12 Nov 2007

Seven II


As you know, I was tagged by Meghna .......to do a meme! Read what a meme is....(pronounced like in "dream")...on a post of 2 days ago......OK, it was REALLY very difficult to decide WHERE to start first, as my time is now very little after starting an IT course today! So, I had to think very fast what I will post, as there are so MANY things I could write about!!, but to limit it to only SEVEN! That was very difficult....I made a list, crossed out, started with another, crossed out again...and then just started with what jumped to my mind!!I will have to do another one and another and another and another and.....wow....
First of all, I do LOVE teaching, as I see teaching as a CALLING and not "just a job"...(like I heard some teachers saying that here in London..) for me it is NOT "just a job!!!!"........My great grandad left Holland to teach in South Africa and I think the "teaching -blood" is running through my veins! Click here to see pictures of the current school. The old school, which was in his very own house, is about 2 km from the current school.

I used to teach Primary and don't think I ever want to teach Secondary......but if I have to.....It will have to be a subject like ICT only, as I do like IT and to incorporate ICT in any aspect of my teaching.
I love reading, I LOVE books...not just "like" it....I have about a library packed away in South Africa and have slowly started to build one again. Children's books....adult books...If I'm teaching, you will always find me in a bookshop, leaving with many books! A book as a present to me...and you will make my day! I also like writing stories. During secondary school, I used to get good marks for creative writing...what we also call "composition"....and I was always eager to get homework in composition....I just loved to let my mind flow....



Poetry!!! On this picture you can see a famous and well-known South African poet...Totius...(pen name) .....J D du Toit....he wrote some fantastic poems, some of them very moving, like the one about the death of his own child, killed by lightning....really an emotional poem! His daughter stood by an open window, when lightning struck and he was there to witness everything...as his poem tells us...read my translated version of his poem at the bottom of the post...

South Africa!!! ........I love my country to bits! I have a passion for South Africa. South Africa will always be THE place to be!! No other country is as beautiful as South Africa. On this picture you can see Simonstown...Cape Town...


And.......of course........if you don't know it by now...you will NEVER know! CHESS!!! I never played it at school. During Primary at the age of about 10, my brother taught me...I got my first chess book at the age of 12 from my one sister.....with Fischer/Spasski games in the back....I do like Bobby Fischer's games.....I played them through as a child as I had no one to play with!! No one in my family wanted to play chess!!...then at Secondary...it was always just BOYS when we were called to play chess...and I felt intimidated by them...no other girls! And the boys...always giving you the "look"...as if they wanna say..."hey...a girl playing chess!! how is that possible!"...I really started to get into chess when at my second school, the Headteacher asked me to start chess.......and I was over the moon! My kids really did well....I left at that school with two teams, each team.... 10 players and two reserves and a lot of Junior children...in South Africa they are Gr1-Gr3 (7-9 year old) kids in line to join the teams later... (If you click on this pic, you will see a good checkmate position, this player's rating is a bit low, he only started playing quite recently, but has picked-up very quickly and sometimes, I really have to be very careful with my moves! We play friendlies and while playing, I try to help him with the closing of his games, as this is where his problem lies at the moment.)

I like the colour red ....although purple-pinkish is also one of my favourites...This top is a beautiful top!
...CATS!! I'm a catlover! Cats are peaceloving animals! They have personalities of their own and they have their own language to speak to you!! Listen to your cat!! and try to understand his language!!

The poem that follows now, is the one Totius wrote about his child. When I have time, I will try to translate it....



O die pyn-gedagte
Totius....(JD du Toit)
O Die pyn-gedagte: My kind is dood! . . .
dit brand soos 'n pyl in my.
Die mense sien daar niks nie van,
en die Here alleen die weet wat ek ly.


Die dae kom en die nagte gaan
die skadu's word lank en weer kort;
die drywerstem van my werk weerklink,
en ek gaan op my kruisweg voort.


Maar daar skiet aldeur 'n pyn in my hart,
so, dat my lewe se glans verdwyn;
Jou kind is dood met 'n vreeslike dood!
En – ek gryp my bors van die pyn.


O Die bliksemgedagte! . . . Ja, lieflingskind,
een straal het jou skone liggaam verskroei,
maar bliksemstrale sonder tal
laat my binneste brand en bloei.

