleep. When he said Steve could make it up to him by naming his first son James; Steve started choking on his Umqombothi drink. I know Steve wants kids, but he wasn’t willing to have them while being on the run. Now that we’re not hiding, we’re actively trying for a baby. I wonder if tonight he’ll break the news that he has a wife AND is trying to get said wife pregnant.

As I walk out of the closet, I bend down to adjust the ankle strap on my right heel. I stand back up, smooth my dress, and look up at Steve. He’s staring at me with a dopey smile on his face, love evident in his eyes. “The dress itself is fine, you make it look perfect.”

“Ugh, Steve, quit it with the cheesy lines,” I protest while blushing. Men used to say these things to their wives and girlfriends back in their time, it’s why Steve and Bucky can be prince charming when they want to be. Bucky more often than Steve now that he’s more like his old self, or so Steve says.

“I’m just being honest,” he defends, shrugging his shoulders. He comes over to me and wraps his arms around my waist. “You nervous?”

“What do you think?” I ask rhetorically. I haven’t been this nervous since I first met Steve. In 2014, during a career conference once for journalists, the resort we were at was seized by terrorists. One of my coworkers and I were the only ones from The New York Sun attending, despite the fact that it was in New York. I suppose they only wanted to go if the convention was out of town so they could get out of work and go on vacation. We were held in the resort’s Grand Hall for hours until the Avengers were able to save us. There was a pretty big fight between Steve, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the terrorists but luckily no one died. I had been hurt in the kerfuffle, a broken finger, but after Steve wrapped my finger in a brace, he allowed me to interview him. During the on-camera interview with him, Thor was teasing him in the background, doing silly faces and the “blah blah blah” hand motion.

Steve had asked for my name and number to “keep in touch and see if my finger heals correctly”. When I gave it to him, he wrote it down in an old-fashioned address book. I hadn’t expected him to call me ever, but he did, asking for a date. At first, he was weary of me being a journalist, in case things ended badly and I wrote a bad article about him. However, a year later, he was thankful I was a journalist because I had access to all archived articles about the Winter Soldier. After that happened, I knew he trusted me wholeheartedly and I felt the same. When the Accords started happening, I had access to the signing, to interview government people about it, and relayed that information to Steve about who he could trust. That was how I found out about Norway not signing.

“They’ll love you,” he says. “Bucky loves you, Tony will probably love you because he’ll think the interview prank you pulled on me was hilarious. Nat and Wanda will be happy another girl is around. Thor likes you, even Loki took a liking to you; he would love the interview prank. Clint will like you, Bruce will like you; no one has a reason to dislike you.

I turn around and take a good look at him. Royal blue dress shirt and black pants. His hair is up and I want nothing more than to run my fingers through it. He keeps me pressed to his body closely and I rub my hands along his chest. “If we didn’t have to go to dinner with your friends, I would be all over you right now.”

“Sorry, last night’s sex is just gonna have to hold you.” I give a little laugh. “I’m just messing with you, I’ll be all over you tonight,” he growls, pulling my face up to his and kissing me deeply. His kisses always leave me breathless, whether they’re passionate like this or small, chaste kisses when he’s leaving for work in the morning. This however, is a whole new level and it’s making my heart go crazy.

Steve picks up the basket on the kitchen counter and we walk out the door. When we get to the car, he opens the door for me, ever the gentleman, before climbing in himself. As he drives there, I fiddle with the hem of my dress. I’m so worried I’ll talk too much or too little, or I’ll offend someone or embarrass Steve. What if I mention something about him that they don’t know? Like that he bawled like a baby at Where the Red Fern Grows and Homeward Bound. Tony would probably love that but I don’t want to make Steve feel bad, I was crying too.

My biggest worry is what they’ll think of me after the interview. Will they think it was funny or will they look at me as unprofessional for not telling them I had a conflict of interest with the Avengers? I think Tony will like me, and maybe Nat, but I have no idea about the others. I don’t think Bucky would come around as much as he does if he really didn’t like spending time with both Steve and me. Besides, sometimes when Steve is on a mission and he isn’t, he comes and keeps me company with old movies and our little two person book club we started. His first choice of book was The Hobbit, which he told me he had read it when it first came out in 1937. He was happy but not surprised to find out there were movies based on them.

When we drive up to the compound, Steve has a difficult time getting me through security. They recognized my face and apparently Tony told them not to let me back. “Don’t alert Tony about her,” Steve said as he explained the situation to the guard. He looked skeptical but agreed.

Steve led me upstairs, but not to the dining room where the team was waiting. He led me to his room. “Well, well, well, Mr. Rogers, I thought we had to meet your friends in a little bit. Though I know you could probably get it done in ten minutes.”

“Ha ha ha, very funny,” he sarcastically replies. “I just needed to grab…this,” he says, pulling his wallet out of his nightstand. “Forgot it here yesterday.”

