Letsgettherockoutofhere

@BarneySimon We had a prop in an Afrikaans school who was, 5 foot 6, 125kg, and as wide as he was tall. He's real name was Cobus so he became "Kubus" .

What's the best rugby nickname you've ever heard?!👀😅

@garymeyerca Well said and we'll written. 👍🏻💪🏻😁

@Jarrod_Delport @garymeyerca My favorite too😆

@garymeyerca Great read, Gary. An excellent and astute representation of true South African work ethic. The absolute winner was: “You are working with people who can function in chaos, which makes them exceptional in difficult environments and mildly dangerous in functional ones.”

@shadow_editzz @popped_blog We're in same boat. Not easy but I believe we will all get there. Just not at the same time.

@popped_blog Happy for them but still a lot of us that are waiting for our last interview going 4 Months now but sure will happen soon 👌

Around 35 of the Safugees, that I'm in direct contact with, confirmed receipt of their flight details with me over the last 48 hours. This is a MASSIVE increase. I usually only hear from about 4 or 5 people per batch booking. God is so good ✝️🙏🤍

@popped_blog @DebraJoy108 @andrea_spook I just teared up from gratitude.

@DebraJoy108 I know right 😁 I was telling @andrea_spook just now that I have goosebumps and want to cry.

@popped_blog Wow. That's great news. Thanks for the inside scoop. 😁👍🏻

@Lolita721611021 This is so beautiful. 💪🏻🇺🇸. Congratulations and thank you for sharing. It really lifts our spirits. 🇺🇸🙏🏻

🇺🇸🇿🇦WE DID THIS ON OUR OWN‼️ Today we signed our first lease outside the refugee program on our own. Let that sink in. No placement. No assistance. No safety net. Just faith and taking the next step. 10 weeks ago we arrived with almost nothing. Today we’re stepping into something that’s ours. This is what starting over looks like. Not easy. Not perfect. But possible. If you’re still waiting, still hoping, still unsure. Don’t give up. Your moment is coming too. #TheSmithsUSA #NewBeginning #RefugeeJourney #GodsTiming #StartingOver

@Recon1_ZA When I got to that point I asked myself a few questions. Why do I value an identity that only exists because people drew lines on a map hundreds of years ago? Can I exist with my values in another place if I can free myself from that part of my identity? Can I thrive there?

Whenever I plug out of this app... I find it increasingly difficult to come back. I've spent almost a decade harping on the same things. Nothing ever gets better. In fact it has become significantly worse... At which point does a man choose to save whatever is left for himself and accept that this country is lost. Criminals overrun us. Cartels and syndicates infected everything and our government seems more interested in corrupt swindling of taxes than actually governing. All hope at this point just seems lost?

@popped_blog Very understandable. Go do something else. Enjoy the variety. Hopefully more of us are there with you when you get back. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

🚨 Refugee Programme Update 🚨 63rd day in the USA * I'm going to take a bit of a break from posting updates for a few days guys, but I'm still around if you have any questions and need and info about the Programme.

@RiseAgainstEvil Wow! Thank you. 🙏🏻🙏🏻Standing in that uncertainty today in my own process of leaving and this has me in tears. Thank you so much for sharing such beautiful personal experiences with the rest of us. 🤗🤗🙏🏻🙏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸

