...Financial statement of South Africa South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors and a stock exchange that is the 16th largest in the world. Even though the country's modern infrastructure supports a relatively efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region, unstable electricity supplies retard growth. The global financial crisis reduced commodity prices and world demand. GDP fell nearly 2% in 2009 but has recovered since then, albeit slowly with 2014 growth projected at about 2%. Unemployment, poverty, and inequality - among the highest in the world - remain a challenge. Official unemployment is at nearly 25% of the work force, and runs significantly higher among black youth. Eskom, the state-run power company, has built two new power stations and installed new power demand management programs to improve power grid reliability. Construction delays at two additional plants, however, mean South Africa is operating on a razor thin margin; economists judge that growth cannot exceed 3% until those plants come on line. South Africa's economic policy has focused on controlling inflation, however, the country has had significant budget deficits that restrict its ability to deal with pressing economic problems. The current government faces growing pressure from special interest groups to use state-owned enterprises to deliver basic...
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...MY 30TH BIRTHDAY My 30th birthday was unique because it served as my wedding engagement night; as a result, I gained more respect from my family and colleagues. My parents celebrated my birthday with me for the first time since I became adult .This was because I had lived with my uncle James in a different city since I was 14. I couldn’t have chosen a different venue for my birthday party because my family’s house has a lot of square feet (field) that could host a sizable party of 30-40 persons. My parents were honored to be the special gusts since it has been a long time since they celebrated my birthday with me. Dave, my colleague was the speaker of the occasion, and he used the opportunity to introduce the guests to my parents. In return, the guests described my parents as the most wonderful parents they had ever seen. My engagement party started immediately after cutting my birthday cake. Everybody, including family members, was surprised when Dave the speaker started a second order of events and announced my wedding engagement party. My girlfriend could not hold her joy as tears ran down her face and she nodded her head in approval. She quickly excused herself and gave her mom a quick call announcing to her family that she had been engaged to me. Her family was happy and gave their support. Friends and family were thankful for our engagement after ten years of our dating. Out of joy and excitement, a wedding...
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...My Birthday Slip This was my seventeenth birthday and I couldn’t wait for it, although I was going to be in school for it. I was looking forward to all of the birthday wishes, hugs, and gifts. It always happened that way every year, so I shouldn’t have been that much excited; I guess it was because I was turning a year older. The morning of my birthday, I had gotten up and picked out my birthday outfit. I picked skinny leg khaki pants, a white collared aeropostle, shirt, and brown baby doll shoes. To let it be known that it was my birthday, I added a pink birthday stash that read “Birthday Queen” and a pink and silver crown. I made my hair so pretty, with little tight curls and even did my makeup a little. I like to go all out, so of course I had a brand new brown and cheetah print backpack that was similar to my brown baby doll shoes. I was ready to go. By time I made it to my bus stop down the street from my house, I had already received 3 different sets of balloons and a couple of gifts. The whole ride to school I got phone calls and text messages, so I was beyond happy! All of my balloons were in the aisle and in everyone’s way so it was also a difficult ride to school. Still, I didn’t care because it was my birthday. I couldn’t wait to get to school for two reasons: first, to get off the bus with all of my balloons because I started to get a bit annoyed with them and second, to get more birthday wishes, gifts, and attention. Finally, I had made it to school. I was...
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...“Happy Birthday!”, what does that even mean? A ‘wish’. A wish? A wish for my birthday girdled in happiness. With no trace of sorrow and misery and all things making life what it truly is. Sometimes I feel that the wish had enough, and rebelled to be an order. A commandment for happiness. Required. Or demanded, of course. And what’s with happiness anyhow? Is happiness really the one truth? Can one not wrap themselves up with unhappiness on their birthday? The lone thing which they know can keep them warm and safe. Can one not feel lonely?, or grief?. Can one not celebrate sorrow?, heartache? And anguish? No. It is my birthday. I must be happy. I must shake off my depression and attempt to enjoy and revel in the astronomical splendor of the day; or at the very least, pretend to. And what is it, which I’m being asked to celebrate? What is so exceptional about a birthday? A day I cannot even remember. A day with no memorable significance. A day of ‘what’ and ‘how’, but no ‘why’. A day, stripped of its conventional festivity, holds no sense, and no memory which I can take to my grave. What should I celebrate then? Is it the celebration of the culmination of nine months, and more, of struggle which my parents braved?; the sacrifices they made and the pain my mother endured?; the ‘happiness’ which ‘they’ felt when they heard me cry for the first time?; The only time my tears brought a smile to their face. Then why am ‘I’ being celebrated? My adolescent birthday...