I simply hum in response to his explanation because I’m too busy looking around his room. I’ve only seen it over FaceTime and in pictures. It’s very different from our room at home. Our house, which we had just moved to from our apartment in preparation for a family, has a farmhouse theme. Our master bedroom has a cream colored walls and one shiplap wall which our bed’s decorative headboard sits against, while our king sized bed is covered in a thick white comforter. There’s a gray bench at the end of our bed and a blue and white rug. There are nightstands on each side of the bed where we keep our small before bed items and our white, shared dresser is on the other side of the room, next to the door for our walk-in closet. We have an attached bath with a clawfoot tub and a shower stall. Our room lets in lots of natural light, which Steve loves because he likes to let the morning sun warm his back on his days off.

This room has a completely different feel to it. It’s much darker than our room at home. The walls are gray and his comforter is dark blue. He has a black dresser across from his bed with a TV mounted to the wall above it. A plain bathroom with just a few essentials like shaving cream, a toothbrush, toothpaste, etc sit on the counter. While our walls at home aren’t covered in pictures, we have more than the two he has here. One is a picture of him and Bucky laughing and the other is of his parents before his father went to war; the war he never came back from. Both pictures he has copies of hanging up at home. There’s a somewhat large window on the wall, but it’s covered with a blackout curtain.

I did most of the decorating at home, while this decorating was all him. “Steve?” He looks at me. “Do you not like our room at home?”

He furrows his eyebrows. “No. I love our place. Why would you think that? Also, that’s very random to be bringing up now.”

“Well it’s just…this room is so different from ours at home. I just didn’t know if you liked the darker colors better. I want you to be comfortable in our room at home. We can change it if you want it to look more like this one.”

He gives a little laugh and turns to face me. “I didn’t decorate this room, Tony’s person did and he gave me this room because it’s the “most masculine”. I prefer our room because it’s bright and spacious. The fact that you decorated it is special to me because it’s like a present you gave to me. Plus, I don’t have the best eye for interior design since everything I grew up with was either floral or had doilies. But to be honest, this one feels a bit like a dungeon. I just don’t bother to change it because I just sleep at home. And I didn’t change it before I met you because even then I just used it to sleep, if I slept at all,” he looks into the distance, remembering all the nights he spent up in the gym, trying to beat the memories out of his mind. He changes the subject, “Ok, so when we go down there I’m gonna have you wait around the corner and then you can come out when I tell you.”

He leads me downstairs and has me wait in a hallway. He walks around the corner and I hear Tony say, “Alright Capsicle, what’s the surprise you have for us?”

“Everybody just sit down and I’ll get to it in a minute,” he replies. The sound of chairs scraping the floor is heard and Tony grumbles something about how he had been planning to have lasagna with Pepper tonight. After a few seconds of silence, Steve comes back around the corner, grabs my hand, and leads me out. I nearly trip over my heels when we start moving and the pit in my stomach only grows.

At the sight of me, Tony and Natasha stand up startled. “What is she doing here?” Tony angrily asks.

“I thought you banned her,” Natasha adds on.

They all begin chattering, asking Steve why I’m here until Bucky calmly says, “Hey Y/N.”

Sam looks at Bucky confused, “You know her?” Bucky nods his head and Sam looks at Steve, confused and a little hurt. “Steve?”

“Everybody,” Steve starts, setting his hand on my lower back. “This is Y/N, my wife.”

“WIFE?!” they all shout at different times. Steve and I get bombarded with about a million questions at once. When did we meet, why weren’t they invited to the wedding, when the wedding was, why I interviewed Steve the way I did, etc.

A loud thud on the balcony draws everyone’s attention. Thor is standing there in his armor and cape, holding his hammer. “Sorry I’m late for team dinner,” he begins but stops when he sees me. “Lady Y/N, I haven’t seen you since the wedding. How has being married to the Captain been?”

“Oh you know, being married to a man-child is a struggle, but he’s hot enough for me to keep him around,” I joke.

“Thor, you know her too?” Tony asks.

“Yes I do. Loki does too but I decided not to bring him tonight. I think it would have been a bad idea.”

“Alright, Tony, sit down and I’ll explain everything,” Steve says. Tony hesitantly sits down and everyone else follows. Steve explained everything from why we met to why we couldn’t invite them to the wedding.

As he’s finishing telling the story and answering questions from the team, Tony’s bots bring in the pasta and Steve gets up and grabs something from the basket we brought. He opens a bottle of wine and begins filling glasses. When he gets to mine, I put my hand over my cup. “Not tonight,” I say.

“But it’s your favorite,” he says.

“I can’t,” I say, not wanting to get in to it.

“C’mon, I won’t let you drink too much,” he says jovially.

“No, Steve…I can’t,” I say forcefully, looking up to make eye contact, hoping he understands without giving anything away.

He understands, but unfortunately his mouth works faster than his brain. He looks down at my stomach and an excited smile spreads on his face. “Are you…?”

