Weekends Away Titbits
Weekends in the city quite often mean loads of work, which is par for the course when running your own business or when you are climbing the corporate ladder.
The up side about living in our fantastic city though is that there is such an enormous selection of things to choose from in the evening.
Our evenings were delightful, we spent time exploring culture - the theatre culture and the Hindu culture.
Oliver had booked tickets for Nipple Caps and G-strings. What a brilliant show and also an interesting insight into the stripping industry that has taken Jo’burg by storm.
On Saturday we were invited to the Indian Food Festival at Emperors. They had an incredible dance show - a fusion between Indian dancing and Zulu dancing which worked brilliantly and highlighted our multi culti society.
I also found out about the Hindu festival - Raksha Bandhan, which took place over this period.
‘Raksha Bandhan’ or ‘Rakhi’ is a special occasion to celebrate the chaste bond of love between a brother and a sister, which is one of the deepest and noblest of human emotions.
It is celebrated by tying a holy thread around the wrist. This thread, which pulsates with sisterly love and sublime sentiments, is rightly called the ‘Rakhi’. It means ‘a bond of protection’, and Raksha Bandhan signifies that the strong must protect the weak from all that’s evil.
Now you too know a little more about the wonderful diverse cultures that we live with in South Africa!
The winner of a weekend for two to Kievietskroon is Steve Wiseman - well done! Thank you Kievietskroon for the prize -
Have a wonderful week -
With love
The Weekends-Away team.
Corporate
Laughter therapy is a rather unusual activity to introduce to the work place. However, having experienced two sessions I can honestly say it is great. That coming from somebody who is inherently shy in crowds and has great difficulty expressing emotions!
Laughter therapy is the perfect way to start a difficult meeting or a great way to end one -
From first impressions to the so-called daily grind, professionals are finding that the use of humor can perform workplace wonders. It may aid communication, establish empathy, diffuse tough situations and even build the bottom line.
Studies show that humor may increase productivity on the job. Research by Lee Berk, a medical researcher in humor and laughter, shows that good-natured or mirthful laughter can:
- Increase the immune system’s activity;
- Decrease stress hormones, which constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity; and
- Increase the antibody immunoglobulin A, which protects the upper-respiratory tract.
“Who wouldn’t want that kind of benefit?”
Email me to book a session before your next budget meeting! jenny@weekends-away.com
Team-Building Activity of the Week:
Not only can you order your company Christmas gifts through Street Wires, you can also do teambuilding with the Street Wires Team -
Spend an afternoon or evening after a conference learning the Art of Wire Art -
The most likely origins of this art form are the tranquil hills of Maputoland and Zululand in rural Northern Kwazulu-Natal, in the North-East corner of South Africa. For many years, due to a lack of resources to buy proper toys, the young herdboys of these regions have been fashioning their own out of discarded coathanger wire, tin cans and whatever else they can get their hands on. Their ingenuity is quite amazing, and it is not an uncommon sight to see one of these boys steering a fully functional, made-to-scale model car crafted solely from discarded materials, complete with independent axles, fully functional steering column and a keen attention paid to details such as licence plates, headlights and in some cases, optional extras like mag wheels and free-flow exhausts……
Email jenny@weekends-away.com to order your Christmas Gifts or to spend some time doing Wire Art -
Conference Speakers International
Conference Speakers International
Patricia’s journey shadowed that of her adventurer ancestors, Sir Richard Glyn and his brother Robert, who came to Africa in 1863 because they’d read David Livingstone’s account of ‘The Smoke That Thunders’ and wanted to see this mighty cascade and to hunt Africa’s big game.
Using Richard’s diary about the old party’s trip, Patricia found and walked their route along the 19th-century wagon trails that once snaked along the great river systems of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. She crashed through thick bush and deep Kalahari sand, walked unarmed in Big Five territory and consorted with Zimbabwe’s notorious ‘war veterans’. When her ancestors’ wagons moved, so did she, where they stopped for provisions, so did she - eventually reaching The Falls on exactly the same day as they had, 142 years later.
Patricia’s talk about her walk is richly illustrated by magnificent slides and wonderful video footage. It highlights how much the subcontinent has changed in the century-and-a-half between these expeditions, and comprises a very personal wake-up call to the destruction for which we are all responsible. The presentation is also about Patricia reaching her destination through the kindness and hospitality of Africa’s rural people. It’s a tale about personal development, as the woman who could hardly read a map learned how to navigate by GPS and lead her two-person back-up team through the thirst land on the peripheries of the Kalahari. It’s about the crew’s near disasters, their highs and their lows. It’s about the wonder and simple delights of camping in the great African outdoors. It’s a tale about meeting challenges, facing fear and being rewarded with great insights and even greater peace. The presentation is brutally honest, extremely funny in places and deeply moving.
To book Patricia for your next event,
please call Robyn on (011) 465 4447/57 or 0861SPEAKERS
Incentive
One of my goals in life has been to attend the Olympics and I cannot think of a better place to see them than China!
At 8pm on 8th August 2008, the Games of the XXIX Olympiad will be officially opened in Beijing in front of a global audience from over 140 countries.
With 35 sports, over 400 events, a TV audience of nearly 4 billion people and over 5000 athletes competing, the Olympics has become the greatest sporting event in the world.