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...My family knows that I don't like to make a big deal about my birthday. Usually for my birthday they’ll come passed my house and bring their gifts and we’ll chitchat for a bit, but this one particular year my kids were persistent that I go out to dinner with them for my birthday. The day of my birthday, I'm dressed and waiting, as usual my sons are late picking me up, they don’t show up until an hour later. We get to the restaurant and my son goes inside, he then comes back out and says “The wait here is entirely too long. Let’s go somewhere else.” I'm now wondering why he didn't have a reservation if he knew that we were going out. So we go to two more restaurants and it’s the same thing. After the third restaurant, I'm ready to go home. I was so irritated at this point that I told them to take me to McDonalds and then take me home. My son wanted to try one more restaurant, but I was ready to go. So I give in and we go to one more restaurant and it’s the same thing. Now I'm extremely irritated and ready to go home. It’s starting to get late and the majority of the restaurants are closed or closing, so I make them take me home without getting anything to eat. I get home and I'm mad and hungry. When I open the door, everyone yells "Surprise". My demeanor quickly changed from mad to happy and surprised. I was really surprised, and I had no idea. All of my brothers and sisters, closest friends, and family were there. The good thing is, there was so much food and I was...
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...Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do. But I'll let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows the real story, because nobody has ever heard my side of the story. I'm Alexander T. Wolf. You can call me Al. I don't know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it's all wrong. Maybe it's because of our diet. Hey, it's not my fault wolves eat cute little animals like bunnies and sheep and pigs. That's just the way we are. If cheeseburgers were cute, folks would probably think you were Big and Bad too. But like I was saying, the whole big bad wolf thing is all wrong. The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar. THIS IS THE REAL STORY. Way back in Once Upon a Time time, I was making a birthday cake for my dear old granny. I had a terrible sneezing cold. I ran out of sugar. So I walked down the street to ask my neighbor for a cup of sugar. Now this neighbor was a pig. And he wasn't too bright either. He had built his whole house out of straw. Can you believe it? I mean who in his right mind would build a house of straw? So of course the minute I knocked on the door, it fell right in. I didn't want to just walk into someone else's house. So I called, "Little Pig, Little Pig, are you in?" No answer. I was just about to go home without the cup of sugar for my dear old granny's birthday cake. That's when my nose started to itch. I felt a...
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...college students engaging in binge drinking is accurate with my own experiences. I’ve never indulged in binge drinking, but I witnessed many of my friends participate in it. When I consumed alcohol I was responsible enough to drink socially, and not go overboard with it. Binge drinking or “getting drunk” amongst my peers was definitely viewed as a rite of passage because it symbolized that you’re officially an adult. Binge drinking was the only way many of my friends celebrated their 21st birthday. Besides consuming large quantities of alcohol on their 21st birthdays, my friends would also get intoxicated after a night of partying at a club or hanging out, which turned into a habit. They encouraged me to participate in binge drinking, but I was fearful due to the horror stories I’ve heard. Some of my friends explained to me how horrible a hangover felt, and how they couldn’t remember what happen the night before when they drank too much alcohol, which made me think twice about getting intoxicated. I remember the time when one of my friends was arrested and charged with a D.U.I. He told me he spent some days in jail and had to appear in court. As a result of his negligence, his license was suspended. I’ve learned so many lessons from my friends about binge drinking that it forced me not to engage in it. These experiences provided me with plenty insight about the dangers and consequences of binge drinking. From my experience of partying and hanging out with friends, I’ve seen...
