Hey everybody!

[OuJan]

Hallo there! I'm here because of Alison's kind invite.

I'm a born and bred South African whose forebears came from France, the Netherlands, and (apparently) Scandinavia as well - from my mom's side.

I'm married and have twin boys - teenagers. (Sigh..:rolleyes2:) We moved to Portland, Oregon (USA) just over four years ago when my wife accepted a job offer as an accountant. I'm a stay-home-dad and I'm not allowed to work because of visa constraints - that's the way the system works.

I'm not moaning though; somebody has to clean, cook and do the shopping. Me!

We have applied for permanent residency and are anxiously waiting for a reply from the authorities. It can take a while though.

And there you have it. There's more, but then we'll have to talk copy right, movie rights and so on...;)

[Loki]

Hello OuJan, welkom by Apricity! :)


I'm a stay-home-dad and I'm not allowed to work because of visa constraints - that's the way the system works.


Ah that sounds ideal! :D Let's call it the Finnish model ... the wife works and the husband stays at home, looking after the kids. It's fairly normal in Finland I hear. :D

[GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS]

Hey there OuJan, may I ask what your political beliefs are?

[Groenewolf]

Welcome.

[Stormraaf]

Welkom aan boord, OuJan :wave

[Vulpix]

Hi and a warm welcome to the Apricity OuJan :thumb001:!!

[The Dragonslayer]

Welcome. Hope you like it here.

[OuJan]

Thanks for the words of welcome.

Dankie vir die verwelkoming.

Gustavus, I'm neither ultra-right, nor ultra-left. I tend to be on the conservative side.

[WFHermans]

Welkom OuJan! :cheer_icoon::jump0000::cheer_icoon:

[Osweo]

Two teenage boys! Phew - you lucky yet deeply unfortunate man! ;)

Howdo!
Good luck with the Residency thing!

[Alison]

Hiya OuJan! Good to have you onboard, hon. :)

[Saksenland]

Welcome, great to see Afrikaans-speakers :)

[Absinthe]

Welkom!


I'm married and have twin boys - teenagers.

Oh my...sounds like parental nightmare :p

[Alison]

Absinthe, his boys are so lovely. Well mannered and very good looking!

[Absinthe]

Absinthe, his boys are so lovely. Well mannered and very good looking!
I take your word for it! :D I have teenage siblings (one boy, one girl) and everytime I visit, I see my father struggling to handle them, especially the boy...today's teenagers are wild!
And I mean it, they're much more susceptible to a great number of things than when I was a teenager...it must be a handful to raise kids at the present age. So many bad influences everywhere :(

[Alison]

I don't have too much of a problem. mine are 13 and 11. I'm very strict, especially when it comes to manners and back-chatting. My husband is more laid back with the boys wrt that sort of thing.

My oldest son is going to an all boys igh school next year where they have the strictest code of conduct. I like the school. It enforces gentlemanly behaviour. Check out the link if you like. :)

www.jeppeboys.co.za

[Absinthe]

Nice! Manners is an essential feature, mostly neglected in modern parenting...

My grandmother was taught strict table manners and 'savoir vivre' by her german nanny, and in return she taught me, how to behave in public, how to eat properly and all that jazz.
She would make me eat with books under my arms and take my food away if I dropped them.
The german nanny locked my grandma's sister in the attic with one specific dish that she would refuse to eat (artichokes?) until she would be starving enough to eat it. She never snobbed any kind of food again (talk about german efficiency!) :D

She taught my father as well, but he ended up spoiling his own kids (my siblings) and the result is that they immersed their hands in food when they were younger, climbed on the table to reach something and played with food...let alone behaving very badly (and loudly) in public, which was quite embarassing when we all went out together.

I often pondered at the usefulness of such a school for such kids... ;)

[Alison]

Ah yes, good manners are essential. The world seems to have forgotten them for the most part. :)

[Aragorn]

Welcome and enjoy