For South Africans On Their Way, God Will Meet You There. Almost eight years ago, I stood barefoot on the cracked red earth of South Africa one last time. The only home I'd ever known. My heart hammered so hard I could feel it in my throat. I was about to leave it all behind. The decision to emigrate to the United States had felt like a slow-burning fire, but when the moment came, terror crashed over me like a cold wave. What if we landed in America with our few hundred dollars, and the doors slammed shut? I pictured us standing lost in a vast airport, strangers rushing past, no familiar face, no voice calling my name in Afrikaans. No family to catch us if we fell. The uncertainty clawed at me. Would we find jobs? A roof? Night after night, I'd wake sweating, whispering prayers into the dark, "Lord, is this really You? Or am I chasing a dream that will destroy us?" My husband saw the war in my eyes. One quiet evening on our stoep, he took my hands. He looked straight through me, "If God is calling you across that ocean, then He's calling me too." He let go of his world to hold onto mine, and ours together became God's. We boarded the plane with suitcases heavy with memories and hearts heavier still. When the wheels touched down in the US, the terminal assaulted my senses. Endless fluorescent lights, echoing announcements in flat American English, the smell of coffee, and jet fuel. I gripped my husband's hand so tightly my knuckles whitened. We were strangers here. Exhausted, jet-lagged, clutching our meager savings like a lifeline. But then, right there, amid the chaos of baggage carousels and hurried travelers, a stillness wrapped around me like warm arms. In the depths of my being, I knew God had met us there. Peace flooded in, washing away the fear like rain on parched earth. God met me there. In that sterile, impersonal arrival hall, and everything changed. From that first breath on American soil, He began weaving miracles into our days. A chance conversation in a coffee shop led to a church that welcomed us like prodigal children returning home. Doors flew open. A job offer that arrived that first week, a home we could just afford with a view of snow-capped peaks that stole my breath. Friends appeared. Real, deep, family-like bonds, who prayed with us, and laughed with us. We didn't just survive. We hit the ground running and thrived. We built a life brick by brick, learning to drive on the "wrong" side, marveling at the changing seasons, hiking trails where elk grazed under vast blue skies. Our marriage grew stronger in the soil of shared faith and adventure. Later, the Rocky Mountains became our new cathedral; jagged peaks rising like ancient sentinels, their summits kissed by sunrise, wildflowers carpeting the valleys in summer, golden aspens shivering in fall. Eight years later, I stand on a ridge overlooking those same mountains, the wind carrying the scent of pine and possibility. Tears come easily now. Not from fear, but from overwhelming gratitude. I've never regretted a single moment. Not the tear-soaked goodbyes at OR Tambo Airport, not the nights we counted pennies for groceries, not the lonely ache of missing family across an ocean. Because in every trembling step, God met me there. He led us through the unknown, provided in ways that still make me gasp in wonder, held our marriage steady when the world felt unsteady. He turned two scared South Africans with almost nothing into a family thriving in a land of breathtaking beauty and endless opportunity. If you're standing at your own precipice, staring into a future that feels too big, too empty, too impossible, listen to this voice from the other side. Step forward. Trust Him. He is already there, arms open, ready to meet you in the exact place where your courage meets His faithfulness. He met me there. And He's never left.

@ProdigalSonSong @JukeBoxNonStop Finally. Someone who knows what they're talking about. The distance she is forced to adopt is determined by a "hot" mic. The gain is too open for her. Actually preventing the capture of her full tonality and we are receiving a "thinner" version of her dynamic voice.

@JukeBoxNonStop Nope. It’s because the gain on the mic preamp is too high. You can hear it breaking up in the louder sections. I reckon her monitoring isn’t up to scratch either. Great performance though.

Dolores O'Riordan - Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac Cover) What strike us the most about this, is how powerful she sounds holding the mic feet away. Like she knew if she sang full force into the mic, all our brains would melt...

@BrynBratt @popped_blog That was my day today..😞

@popped_blog True so very true!! as minority South Africans we had to basically isolate ourselves out of fear and for safety reasons so we have actually forgotten how it feels to have that genuine and authentic sense of community and 'good neighbors'. We used to be like that,

🚨 Refugee Programme Update 🚨 49th day in the USA * I am officially exhausted 🤣 this week has been pretty hectic with all the running around, BUT it's been super productive so it's a good tired and I'm defo going to hit troll mode and sloth around in my jammies this weekend. If it requires pants👖 or a bra, it's not happening. * Went to the main local library (there are 6 here in Sarasota) to get my library card. I'm a bibliophile so books 📚 are like crack to me. It was so beautiful, the pics really don't do it justice. Your card will give you access to their brick and mortar as well as digital collection, so books, eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital newspapers and digital magazines, movies 📽️, TV, music and comics all through the library's app. There are also tons of free educational courses 🎓 you can attend in person or online as well as multiple on-going community initiatives. All for free! Check-in/out is all digital self service and you can take up to 90 items at a time for 1 month. * I had an appointment at the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to sort out the last of my Refugee Assistance Programme (RAP) benefits. Apparently I have to be enrolled in an Employment Assistance Programme (EAP) before they'll approve my Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA)💵 so I'll head over to that agency's offices to sort that all out tomorrow. The agent at DCF was sooo... helpful and so very kind explaining how all of it works, then we sat chatting for another 10 minutes about what's happening in SA because he was super curious and very excited about us coming to the USA because he believes South Africans will be an asset and he cannot wait to play a part in helping us get on our feet here. * That kind of reception and treatment has been the absolute standard for me since I got here. It's not unusual or peculiar for an American to just strike up a random convo with you like you've known one another for years - it can be quite jarring sometimes. The best way I can explain it, to my understanding based on these engagements, is as follows; I think a big chunk of the American social construct is one of 'community' and 'a collective', so they treat everyone as if they 'know that person' or they're 'friends' - in the beginning, my brain processed that as 'over-friendliness' which to me felt like it was 'fake' and/or 'over-familiarity' which felt a bit invasive like they were trying to get up in my business 🤣 but it's not, it's a genuine interest and sense of connection. I've slowly realized that, as minority South Africans we had to basically isolate ourselves out of fear and for safety reasons so we have actually forgotten how it feels to have that genuine and authentic sense of community and 'good neighbors'. We used to be like that, it will be something we will need to relearn in the USA. Key points for the day. 1. Will head out to the Agency to get enrolled in an EAP. As always, drop your questions in the comments or pop me a DM. Disclaimer: views expressed are not official and are merely an opinion based on my own research/experience and/or feedback from other Programme participants and will always be subject to change as I receive more info