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... It was Sonia’s birthday, my girlfriend, and I was invited to her house for her birthday party. I bought a gift for her and went to the party. Her house was crowded with a lot of people and I knew a lot of them. I met with her family and friends that I did not know. The party was really nice. There was good music and amazing food. Sonia’s dad walked in the house with a cake. Lets go everybody! It’s time to cut the cake. Everybody gather around and started singing happy birthday song. She cut the cake and gave some to her parents. I was looking for her brother, Dhaval, because I have never met him before. Sonia only told me once that she has a brother, so I did not know what he looked like. I really wanted to meet him. Where is your brother? I don’t wanna talk about him right now. We’ll talk about him some other day. After hearing that, I was very confused. Her brother was like a mystery to me now because Sonia never talked about him, I have never seen him, and he was nowhere to be seen at the party. I was very anxious to know Dhaval and meet him after this incident. After the party was over everybody left, but I stayed for a little bit to help clean up the place. As I was cleaning up, I saw a guy walk down the stairs and go to the kitchen. He looked at me, but did not say anything. I did not know him, so I did not say anything either. Sonia’s mom was in the kitchen and that guy went to the kitchen. I am very disappointed and upset that my son did not come to...
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...they feel as though the religion that they were raised in is the one true and correct religion and understanding. Personally, the religion that I have the most interest in learning about is the Jehovah’s Witness religion. I have a lot of question that are rooted in the understanding of my religion and the inconsistencies that I feel the Jehovah Witnesses as a whole possess. Needless to say, I learned quite a bit from my sit down and acute immersion in the Jehovah’s Witness religion. I chose to interview my friend Wyendi and her grandmother to get a well-rounded outlook and understanding ( at least partially) of the religion as a whole. This report will attempt to discuss the misconceptions that I had about the religion, analyze my prior understanding against my understanding now that I have spoken to a Jehovah Witness, discuss whether or not I believe that the misconceptions about the Jehovah Witness religion are common, and present one way that I think could minimize misconceptions that people may have about religions that are not their own. Based on my understanding of the Jehovah Witness religion I had about 6 key questions that I wanted to ask. The first question that I posed to my friend Wyendi and her grandmother dealt with their non-celebration of holidays. As a child I know that I always looked forward to family gatherings around Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and the like and I could not imagine the holiday season without some type of celebration or recognition...
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...we wouldn’t have online auctions, or family memories. Photography is not only in the home its everywhere in life including magazines, books, to your children’s birthday parties and weddings. Without photography in the world we wouldn’t be able to view travel destinations. It’s almost like the world with photography is open, but without it it’s closed. It depends on the photographer and what they capture. When we pose for a picture we think back to the pose and the place we had them done. If the photographer makes you genuinely laugh or they capture you guys when you’re not looking in a happy moment then when you look back at the photo it brings back fond personal memories. Nature photographs are always real. When people take pictures of a car or something to post to sell usually 99% of the time it’s the real thing they are trying to sell. On that note I would say that photography is real most of the time. Some of my Experiences with photography are capturing memories of my family. When I capture a picture of my son I always think I want this for him when he grows up so that he can have them to share with his family one day. I also enjoy capturing peaceful surroundings to reinitiate the feeling I had when standing there in the moment. Photography has allowed me to share my memories with the people in my life; it has also allowed me to share theirs. It brings family and friends closer. In Bill Viola’s The Reflecting pool there is several different focal points....
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...The most important birthday of my life is my 11th birthday .I remember as its yesterday. It was a beautiful Saturday morning when I woke up due to a loudly noise. It was 8:00 am then I knew that it was October 12, my birthday. I took a long, cold shower to calm myself down and got dressed. I was too excited. I was still in bed when all of the sudden I started to hear noise at the outside of my room. I went down stairs to the kitchen. Just as I entered the kitchen I became aware of a delicious smell. My mom had prepared French toast which is my favorite breakfast. She was cutting tomatoes into cubic pieces. The cutting noise could hear by my room. It was now 11am. I was helping my mom prepare the chicken wings. A birthday party must be planned effectively to goal its success I had been looking forward to the party for at least two months. It cannot be a last minute planning. I will not be caught unprepared again. I‘ve been concentrated on the planning of the party for a month. Everyone had read the RSVP deadline and called in a week ahead of schedule. The weather was sunny so I didn’t have doubt about bad weather. I was keep tracking of forecast a week. It was to be my first party at our new house. There are only a few hours till my party starts. I set up the new stereo system. When the time drew near for me to be ready for the party, I put on my birthday dress which I was specially sewn for me. Suddenly I hear a knock on the...
