As promised...

Things I look forward to when I think about going back...

• thunderstorms and lightening
• finding a church and getting into the community
• texting or talking to someone whenever I feel like it because it's free
• getting to drive a car and being able to go anywhere I want to without walking or paying for a taxi
• not having to walk home from the grocery store carrying flour, sugar, juice, and all other heavy food items
• internet that's not pay-per-megabyte
• dogs, and being able to love them and be around them every day
• sharing a kitchen with people who do their dishes, or at least having a dishwasher

Things I'm really going to miss...

• seeing a mountain every morning
• Cape Town's rainbow weather (bright and sunny, then sudden unexpected rain, then a rainbow...)
  
• being a short car or train ride away from the beach
• hearing three different beautiful languages spoken every day, often in a 5 minute walk
• the bees on the tree outside my window
• sleepovers, and living right across the hall from someone who's best friends with God
• hearing the train come into the station
• Graham and all of the other people who live on the street and in the park outside our house
  
• the crazy headlines posted on the telephone poles (ie: “WASHING MACHINE HORROR” or “SEAL CHOWS KIDS FACE”)
• experiencing or seeing or hearing something new every day
• 5 rand overnight movie rentals
• knowing that even though I have a paper to write or a test to study for, it doesn't really matter because tomorrow I'll be done with it and I'll still be in Cape Town
• thinking about and recognizing every day how lucky I am to be in this place
• not taking any day for granted, and living so in the moment that it's almost inconceivable
  
• church at Hillsong and the community that I've become a part of there
• serving at the soup kitchen on Sunday mornings
  
• the South Africans and Norwegians and Germans and Californians that I've become friends with
• the smell of Laundry Lady when you walk by
• never having to drive a car and being able to walk or take a cheap minibus taxi anywhere important enough to go
• flowers everywhere...everywhere...

Food!

Yes, this blog post has only to do with food. There will be another post coming soon that's less narrow and in the same format. I just wanted to share this first. Mostly because it's easier to think about the food that I'll miss here than to think about all the real things that I'll miss here...

Food (or food-related things) that I'm looking forward to coming back to:

• pita chips
• stick pretzels
• “mixed veggies” on a menu not meaning frozen carrots, peas, corn and green beans (example: “mixed veggies, avo spread, and hummus sandwich”....)
• chips and salsa! real tortilla chips and salsa that's more than mashed up tomatoes seem to be very rare here...
• more than three carefully placed black olives on a Subway sandwich (amusing story)
• “plain” flavored things (crisps, crackers, pretzels - most everything here must have a flavor...)
• “plain” flavored things tasting plain instead of actually meaning onion or cheese
• tofu (because here it's over 5 dollars a box!)

Food that I'm going to miss:

• samoosas (Pick n Pay brand especially!)
• Nando's peri peri wedges and delicious veg pitas after church on Sundays
• chocolate powder and strawberry soy ice cream at midnight
• Budget Rolls on campus for R10
• Chai smoothies (actually more like shakes...) from Kauai
• Rooibos tea with lemon from Alma Cafe across the railroad tracks
• Woolworth's R6 noodles (like Ramen noodles...but vegan...)
• original flavor skittles (because here they don't have gelatin in them...)
• litchi juice available at a convenience store

"Shhhh"

I went to Place of Hope today and had an awesome conversation with a five-year-old. I was outside in the playground and she popped her head up from the tall fence and sat down in a tree just behind it, watching everyone play. She had been playing with us earlier but had had to go home. She called me over and started talking so I climbed up on top of the monkey bars across the tall fence from her tree so we could be on the same level. And we talked for 45 minutes. She asked me "how was today" and I said it was good and that I had fun playing with her. I asked how was today for her and she said it was lekker playing. She told me about her school, and her friends at school, and their names, and what she learns, and asked me what I learn at school. We wrote our names to each other in the air with our fingers, and then we went through the numbers, her copying mine when she wasn't sure how to shape it. Then the wind started blowing and she said it was taking away all the things that we wrote. She asked if I was cold and said she was cold, and asked how many jackets I thought she could wear, then counted on her fingers the amount of jackets she thought might be good. She asked me where the wind came from and I said I didn't know. She said it came from the sky and I said that's right and then she changed her mind and said it came from Shaitan! She said the bad strong winds are from Shaitan, who lives down there (pointing down) and we're tramping on Shaitan when we walk. Then she said that the "shhhh" (which I assume to mean good calming winds) are from Allah, and that Allah can see everything but he doesn't have eyes and he doesn't have a face. And that he lives in the sky, he is the sky, and he is everywhere. And that he doesn't have hands and he doesn't have arms like we do, or legs or feet or shoes. And then her cat (she calls him Kitty or Cat and looked at me like I was insane when I asked what his name was...) walked under the tree and she said that she was going to go now. So we said bye and she hopped down to pick up her kitty. It was great. :)