I look around the table, seeing the Avengers all looking at us expectedly. I look back at Steve and sheepishly nod. He gasps and nearly drops the bottle, but luckily he realizes that when I reach out to catch it.

“A babe,” Thor says happily. “Mazel tov.”

“They’re not Jewish,” Bucky says to Thor. “Can’t wait to meet little James or Jamie.” I give Bucky a look to let him know it’s not happening. “Ok, Bucky works too.”

Tony puts his head in his hands looking like he’s about to pass out. “Oh my god, we find out Steve is married to a woman I banned from the compound, and now that he’s going to be a father.”

I look at Steve to see him with tears in his eyes. Thankfully, Natasha saves us. “I’d like to propose a toast,” she says, standing up and holding her glass out. “To Steve and Y/N, I hope you have a long, happy marriage and a healthy baby girl that you name Natasha.”

“That was the other thing we had planned to tell you tonight. We’ve been trying for a baby. I guess we were successful.” Steve finishes pouring the drinks while everybody suggests baby names. After a while, the conversation drifts to other things. I enjoy listening to them, though they’re constantly quipping (mostly Tony).

Bucky, who’s sitting next to me, whispers to Steve, who’s on my other side, “Are we going to church this Sunday?” The three of us go to church most Sundays. Steve and Bucky both grew up going to church, and it gives them some hope in a dark world.

Tony, who wasn’t involved in the conversation, cuts in. “Barnes, you could live at church and you still won’t go upstairs when you die.”

Bucky’s metal hand clenches so hard around his fork I’d be surprised if it isn’t bent. He looks at Tony and gives him a very fake, overly sweet smile. “Tony, I love how mean you are to me because it makes me feel less guilty about what I did to your parents.”

Tony stands up, slamming his hands on the table and Bucky mirrors him. It looks like they’re about to attack but Steve intervenes. “Tony, Bucky! Tony, that was uncalled for and Bucky, that was unnecessary. We know how you actually feel about your past and we’ve watched you try to change.” Both men slowly sit back down. “We have a guest.” Bucky relaxes first, then Tony does.

“Y/N,” Tony addresses me. “I need to apologize for my rudeness towards Bucky on my first night officially meeting you. I was hoping not to fight with him tonight.”

“You call that a fight? You should hear these two,” I say, gesturing to Steve and Bucky on either side of me. “These guys can bicker with each other like an old married couple for hours about the smallest things. Last week they had a 45 minute argument on how many times you can reuse a towel before it needs to be washed.”

“Wash it right away,” Steve mutters.

“Steve, we used to use towels so many times before we washed them in the 40s,” Bucky argues.

“Yeah but that was because if we needed to wash things, Mom had to heat up water and then hang-dry it on the balcony. It’s easy to wash things now days.”

“Anyways,” Tony says, stopping their argument. “I guess the interview you gave Cap makes sense now…somewhat.”

“Well I was pissed at him that day, so I think he deserved it.”

Tony smiles at Steve. “You need to bring her around more often.”

Taglist: @imanuglywombat @infernal-fire @dottirose @carpediemm-18

#Steve Rogers #steve x reader #captain america #captain america x reader #Avengers #the interview #the dinner #tony stark #natasha romanoff #bucky barnes #sam wilson #thor

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newscheckz · 5 years ago

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“Princess of Africa” Yvonne Chaka Chaka bags honorary degree

New Post has been published on https://newscheckz.com/princess-of-africa-yvonne-chaka-chaka-bags-honorary-degree-3/

“Princess of Africa” Yvonne Chaka Chaka bags honorary degree

African music icon, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, has been awarded an honorary degree by a top South African public university: Rhodes University. Incidentally, the award is not for her illustrious music career that has impacted the world but for her humanitarian work.

The Degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) (honoris causa) in recognition of your sustained, extensive and wide-ranging humanitarian work. This work includes your role as a Champion of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria,” the university said.

The 55 year-old born in Soweto, beyond her music and humanitarian work is also known to be an entrepreneur and a teacher. She sang three of her songs during the ceremony where she was honored along with a top judge, Justice Dikgang Moseneke. Dubbed the “Princess of Africa” (a name she received after a 1990 tour), Chaka Chaka has been at the forefront of South African popular music for 27 years and has been popular in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Gabon, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. She used her fame and influence to rebel against the oppressive Apartheid government. Yvonne collaborated with legends of the music industry to release a song called Peace on our land. Her music was so inspirational that Nelson Mandela wrote a letter to her from Robben Island where he was detained. Through the letter sneaked to her by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the statesman thanked her for “singing songs that keep us alive in prison”. (Mojapelo)

Among her big tracks are “I’m Burning Up”, “Thank You Mr Dj”, “I Cry For Freedom”, “Motherland” and the ever-popular “Umqombothi” (“African Beer”). The song “Umqombothi” was featured in the opening scene of the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda. She has also a number of charitable organisations that she is involved with. Yvonne is a member of the Giving and Sharing Project which aims to establish a youth/schools philanthropy programme.

