Drakensburg

This past weekend we went to the Drakensburg Mountains to see the San Bushmen paintings (a native African tribe that is basically non-existent now). It was such an ego boost for me because this tribe of people were all under 5 feet tall! YES! But the area we hiked in was so serene and beautiful. It reminded me somewhat of Ireland. It was a very easy hike to the caves with the paintings which made for good conversation and exploration. After the cave tour which was definitely not the highlight of the day, we went and swam/played in the river down in the valley. It was a very enjoyable day and we got home early enough to play our usual game of Bananagrams (speed scrabble) before calling it a night.

Love and Witch Doctors

An African Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year, we had a fun, romantic night up on the hill. The wonderful kitchen staff prepared an Italian meal for us (one of the food types we are all missing a lot) and set up a cute and classy dinner. On the menu was fettuccine alfredo, garlic bread, and salad. The night consisted of a secret valentine gift exchange, picture taking and dancing! It was a very fun night and one of the best Valentines Days I have ever had. I also had a wonderful Valentine this year...even if it was only via Skype. ;)

During the week was our field trip to see the sangoma. The day of the trip a professor from a prestigious university in Cape Town came and spoke to us about the traditional religion of Africa and "Ubuntu" which is the spirit of Africa. It was a fascinating lecture and it made it much more understandable the struggles that are presented when trying to teach an African about Christianity and an all-powerful, single God. In fact a whole new word had to be created to represent our God.

We headed off to see the sangoma who lived in the rural hills which was very beautiful! I will put up a picture of him soon. He was quite a sight. With neon beaded braids, a leopard print robe, and soda can lids hanging on his ankles we wondered whether to laugh or leave. He was very nice and was very kind to let us into his "office" and see what a day in his life would be. He takes appointments just like a doctor and these appointments are very expensive. He went to school for 4-6 months depending on how the "spirits" felt about him. One ritual in particular that he told us about was a love potion. Simple recipe: ground up pieces of animals that are paired for life, throw in some herbs, white residue from your tongue, blood from your chest, and skin from your hand. Put the concoction into the desired lovers food while they aren't paying attention and you will have your mate. :) Sounds good right?

Happy Valentine's Day

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of wrongs. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Durban.

Two weekends ago we made a trip to the city of Durban, which is right on the east coast. We began the day shopping at the marketplace, buying touristy things and gifts for our secret valentines. After the shopping excursion we headed to the beach for our second Indian Ocean experience, which was an adventure to say the least.




To back up to the week first, this past week was a fun one! I went on two art field trips one in Pietermaritzburg and one in Durban. We realized the second that we stepped off the bus that our art teacher means business when she walks through the city. Before the whole group was even off of the bus she booked it across two streets! We tried to run after her and ended up in the middle of an intersection with cars nearly hitting us. Every time I replay it in my head it makes me laugh because she truly has no concern for the group when she is walking around, she just takes off and it is our job to run after her. Both art galleries were pretty boring, not my style of art, but both were followed by coffee shops and desserts which is always nice. Other than the two art field trips it was a week filled with 8 hour classes and adventures to the pub/restaurant up the street and in the game reserve. I have gotten a group of girls to start doing this workout video with me called "Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred" it is so much fun working out with a group of girls rather than alone!

While we were in Durban we spent the day at the beach swimming in the shark infested waters, and playing soccer and rugby on the beach. We saw a "sangoma" which is basically a witch doctor. It is part of the African tradition, the sangomas can communicate with the ancestors and do ritual healing practices some which are pretty crazy. A lot of them are very dark, demonic people and I am pretty sure that this particular one was among that genre. Two friends and I were walking past him and my friend Angie noticed that he had a gun in his side so we turned the other direction but I turned around and made eye contact with him. It's hard to explain the rest but his intense stare just felt heavy and evil and as I made eye contact with him he pulled his gun out and pointed it at me. I turned around expecting a bullet to hit me in the back, but it didn't and after we walked away we looked back and saw that he kept the gun out and was pretending to shoot groups of people walking by. It was very frightening. Somewhat an ironic experience given that we were going to visit a sangoma the next week in class. :)

Sunrise, Sunrise.

Weekend in Pennington

One of the highlights of this past weekend was watching the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. It was so beautiful and it was really fun to think of how the sun was just leaving California and coming to Africa. It was like a hand off of the sun :).

We made a weekend trip to Pennington which is along the Eastern coast and is also near an entirely Indian community called Umzinto. The purpose of the weekend was to have fun and grow closer together but also to experience an entirely new culture and micro-culture of South Africa. I feel like it was the first true South African experience we have had here just being submerged in the city.

Our first day was just a day of traveling there, a trip that should have only taken an hour took five hours! Everything that could have gone wrong did, and we all realized how hard traveling with 50+ people is! It was fun anyways, and we made the best of it. We stayed at a "resort" that had a swimming pool and chalets with kitchens and everything. The following day we went and explored the Indian marketplace and then went to the beach! It was a different beach experience because a) there were huge swimming pools right next to the ocean water and b) although it was a huge beach, because of the sharks there was only a very small area where we were allowed to swim. They put "shark nets" in the water to keep the sharks out apparently. It looked funny to have everyone packed in such a small area! After the beach we went back and barbecued with a group of Indians that our professor had invited over. It was interesting to talk with them and try to get an understanding of their culture and they way that they view America. The following day (Sunday) we split up into groups and attented Indian churches. Of course the group I was with was assigned the church who had set aside the ENTIRE sermon time just for us! I was not happy about this because it meant that we each had to speak. It ended up going well and everyone did a really great job. I spoke about the challenges that God has been putting in my life in regards to stepping out of my comfort zone and trusting Him alone. Post church, we were invited to the pastor's house for lunch which was a very interesting experience. First of all, the women spent a lot of time preparing the meal for us, and then they did not even eat with us. It is their custom to serve the men and the guests and then eat in the kitchen afterward. It felt very strange. The Indian food was delicious though. At one point we brought up Barack Obama and the pastor very boldly told us that he thinks that Obama is the Antichrist and that he was elected in our majority white country for demonic purposes. He believes that satan is using Obama to get to Africa, and at one point he said something about our presidents being free masons or something like that? I wasn't sure what that was or what he meant, but he was very harsh and I heard from some of the other groups that the other Indian pastors spoke poorly about Obama as well. It seems like everyone else over here really likes him though, they even have shirts with pictures of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama on them.

It was a wonderful experience and I feel like I am making such great relationships over here in South Africa. I am so thankful for this opportunity and each day so far has held something new. I think that through my time over here God is really closing some doors in my life in order to open others. I love being free of my usual distractions and really focusing on God and building genuine relationships here. I am fairly certain that after my time over here I will be "ruined for the ordinary".

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!