(not much of) Kruger and (mostly) Thoughts

Hi everyone...

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this blog up. I know some of you have been waiting. I'm also sorry that it's not going to be what you were expecting. I've been wanting to write about our spring break trip to Kruger National Park and Soweto, but it was such a long trip and so much happened that I've been kind of putting it off. Also, I knew that I would only talk about the good parts, the parts that I think people want to hear about. And in a way, I don't feel right just doing that because it makes this entire experience seem kind of glorified. And it's really not. It's just me living here. I mean, I'm getting to experience all these things that a lot of people who live here don't even get to experience, which I'm so grateful for. I do realize how blessed I am. But really, the best experiences that I'm getting here and the things that I'm learning the most from aren't about spotting a lion or getting a picture with an elephant. It's just about life. It's about living in a country different from the one that I've grown up in, a country that is so wonderfully different in so many ways. It's about interacting with the people here and learning about the culture and the way that they live everyday. It's about making a cup of coffee for the car-washer who lives on the street outside our house and taking his advice when he says to look at the mountain because it's looking beautiful today. It's about experiencing diversity in all shapes and forms, and it's about observing firsthand a country that has been through so much, so recently, and getting to watch it grow stronger in itself every day. It's learning about people, about perseverance and struggle and hope.

So basically, I can't write about our spring break trip like I had wanted to and like a lot of you were expecting me to. I will say that it had some really low parts and some really high parts, and if you're curious to know specifically about any of it or have any questions, feel free to ask me. I'm happy to talk about it, I just don't think I'm going to post it online. The pictures pretty much document all the good stuff that happened (by the way, if you haven't seen the pictures and want to, let me know and I'll email you the link...) and I don't feel like I could explain everything else in just a blog post, nor do I really want to try. So...again, I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone, but I do hope you understand...these are the experiences that it's about for me.

White consciousness?

So, (as you know...) this past weekend was our homestays. I ended up having to stay with a different family because the original one had to go to a funeral and couldn't take me. So they put me in a family with another girl in our program. At first I was really disappointed that I'd have to share a family but being with her ended up being one of the best things about the weekend. We actually had kind of a weird experience there though. The two adults in the family weren't very enthusiastic about us being there, and the mom kept leaving us alone with the kids. I guess we were free babysitters, after all! So mostly we just watched TV and American movies or played with the kids, who were awesome. No complaining about the "babysitting". It was a 6 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. The first night that I was there, I gave them the cards that I'd brought from home and they absolutely loved them. And then I did a card trick, which I ended up repeating about 20 times throughout the course of the weekend, and every time they were just as amazed as the first. It is a pretty good trick though. :) So basically, my weekend was spent playing “crazy ate” (like crazy eights but morphed just enough so it barely has anything in common), making forts, and carrying the kids around the house on my shoulders. I did get to know the other girl in my program a lot better though, which was fun because she's not in my house or any of my classes so I don't get to see her that often. On Saturday though, we got to leave the house for a little while because another one of the students' family was having a braai (just a huge barbecue) for lunch. They had so much food, and I think over 50 people were inside the tiny house. I had samp, which is a basic traditional South African food, kind of like corn, but also sort of potato-y and a little bit like rice. But it tastes wonderful. Then I walked to the store with a few of the girls. It was really bizarre being the only white person in site. It might sound weird, and I never thought it would make me feel that way. It was uncomfortable, but it was good because it was so eye-opening. I just felt so conscious of my skin. I feel kind of silly pointing it out. Even right now I'm thinking, "of course you look different, no big deal". But it sure seemed like a big deal. Like I didn't fit in, which I didn't, and like everyone in the store was looking me, which they were. White consciousness I guess? It was strange, but was a good thing. Actually, the kids kept bringing it up too, asking what that blue was on my wrist (vein) and why I had a Pinocchio nose! And the little girl was completely obsessed with my hair. She was almost constantly brushing it or “making a hairstyle,” and I let her help me wash it and then dry it with the hairdryer one night and she was thrilled. So I guess the kids were the best part about our homestay. We were the only family that had kids, except for one other that had two little ones. All of the other students had families who took them around either Langa or the city, and had things planned for them, but I was just really grateful that I wasn't the only student staying with my family! And we gave our numbers to our home-mother, in case she wants to drop the kids by sometime when she's in town. We have hers too, so we're definitely going to call sometime to see them again. So the homestay definitely wasn't what I expected, but all in all, it turned out to be a pretty good experience. :)

