WaKuwa Vuka...

"When you fall, Rise again"....this is a quote that one of the service groups painted on the side of a building at the Pendla elementary school. I really like it. 


Can you believe it? I have been home for a little over a month now. It feels like I just got home from the airport, exhausted like none other from the long layovers and flights.  Yet at the same time it feels like South Africa was ages ago...or worse yet, like South Africa may never have even happened, perhaps it was only a dream. 

I don't know how I feel. I still miss South Africa a lot. I miss the places, the ocean, the roads, Langerry, Primi's chocolate milkshakes, Joyce (our housecleaner who always had the biggest smile on her face)...I miss walking home from class with the sun glistening over the ocean...I miss walking to SPUR with Taylor always thinking we were parched and too tired to make it home with all of our groceries....I miss driving through the township and seeing all of the people's bright, smiley faces whose strength leaves me in awe....I miss the people we met, our new South African friends and our other international friends, I miss the strangers who we frequently saw, I miss Bennett/Chris (the guy who sold us paintings at the market), I miss the old man who sold fudge for R2/ piece at the market on Sundays...I miss Renee (one of the head ladies at House)...I miss Connie (the school teacher to the kids at House)...Most of all, I miss Iba and Mkhitha and Mandhi and Kuhle and Lisa and Tylo and Isi and Humelo and Yonela and Sibu and Cedi and all of the other kids. My heart physically hurts when I think about them and remember how much I loved them (and still do love them). Honestly, if I would be able to provide a decent life for them at this point in my life, I would have about 20 adopted children in a heartbeat.

It still feels weird to be home. I have adjusted a little over the month I have been home....fallen back in to the somewhat routine of who I was...fallen into the mold of myself I left behind. But that old self is now an uncomfortable fit because I am not the same self...South Africa changed me...I cannot describe what changed in words but I feel it. I know it occurred. Therefore, I cannot be who I was...I feel like people don't always realize this. They expect me to be who I was before, but I can't. That is no longer me.  I feel like I am stuck being who I used to be because not many people are recognizing that I have changed.  I don't know how to show that I have changed so I feel that the changes are slowly reversing back to how I used to be...because that is easier...but I don't want to forget Africa. I don't want to forget what I learned. I want to be the me Africa inspired me to be.

I also still want to talk about Africa. I know people always say that when you come back from being abroad you are going to find that people get sick of listening to your stories...I have found that to be true...it feels like many people forget to acknowledge that I even went to South Africa.  Now, I don't think that everything I say has to relate back to SA and my world should not revolve around old memories....but I do need people to realize how big of an impact South Africa had on my life. 

"I left my heart in Africa"....that was on someone's necklace I saw while in SA....I should have bought the necklace. It is so true. I really feel that I left part of my heart in Africa. Because of that I know that some day I will return. I have to. My heart yearns to be together again...to be whole. The necklace is true. Part of my heart was left in Africa, but also, part of Africa is now in my heart. I have a special place for Africa in my heart.  Not only do I want to go back to South Africa, I also strongly desire to go to several other African countries. My heart wants to explore and discover more of Africa. I want to meet more people and learn from their stories. Actually I want to go all over the world.  Currently, I really want to go to Thailand & India, then several countries in Africa, then most of Europe!

I don't know what else to say. I don't know who (if anyone) will read this post. I guess it was more for me to ramble out my thoughts. I miss South Africa and think about it everyday.  Reverse culture shock is definitely hitting me hard. I miss my kids. I just want to give them a hug and hear them laugh.  I cannot wait to go back.  I just hope it is soon.

The important thing is not so much what you do as what happens to you while you do it. Where the interior journey takes you. What you find there. How you are transformed when you come back home.
--Susan Gordon Lydon

Good byes are not my favorite...In fact I hate them...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I leave Africa tomorrow! Holy cow. This is so hard. I hate saying goodbye, especially to people and places I have become so attached to.  I never imagined it would be this difficult. 

