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Monday, May 9, 2011

Home-bound


May 5, 2011
Minneapolis Airport

I’m in America. Not Spokane, yet, but close. I’m waiting in Minneapolis to board my last flight. It’s a weird feeling. I feel like tomorrow I’ll still be waking up in my Cape Town home, but in all actuality, I don’t know when I’ll be back there. I definitely do hope to go back at some point, though.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated, so let me see what I can remember…
When we got home from the Eastern Cape (which was by far one of my favorite things I did in South Africa), we had about 3 days before we began our service-learning class. It was…alright. For the first week, we stayed in the township Guguletu. In case you don’t know, a township is basically a shanty town where the blacks were forced to move into during the apartheid, and where most still live today. However, our experience wasn’t so much a shack house, they were probably the nicest houses in the township, and the biggest sacrifice I made was a cold bath. This was a bit of a relief at first, as I thought I would be bug infested and taking bucket showers, but it was also a disappointment. I feel that the shack houses are the “true” township life, and so I didn’t feel like I really experienced that. Each day, we went to a center/church in the township called JL Zwane, which has numerous programs to help the community. We did some cleaning, learned about the programs, and helped with the “rainbow school” after-school program. A couple of the days we went out and met some people in the community, particularly people who suffer from HIV/AIDS and/or cancer. This is all sounds great, right? The idea was great. However, the cleaning we were doing wasn’t necessary (we cleaned the same windows 3 times in the 2 weeks we were there), and the people we met were kind of displayed as show animals. We would go into the home, a lady would introduce us to the patient, and then the lady would tell his story instead of him telling it himself (even though he was perfectly capable). The second week we were there, we were bussed in each day, and it was really a waste of time. We spent at least half our time playing cards (with each other, not with people from the community), and the other half doing things…like cleaning the windows. We did get to paint a house, so that was cool. I did learn some stuff from it, but in all honesty, it was quite a disappointment. We were honest with the people in charge of it, so hopefully changes will be made for next year.
The last 2 weeks were spent doing whatever we wanted. Krystle and I rode the train into town a few times to explore and do some souvenir shopping. It was nice to hang out with the family and just be lazy, but we also made sure to go out and enjoy the city while we could. We stayed at our friend Luke’s place that he was house-sitting, and then went to Easter dinner at his family’s house the next day. That was super nice, and we met his cousin who we ended up hanging out with a couple more times.
I did too much to do a day-by-day explanation, but I’ll be happy to fill you all in when I see you!
I can’t believe I’ll be home in 3 hours. It’ll take some adjusting…I should be asleep right now if I were in Cape Town… so I’m starting to feel a bit tired.
Please be praying for my Grandpa and family, as he is in the hospital struggling to stay alive.
Thank you all again for everything you’ve done for my trip, including reading this blog! It means so much to have your support.
I’ll update a couple more times as I experience my “culture shock back to America.”

