I know all of you are wondering so many things about my day and where I am. I am considering this to be one of many question and answer blogs. If I miss something or don't explain it well. Email me and I will try to remedy it for you. :)
What the heck do you do everyday?
We had a different schedule last week than we will next week. Here is a main overview of what I do everyday.
5:45am Drag my tired butt out of bed
6-7 Devotions, Bible reading , quiet time to talk to God (I go in my PJs)
7-8 breakfast
8-8:30 clean up and get ready
8:30-11 Class, break off into "D-groups", and we do get a break in here somewhere
12:00 lunch( my fav part of the day)
1-4:00 go into the townships and minister, get to know people, build relationships, play with kids, do what we are needed to do.
4-6 free time (regroup, shower, remember I miss home)
6:00-7:00 Dinner
7:00 - 9:00 free time, journal, read books, check email, hang out, house jobs
9:00-10:00 get ready for bed, lay in bed and pray my roommate either leave or get really tired really fast.
Here is an explanation of some of the things I will talk about and am doing:
D Groups.......All of us were broken into groups of 6 and assigned a township. My d-group includes a white married couple, me and another single girl from the states, also white, and 2 African single guys. We assigned to Masi.
House Jobs.....We are all assigned into teams in the house. Each team has a different job each day to clean the house ie. bathrooms, kitchen etc.
Different Races in South Africa.....white, black, and colored. They are all very proud of their race and would take offense if you didn't call them by their race, ie colored South African. Here's a quick break down
White South Africans- tend to make more money and live in nicer places, speak Afrikaans.
Black South Africans- made up of many tribes, live in Masi and Red Hill, speak a variety of tribal languages, predominately Xhosa.
Colored South Africans- live mainly in Ocean View but some in Red Hill, speak Afrikaans.
Townships......There are 3 townships we will be working with while here in SA(South Africa). Red Hill, Masi, and Ocean View. They are all very culturally different. There are many townships in SA these are only 3.
My roommates and living condition........I live in Africa House with many other people. Africa House is owned by All Nations and is a gated property. There is a coded key pad to get in and they switch the code every week. The property is pretty big about 2 1/2 acres. There is also apartments across the way were most of the married couples live. We have 3 couples that came with kids. 5 kids in all and all under the age of 4. I am one room of the house with 3 other girls. The room is about a 12x20 size room. There are 3 sets of bunk beds in there. The beds are assigned. I have a bunk all to my own........thank ya Jesus!!!!!!! The girls I room with are all 21-23 yrs old and all from the same church. They are very nice and also spiritually mature.
Food.........They do meals a bit differently here.
Breakfast- cereal, milk yogurt, fruit,muslix
Lunch (our hot meal).....it varies and we have a cook that cooks for us. Her name is Sylvia and we have become great friends. I met her last time I was here.
Light evening meal...... PBJ, butter, bread, mayonaise, sometimes tuna, sometimes, cheese, sometimes, tomato, and always fruit, any left overs from lunch.
This is the food that is provided and included in the price of CPx. If you want something different you can go to the store and buy it or go out to eat but this gets expensive and isn't usually done. we get pretty creative with what we have.
There are 42 students attending CPx. Within these 42 students 12 nations are represented. India, Zambia, UK, Germany, USA, SA, Columbia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Canada
We have already had classes on being culturally diverse and how to live with each other with minimal conflict. The classes have opened my eyes and taught me so much about other people. I have a new found respect for people of other cultures.
On this subject here is what most of the world views us as, don't take offense we have our own steriotypes of other cultures too. We are pushy, fat, know it all, we eat McDonald's all the time, we all listen to country music, always in a hurry, and very task oriented, we don't care who we step on as long as what we have to take care of gets done. So there we are everyone, God Bless America!!!!!
The are surrounding where I live is a city. There is a mall, grocery store, and McDonald's in walking distance. There are no farms that I can see but if you drive a bit into the mountains there are horses and llamas. There is a beach about 3 miles away. I have not been yet. They have a flag system for the sharks at the beach. They have people that sit up in the mountains with very powerful scopes and use walkie talkies to communicate to each other about the sharks. Then the flag system si for the beach goers. I white flag with a picture of a shark means get out of the water. A black flag means the water is too murky and there are no garentees if you get in the water. About 2 weeks ago on a black flag a surfer was attacked and died of blood loss on the way to the hospital.
I don't know if people fish here or not. I haven't seen anyone but I also haven't gone to the beach yet. There is a people called Pedi that do alot of fishing but it;s to feed their families not really to sell. I also have no idea what kind of fish are caught.
The only animal that reall y roam around are baboons. We haven't seen any yet but we aren't really in a baboon are where we live. All the window in SA have bars on the windows so the baboons don't break in though. The other day we were driving home and saw a pod of about 30 dolphin jumping and swimming. We pulled off to watch them and as they were leaving for deaper water I saw a whale spout and then come up and roll it's back out of the water. It was awesome and very rare. It's not whale season right now.
The computer I am using right now is at the Africa House. There are 2 computers available to us but we can't download pictures or movies. The bandwidth in SA is very limited and very expensive if you exceed it. I can also go over to the internet cafe and use the computers. There are about 20 computers there and you can upload or download if you need to but it costs money. The internet cafe is the only place I can check my Facebook. everything at the house is mainly email and checking my bank acct if needed.
I still don't have an address yet...........so sorry. I am working on it. I have been told I can give out the address to the local post office and have things shipped there. I was told it's better for things not to get stolen that way through customs. As sooon as I get it I promise to post it. Trust me I would love to recieve mail!!! For now emailing is best and my new crack. I am seriously addicted so email away people and I will try my best answer.
I can't tell if I have missed anything. Please email me and tell me if there are other questions. I would love to answer them.
Here is a brief prayer request list:
My stomach- nothing is wrong but it can't hurt
Sleep- I've been sleeping well but again, can't hurt
That I don't get sick
Safety while in the townships
That I listen to God's voice and not my own
That I will manage God's money well
I think that is all for now. Hope everyone is well. Love to all.
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