Cape Town!

Cape Town is probably one of the greatest places I have ever been! The ocean is absolutely beautiful and the water just seems to go on forever. You can see the mountains and the ocean in the one shot and its incredible. The city vibe of Cape Town is very refreshing and I didn’t realize how much I missed the city. It reminds me of San Francisco and Seattle mixed together. 

This week my roommate Bianca and I have been staying with a family in a community called Oceanview. The Daniels family has two daughters, who are 25 and 19 years old. It has been fun getting to know the whole family. They are very generous people and have been taking great care of us! On the first day 

we met Ester and Isaac at a dinner for all the students and our host families and Ester wore a purple shirt and jewelry. This reminded me of my mom, of course, and from here on out I knew everything was going to be okay, because my “mom” for the week was wearing purple. 

Our “parents” took us on a drive the first night to see the lights of the city and we walked by the beach for a few minutes and talked with them a lot. The weekend with them was very relaxing. It’s really fun living in the Oceanview community because 24 other students are also living in the community with their homestay families. I love hearing the stories about my friends’ “families” and what fun, crazy, and interesting things they do with them. There are always people walking around the streets, and there always seems to be loud music bumpin somewhere (usually it feels like the music is coming from next door, although I’m not sure if this is true) in Oceanview. Bianca and I walk to the church where all of us student meet in the morning before we take the vans to the Bible Institute where we have class everyday. Watching everyone arrive at the church in the mornings is probably one of my favorite things. Many of us walk, others get rides from their “parents” , everyone has their backpack on like we are in elementary school again, and we are always so very happy to see each other because we have no cell phones or internet and thus we go through a little bit of separation anxiety because we cannot communicate with each other. 

This week for our History and Culture of South Africa class we went on a couple of excursions. We went to visit the township of Langa, which was the first black township. We also went to Robben Island, which was where Nelson Mandela was in prison for 18 years. I really enjoyed the tour of Robben Island and some of the history we have been learning about for the past couple of months came to life in a new way. On Robben Island many of the prisoners were political prisoners but criminals also spent time there. Robben Island did not house any prisoners after 1996, which really is not that long ago. It is incredible that all of the things we are learning about the apartheid really did not occur very long ago. One of our guides was an older man who was a prisoner on the island. He showed us where he stayed when he was there and gave us a lot of information about life on Robben Island.  

I am very excited to explore more parts of the city of Capetown in the week and a half ahead! I have been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time, and I cannot believe I am actually here. It is kind of sad that I have less and less things to look forward to in the semester. However, at the same time, I am getting excited to go home and this week I have been the most homesick I have been all semester. Living in a house with a family is a great experience but it makes me miss my family and my home! 

The Journey to Cape Town

Don’t drink the water

When one goes to visit a Zulu community, it would be best if he or she does not drink the water. Unfortunately, this is what we learned a couple of weeks ago. What happened to us can be referred to as the Zulu plague. The first group that hung out at the Zulu experience (I was not in this group) got incredibly sick! Several people had to go to the hospital and over about three days 20 of 27 of them were sick. When the two groups met for about 10 minutes we got to see our friends and I have never seen them looking so pale and miserable. People who are generally happy, smiling and full of life were just so sick! Those of us not in this group will probably never be able to understand what they went through. 

My group then went to the Zulu experience and we were told to not drink th

e water and we brought plenty of bottled water with us. However, the Zulu place was still not clean enough for us. My group made it through the three days without anyone getting sick and we were all so happy. We made it home to AE and thought we were golden, but later that night, one of my friends went to the hospital followed by 2 more people the next day and then 1 more Saturday evening. Most people in the second group did not get as sick as those in the first group. But, a majority of us were not feeling the best. 

We had a farewell dinner the night before we left AE for Cape Town. All of the professors were at the dinner and I was happy to sit at the same table as my Zulu teacher and enjoyed talking with her for the last time! It was really sad to think that our class is over, I will actually miss it! 

The Garden Route 

Traveling along the garden route was great! The first two days we drove for about 9 hours each day and then after that maybe an average of 4-6 per day.  But honestly, we were in very comfy buses and the whole time we slept and watched movies, so it wasn’t that bad. The first night I was shocked that our hotel was right along the Indian Ocean! It was such a great surprise! And the air just felt so fresh and salty! As we are drove we could see the ocean a lot of the time and of course that is great!

“Fear is temporary, regret is forever!” 

A major highlight of the garden route was BUNGY JUMPING! Not many people can say they went bungy jumping off of the world’s tallest bungy bridge! I think it’s the scariest, most adventurous thing I have ever done! About 40ish of us from my APU group went! I was in the third group of bungy-iers from our group and I jumped first in my group! 