It encourages young people in South Africa to raise funds for local needs and they can also volunteer to do charity work in their communities. Yvonne is also involved in other organisations such as raising funds for the Orlando Children’s Home in Soweto. She also runs her own charity organisation called Princess of Africa Foundation; this foundation has provided humanitarian aid across societies. For her constant help throughout South Africa and spreading awareness about Malaria, Yvonne was awarded with the International Global Good Star and Power Award at 2017 BET Awards. She has shared the stage with persons such as Bono, Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox, Youssou N’Dour, South Africans greats like Johnny Clegg, Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, to name a few. She has performed for Queen Elizabeth II, US President Bill Clinton, South African President Thabo Mbeki and a host of other world leaders.

#Yvonnechakachaka #awards #Musician

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risingshine · 1 year ago

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"Tell you what, you get me some Umqombothi and I'll cook you a dish of your choosing, deal? Food for food!"

"I do appreciate it, but Umqombothi is a type of beer, most made from maize, corn and sorghum. Its not high in alcohol, but very rich in vitamin B. Its a comfort drink of mine, and most people are interested in trying it atleast once when they hear about it."

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astronomyforastrologers · 5 years ago

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184314 Mbaba Mwana Waresa & 541132 Leleākūhonua

184314 Mbaba Mwana Waresa & 541132 Leleākūhonua (Two Newly Named Sources of Inspiration! ~ 13 Jun 2020, Philip Sedgwick)

Finally a SkyScraping with something other than COVID-19 discussion and the world gone amok. That’s right, the Minor Planet Center posted two new names for potentially inspiring Kuiper Belt Objects: Mbaba Mwana Waresa and Leleakuhonua. Despite the Sun and Venus in Gemini, it’s going to take a few articulations before those names roll off the tongue.

Mbaba Mwana Waresa supercedes the nomenclature of the minor solar system object 184314, A.K.A. 2005 EO302. The daughter of the sky god Umvelinqangi, she is a fertility goddess for the Zulus in South Africa. She lives in the clouds in a hut made of rainbows. She oversees rain and when she played her bongos it became thunder. She holds powers over water and earth, and within that, she stands as the ruler of agriculture and one of the most revered gods for the Zulus.

As well, she possesses the ability to shapeshift. Another name for her is Nomkhubulwane, which literally translates to “she who chooses the state of an animal.”

Her shape shifting skills came in handy. According to lore, she could not find a suitable mate in the heavens so in the days before Tinder and such, she scoured South Africa for a good partner. She fell in love with a herdsman, Thandiwe. She decided to test his loyalty. She shifted herself into a hag and watched as she sent a lovely bride his way. Thandiwe did not fall for the deception and the overjoyed Mbaba Mwana Waresa and he were married.

The other gods, who looked down on humans, expressed their discontentment with this marriage. She needed a pacification of sorts. Her remedy: She invented beer. Conflict resolved. In honor of her, traditional beer, umqombothi, is made from sorghum and brewed only by women.

A raucous kegger will not honor Mbaba Mwana Waresa. There is a protocol for consuming beer:

First, the female brew master skims the head off the pour and renders it on the ground to honor the ancestors and spirits. The hostess drinks to indicate that the beer is safe to drink. The host drinks to verify the brew is of sufficient quality for his guests. The guests are served. All drink from the same clay pot or gourd (obviously pre-coronavirus) and everyone must sit or squat while drinking. Men are to remove hats, in respect for Mbaba Mwana Waresa and her gifts to the world.

As of zero hour GMT on 14 June, Mbaba Mwana Waresa transits 8 Scorpio 29 within her 305.27 year orbit. Her north node is 0 Aries 30; her perihelion (both positions heliocentric) stands at 29 Sagittarius 46. Her zodiac defined orbital elements align with the cardinal cross for all intents and purposes. What does this mean?

Pull from her a sense of urgency that comes from what is known. Know the seasons, know the time. When it is time to do what you must do and you know it, get on with it, without hesitation. Since she now transits Scorpio, how about getting on with those creative and passionate endeavors that feed the depths of the soul? You know the kind of stuff you have to do no matter what... the kind of stuff that one might cry in their beer if they failed to pursue. We can’t have that! Beat the bongos, ride the rainbows, and get on with it.

From rainbows in South Africa we socially distance astral travel to one of the most rainbow abundant lands in the northern hemisphere: Hawaii nei.