Homestays!

Our homestays are this weekend, which is where we go stay individually with a South African family for two nights. We'll all be staying in Langa with different families, which is the township that we took a tour of. I'm a little bit nervous about it, especially if it ends up being cold and rainy this weekend, but I think it's going to be really amazing. One of the program directors told me that he put me with the woman that asked for a girl. Apparently she said that she wanted a girl, please. And for some reason he thought, Alex! And he assigned me to that family. I'm not sure if there will be kids, which I really wanted initially, but I'm ok either way now. He said that the woman already has things planned for us to do and that she's going to take me around everywhere and show me a lot. So I'm really excited about that and I think it's going to be a great experience. And it will definitely give me something to blog about!

Place of Hope

Yesterday I went with one of my classmates to visit the place where I'll be volunteering for the semester. It's called the Place of Hope and it's a shelter for mothers and children who are victims of domestic violence. Its mission is to “restore and empower abused women and their children in crisis to be socially responsible and economically self-sufficient” and the center manager is amazing. She wasn't at the shelter when we went to meet her, but some of the people working said that she wouldn't be long, she'd be back soon. We weren't thinking in South African time, so we thought maybe we'd wait 30 minutes at the most. We ended up waiting an hour and a half, but it was worth it. She talked to us a lot about things that we could do to help around the shelter. Since I said I wanted to work with the littler kids, I'm going to be working in the nursery. I'll be getting there in the middle of naptime so for that time she's going to put me in charge of the four- and five-year olds (who she calls the “seniors” of the nursery), which could mean anything from teaching them simple board games, reading and acting out a story, or just kicking around a ball. She stressed that if we see anywhere that we think we could help, or have any creative ideas, just to let her know and she'll pretty much let us do anything fun with the kids. Mostly they just need attention and someone to show that they care about them. Since they're all from homes that were very violent, most of them aren't used to having a lot of positive attention because (this is what the manager pointed out) their moms had to spend a lot of focus and time on trying to protect them and herself, which didn't leave much time to just relax and spend quality time with the kids. And because keeping the kids safe was more of a priority than playing with them, also a lot of the moms don't really know how to or feel comfortable with just playing with their kids. So the manager said that occasionally a mom or two (who isn't working at the time) will come in with the “senior nursery” group and just play with us. That will be really great also because I know I'll get to meet some really interesting people and also be someone that the women can talk to if they want or need that.

And then the rest of the time when all the littler ones are awake, I think I'll be helping out in the nursery. Right now there are two workers taking care of 26 kids ranging in age from a few months to five years. So I know they really need the extra hands. It's not that many kids all the time though because most of the women at the shelter, when they're not working, help out with the nursery kids and will carry around a baby or sit with a group while they play outside. There seems to be a very strong community there, between all the women that stay there and including the staff as well. So hopefully I can become a little part of that community. I know it's going to be a really good experience, and I think it will end up being one of the most memorable things that I'll do here.