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Eastern Cape Day 7


April 3 2011 6PM
Journey to the Eastern Cape Day 7

Can you believe it’s already April 3rd??? I certainly can’t. I only have ONE MONTH left. I’m about 50/50 on how I feel about this. I’m still loving being here and enjoying every minute of it, but I’m also getting quite anxious to get home, see everyone, and be in my own comfortable space again.
Anyways, let me fill you in on the last few days’ happenings. I’m going to start with today and backtrack (mainly because I think it’s the only way I’m going to remember…it’s kinda all a blur).
I am currently at the Bulungula Lodge that is on the ocean in the Eastern Cape (this is as far as we’re going in the Eastern Cape). It’s this really awesome eco-friendly lodge where we use compost toilets and rocket showers (the water is warmed up with paraffin and lasts about 7 minutes). When we got here yesterday (after 6 hours in a VERY cramped van) we just hung out and ate dinner. We sat around the bon fine and when it got dark some people went and got their musical instruments. It was really sweet, we had a guitarist/singer, a few African drums, and a didgerydoo (spelling)? I even played the drums a little bit! It was one of the few times while being here that I’ve played music at all, and it made me miss my violin…
Today we got up and walked on the beach a bit. Then 5 of us Americans were led into the forest to learn what a traditional healer of the village uses when people get sick, get headaches, are “crazy” etc. Unfortunately, the healer couldn’t come because he had to heal somebody (funny how that works out) but we got lead around by another guy that knew quite a bit. It ended up being about a 4 hour walk, so I was exhausted. But when we got back we found out that our plans for tomorrow had to be moved to today…so we ate some lunch and headed out for a “women’s empowerment” outing. Basically, this consisted of us getting our faces painted with mud that helps block the sun, making mud bricks for houses (which…btw we had to dip our bare hands in cow poop… I threw up in my mouth a little bit…), carrying buckets of water on our heads, and carrying logs on our heads. This isn’t play…this is what the women of this village do every day. It was actually quite enjoyable.
As I mentioned before, yesterday was essentially traveling all day, so I’m going to jump to Friday. Friday we left our hostel to go to Addo Elephant National Park, which was a game reserve. We saw lots of animals, including elephants, lions, and buffalo (3 of Africa’s “Big Five”). It was cool, but we had to get up at 4:30 to get there for the “sunrise game drive” so we all slept all the way to our next hostel. Friday night’s hostel was pretty interesting, and many of our favorite stay so far. It had lots of cool little guest houses, and the couple that owned it had raised an impala and a zebra, both of which lived on the property. Some of the people even went on a walk with the zebra…not every day somebody gets to do that! They also had 5 or 6 dogs and 10 cats. It definitely had it’s own character.
Thursday we were at our least favorite hostel…. It was out in the middle of nowhere, it was raining, and we were the only ones there. And we got there earlier than expected, so we had A LOT of free time. Luckily, they had free internet so I was able to get on for a bit. But other than that, it was a lot of pool and card games.
It’s been a pretty incredible week. I have to think really hard to remember what I did each specific day, but I think that’s a good thing. We’re definitely having our issues with each other (some of us don’t know when to be quiet…), but that’s to be expected.
That’s about it. It’s time for me to go grab my book, sit out, read, and listen to the waves of the ocean! ;-)

Eastern Cape Day 3


March 30, 2011 5:10 PM
Journey to the Eastern Cape Day 3

Hello all. Currently, I am sitting in our room at the hostel enjoying some “alone time.”  It’s been a busy three days so far! Let me fill you in.

Monday we arrived at Cornerstone around 6:30 AM to begin our trip. We’re driving in a 13 passenger van…the 11 Americans, our “leader” Tami, the driver, and we were joined today by our mentor Kenneth who is coming because otherwise Asa would be the only male. Anyways, our driving time on Monday was about 6 hours ending at Oudtshoorn. We saw the Cango Caves where some of us (not including me) were brave enough to do the “adventure tour” climbing through cave holes as tall as a flashlight. No thanks. The rest of us wimps just did a standard tour that brought us inside the cave enough to make me clastrophobic and learn a little about them. That night we were stayed at the “Backpackers Paradise” hostel and played cards.

Tuesday I rode an ostrich. Seriously. This wasn’t something I expected to do while in South Africa, but it was pretty awesome! It was super short, like 10 seconds, but that was long enough. It was at an ostrich show farm in Oudsthoorn where they have all different kinds of ostriches and stuff. Did you know they even race these things? So after that little adventure we got in the bus for another 3 hours or so and (after waiting at a view point for a couple hours while our driver was sick) ended up in Buffalo Bay, which is near where I was with my host family two weeks ago. Our hostel wasn’t quite paradise, like the night before, but it was right on the beach. That’s enough of paradise for me. It was kind of..Oregon Beach-y, but still fun.

We didn’t travel far today, our hostel is less than an hour from last night’s. Our adventure today was bungy jumping and ziplining. I did the latter. But the 5 brave souls jumped off the highest bungy bridge in the world, one of them even did it twice. Krystle and I, trying to be at least a little brave, did a zip-lining tour over some waterfalls.  It was pretty cool too! Our hostel tonight is called Tubes N Axes…not really sure why…but alright. It’s really cool with hammocks all around and a very spacious, nice shower (hard to come by in these hostels).

I’m really enjoying it all so far. It’s nice because it’s much more relaxed than the other trips we have taken, and it’s all fun stuff instead of museum after museum (which is great, too…).  The group is an interesting one, which makes it all the more fun. We’ll see how I feel after spending 2 weeks with them all haha.