The astronomers watching the most-distant regions of the Kuiper Belt named object 541132 (2015 TG387) as Leleakuhonua. This compelling object came to light as part of the search for Planet 9, the Mars-sized object presumed to be in the orbital realm of Sedna... which will be a full-fledged planet in our solar system when discovered. Previously called “the Goblin” because it was first discovered in October of 2015, Leleakuhonua literally means “where heaven meets the earth,” an appropriate tagline for astrology. One online source speculates the exact location where this meeting of worlds occurs is located immediately beside the Four Seasons Resort on Oahu. You think the green fees were high before! Wait until they hear about this!

Leleakuhonua falls into the astronomical categories of an extreme trans-Neptunian object and sednoid A sednoid is defined as a trans-Neptunian object with a perihelion distance greater than 50 AU and a semi-major axis greater than 150 AU. As an aside, raising the semi-major axis of an object to the 1.5 power will determine the orbital period of that object. In this case the orbital period is 35,762.62 years. That’s no typo. This is an object that orbits our Sun and takes a leisurely damn near 36K years to do so.

The body crosses the ecliptic at 0 Aquarius 47, which offers up the north node. It has an extremely eccentric orbit. As of 0 hours GMT 14 June it transits 10 Aries 13. Given it maintains a perihelion of 28 Taurus 33, the object is closing in on the closest contact to the sun where it travels the fastest. While we might be inclined to assume that an object taking so long to move about the Sun emulates a fixed star and remains in virtually one place in a lifetime, that’s not so. If one were born in 1950, the object moved through 5 degrees of Pisces. In 1958, it passed through about 9 degrees of Pisces... and now at 10 Aries! As such, this is a compelling object to watch.

Presently, chart data for Leleakuhonua remains difficult to find. While Mbaba Mwana Waresa can be added into charts on astro.com, the data for Leleakuhonua is not yet available. The zodiacal positions provided above were converted from raw astronomical data. Ultimately the data will become available and I will generate ephemerides and keywords. So, in that... more to come.

We’re dang near at the 50% point of 2020. It’s been a year right? Believe it or not, despite restrictions, quarantines and such, there is still something to be made of this year. How about a midyear chart check up? You know, the transits to your chart will indicate when you can be getting your goods out there... despite all the evident obstacles. If you wait until Jupiter clears Pluto (12 November) or when he clears Saturn (21 December) or even if you’re postponing for Jupiter and Saturn to go direct in September, you’ll likely have missed some awesome personal momentum. Let’s get that chart checked up. Or order a report to expand astrological horizons or ask a couple questions... you gotta do something while sipping Mbaba Mwana Waresa’s sorghum brew or kombucha scanning the skies for inspiration from Leleakuhonua.

#2005 EO302 #184314 #2015 TG387 #541132 #leleakuhonua #philip sedgwick #mbabamwanawaresa

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stories4africa · 5 years ago

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Is there really more than this?

I know there is more out there. I cannot fully imagine how it looks, tastes or sounds like but I know it is out there. I am tempted to follow this burning urge in me to go and find it but there are a lot of backlashes that I am experiencing. Among them is EXPERIENCE. It is not the green-eyed monster that some people imagined under their bed when they were younger, I must just clarify that I am not among those people, nonetheless, EXPERIENCE is a very scary monster.

It is the one that whispers all these fears that I am trying with everything in me to block. It is the reason for the invisible glass ceiling over my head that I intersect whenever I am climbing the ladder of dreams and future plans.

I know that there is more to me than academics. Mam Khoza (my senior pastor) once asked me a question that left me thinking. She asked but did not expect an answer at that time, but she ignited a thought process that is still continuing in me. “Apart from your academics what are you going to do with your life?”

Perhaps the quotation marks are out of place because those were not her exact words, but they are the words that are on replay in my mind. For as long as I can remember, academics have always taken the highest priority in my life. I needed to be the best. Why? I was not always sure but I always knew that I needed to be the best. My whole life turned to a battlefield, with everything I did always ending up being competitive. You were either with me or competition that I needed to eliminate.

In retrospect, was it the best way I could have went about with my childhood? I am not sure. Anyway, we were discussing the need for more and the monster of experience and not my childhood. Still on the topic though…

Back at school, I guess I was competitive because I truly believed that more had to be out there. I am certain that my surrounding was one factor contributing to that. Daily, I travelled into Queenstown for school from Gqebenya (a village in Lady Frere, Eastern Cape in South Africa), where very little was there to inspire me.

That’s of course not taking into account nature. I must admit that I have always had a thing for the mountains and the sky. When the streets around you are dusty, dry and knocked off like those in my neighbourhood, it helps to find beauty elsewhere. The brewing of summer thunderstorms was always the best cloud-display one could get in the hood. I always secured a front-row seat, from the tiled stoep at the front of the house or by placing an abandoned Castle Lager beer case in the backyard.

Summertime is a little something like this in Gqebenya. The picture is taken from my backyard with Ma’Luja’s house being the white one on the right.