We have once again done quite a bit in the last week.  One of my favorite things was going on a boat ride on the open ocean for my marine biology class.  The boats were pretty small and kind of sketchy, but it was fun nonetheless.  It was a pretty windy day and the waves were pretty large.  There were a few times when I thought we were going to fly out of the boat.  We were headed to bird island where there is the world’s largest population of African penguins.  We ended up making it half way and had to turn around because up ahead there were apparently 5 m swells.  It was ok though because we ended up seeing about 11 dolphins super close to our boat.  It was so cool. 

Throughout this semester we have done so much and seen so much.  A lot of it has changed us.  For our last seminar class we had to do some reflections and this is some of what I wrote:

1) I know I have changed as a result of my experience because…

-my mindset is different, I feel like I am not as stressed about the little things

-I am learning to trust more

-I now want to travel abroad more

-I value culture more

2) Lessons learned that I never want to forget…

-not to stress over time or the little things…relax and enjoy life

                -African time has been good for me

-Be PRESENT!

I will be home in 2 days after traveling through many airports, planes and layovers for 36 hrs.  This is so crazy.  See you all SOON.  Please get in touch with me, I would love to see you!

Love from Africa,

-laura

How can it be?

I have 7 days left in this amazing place, this wonderful yet broken country, this place I now call home.  How can that be true? This time has gone so fast.  I can count the days on my hands…and when you can count the number of days on your hands, it is never a good sign!

I am excited to go home and see people, but I don’t want to say good bye to South Africa, to the people I have met, to the places I have explored, and to the kids who I have come to love.  I don’t think I can leave them without my heart breaking. 

Hmmm…I don’t even know what to tell you.  It has been a very busy two and a half weeks since our fall break trip.  We have had so much homework that we are being buried alive.  Other than that we have done a lot of random stuff:

-Experienced a little bit of Finnish culture in South Africa…our friends Suvi, Sari, and Jan had a Finnish party, where they made lots of foods from home.  It was all so good.

-we saw the NMMU choir perform….they are one of the top rated choirs in SA I think…they travel to different countries to compete. It was so good.  They performed some choir songs that reminded me of AHS choir, and then also some traditional SA songs.

-we went to an Ethiopian restaurant…it was in kind of a sketchy area but we had a big group and so it was fine. There was no silverware because Ethiopian food is usually eaten with your hands.  As could be expected, it was super messy.  The food was kind of spicy so I wasn’t a huge fan, but everyone else loved it.  It was still a cool experience though. 

-we had a “fun day” with the kids at House. We rented two bouncy castles, did face painting and had a braai.  It was so much fun.  Ahhh I love those kids.

-My friend Sara Sandwick, who is a CSB nursing student, arrived in PE. It is so much fun to have her here!

-we had our last day at House….I don’t even know what to think. It is already difficult to think about this and I don’t even think I have fully grasped that I am not going to see those kids again.  When I do grasp it…oh man…it will be not a fun day.

Anyway, that is a bit of the random stuff we have been up to.  There has been so much more but I am lazy at the moment.  Sorry. You will just have to hear the stories from me IN PERSON IN 7 DAYS!!!! Holy cow.

Miss you and see you SOON!

It's raining skydivers...

I WENT SKYDIVING!  Ahhhhhh it was so crazy.  I never thought I would, I wasn’t really planning on it at all for this trip but it just kind of happened.  I went and talked to the people and they said if the weather got better they would try to squeeze me in.  They were going to call and let me know.  I thought that meant when they called they would give me 2 hours or something but nope! Around 1pm, she called and asked if I could come now.  She said come quickly the plane was getting ready to leave.  Holy cow…. I panicked and got ready super fast.  Didn’t really have time to think it through or back out if I wanted to.   I was more nervous about spending the money than I was about jumping out of a plane.