I can’t say enough how much I am blessed to be here. Who can say that in a span of four days they have seen a circus (that was Sunday, btw), gone in a cave, rode an ostrich, and zip-lined over waterfalls…all in South Africa?! Yup, I’m a lucky girl.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Happy Birthday Taran!!!


March 21, 2011 7:30 PM
Yesterday, I was supposed to ride an elephant. But I didn’t. I was all stoked, ready to go ride this thing, and then it turns out it was over 50 bucks for SEVEN MINUTES on the elephant. As cool as it would have been to say I had ridden an elephant, I didn’t think it was worth the money. But I saw the elephant, so that’s cool!
This was just one aspect to the weekend away with the host family. Krystle and I were graciously invited to join our family in Plettenburg Bay for a couple days. We stayed in a basic, but very nice cabin with free-roaming animals all around. There were primarily deer, and one freaking annoying pig. They were all tame, because they all lived on the property so they were used to the people. But this dang pig would actually come INTO your cabin if you accidentally left the door open. He bit. He peed. He was annoying. If there was any reason to be excited to leave that place, it was the pig.
But everything else was fun. We spent Saturday going to a Saturday market, checking out the beach, and taking a little hike to a suspended bridge that had a pretty awesome view. Sunday we tried to ride elephants, but then joined the family to see monkeys in Monkeyland, which is a place where monkeys that were humanized either as home pets, in labs, or in the circus could go to become wild and dehumanized again. It was about an hour tour, so that was cool. Right next door to that was Birds of Eden, where I saw FLAMINGOS! I had never seen them before, so that was pretty sweet.
We played lots of the card game “golf” and just really enjoyed being with each other.
I’m so in paper-writing mode right now that I keep thinking I have to check my word count as I’m writing this. Silly me!
I can’t believe how fast time is going. It’s already almost April, and this is my last week of college. Then it’s SUMMER BREAK!!!! No homework for 5 MONTHS!!!! Hahahaha.
This is probably my last post for quite a while. I can guarantee you this week will not consist of much to write about (unless you want to read my essays I’ll be writing all week). Then next Monday the Americans head off to the Eastern Cape for 12ish days, then we go to a township for a week. So basically, I don’t know if and when I’ll have internet access again. HOW WILL I SURVIVE!???
Thank you all, again, for your continuing support and prayers. When we were taking our hike this weekend, there was this one absolutely gorgeous view, and I just said, “Krystle, we’re in AFRICA.” It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the school work here that I forget where I am and how lucky I am to be here. No matter how hard it is sometimes, I know I’m here because God wants me to be, and I’m learning SO much about myself and the beautiful world God has created.

Monday, March 14, 2011

So, what's so different?