At least then, I would have very few eyes on me, not that people would go out of their way to watch what I was doing. After all, finding people just sitting outside was nothing new. More often than I would have wanted I would see people gathered at Ma’Luja’s house for a round of beers and umqombothi (homemade Xhosa beer). Their gatherings rarely ended peacefully, in contrast, statements drenched with vulgarism would put an end to the loud babbling that filled the whole street. Noise pollution like no other…okay maybe I am being a bit dramatic with the latter statement, but you get the point right?

From pre-school, I remember being introduced to a different world. One that was colourful and full of developments. One where, as a four-year-old, I did not have to fear that one day I was going to drown in the pit latrine and die from suffocation. No, when I was at school, I could flush my waste away and never see or smell it again when I went back to the toilet.

No matter how dreamy that world was, when the clock hit 4 pm I was probably back on my way home and would be forced to quickly face that fear from all the liquids I was drinking on the hour-long journey from town to home. I never really understood why we couldn’t have flushing toilets like the rest of the world (or what seemed to be the rest of the world to my four-year-old mind), but it was such questions that made me want to push for more. Before attending Thistledown Pre-school, I never questioned the way of doing things back home, because my home was the only standard I knew.

As I got older and wiser, not much physically changed around me. People continued doing things as they had always done. The roads and water supply were still a joke. Those with jobs continued with them and a vast majority who were unemployed continued to make umqombothi or attend imicibi (ceremonies/rituals to appease their ancestors) at every opportunity they had. It was not a surprise to see young boys/men my age gathered in a circle and passing a 5-litre enamel container filled with umqombothi around. For a number of years, my father seemed to always find a reason to host these but would put up a fight if I asked him for money related to my growth, but hey that’s a story for another day. We did get a DSTV at some point which accelerated my imagination of the bigger world that lay beyond Gqebenya. It was there that I saw kids with their own rooms, cell phones, cars and swimming pools. They were living the ‘posh life’ that I could only dream of, and dreaming I did do. More often than some would like. If I somewhat found myself getting distracted or too comfortable at school, having to use the toilet at home would always be the reminder I needed.

It was no longer the fear of drowning that haunted me, but the indignity I felt when having to walk to the toilet while some of my neighbours were sitting outside. I could not shake the thought that everyone sees you when you are doing your business and how long it takes you to get it done. Oh, the horror of it all! In reality, I was probably the last thought on people’s minds.

Nonetheless, I would always return from the toilet with the thought that I will change my life with any opportunity I get. So maybe that’s why I wanted to be the best. I felt the need to stand out, so that if anyone was going to be selected to go somewhere, that it would be me without a doubt. Maybe that is why I saw it all as a battlefield because some of my classmates did not walk a day in my shoes. Sure they had their own problems with growing up in townships, but at least they had flushing toilets…many of them.

From the first prize-giving at St Theresa’s Primary School in 2006, until my last one in 2011, I strived for the number one position. With my determination to be the best always being kept in line by the bigger picture embedded within, that a world with more was awaiting.

High School at Maria Louw High was no different. At first, I felt out of place because of the bigger pupil numbers, the taller buildings and the bigger schoolyard but quickly found my feet when I saw Elanor, the head prefect in 2012. She mesmerized me with her black school blazer that displayed badges of achievements on either side. My friends and I joked about how heavy the blazer probably was. Without knowing what the badges were for, I immediately resolved within me that I was going to be like her if not better. Giving God the glory, I did exactly that throughout high school.

This was taken on the prize-giving ceremony in 2013 (my grade 9 year). My mother, Kholisa Kasolo, is the beautiful lady in the picture with me.

It was through my endless involvement in whatever I could do that I saw my potential outside of academics. Without neglecting my school work I also made a mark for myself in leadership and public speaking. Yet none of my achievements would have been possible without the unwavering support of the teachers that stood behind me. The highlight of my high school career was being accepted to study at the Australian National University. The dream to go to nations was always there and that acceptance letter reaffirmed that I was not just some crazy kid with pointless dreams. Although I could not go because of the lack of finances I rejoiced in my victory. In January 2017, I prepared myself to go to Stellenbosch University, with the understanding that it was not my final destination, more awaited me. I still had no clue what the more was.

The level of culture shock I had when I got there, was equivalent to being in a different country. From the architecture, landscape, language and people everything seemed a bit foreign. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good yet intimidating thing. I never openly admitted that to anyone, but rather put on a brave face and ran with the pace that everything was being dished out with. And the first task was getting through welcoming week. Maties O-week is a spectacular, fast-paced and eventful week that one either enjoys or dreads. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but in some quiet moments, I heard the voices inside my head speaking.

If you guessed that experience was one of those voices then you are absolutely correct. That deceptive, vile and loud monster not only recited my shortcomings but constantly painted a picture of the disparity of my background with where I was. It honestly does not take a lot for one to see that the wealth disparity in South Africa unfortunately still exists. “Reality check girl, you don’t belong here. Look at them and look at you. This is their world.”