  I got to wear a lovely blue jumpsuit.  My tandem instructor’s name was Ceis.  He told me that when we jump out of the plane I have to be like a banana with my head back, hands holding onto straps by chest, and feet trying to kick my butt.   I talked a lot out of nervousness.  Ceis was cool though.  I told him lots of random things in my nervousness.  I said that every time he said banana I thought of Bananas in Pajamas…he knew what I was talking about…said we were like B1 and B2 and started singing the song…this really surprised me b/c a lot of people in the US don’t know the show.  We got into a bus that looked like a kombi and drove to where the plane was to take off.  It was a small plane that I think dad would have really liked flying, especially over the beautiful mountains.  The other instructors were giving me a hard time and joking with me.  They told me that I was the last person Ceis had to jump with with his learners permit.  He told me that they were joking, he had done 1000s of jumps. 

During the day you could always hear planes and it looked like it was raining skydivers.  They were dropping everywhere. It was quite cool.  We finally boarded the plane; there were about 10 of us.  It made me a little nervous that I realized they never took my consent form.  They rushed me so much I forgot to give it to them.  Oh well.  As we went up Ceis would tell me how many ft we were at.  I looked out the window a bit, not quite sure how to feel.  I was nervous but more just shocked at what I was doing.  It felt so unreal.  At about 8000 ft Ceis strapped me to him. Finally we got up to 12000 ft. The plane ride was about 15 min. total.  One guy got ready to do a solo jump, they opened the door (creepy) and I needed to move a bit so he could get out.  I grabbed onto the leg of someone else so I didn’t fly out.  It wouldn’t have happened but it was scary nonetheless.  The guy just fell out and went soaring.  Then it was our turn.  It happened so fast.  Ceis said to tuck my legs under the plane like he had previously explained and then we fell.  It was so scary and such a weird feeling.  I didn’t really like the 35 sec. free fall.  

As we were freefalling, he tapped me and that signaled to let go with my arms and let them flap out…it was “lekker” he said.  Then he tapped me again to signal that he was going to release the parachute.  It was not as jerky as I was expecting.  It actually was a lot slower than I thought.  For most of the free fall my eyes were shut but I did blink them open really fast a few times.  For the canopy (part with parachute..~4-5 min.) part I had my eyes open for most of it.  At first I was a little uncomfortable but it got better and I started just chatting with Ceis.  I told him to keep it nice and simple, no fancy business.  He showed me how to turn it to the sides and asked if I wanted to try it.  I wish I would have but at the moment I was trying to calm myself down.  I kept saying holy cow. Holy cow.  Oh wow. 

The landing was fine.  Not as graceful as I had planned, my legs kind of slide under me a bit, but it was good.  It was just so crazy, fun, unreal and wow.  Today felt like such a normal day, but really…I JUST JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE!!!!!!!!

Busy Busy Busy….Cape Town, Durban & Drakensberg…

We had our “fall” break trip last week.  It was a 9 day CSB/SJU group excursion to Cape Town…and then 10 of us flew to Durban then 6 of us drove to the Drakensberg Mountains while the rest stayed in Durban.  Cape Town was a lot of fun.  We had a tour guide who planned everything down to the last minute basically.  We got to do and see so much but had little free time to explore.  Here is an outline of what we did the whole trip: (warning…do I even need to say it….it is long J)

Fri. (April 22^nd): bus to Tsitskama where people went Bungee Jumping at world’s highest commercial jump…me and a few others watched and took pictures…I was terrified just to look at the bridge….later we went for a hike to a beautiful waterfall.  We jumped into some frigid water in a pool at the base of the falls….I have never been in colder water…I seriously started to hyperventilate because I could not breathe

Sat. (April 23^rd): Spent night in Guguletu Township outside of Cape Town…. We first went to the home of Mama Knox who runs the homestay program.  It was started with 2 mamas and now there are 14.  They all live within 1 mi of each other.  Lindsay and I stayed with Mama Nosichele, she said we could call her Ellen.  Her house was pretty clean and quite nice. It was small but not that small.  It was nicer than I expected.  Right away when we got there she turned on her tv (maybe she assumed we as westerners would want to watch tv) and we watched American Idol. Ha!  We talked with her a bit and she gave us a cooking lesson.  We learned how to make Stavey mealie pap.  It is a lot like mashed potatoes.  We also had chicken, gravy, and butternut squash.  It was so good.