Sy was so teer soos 'n vlindertjie,
sy't lugtig omheen geswerf;
'n asempie wind kon haar vlerkies breek
en – kyk watter dood moes sy sterf!

Hoe weinig die kinders wat so moet sterf,
dis een uit die tienduisend-tal,
en ag, dat dit sy was, en ek moes sien
dat sy dood in my arms val!

O Die pyn-gedagte: My kind is dood! . . .
dit brand soos 'n pyl in my;
die mense die sien daar niks nie van,
en die Here alleen die weet wat ek ly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...as I promised...a translation of the poem!
Read my English translation of the poem HERE ....

Oh the painful thought

16 comments:

  1. Could you translate?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Dan...will try when time allows....;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous13.11.07

    Very interesting information about yourself! I'd like to see your translation of the poem, e.g. how wil you translate "pyngedagte"? My English is not good enough, I'd never translate into English... er... I just remembered I once translated an Afrikaans song into English, I'll blog it some time!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Kop!Sien my probeerslag!! kom, kom! laat jy jou deeltjie ook hier doen....:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for the translation. It was a very moving piece.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Dan...dunno if it is 100%...would like Chris and Bib/Skoor to post their views too...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous14.11.07

    Nee wat, jy't dit heel okay gedoen!

    Is die kindjie nie dood toe hy besig was met die vertaling van die Bybel nie? Ek wil my so iets verbeel.

    Soek bietjie 'waar ruwe rotse' - ek dink, en nou dink ek diep, dis CM vd Heever. Net so moving. Maar daai ou het net donker ink gebruik as hy skryf, want sy goed is als so swaaaaar.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ek dink ons het baie gedeelde belangstellings. Baie geluk met jou vertaling van Totius. Ek het nie aanvanklik besef JY het dit actually vertaal nie. Well done!
    Nou nog net 1 vragie: Is dit Jy in daardie rooi top....?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Boer..dankie vir jou kommentaar...mens weet nie altyd of jy dit beter kon gedoen het nie...nee, dis nie ek in die top nie, maar my bou is min of meer dieselfde...lol...! as dit is wat jy wou weet! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your final revision flows very smoothly. Hard to read without crying.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous14.11.07

    Hi...thought I'd check in to see what you were posting and saw this poem. It brings tears to my eyes, because as you personally know, I've been through this more than once. Gavriella comes to mind, and a few others over the years. Yes, only God knows my suffering, agony and anguish of heart, not once, not twice, not three times, but way too many times, way too many times.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Aan Kop..dankie vir die voorstelle, ek het die woord "damage" behou, dis vir my bietjie meer kragtig as "break"...ek weet nie wat jy dink nie, die verandering van die "people don't see"...is vir my beter en ek het ook 'n paar ander woorde weggelaat, ek dink hy lees nou regtig beter, soos Dan ook hier in Engels se...
    --------------------------
    Hi Dan...thanks for your comments

    ----------------------------
    Hi Angelle...glad to see you around...yes, I know about the suffering you went through...many times..."God only knows"...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous15.11.07

    Thanks for accepting some om my changes! I find rythm in poetry quite important. I think it's very readable now, if you should try to get the same rhyme pattern as well, it becomes very hard!

    Hey Boer! Wat loer jy?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Kop! Yes, I agree that "the people don't see anything"....was really a big improvement on my "people see nothing"...as it got the rhythm more like i wanted it...i wasn't happy with the poem from the start and edited it about 10 times! I wondered how many times did I tell Dan that he can check again...and Tony...:))...and what do you think about damage/break?
    I don't mind that much about rhyme in poetry....I like to write my own and some of them have no rhyme...but rhythm is quite important to me...

    ~~~~~ Boer....wie loer kry niks! lol.....

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is what I really love about blogging and reading blogs, espescially about South Africa, Africa, discovering an Afrikaans Poet I havent read before, the exciting prospect of finding more of his work;
    The naked truth of what I want to write and what I do write maybe I should just fold my tent and slip away in to the night.
    The passion to promote My country South Africa enflamed.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10.4.08

    Hi stanaxe


    http://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/seven-ii/

    I'm now blogging at Wordpress...in detail...so here is the same post.. ;)

    yes, take your tent and slip away... and enjoy!!

    ReplyDelete