March 13, 2011 1:20 PM
I’ve been asked what’s different in SA compared to home. This is my effort to express this to you. I’m mainly going to focus on the funny stuff. But maybe I’ll add some serious stuff too. Maybe. Let’s see how this goes.
1) When you say you’re going to catch a taxi, it is not a yellow car with you and a friend inside. Instead, it’s a van jam-packed full of people. As you walk down the street, taxis constantly go by whistling to get your attention to catch a ride. It’s super cheap (less than a dollar) and they’re EVERYWHERE. But literally, in a 8-person van, there may be more like 12 or 13 passengers. One time I was in the very back corner, as far away from the door as possible, with 4 others sitting next to me. My mother would have died.
2) Muslims are everywhere. I’m not saying this to be discriminatory; I’m just stating the facts. There’s a mosque right down the street from us (in the neighborhood) and I just heard them singing… we hear this 2-3 times a day. Also, when we go running at the sports complex, there are usually numerous Muslims running as well, fully dressed in their gowns (I don’t know what they’re called) and with tennis shoes on. I do realize that they are fully human and they have the same desires that we do, and I respect this. But sometimes it just makes you giggle when you see them in tennis shoes, or riding a motorcycle, while being fully dressed in their Muslim attire.
3) There’s this one kind of bird here that is flippin’ annoying. I don’t know what it looks like or what it’s called, but it makes this damn sound that is impossible to block out. When I first got here I thought it was a monkey, no joke. I’ve gotten used to sleeping with my headphones in, so I don’t notice it as much, but holy moly it’s annoying.
4) Our neighborhood has this incredibly annoying circumstance regarding dogs. One dog barks, right? No, it is impossible for ONE dog to bark. Once that dog barks, the entire neighborhood’s dog population is barking. Sometimes at 4AM. Notsofunny.
5) There are people at every stop light begging, and they come right up to your window to peer in to see if you have spare change laying around. They make you feel incredibly guilty. One day, we were riding home with Charlene, who was drinking a milkshake at the time, and a beggar woman came up and tried to guilt-trip Charlene into giving her some of her drink. And when it didn’t work the first attempt, she came back and asked again. There are also some that sell the most random things, like swim floaties and blankets, on the streets. I guess anything to get some money, right? But I have yet to see anyone buy any of it… but a lot of people try to sell it!
6) Stop lights are called robots. Cookies are called biscuits. Sweaters are called jerseys. Trucks are called buckeyes. The trunk of a car is called the boot. Tennis shoes are called tekkies.
7) It is nearly impossible to find bags of chocolate chips at the grocery store.
8) The postal system sucks.
9) There are nearly no two-story houses. Some houses look like one house with two doors (like a duplex) but the two halves will be painted two different colors.
10) People drink so much sugary drinks instead of water. Krystle and I actually get made fun of for drinking straight tap water.
11) Most coffee is instant coffee. Filtered coffee is specified in the restaurants because it’s not a common find. And it is incredibly rare to find a coffee shop that offers flavorings.
12) Fast food places are much cheaper. And concession stands at the stadium as well as the mall and airport (where food prices are way more expensive at home) are actually quite reasonable, even though it is more expensive than the normal places. I got an ice cream at the rugby stadium for about 2 dollars…bet you couldn’t find one that cheap in a stadium at home, eh?
13) Techno, or what they call House music here, is bumpin’ everywhere. Especially in the taxis. It’s pretty funny actually. And a lot more adults listen to the popular hip-hop stuff on the radio.

I’m sure there’s a lot of other stuff that just isn’t coming to mind right now. Maybe I’ll update this over time. Just thought ya’ll would enjoy this J

Peace out, yo.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Happy Birthday Keith!!!


March 10, 2011 7 PM
I don’t even know where to begin. It’s obviously been busy, which is why it’s been 10 days since I last wrote. So I think the real question is, what do you want to know? I’m not psychic, but I’ll try my hardest to tell you what you want to hear. :P
To start off, let me point out that I have less time until I come home than I do the time that I’ve been here. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I’m over half way through my time. Man oh man, it’s flying by. The other day I was taking a break from writing an essay and decided to go back and read some of my first blog entries. The one written on the 13th of January, about me smoking out the house… that hit me. It does NOT feel like it’s been two months since that happened, and it is also weird to think that at that point I had only been here for 9 days. I’m pretty sure I felt like I had been here a month at that point. But now it’s been two months, and I still feel like I’ve only been here a month. Funny how that works.
The weekdays haven’t been anything exciting. Krystle and I are usually at college (you have to say college or uni here, if you say school they think you’re still in high school) until around 4 each day, and then come home and either take a nap, go for a run (or walk usually for me haha), or do more homework. When the family comes home, we chit-chat with them, and I have started to help Lavona make dinner quite regularly. It brings me back to my memories with my mom and helps me feel a little bit more at home. Overall, I really have started to become more comfortable and I really am starting to feel like this house is my…well...3rd home.
Last weekend was a really nice combination of relaxing and getting out to do stuff. A friend from college, Andrew, just moved into a different flat, so he had a house-warming party Friday night. Saturday we spent most of the day at home and then went to a rugby game with the family. It was probably the hottest day since we’ve been here. We figure it got close to 36 degrees Celsius…you can tell me what that is in Fahrenheit. But we were sitting in the sun at the stadium, so it was pretty unbearable for the first half. Luckily, the sun started to go down and we ended in the shade.
Sunday was spent with Krystle and a couple of our friends Kyle and Luke. We went to the waterfront for a little while, went to a food bazaar place for lunch, and then went to a concert at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It was this two-man band called Goldfish, and they’re pretty popular in South Africa. The insane crowd at the concert proved them popular. It was cool, even though there was a big tree blocking our view from the stage. We just went down to the front for a little bit to see it, and just hung out and talked the rest of the time.
I’ve been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for the past couple weeks, but hopefully it will ease up soon. I have been excited and incredibly happy, and then incredibly homesick and sad (sometimes within 10 minutes of each other). I’m a girl…is that enough of an excuse?
Anyways, I suppose a lot more has happened, but my mind is on papers and school (or sorry…college) ending in just a couple more weeks. The weeks are becoming blended together with each day going by faster and faster.
It’s Keith’s birthday today (or it will be when I post this)! And Mom’s was last week! Happy Birthday to you!!!!!
Lots of love.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

It's March!!!


