Time for some more updates! I am going to talk about a lot of the different things that have gone on and then will make another post about the service site.
Saturday night we had our group potluck which was fun. The food was delicious. Every flat had to wear a color of the SA flag and we were green. After dinner, Katie, Heather, Lindsay, Taylor, Hannah, Olivia, Smiley (our friend from Bush camp who came to visit) and I went on a walk along the beach. We explored the boardwalk which reminds me of a carnival or Disney world…it has several shops and food places, an arcade, bowling, cinema, candy stores, bumper boats, gokarts, a few small rides (merry go round), and a casino…it is really pretty. On our way home we stopped at McDonald’s and I got a Cornetto McFlurry. It was vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, crushed sugar cone and chocolate chips. It was amazing! (and it only cost a little over $1!!!) Later that night Lindsay and I went over to our friend Suvi’s apartment (she was my tentmate at Bush camp...the girl from Finland). We spent the night talking and just hanging out with her and her two roommates from Finland (Jan and Sari) and their friend Bernie, from Austria.
Sunday morning a group of us went to Mass at Corpus Christi (the church basically in our backyard…it is like a block behind our building). The church was quite small and the congregation was made up of mostly older people. It reminded me a lot of St. Raphael’s (my home church). I was excited that I even recognized a few of the songs. After Mass, we went to the market across the street again and then walked to the Boardwalk to get a few things we forgot about the night before. The plan was not to stay too long because we had homework to do…but we ended up spending the whole afternoon wandering around.
Monday was our first day at our service sites. I will describe my first experience at House in a later post. In the afternoon we had our first class. South African Jazz Music. It seems like it should be pretty interesting. Monday was a super hot and humid day. I think it was up in the 90s. So, being the smart group of roommates we are, we decided it would be a good day to walk to NMMU. We even attempted to take a “short cut”…which ended up being the exact opposite.
Tuesday we also started our day at the service sites. In the afternoon we had our seminar class taught by Bruce and Norma (our faculty directors). We decided to be smart today and took a combi to NMMU. When we got to campus and found our building we had to walk up 8 flights of stairs (they were worse than the QUAD!). Once we reached the 8th floor we realized that the elevator had been right around the corner!!!! Ugh. Our classroom, however, did have an amazing view of the city and the ocean. I will definitely have to take a picture of it sometime soon.
Wednesday we had the opportunity to sleep in a little bit. However, the sun and the construction noises outside our window decided we didn’t deserve to sleep in. I woke up at a little after 7 am, and was the last one awake in my room. Our flat had a lazy morning, taking our time doing homework and getting ready. In the afternoon we had our SA literature course for the first time. I think it will be interesting.
In case you are interested…my class schedule is:
Monday:
-service (8:30-11:45am) and South African Jazz music (2:45-5:45pm)
Tuesday:
-service (8:30-11:45am) and Study abroad seminar (2-5pm)
Wednesday:
-South African Literature (2-5)
Thursday:
-Marine Biology (8:30-11:30am)
Another post will be coming soon with details about my first two days of service at the House.
Love & Prayers,
-Laura
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