Another part of the garden route was visiting ostrich farm, which was a very random thing to do but pretty hilarious! I have to admit that I was not able to gather to courage to feed an ostrich, but I did sit on one for a second and we all got to stand on their eggs. Some people from our group got to ride the ostrich, but after this whole experience I think I am very afraid of ostrich. I also must add that our guide at the ostrich farm took his ostrich job very seriously and had a very interesting voice. On this same day we visited the Congo Caves. Since, my parents are great parents, they have obviously taken me to see caves before, so the Congo Caves weren’t really anything new. Most of us went on the adventure tour of the caves and we have the wonderful opportunity to climb through very small and narrow spaces including the Devil’s Chimney, where you must climb up 9 (very narrow) meters. There was also this one part where we had to slide around on our stomachs and slide down this

 rock. Yes, the adventure cave was very adventurous.  

And then after a week of driving along the Garden Route we finally arrived in CAPE TOWN! 

Safari is probably one of my top 10 favorite things. You ride around with the wind blowing in your hair, looking at the most beautiful scenery, and oh yeah, you are in South Africa. You doze off every one and awhile, but no worries, so does everyone else.  When an animal is spotted, everyone in the safari vehicle wakes up to take pictures. Its pretty exciting when a giraffe, wildebeest, or zebra are right outside!

This Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday I had the opportunity to go on SAFARI! Our group of 52 was split in two, so my group went to the safari first, and then we went to the Zulu village for the rest of the week. I really enjoyed being with a smaller group and this whole week was a lot of fun. 

During the two and a half days of Safari, we would wake up at 4:30 or 5am to go on early morning drives and then basically for the rest of the day we would eat, go out looking for game, eat, go out again and then eat, go out once more and rest, have dinner and go to bed very early. One funny thing about the chalets where we stayed during the time at the safari was that the walls were not solid so we could hear everything everyone was saying before bed!

The safari guide and driver of my group was named Israel. Israel was very good at spotting not only the obvious animals but also turtles, and lizards and identifying animal tracks and animal dung. On the first 6am drive of the day, Israel told us that he didn’t know the roads of the game reserve very well. I laughed

 because I assumed he was joking like when you go out to eat at teppanyaki and the chefs tell you its there first day, but you know its really not. Well, we later found out that Israel was not joking and we got lost for about an hour. The second time we went out with Israel the other group stole our safari vehicle when we were looking for hippos because our vehicle was better than there’s. We did not think this was very funny and luckily, the third time we went out that day we spotted hippos!!! Not only were about 4 hippos in the water, but then all of a sudden one got completely out of the water and it looked like he was going to fight another hippo. Israel said this was the best hippo experience he has ever had!  Israel was also very good at making all the animal noises and every time we went passed elephant dung, which happened quite often when when we got lost, he would say, “elephant dung” in his accent and it was so funny. 

On day we got to drive to another reserve to see some lions. This time the safari vehicle was exactly like the ones in the Indiana Jones ride. Sexy Steve was our guide/ driver and unfortunately we didn’t see any lions. However, we did see three cheetahs and we got really close to them! To sum everything up, the safari was amazing and even the food we ate in the middle of nowhere was wonderful!

We went to the Zulu village Wednesday evening through Friday. It was in the hills in the middle of no where. We stayed in huts and in the morning the view from our door was beautiful! During the Zulu experience we went on a hike over the hills and through the forest, where the medicine man showed us some plants. Later in the day, we threw “spears” (which the boys in our group had made out of sticks) and shot rocks with sling shots. We also did some Zulu dancing and just hung out together by the camp fire. Our days at the Zulu village were pretty relaxing too, although it got incredibly hot and I was more than ready to come home to AE. 

What lies ahead...

This next week we will be leaving African Enterprise where we have been staying for the past couple of months. We are taking a week to drive to Cape Town and along the way we will bungee jump and shark cage dive and do all sorts of fun things. Once we arrive in Cape Town my roommate Bianca and I will live with a family for a week and live at a Bible college for the other week. I am excited for the next few weeks ahead, but its really hard to leave AE. 

Please be praying for my group, our travel to Cape Town, and especially our health right now! 

This past week was our last few days at service sites. Tuesday was the last time we met with the women at the support group and it was one of the best days spent with them yet! They helped us finish our hats we had been crocheting and they also gave us the skirts and aprons we had ordered from them :)

I had an opportunity to talk with Nelly, who hadn’t been at the group for a couple of weeks because she had been in the hospital. Nelly shared some of her struggles with my friend Danielle and I. She is going through so much right now, but I was amazed and encouraged because Nelly is so strong and has so much faith. She kept telling us about how God always provides for her and how He is always is with her. I will never forget Nelly and even though the amount of time I spent with her wasn’t much.  