Sun. (April 24^th): This was definitely the weirdest Easter of my entire life! A few of us went to the Catholic Mass and then we joined the group at a multi-cultural, non-denominational church service.  It was pretty cool.  They had some Magis like songs, interpretative dance, the “Everything” LifeHouse skit!!!, and a sermon.  Then we went to lunch at Mzoli’s, which is supposedly one of Cape Town’s greatest restaurants.  It was crazy and chaotic.  They brought out huge buckets of meat and it was basically a free for all.  They also had “fat cakes” which is pretty much deep fried bread.  Overall, it was just too overwhelming for me.  After lunch we went to Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was in prison for 17 of the 27 years he was in prison.  Going to prison on Easter was quite interesting.   We went to a nice restaurant for dinner and I ordered some African cuisine.  I tried Couscous with a cucumber, carrot, onion, green pepper, and tomato sauce on it.  It was delicious!

Mon. (April 25^th): The breakfasts at our hotel were awesome! You could order omelets, French toast, eggs, sausage, etc.  Today we climbed Table Mountain….there was a super difficult rock scramble and I wasn’t feeling the greatest.  There was a group of about 6 of us who aren’t in the best shape who took the Cable Car up to the top. We all took the long way to hike down the mountain.  It was a chilly, rainy, foggy day.  It wasn’t the greatest day for a hike but it was still fun. 

Tues. (April 26^th): We drove to Cape Point today…it is said to be the Southern most tip of Africa.  It was really pretty.  We then went to a place that had a lot of African penguins….fyi…for some reason penguins remind me of my brother.  Sorry Jacob, but you would make a good penguin. J Then we went to Groot Constantia Winery where we tasted 5 types of wine.  I found out I am not a huge fan of wine. 

Wed. (April 27^th): A group of 10 of us flew to Durban bright and early.  We explored a bit of the city.  We went to the botanical gardens, went to an Art center, the Natural Science Center, and then to TacoZulu for dinner.  Our backpacker was a bit sketchy…it was in not the greatest area of town and it had quite a

few cockroaches.  It was an interesting night, but now it makes a great story.

Thurs. (April 28^th): Lindsay, Taylor, and I started to drive to Drakensberg.  We got to our backpacker and had a very chill day.  It was in such a pretty area.  There were mountains galore. 

Fri. (April 29^th): All I wanted was a box of Kleenex, some orange juice and a bed but instead I climbed a mountain.  I felt soooo sick.  The mtn we climbed was 3121 m.  It was a 2 hr drive from our backpacker.  The climb consisted of a zig zag portion, then the beginning of a loop, a 45 min. difficult rock scramble, picnic lunch on top, walk to waterfall, rest of loop, down creepy ladders, and then back down zig zag portion.  We left at 7:30 am and returned around 9pm.  It was an exhausting day but so worth it.  The views were indescribable.  Tugela Falls is the water fall we climbed to.  It is the 2^nd tallest waterfall in the world and the tallest in Africa at 948 m.  The first tallest is in Venezuela. The ladders we had to go down were terrifying.  The 1^st was 9 m and the 2^nd was 23 m.  They were metal and strapped to the side of the mtn…I just about died.  The hike was sooo pretty.  It is probably one of my favorite places in South Africa, potentially in the world.  It is beautiful. 

Sat. (April 30^th):  I WENT SKYDIVING! LIKE JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE FROM 12,000 FT!  See separate blog post J

                After skydiving, we hung out around the backpacker.  There was a women’s music festival going on called the Smoking Dragon.  It was a huge hippie fest. …very interesting.  It was fun to look at the different tents.  Later at night they had some interesting music, a different, yet still pretty cool light show, and an awesome fire show (probably would not have been legal in the US at a festival). 

Sun. (May 1^st): We drove 14.5 hrs home to PE.  We saw lots of goats, cows, baboons, and dogs on the roads on our way home.  Overall, this trip was so awesome.  I loved it!

Nothing out of the ordinary...

What to blog about? These past few weeks have been pretty ordinary.  We have been super busy yet again with classes, homework and service.  Spending time at House has become more and more rewarding.  The kids are starting to really recognize us and open up to us.  Last week we spent some time painting with them…fun but chaotic and messy!

