Week 1

Hey There!
 

This week has been the most exciting and rewarding, starting at a new firm and meeting new people! I have had fun and I am sure it does not end here. Work is pure bliss...but I get so caught up in it. Yesterday I finished some drawings only to discover that the line weights did not come out in a good of a condition but my colleague gave me advice on where I can improve so that I can show the boss as soon as they are up to standard.
 

Today I am going to take breaks when I'm meant to and not overwork myself because yesterday, I paid greatly for that by getting the hugest headache ever. I even couldnt grab anything to eat because of wanting to finish..BUT luckily I woke up and everything was fine and I could come to work. Now I am taking it easy and making sure that I do not stare at the screen so much...Hopefully I'll manage to post some of the work I have completed on the blog soon...but for now, ITS BACK TO WORK!

//Yoli//

Job.....CHECK!!!!!!

I have finally found a job...with NN architects! After that life just went at a fastforward. My job is all the way in East London. I had to move quickly and waste no time...Monday 21st of Feb, I was due to start at work.

I met with my employer, Mr N Nduku and the rest of the team...and I have to mention how warm and welcoming they all were. My first day started off with a meeting and consisted of two main tasks, namely doing some elevations and sections and going on site to meet with one of the clients, Eskom.

I am still finding my way around work and around town...it's not as big as Cape town therefore that is not too much of a task. Right now, my biggest aim is to learn and grasp as much as I can. Hopefully I will have a good workmanship and stay here, but from what I've endured so far so, that hope does not seem too far fetched at all. Till next time....

//Yoli//

Job Search

OH!
Its yet another week and I am still Job searching...it's greulling and tiresome but having friends and family who support goes a really long way.

At first I started out looking for a job on my own, now  everybody around me is on the lookout for me too. I definitely had no idea that job searching could be so hard. It needs a strong, persevering heart...which I'm tryng to by all means to hold on to. I have been calling ,e-mailing and visiting firms, but still to no avail. Hopefully soon I will be laughing about these times with my fellow mates over drinks. But really, I am struggling to get that job..and at times I think to myself that it is so unfair having to struggle so much knowing what I could offer and am capable of..one company even sent me an email to stop pestering them with my cv...lol( yeah, that gives you an idea how persistent I can be)..sad to say..I sent yet another email to that same company...and a train's head of other companies...time is running out..and although I started my job hunting last year..it feels as if I have just begun..

In conclusion...I do have hope that my job is waiting for me out there and I am going to look back on these hard times and think...it was all worthwhile in the end!

//Yoli//

Simphiwe Dana - Mayine( please read my 'This is me' post while listening to this track...)

Simphiwe Dana - Mayine

This is me...

My name is Yolanda Mfikili, studying Architectural Technology at The Cape Peninsula University of Technology. I have recently just finished my first year of study. I chose this field of study since I always seek for challenges
which I believe are a sure way to tell that one is still alive and growing.
Architecture challenges me everyday and I am sure that for as long as it does,
it remains something that is of interest to me and has always been a dream to
study. The minute it stops being challenging which  I doubt will ever happen, it would  mean it is dead and thus that will force me to look for a new interest. Dreams get you into the future and add excitement to the present. The next step would be to cultivate this dream to help it flourish.

I love collecting souvenirs from every place I travel to. Recently I've been to Swaziland and what a beautiful place it is.                                                                                                That country is one of  the few which is ruled by a king. It is so rich and cultured and quite backward. It is not riddled with alot of buildings like Cape town and Johannesburg and the roads are quite narrow. The earth is so rich and red. At times when we drove by some Swati ladies even dug some clay out, they have it as a casual delicacy. Oh I Ioved that place. Their architecture is not as advanced as ours though, what wouldv'e been a corrugated shack to us, to them is one made using clay. Nature is dominant majestically with vegetation abundant possibly everywhere you look.

At the moment I have my Bible at my bedside, obviously meaning that I read a scripture each day before I go to sleep, this is to keep me grounded and balanced after each day whether it have been hectic or joyous. I will soon expand my reading collection and have some architectural journals for some brain-food.

I find inspiration from God since he provides me with the energy to think big and create with reference to the nature He created to envelope us as humans of all colour to share and explore.                        

                       I also find inspiration from the most random of things whether they be designs on a sweet packet... to the lovely shades of  natural light cast on an object.The idea is of appreciating and working with/around what life gives us.                      


I love the sound of the ocean, that sound is my most basic indication of telling that life is happening and is not just a dream but a reality and that we must live in each moment and make something valuable of  it.

My favourite music is Neo-soul and basically calm, sentimental and nostalgic music.                                            

 I love the smell of freshness from the smell of leather seats of a brand new car to the crisp fresh air of morning dew on grass...


The photograph i love the most currently shows me in a red pants jumping depicting joy and excitement ...thats because I'm in Swaziland excited to go off and see places and meet some Swatis. : ). My favourite food is an african dish called Umphokoqo.

I didn't have a definition for architecture before because there is simply too many to choose from until a man called Proffessor Raman who is the architectural technology HOD gave a lecture on some precedent and happened to mention that Architecture is the art of consruction...that definition stuck with me because it explained such a complex subject into just one simple sentence without the use of jargon.                                          

My favourite colour is turquoise.
                                                                                           

I can really relax when im in the presence of my family...they know me better than anyone else and I relax when praying because I forget about everything which causes me distress.

Simphiwe Dana - Ndim Nawe