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...promised my friend to go to her birthday party on Friday evening, but I had completely forgotten to do my Economics102 weekly quiz, which was due Friday night. When I was about to leave the dormitory to go to her birthday party, I suddenly remembered that I had a quiz to do, so I had a dilemma between my relationship and my responsibility. I could not miss my best friend’s birthday party, but also I could not miss my quiz, which would affect my grade very negatively. Indeed, my five core values, which guide my decisions, are Responsibility, Relationship, Integrity, Passion, and Happiness. In particular, responsibility helped me to solve this dilemma. Although it was my best friend’s birthday and I did not want to mess up my relationship with her, I also did not want to disappoint myself by being irresponsible. When I first came to University I promised myself to concentrate on my work such as homework and classes because I value responsibility the most as my core value. Also, there were rules of responsibilities and relationships that helped me to make decision. For example, the syllabus of Economics102 indicates that missing more than two quizzes will affect the grade negatively. Also the commitment that I made with my friend was the big rule of my relationship with her. Therefore, I decided to go to birthday party after doing the online weekly quiz. I felt sorry for my friend so I bought a birthday cake after I finished my homework. Fortunately, she understood my situation...
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...good morning from the neighbour, good morning Mrs Hansen! I replied. What’s with the happy face? Don’t you remember it’s your birthday? She said, there was no word from myself but replied with a facial question mark on my forehead, meaning how on earth she know and remembered my birth date but not my parents?. I turned around and entered the house with full surprise when everyone hugged and cuddled me with a loud tone of happy birthday. I started to cry but somehow felt weird because there was something else that stuck in my mind that stopped me from showing everyone else how grateful I am. Come on buddy, cheer up because today will be remembered, dads said hurry up and pack your stuff because we are going to Mounu Island in few minutes. I packed my stuff while my brother and sisters helped Fiona my mom in the kitchen. Five minutes before we leave, the lady from the neighbour called mom where to put the birthday cake. In no minute, I rushed to the kitchen to ask mom why the lady is here but I couldn’t because she was already there. After a while, dad started to load our stuff into the van and we went to the wharf. On our way to the island, I and dad sat at the back of the boat fishing. In the middle was my brother and my sisters playing cards while mom and the lady from the neighbour chatting at the front of the boat. Every time I called mom to see my catching the lady from the neighbour smiled at me like she wanted to hold me and embrace me. It...
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...My Best Day Ever It seems to me that birthday celebrations’ become less interesting as time passes. There are no more party hats, balloons, cake, ice cream, and the joyful sound of “Happy Birthday.” I guess that’s why we hold all the good memories inside our heart, so whenever there’s a bad issue that may come up, we can reminisce on the past. In fact, birthday celebrations in my family were rare because my grandmother was raising eight children in a three bedroom house by herself, and she wasn’t able to provide certain things we needed at times. I do remember one special birthday that made me realize how important family means to me. On March 22, 1979, it was a warm, beautiful, breezy, summer day, and I could hear the chirping of baby birds in their nest. Upon my face shined the bright sun through my bedroom window. This day represented my birth right of turning fourteen years old, and I needed to figure out what to wear on this special occasion. As I walked toward my closet door, there was a breeze of warm spring sunflowers gathering in each corner of my bedroom. As I inhaled this delightful smell, I thought of my favorite sunflower dress to wear. The length went below my knees and it had two straps on each shoulder. The base color of my dress was pure white cotton material with medium sunflowers patterns around the bottom. I chose my flat flip-flop scandals and brushed my hair into a ponytail with a white ribbon tied in a bow. At that moment in my life, I felt...
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... Why? My favorite time of the year is naturally the time when I have the most fun. To me, that time of the year falls during the December holidays, or rather, it starts during the last term of school. It may sound strange of me to include the period of examinations. But I like the way teachers leave us, students, by ourselves to do our own revision. There is hardly any homework to be done but there is a lot of studying to take up our time. Finally, when the examinations are over, we can all heave a joyful sigh of relief and look forward to the seemingly eternal holidays stretching out before us. Just before school breaks up for the holidays, there are a host of post-examination activities, among which is mass dancing in the school hall. This is something I enjoy very much as I get to dance to the newest pop music with all my friends. The opportunity to “break-free” from serious activities of school and to sing and dance there is a truly welcome event. The last day of school comes and goes and the holidays start. The first thing I do is to go to the library and borrow as many books as possible to fill my holidays. I simply love reading book after book without having to worry about putting aside time for schoolwork. I make it a habit to read books of a particular author each holiday. Within the second week of the holidays my birthday arrives, I enjoy helping my mother prepare my favorite food for my birthday. I do not have big birthday parties. My birthday is celebrated...
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