My First Week of Africa

One week down, about 15 more to go! I can't believe I have only been over here for one week, it feels more like a month! But not in a bad way I think time just passes slower, probably because we have longer days here. It was been a wonderful, beautiful and interesting first week though.

The Game Reserve next to the campus is so perfect for hiking, walking and running and it is proving itself to be such a good workout! Running up those hills brings back some bad memories of track, but its worth it for the workout :).I think everyone came into this semester thinking we would lose some weight, not eat much but WRONG they feed us very well here. And very unhealthy! Lots of butter, cheese, oil, sugar and salt. Perfect combination for losing weight. Not to mention we have tea time twice a day which includes coffee or tea and a muffin or cookie. Just a small concern of mine! Haha but today I had a nice workout with Jillian Michaels (my workout DVD) and some weights I bought at the mall here.



This past weekend was full of adventures beginning with the LIONS! We were able to see them up close and personal, thankfully behind a fence but still so close. It was scary close I was too afraid to turn my back to the fence and take a good picture! They were such huge, powerful creatures. We were even allowed to drive through their enclosure, but the last time APU did that the lions got upset and starting attacking the vehicles. Therefore, they decided against it this time around, especially in rental cars. Then we toured the city of Pietermaritzburg where we live. It turns out that Mahatma Gandhi was in South Africa for a while and during his stay he was thrown off of a train for having a first class ticket but being "colored". I guess only whites were allowed to sit first class. This event is what sparked his passive resistance movement in India and changed the course of his life. We visited the train station that this occurred at.

A couple of other highlights of the week... I woke up one morning to go running and there were about 15 monkeys outside the front door just staring into the chalet! It was so creepy and I couldn't leave the chalet until they moved so people outside had to scare them away. They are nasty mean little things who are just a menace around here. Its unfortunate because they look so cute, but they are mean!



I also got my first bee sting this week while I was journaling on the bridge above the waterfall. :( Speaking of the waterfall, we decided to get in it this week which was amazing! The water was coming down hard enough that it felt like a massage, but not too hard that it hurt. It was really refreshing!

Overall it was a wonderful week I am thankful for the opportunity to be here and make new friendships and experience a new part of God's beautiful creation. Fortunately, I am not homesick or anything yet, although I do miss family and friends! I look forward to what this experience will hold and how I can serve the people of South Africa. Keep me in your prayers as we begin working at our service sites this week...out of our developing comfort zones once again! :)

Here I am.

SAWUBONA! (Hello in isiZulu)

Safely arrived on the continent of Africa on the 23rd of January. It was such a long trip, but well worth it! Not to mention, we were on a plane with some of the friendliest people I've ever met. They wanted to chat and know what we were doing and tell us about themselves. I met a pastor from Madagascar who was visiting his two children who are both studying theology and divinity in the United States. He was so friendly! And they fed us real food on the flight and drinks practically every hour.

Something I have quickly learned is that this culture is a much, much more friendly one than ours. Almost everyone you encounter and everyone on the streets is so excited to see you and waves with a smile on their face! It is truly refreshing to see! I can already tell that going back to the less friendly America is going to be hard.

When we first got to Johannesburg (the biggest city in South Africa) we visited and toured a town called Soweto. It was the town that one of Nelson Mandela's homes is in and it has a very rich history. It reminded me of LA or San Francisco because every street was different, you had nice wealthy homes on one side, and then government subsidized shacks on the other. I guess some things are unfortunately the same everywhere. We hardly encountered any white people during this part of the trip and at times I felt guilty because we acted like these people were animals or an exhibit that we could just take pictures of and all stare at from our nice charter bus up high. After touring the city we went to the Apartheid museum which is the Afrikaans word for "separate". Once again, history seems to repeat itself even oceans apart. The Apartheid was very similar to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The blacks were segregated and considered less than the white people. They were oppressed until a new president came in, released Nelson Mandela from prison, and began some restoration of the country. One major difference between this part of South African history and our U.S. history is that Nelson Mandela became the first black president right afterward. The museum had shirts with pictures of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama next to each other. They are pretty proud of America for electing our first non-white president.

After two days of adventuring in Johannesburg and Soweto, to made our way back to airport and on to our last plane for Durban. Let me just say that Durban looks so awesome, we didn't stay there we left for the 45 minute drive to Pietermartizburg but it looks like such a great tropical beach city. :) I can't wait to spend the day there. Pietermaritzburg is beautiful too though. Just more inland from Durban it is like a tropical, green paradise filled with streams and waterfalls! Just behind the campus is a game reserve that hosts zebras, antelope, monkeys and other animals. It has great trails for running. It is just so beautiful when we first arrived everyone was just so blown away and in awe that the campus could really be so great. The buildings are white dutch cottages referred to as "chalets". They are very cute aside from the bugs that they house.

One of my favorite parts of this culture is that there is tea time between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner. It is just a time when everyone stops what they are doing and goes to have a muffin or cookie and tea. Or coffee in my case! It is really nice I feel like I am engaged in so much conversation here constantly! I enjoy it though. Also, we went to this mall and Josh, Rob, Angie and I paid a couple of dollars for like 5 minutes in these "water balls". They were hilarious its basically like an inflated hamster ball that you play in on top of water. I was expecting it to be so much easier than it was, the second you started trying to run you were instantly sprinting and then falling flat on your back haha. It was so much fun!

So far this trip has been really great and I am looking forward to all that God has planned here for us. I know that He is going to meet us in this place and change us for the better. In the words of Matt Browning we will be, "ruined for the ordinary". Which is quite alright with me. Right now I am focusing on having an open heart and mind to what God has in store for me and the ways that I can serve and learn while I am here. Although I am missing people back home, I know that this is going to be one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. I don't want to let a second of it go to waste.

One last thing; CONGRATULATIONS TO LUKE for passing all of his final firefighting exams! What a blessing. All the hard work paid off. :)

Departure Time... 2:30AM, Ouch

Its official- January 21st I will be departing from APU at 2:30AM. Does that mean I go to bed early and wake up at 1:30 or do I just skip sleeping that night all together?
Tough decisions.

I have been doing some research (finally a week prior) on South Africa and on my trip in general. Turns out that South Africa is 10 hours ahead of California. This results in a seemingly 3 DAY TRIP! Leaving the morning of January 21st and arriving the evening of January 24th sounds like too much traveling to me.

I have also discovered my mailing address as well:

African Enterprise Center
Attn: API Tanya Fry
1 Nonsuch Road
Chase Valle
Pietermaritzburg 3201
3200 KZN
South Africa

I hear it takes 1-2 weeks to arrive and its better to send things at the beginning because we move to Cape Town the second half!

Researching the country has been really interesting it has a very rich history fairly similar to the history of the United States.

Keep me in your prayers as I am getting very nervous and anxious about the trip!

january twenty one, two thousand ten

On January 21, 2010 I am officially off to South Africa for my semester abroad. I will first be in Pietermaritzburg where I will take classes, live with a family, and do some service-learning projects. The end of the semester will be spent in Cape Town (above photo) where I will be exploring before returning home! I am both very excited and nervous. The day is coming soon! I have no idea what I am going to take yet, and I know very little about South Africa at this point so I have a lot of work to do over Christmas break. I hope to keep track of my travels and adventures on this blog for family and friends to see. With no cell phone for 4 months I will be using a lot of Skype, so if you don't have it you should download it and add me as a contact! :) Viva la South Africa!