From the track and field to the swimming, from the tennis to the beach volleyball, the Olympics really does offer you the opportunity to watch any number of sports over a short period of time, and this is an exclusive opportunity to be there to witness the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet.
Start planning your incentive trip for next year now in order to avoid disappointment!
Email jenny@weekends-away.com for more info
Adventure News
THE LONGEST ONE-DAY MTB EVENT IN THE WORLD!!
Tony and Wickus win the Trans Baviaans in new record time - herewith a report from McCain Adventure Addicts
Thursday, 23 August 2007
McCain Adventure Addicts report from Trans Baviaans MTB Race
The McCain Adventure Addicts headed down to the Eastern Cape in late August for the annual Trans Baviaans Mountain Bike Marathon. The Trans Baviaans is considered to be the longest one day mountain bike race in the world and it delivers big time. Basically you hop on your bike in the one horse town of Willowmore and head down and through the spectacular Baviaanskloof till you reach Jeffrey’s Bay 230km later and within the 24 hour cut-off time. The route is not marked so the teams consisting of two to four riders are issued with route books and required to pass through various checkpoints along the course. The McCain Adventure Addicts entered two teams for this event. A male trio of Graham “Tweet” Bird, James Lea-Cox and Stuart Rawlinson and a mixed pair of Rob McGloughlin and Alice “Pies” Rawlinson.
The Addicts flew down to PE on the Friday evening and then hired what Tweet claimed to be a Ferrari for a 3 hour drive to a farmhouse just outside Willowmore. After numerous near death encounters with prancing kudu’s and smaller antelope the trio arrived at a typical karoo farmhouse together with quite a few animals trophies adjoining the walls. Nevertheless, we slept well that night except for Rob who was kept awake by a snoring farmer.
The report makes for delightful reading and for the cyclists out there, you can read more on: http://ndorfin.co.za/news/
Competition
Win accommodation and dinner along the Midlands Meander -
Accommodation is on Stocklands Farm - set in 10 acres of garden and pastures, this 150 year-old stone house with original yellowwood ceilings and doors offers luxurious accommodation in either private en-suite bedrooms or in self-catering cottages. www.stocklandsfarm.co.za
Dinner is at Yellow Wood Café - www.yellowwood.co.za
In order to win 1 night’s accommodation and dinner for two send your email address to Tamara (tamara@weekends-away.com)
Please also refer to a friend - for each referral, you receive an additional entry -
Training
On 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister achieved the “impossible” and broke the 4-minute mile barrier… 46 days later, Landy ran 3:57.9. And Bannister now reckons about 2,000 runners have broken four minutes since his race.
The belief that “sub 4 minutes” was impossible had been shattered and all of a sudden the “Impossible” becomes the “Achievable.”
Beliefs are the driving force behind everything you do, think, and feel. They shape how you see the world and how you see yourself. Beliefs can massively help or hinder the realisation of your full potential
SI Group’s “Power of Belief” eradicates the beliefs that limit performance and unleashes the vast potential inside every individual. Individuals learn how to create helpful and reinforcing beliefs in themselves and their capabilities, resulting in confidence, gravitas and increased personal impact.
We would like to invite you to the BREAKFAST presentation on “POWER OF BELIEF”
Date: Thursday, 20 September 2007
Time: 7:30am for 8:00am
Venue: The Johannesburg Country Club, Woodmead
Fee: R250 excluding VAT
As Archimedes said, “Give me one firm spot to stand on and I will move the Earth.”
For more information, contact: Rebone or Terje 011 453 0555 or
E-mail:hrpractice@hrpractice.co.za
Activist Issues
Do a little - care a little
One simple hour of support, playing games, talking about friends, going for ice-cream, helping with home work and most importantly just being there. An hour may not mean much to us? But an hour can make a lifetime’s worth of difference to some people.
BBBSSA is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping children and youth at risk between the ages of 6 -18 years. It is a mentoring programme that matches youth in need with carefully selected and trained adult volunteers in one- to-one relationships that help them maximize their potential.
BBBSSA operates in Cape Town , Gauteng, Pretoria and Kwa -Zulu Natal . We run the following Programmes at each branch: Schools, Children’s Homes , Diversion Programme for youth in conflict with the law and a Programme in support of those affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.
By volunteering just one hour of your week for one year, you can forever influence the life of one of these children. By helping them maximise their potential, you will be giving them hope for a better future.
If you would like to become a Big or require more information about BBBSSA, please contact us at Tel: 021- 551 6996 , 011 -673 3088 , 031- 461 5657 or 033-3456929
Email: makeadifference@bbbssa.org.za , bbbsgauteng@bbbssa.org.za , bbbskzn@bbbssa.org.za or Visit our website: www.bbbssa.org.za
Thought for the week
Transform Obstacles
Is life an obstacle course? Sometimes it may feel like it. If you join the military you will be sent around an obstacle course of increasing degrees of difficulty. Why? To increase your strength and stamina and expand your creative capacity under strain. So it is on the course called ‘life’ - you can choose to perceive people, situations or events as obstacles, or you can choose to use these things to strengthen and expand your capacity to be creative and to find ways round, under, over. The choice lies in your perception. Obstacles are never ever ‘out there’, they are always in our own minds.
Help keep our country and it’s cities tidy
A tidy city is the sign of a civilized society
!