                 I am falling in love with Mandhi and Desiree and all of the other children too.  Mandhi is at the age where he likes to repeat everything you say.  It is so cute.  He also has the slyest little smile.  He is a sneaky little bugger sometimes and he knows it.  He smiles his little innocent smile and gives you a look that you cannot help but love.  Desiree is so adorable too.  She is so quiet and loves to just sit in your lap or hold your hand.

                                  

Desiree, Mandhi and I

Random tidbits:

-On Sunday, Katie and I had breakfast at “Tiffany’s.”  It is a small restaurant down the road.  We had scones and crepes (1 cinnamon & sugar, 1 caramel & banana). Yum! They were so good. 

-On Tues. night we attempted to sleep on the roof while gazing at the stars and being blinded by the magnificently bright moon….we ended up just taking a 3 hr “nap” on the roof though because we got too cold.  However, it was so beautiful. Even though we are in the middle of a big city, the sky is still amazing.  Plus I loved hearing the sound of waves crashing against the shore to put me to sleep.

-We have been meeting lots of new people…people from South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, and more.  It is so cool to hear stories about other people’s lives.

-A few weekends ago we also got to watch the IRONMAN…it is a world wide triathlon that took place in PE….it was about a 2 mi swim in the ocean, a 112 mi bike ride and then a 26.5 mi run.  Crazy.  It was fun to watch.  We went down to the pier at 6am to get a good spot to watch the start.

Sorry this was all so random.  I wanted to blog before our “fall” break trip so I wouldn’t have as much to write up when I got back.  We leave tomorrow for our trip.  It is our “fall” break instead of spring break because it is fall here.  We are headed with the large group to Cape Town from Fri. April 22^nd –Wed. April 27^th…Then a smaller group of us fly off to Durban where we will spend a night and then drive to the Drakensberg Mtns for a few days.  We will be driving back to PE on May 1^st.  I will have no access to internet during this time so I will talk to you all and let you know how it was when I get back.  We have a lot planned for us (spending the night in a township, visiting Robben Island, climbing Table Mountain, doing a wine tour, going to a market in Durban, and hiking in Drakensberg, and more).  

Please keep us and all of our travels in your prayers. Hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Love & Prayers,

Laura

I am in South Africa!

In case you didn’t know, I am in SOUTH AFRICA.  It just really hit me the other day.  It comes in waves.  I have gotten into a routine here, that it does not feel much different than being at home or at CSB/SJU (I mean other than the fact that there is an ocean right across the street, I am a part of the minority racial group….)  Really though, life isn’t that much different.  We are having great and exciting experiences here but the day to day life kind of starts to feel natural and normal.  A few weeks ago I got out of class and saw that it was 4:55pm.  I thought to myself, “wow, class got out right on time.  Now I have time to run and catch the 5pm bus to SJU.”  It didn’t even hit me that I wasn’t at CSB or that in fact I was on a different continent. 

                Some things, however, do seem unnatural and they do snap me back to the reality that I am living in South Africa.  These reminders are sometimes good and sometimes bad. 

                On our way to our service sites on Mondays and Tuesdays, we pass through the Missionvale township.  We see homes made out of metal scrapes, boards and boxes.  Many of them look like they are quite a bit smaller than my dorm room freshman year.  And there are a ton of these homes.  When you look around the small shacks are crowded super close together.  It looks like they go on forever.  The ground has hardly any grass, it is mostly dirt polluted with garbage.  Scruffy looking dogs, cows, goats and pigs roam freely through the streets with their ribs clearly visible.  It is crazy the conditions these people are living in.  It is crazy to think of how my life would have been different if I were born in one of those homes instead of my own.  It is just so crazy to me to think about all of this.  Poverty is so prevalent in this area.  What is exciting though is that these people seem to make the best of the situation.  When we drive by I still see people smiling and laughing.  Even though they have many struggles, they still find happiness. 

