Friends get creative.

We have some seriously creative FRIENDS amongst us. After what clearly was an inspiring trip to the Johannesburg Art Gallery on Sunday, Robin Hering conducted a little exercise with some of the FRIENDS. - Florian, Corien, Eloy, Alex, Henrik, Bea, Philip, Anoek and Martin became AFRICA in human writing. Good job guys!

Cutting onions in the kitchen, crying cause we miss Martin Ubben :( travel safe friend! 

MUGSHOTS @ FRIENDS

Time to say goodbye..

Goodbye to Annabel, Simone, Marieke and Marlies! Was really wonderful making friends with you. All the best for your next adventures :)

Sjoe! I'm pretty amazed at how much socializing one can actually fit into one month. These interns/researchers/young working people don't waste time. When they're not working they're either chilling hard, seeing South Africa, having fun or some lovely combination of the three! April has been a super happening month here at FRIENDS..

Over the Easter weekend 12 of us went to Durban for a mini beach holiday.  We spent plenty of time on the beach, playing ball and tanning.

Some of the guys (and girls) went SHARK-DIVING! Eeeek... scary stuff.

We balanced all the beaching and braai-ing with an educational bus tour of Durban... very interesting and informative - who would've known there was building named after John Rousse..? 

On the way home we stopped in Howick to see the spot where Nelson Mandela was captured. This sculpture was put up by the National Apartheid Museum. Interesting historical outing and a really pretty stop-over.

                                                

So that trip was how we started the month off, since then...

a trip to the Drakensburg mountains,

 some live South African soccer,

some party nights in Pretoria,

half price sushi for dinner,

and open air cinema in the CBD.

 Ai ai ai. My new family/friends are not only good conversation and super interesting people they are keeping me on my toes! This 'living life to the full' business is flipping fantastic!

Welcoming Henrik, he just made 18 new Friends today :)

quick dinner then heading out to go watch a movie tonight, also welcoming Henrik who arrived today...the more the merrier they say. Have a good night friends and stay warm!

On the flip side.....we are also having a farewell :(... PARTY!!  :)...on Friday. 
Its getting a bit chilli here so we will most definitely serve rooibos tea..hehe..See you there friends...

Hello Social Manager!

"Hello Social Manager!" I'm starting to get used to hearing this on a daily basis. What a title - Social Manager. I wonder where else in the world you'd find this kind of job description - it's definitely something that makes more sense when you know that the name of the business is FRIENDS. 'Cause friends socialize - right? And that takes some management.. especially when the friends are still getting to know one another and the city.

I've been here just over a month and man oh man is this one interesting set-up. I've met people I never would have otherwise. In this, my home town, Pretoria, I've suddenly become exposed to a world of ideas and interests. From a handful of European countries, FRIENDS is currently hosting some German engineers, a couple of Dutch social-workers, a variety of political scientists, some physiotherapists, a couple of French teachers and a few others that I'm still getting to know. All young, hip and happening, super-driven, uber-focused, hard-working and friendly faced twenty-somethings. 

 It seems to me that the kind of people who decide to go to South Africa to do an internship are really a special breed. A friend of mine who studied in New York said that what makes studying there so special is the kind of people you end up meeting - everyone there is there because they made a mission to be there - they have a plan, a cause and a drive to go deeper, further and bigger. Pretoria is no New York but I think there's something similar at play here at FRIENDS. I like it. Suddenly I'm part of an international, inter-disciplinary group of world-changers. I like my new friends. They inspire me to keep growing, keep thinking and keep putting myself in new, challenging situations. Think I'll need to write a play (my other job) about them at some point.. In the mean time I have a well of dinner conversations to get the inspiration going; not to mention a few fascinating characters!

Looking forward to sharing some more on this platform in the future - for those who are or were or will be FRIENDS.

Signing out
Loraine - Social Manger @ FRIENDS