Another thing I will never forget is what the women made us for lunch on Tuesday. They walked in with bowls of cow intestine, tripe (cow stomach) and pomtu. All eight of us slowly grabbed a bowl, looking for a bowl with the least amount of food. It looked absolutely disgusting. I didn’t try the meat for awhile and we all looked around at each other wondering how much we were expected to eat. After my first and only bite of the intestine, I was very very close to crying. I was on the verge of tears because it had the most horrid texture

 and because I thought we were going to have to eat everything in our bowls out of politeness and I was about to throw up thinking about eating any more. I have never wanted to eat something so badly. These women had made it for us and none of us wanted to be ungrateful or make the women disappointed. But, I think all of us were wondering if it would be worse to not eat it or to eat it and then throw it all up. I later found out that my friend Emma threw the meat in a plastic bag in her lunch box when no one was looking. I was sitting right by the window and I honestly considered discretely throwing some of this “lunch” out the window. I thought people only got rid of their food like this in the movies. However, I now know that sometimes this occurs in real life too. Thankfully, the social workers who translate for us told us it was okay not to eat it all and even they did not eat the cow intestine! I have not eaten meat since this experience and I think it might be awhile until I do. 

Saying goodbye to our friends at the support group was incredibly difficult. We took so many pictures with them and gave them hugs and the only reason it wasn’t sad saying goodbye was because they were joyful! It still hasn’t hit me that I probably will never see these woman again. 

Wednesday was our last day with the kids at RivLife. In the afternoon we painted their faces and blew bubbles with them and gave them popcorn to eat. I think they had a lot of fun but this too was also difficult realizing that it was the last time we would get to hold them, sing with them, and play with them. I even let some of the girls twist my hair, which turns into knots, because it was the last day. 

Overall, these three and a half weeks have been an amazing experience. I am still processing everything and I know it will take awhile. One question I keep asking is “Where do I see God in this?” I am so thankful for the many conversations I have had with my RivLife team and that together we can attempt to figure some of this out. 

On Monday, we will leave to go on safari for two days and then to live with a Zulu tribe for a couple of days. It should be an interesting transition going from service site

s to the safari but I am so excited!!! The safari is something many of us have been looking forward to since we arrived in South Africa! I miss everyone at home and love you all! Thanks so much for reading! 

They day we got to PAINT!

Last Friday we had the opportunity to leave our mark on the walls of the new crash (day care) at RivLife. It was our chance to be creative and to bring some life to the place where the kids will be everyday. On one wall we painted a rainbow using the kids hands, on another we painted flowers and butterflies and in the third room we pained a sun that says, "Jesus loves you" in English and IsiZulu.  

For the rainbow, we had four little girls help us and they were so well-behaved as we painted their hands and tried to explain to them what to do in English even though they don't speak English! 

Besides from painting, last Friday was a great day with the women in the support group we visit twice a week. They took us on a walk through the township where they live and we got to visit a couple of their clients. Every woman in the support group is a counselor for the red cross. They each have about 10 clients who have AIDS who they visit and they help get their medication  and other things like that. This is all volunteer work for them. 

I cannot describe what it was like to visit the two women they took us to in the community. It was hard to hear their stories and the struggles they are facing. At both homes we had the opportunity to pray for the people we were visiting. Before we prayed the women of the support group would sing. It was one of the most moving things I have ever experienced. The songs were in Zulu so I'm not sure what they songs meant. They sang so beautifully but at the same time, the songs were so sad and heartfelt.  

After these home visits we got to spend more time with the women. On Thursday night, we had made quesadillas, guacamole, and rice krispie treats to bring the women for lunch since they had made lunch for us on Tuesday. None of them had ever had this type of food before and it was funny to watch them try it. Im not too sure if they liked the quesadillas very much but they enjoyed the rice krispie treats!
After our day of spending time with the women and painting, we had to take some pictures! This "jumping" picture is a failed attempt to capture everyone in the air, but it shows our genuine laughter. And as I've mentioned before we LOVE to LAUGH!  

While taking pictures we decided to demonstrate the motions to my new favorite song the gogo Gloria from the crash taught us. It goes like this, “Jesus is ever shinning. He is ever shinning.” You then repeat those 7 words over and over until you are sure that the song will be stuck in your head for the next 3 days. It’s also my favorite thing to be sitting in Zulu class at night and have this song in my head. Thankfully, I am not alone in my misery and everyone on my team has confessed that the song also never leaves there heads either.