I continually and consciously fought the wall of separation this villain was building. With much effort, I put out the flames of a “them” that experiencing was busy fueling. This was after all my first time being in a white and Afrikaans dominated environment (in terms of numbers). Sure I did Afrikaans at school but was never exposed to the culture. My school only had Black and Coloured pupils. For the most part, my fight back strategy seemed to work and meeting numerous like-minded people made the journey worth a while.

In no time I learnt to wear my best outfit, my smile, wherever I went in Stellies. Photo credit: C-TheSixth

At the end of the day, we are all just people. I adored the diversity that I encountered like never before. You might think it simple, but being at university allowed me to make Afrikaans, English, Chinese, Indian, Sotho, Tswana, Pedi and Zulu friends on a more frequent base than I was ever exposed to. It was here that I noticed and truly appreciated how unique we all are, but that the uniqueness is not appreciated by all. It was in Stellenbosch that I grasped a part of my identity, that hey I’m a young black, Xhosa female, but it was also here that I found part of my identity to be challenging. “What does it mean to be black in the context of where I am?” “Why am I sometimes treated differently from my white counterparts?” “Does coming from a previously underprivileged environment automatically mean I am incompetent as some people seem to think?” “Is my voice loud enough or does my skin determine the attention I will get?”

Amidst all these questions my resolve to be the best kept me going for the most part. Sure, I did not go to any private or model C school, I did not own a car or expensive clothes, but deep down I knew that those were all just superficial things. I was also not ignorant of the fact that they are not representative of everyone in Stellenbosch and so did not define me. So without fail, academically I continued to pursue the more and bigger picture in my head. I am humbled to say that I performed very well academically to the point of being a Golden Key Honours recipient and being on the Dean’s List for a number of my modules.

So far, I would hope that it is clear how academically orientated my life was, but that’s not all I am about. On the contrary from primary school, I learnt to explore my creative side through writing poetry or stories but rarely performed them publicly. I also enjoyed drama, but because people already had this idea that I was a “serious-smart” child, I mainly kept my creativity to myself, after all, I had an image to uphold. This continued to high school and consequently university. However, I was doing pretty okay and so it did not really matter, until 2019. My year started with a bang, an extraordinary experiencing touring Germany, but that also left a painful marker on my life, which I cannot get into details about at the moment.

This is an image I took in Munich Germany in January 2019. Photo cred: Nalin Singh

The journey of recovery from that incident took a toll on my mentality. For the first time I stopped trying to see everything as good even when it’s not, I forced myself to be honest with myself. As if I did not have enough going on already I encountered parts of my degree that I just did not enjoy and struggled with grasping although it seemed everyone around me was having a jolly time with them. For a change, my identity which was strongly based on being an A-student was tested and I found myself going back to Mam Khoza’s question. “Apart from academics what will you do with your life?” It was also in 2019 that I truly experienced academic racial discrimination in my degree, which was my tipping point, adding to all I was going through.

After this, the battle for my mind became more fierce. My therapist called it a fight to overcome internal oppression. More often than not I wondered whether this was it. “No, there must be more. Your life will not end like this. You are all that and more.” The fighter in me would respond. So I made a frightening yet exciting decision to embark on a journey of searching, which meant cutting a lot of ties. I bid farewell to everything contributing to my struggle.

So have you found it now? Is there really more out there? You might want to ask, but I, unfortunately, cannot give you answers now. The journey still continues and daily I am learning to allow myself to BE more than to DO. The greatest battle is in my mind but I am a victor. So I walk with my head held high.

I’ll keep you posted.

I am Nomvo Faith Kasolo, but you can also call me Vee. Thank you for reading my story…

#LWOS #WriteYourStory #DailyChoosingLife #Living4Christ

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jinodbakai · 7 years ago

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Good muzik, good video! No naked women and no mad men...still classic and evergreen. Can you still remember? GOD bless Yvonne Chakachaka👏 #umqombothi #africanbeer #africa #africans #evergreens #chakachaka #music #legend #southafrica

#africa #africans #africanbeer #southafrica #evergreens #umqombothi #legend #music #chakachaka

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fakazavibes · 5 years ago

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I’m In Love With A DJ – Yvonne Chaka Chaka Yvonne Chaka Chaka - I'm In Love With A DJ Mp3 Download Yvonne Chaka Chaka - I'm In Love With A DJ…

#yvonne chaka chaka - let him go #yvonne chaka chaka - stimela #yvonne chaka chaka - thank you mr dj #yvonne chaka chaka - umqombothi #yvonne chaka chaka - umqombothi original mp3 #yvonne chaka chaka i&039;m in love with a dj #yvonne chaka chaka motherland #yvonne chaka chaka songs mp3 free

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anaissharesmusic · 7 years ago

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#yvonne chaka chaka #south africa #umqombothi #english

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sandovalsandoval51-blog · 6 years ago

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Everything about house music