@popped_blog Wow. I needed that lift today. Thank you for these wonderful updates.👍🏻😁 Had a tough, isolated day back here in Africa. Looking forward to the friendliness, community and civility you are speaking of. 🇺🇸🇺🇸

@popped_blog Sorry about that. Just meant from a job/society angle and I didn't consider it from that angle. Of course you are worthy in that sense. 😁

@popped_blog Jou freaking rock star! 🤩🤩🎆🎆🇺🇸🇺🇸 Could you have imagined a year ago how brilliant and worthy you are? Congratulation. 👍🏻🇺🇸👍🏻🇺🇸

🚨 Refugee Programme Update 🚨 43rd day in the USA * When I was walking to my bus stop, I realized I haven't told you guys about a phenomenon that's been blowing my mind 🤯 since I got here. It's very common to see cars idling, with nobody in the car/truck, in a parking lot while the driver pops into a store or to collect take-out.🥡 Seriously, they just leave their vehicles there, unoccupied with the engine running. High-trust societies are wild y'all * Looks like next week will be the last run of daily updates mense📝, although I will try for weekly ones rather, I promise, BUT I won't really have the time to hang out with you okes on X, except on my days off 😁 * Went for that interview yesterday - they hired me on the spot. It's more junior than that other role I'm in the final stages for and it's slightly less money💰, but it's much closer to home (7 minutes on the bus, I could technically walk if I wanted🚶‍♀️), with a very cool brand, awesome working environment vibe, and completely different industry for me, plus they're super supportive of the programme and willing to be flexi if I have any administrative stuff that I need to take time off to do. You know it's going to be a great interview when the hiring manager starts off by saying "This is an incredible resumé, what the fuck are you doing here?" * So I'll take the weekend to pray on it, but I think I'm going to go for it Key points for the day 1. Chatted to both my CWs and of course my rock, @andrea_spook, to get their input on the job thing and to make sure I'm not crazy for wanting to do this. If you have any questions or topics you want me to cover, drop them in the comments or pop me a DM Disclaimer: views expressed are not official and are merely an opinion based on my own research/experience and/or feedback from other Programme participants and will always be subject to change as I receive more info

@IdrisPenley @MarioNawfal We do have a funny accent. 😳🤭🙈

@MarioNawfal Horrific

🇺🇸 WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES FLOOD U.S. The U.S. plans to process 4,500 white South African refugees a month, mostly Afrikaners, way over the 2026 cap of 7,500. Trailers are set up in Pretoria to speed things up. South Africa calls claims of persecution unproven. This could eat almost all U.S. refugee slots for the year. The coin flipped from the woke non white agenda? Source: Reuters

@Makeitstop73699 Good advice. Thank you. 👍🏻😁

@letsgettherock I wish you all the luck possible. If you are in the refugee program, stay positive, it's gonna be a long process. It is important to educate yourself about what to expect. Don't use social media as your only source of info and stay away from any negative people and reporting.

Getting me one of these

@popped_blog What's happening? Sounds interesting. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Oh dear Lord, please let this be true! Add Newscum and Kelly so JDV will walk it

@DreyfusJames I loved the names they came up with for the characters. Even the side characters names was thought of. One of my favorites was the Egyptian assistant "Ptennisnet" 😆🤣

‘The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely…One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionnaires who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium…” If you know, you know…😉