                Exciting side note….the TOMS shoes foundation donates a pair of shoes to people in need for every pair that is bought…well Missionvale is one of the receiving sites…we see many people walking around wearing TOMS shoes. It makes  me so happy.

                One of the more positive things that reminds me that I am living in South Africa is that i am surrounded by animals.  As already mentioned we have Vervet monkeys on campus (super awesome!).  We also have many animal park reserves nearby.  This past weekend we went to SeaView Lion Park.  They have over 50 lions spread throughout the park.  They also had a few tigers and some other smaller animals in certain areas.  The most exciting thing was that the park has giraffes that roam freely.  Our car was stopped because there was a giraffe in the middle of the road about 6 ft in front of us!!!!  I saw about 11 giraffes total.  We also got to pet and play with 3 month old baby lion cubs.  They were so cute.  My apartment next fall may have a new addition to it.  I am trying to find a way to bring Koby (one of the 3 mo. Old lion cubs) back home with me. 

                South Africa is great. It is beautiful.  It is fun.  It has so much to do and to explore.  It helps you find yourself.  It helps you learn about history. It teaches you its story, its pain, its struggle.  You learn to appreciate the struggle and pain that so many people went through because of apartheid and poverty.  It makes me appreciate where I have come from.  It has taught me to trust, to love, to have faith, to be patient, and to be present.

Life moves too fast.

Warning: this is a super random blog…it has little bits of everything in it….

                It has now been over 2 months that I have been here.  We have a little under two months left. Yikes. Crud. That is not good.  Too much left that I want to do.  I need to find the pause button on life’s remote. 

                A lot has happened in the past week, but then again not that much has happened.  We have been kept super busy with class, service, homework (to the extreme…I don’t think I have ever had this much homework..it stinks that I have it now while I am abroad) and just life.  We have spent some time doing homework in the sun on the roof.  We have had some super nice weather, but also some super cloudy and “cold” days.  I even needed to wear jeans instead of shorts with my t-shirt one day because it was a bit chilly. 

                We have met some new people.  We had some friend’s from Lidnsay’s volleyball team over for dinner and then they had us over for dinner on Heather’s birthday.  They are really great. Lauren, Abbie, and Chi Chi are all from South Africa.  They are a lot of fun and have introduced us to a few of their friends. 

                For music class last week we went on a field trip to hear a township musican play some jazz music.  Dudley Tito and his band were AMAZING.  Wow.  I was blown away. 

                I went with a friend to a bible study at another friend’s church.  It was very interesting to say the least.  Ask me more about it if you want to know the details.

                Last Friday we (my flatmates and I ) had a spa day.  We drove to Casa Mia and received a ladies day package.  It included: Indian head, neck and shoulders massage, sauna time, hydrobath, color element full body massage, pedicure, and lunch.  It was the first time I ever had a massage.  It was really nice.  We did this for Heather because it was her birthday weekend.

                House has been fun.  The kids are starting to really get used to us being there.  We are starting to get to see more of their real personalities.  I love it. 

                In bio today we had a lab practical where we went down to a rocky shore to collect data.  We saw lots of cool sea creatures: a blue jelly fish, a mini star fish, lots of limpets, snails of different shapes, colors, and sizes, and lots of other cool things. 

                A lot of the reading we have had to do has been about dark, depressing and disturbing topics.  We are currently reading My Traitor’s Heart for seminar.  The reading this time really hit me.  The stories are horrible accounts of what happened to real people.  I think sometimes we read it and kind of shrug it off as, “oh that was gross” or sad or disturbing.  Not often do I really realize that these things happened to real human beings.  Wow. I got sick to my stomach and my head and heart started to hurt as I trudged through these painful tales.  In Desmod Tutu’s (another author we have read) postscript he

says that you are supposed to be like a dishwasher not a vacuum…don’t suck everything up and hold on to it…you need to take it all in and then let it all out…I am realizing that I am bad at being a dish washer…

well I think that is it for random tidbits of my life right now.  What is going on in your life?  Please inform me.  I miss not hearing what is going on at home. 

Have a good weekend.

Love,

Laura