African Queen was performed through the proficient Nigerian singer 2face Idibia and will be quite possibly the most downloaded African tune of all time. Boasting of a sleek, good sound, African Queen has strike the airwaves in almost all manner of occasions; from weddings to golf equipment and radios, there isn't a limit to where by you can dance to the enchanting rhythms of the song. It celebrates African natural beauty and what can make an African woman jump out. Bass house is usually a variety of house, that appeared in early 2010s. The genre brings together factors of deep house, many forms of "bass music", Specifically brostep, electro house distorted synths, and in addition entice music aspects. The tempo is usually established at all-around one hundred forty BPM, but can be at house tempo, at around 128 BPM. Umqombothi is amongst the songs that make use of using a wealthy charming voice. Finished by Yvonne Chaka Chaka inside the neighborhood Xhosa language, it talks about a neighborhood South African beer constructed from malt, yeast, maize malt and sorghum. We welcome recommended improvements to any of our posts. You can also make it simpler for us to evaluation and, ideally, publish your contribution by preserving some points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica content are composed in a neutral objective tone for a general viewers. Archaeologists explain to us which the oldest human bones are actually unearthed around the continent of Africa, and so it follows then that the initial music have to even have emanated in the expressive and rhythmic limbs and dark countenances from the African peoples. Clearly we have to make a leap of faith in this article with regards to extrapolating from identified details about ancient cultures, and positively new facts is consistently staying introduced that may or may not guidance current theories of human origins. But, for the sake of argument we are going to make the idea that human beings commenced their sojourn into the whole world on the continent called Africa. African music mainly because it is understood now was also formed by variations inside the ecology of the continent, which drove individuals into other lands, thus creating alterations in their art. With the drying of the Sahara, one example is, populations tended to shift southward. You'll find three attribute dance postures. An upright posture which has a straight back again is employed being an expression of authority within the dance of chiefs and clergymen. In the second posture the dancer inclines forward from your hips, transferring his focus and gestures towards the ground. In the 3rd posture the dancer holds the torso nearly parallel to the bottom, getting your body excess weight onto the balls of your feet. For most cultures, a dance is usually concerning two men and women. While in the African society, a dance will likely be done by a Neighborhood or group and for a selected goal.The thought of Utilitarianism indicates that the value of the detail is dependent upon its use, and never its beauty. In many ways, African music is really a utilitarian perform Employed in essential components of everyday living like, a kid’s naming ceremony, initiation rights, agricultural things to do, nationwide ceremonies, war periods, spiritual ceremonies and ceremonies for your lifeless. (Discovering Africa) It can be employed as either a solo instrument or as accompaniment to an ensemble. Vii. Mauritian Instruments - Including the Kayamba that is a flat percussive instrument of sorts made up of reed and crammed with seed located in the region, possibly Jequirity or Canna seeds. The instrument is shaken with the two hands eliciting a rich sound not dissimilar towards the seem of maracas, and persuasive to dancers and Other people during the ceremony. Yet another instrument within the Mauritian region could be the Ravanne which is taken into account by a lot of while in the area as the most important instrument inside the provision of the basic rhythm needed for a given ceremony. The Ravanne is a sizable Tambourine-like instrument performed by Keeping it in one's lap and beating upon it, or by putting on it on the strap. A fascinating actuality concerning the Ravanne is the fact it's product of goatskin and has to be heated up right before participating in it to provide it its most full and expressive sound. Africa, entire world’s second major continent has a lengthy and wealthy history of common music and folklore. African songs Ordinarily narrate wonderful stories with vibrant drum beats accompanied by dance and rhythm. African Dance music are thought to get the oldest in existence, and narrate various epics, from poems to folklore. Most African music are based on day-to-day routines and also the emotional worry that folks undergo of their working day-to-day lives. myAfroHits aims to pave the way in which With regards to offering you with carefully hand picked best of Afro-hit, Afrobashment and hist from/by Africans all around the planet. Secular masqueraders who complete as entertainers have emerged in the ritual societies. The Egungun entertainers from the Oyo-Yoruba, one example is, carry out at Egungun ancestral festivals, but They might be invited to carry out for just a rate as entertainers, often touring to neighbouring towns to gain funds (Though They're obliged to supply sacrifices to their ancestors ahead of performing). "We are transferring toward an African bulk which can be diverse the two in its cultural practices As well as in its partnership to colonial and postcolonial governance, Therefore the shift clear of Caribbean dominance really should be positioned in that location. Miriam played a vast majority of her music in the form of "mbube", which was "a variety of vocal harmony which drew on American jazz, ragtime, and Anglican church hymns, together with indigenous variations of music." Right after she moved into the U.S., issues with Makeba's passport occurred and she or he experienced to stay in America, it had been said that she place an American twist on most of her African music. She had a very varied scale of her vocal assortment and will hit Pretty much any note.[19][round reference] "The Empress of African Music" died at the age of seventy six.[20]

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