March 1, 2011 3:00 PM




I’m actually writing a blog while at school!!!! So this is actually a up-to-the-minute update! You should feel so honored! ;)
Classes weren’t super exciting last week, so I’m just going to just ahead to the weekend. After classes were done on Thursday, us Americans boarded a plane to Johannesburg. We got there around 6 and went straight to our hostel for the night.
Friday we got up to begin our first day being the ultimate tourists. We started the day by going to the township of Soweto. Have you heard of the Soweto uprising? It’s an incredible story that played a big part in the apartheid… maybe look it up sometime! We went to a church there called Regina Mundi. It was a church that the people of Soweto went to as a safe haven from the riots and such, but it got attacked by the police one time. There were like 5000 people inside, and there are still bullet holes around the church to show the damage done.
Next up was the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Hector was a thirteen year old boy; the first to be shot and killed in the Soweto uprising. It was a very interesting museum.
We went from there to Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s house, which has recently been turned into a museum. This street also used to host Desmond Tutu; it is the only street to have two Nobel Peace Prize winners live on it.
After lunch we went to Constitution Hill, which is where the major courthouse is, along with a couple of the prisons used during the apartheid. The prisons are now museums, which we were guided through.
Needless to say, it was a busy day.
Saturday was just about as busy. We met up with a bishop in the Alexander township, where we discussed some stuff for about 3 hours. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really know what they were talking about. It was hot, and there were a bunch of adorable little children following us around (just like at the other township we went to in January). I did pick up on a little, but I wasn’t in the mindset to talk for that long.
Then we went to the Voortrekker Memorial, which is in memory of the Anglo-Boer war. It had some pretty incredible artwork, and an amazing view from the top of the building.
Then we went to the Lion Park! We took a truck tour around the park and got to see some INSANELY large lions. Then we got to pet some lion cubs! Then we got to feed a giraffe! I squealed really loud cause its tongue was really rough and gross! It was fun!
I was asleep that night by like 10. It was a very exhausting day. We had a lovely surprise at about 4 AM with drunken men outside our window throwing condom balloons into our window. Funny? Not so much.
Sunday we got up to do a little devotional with our instructor, Glenn, and then headed off to the Apartheid Museum. This place is crazy. We were there for about 3 hours, and it was hardly enough time to get through it. It really helped me see the apartheid in the proper sequence. We had learned so much about it, but to me, it was still really broken up and confusing. I bought a book since pictures weren’t allowed inside. Let me know if you want to see it when I get back!
Last night we went to our friend, Robin’s, house for dinner. The community there was like nothing I had experienced before. When we arrived, we sat down our bags and went to meet his neighbors. Who does that? But it was really cool, and the food was good.
Today I’ve just been doing homework and chattin with Taran. Tuesdays are my homework/skype days. It’s pretty great.
Much love to you all. I hope the weather there isn’t getting to you too much! It’s a woppin 95 degrees here today. Only 70 degrees warmer than Spokane! J

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Why Am I Here?


I was originally on the waiting list to study abroad. My thought at that point was, if God wants me to go to Africa, He will make it happen. I trusted in Him to make the decision for me. So now that I’m here, I’m trying to figure out why He sent me here. I’ve been asked several times, both before coming and since being here, why I chose Africa. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know why I chose here over Spain or Taiwan. I feel like most of the stuff I’ve learned about myself I could have learned anywhere. But I want to explain what I have learned, first specifically about Cape Town, and then in general. I’d like to share this with you, but this is also just for my personal “rumination” and gain, so just bear with me.
Begin with me by answering this question: Two men were walking down the street, one white, the other black. They were dressed in similar clothing, both had tattoos, and had cigarettes in their mouths. Who would you most likely to expect to rob you? Be completely honest. You’d probably choose the black guy right? Why?
My point is that, no matter how far America has come, racism still exists. Even if you had chosen the white guy, there had to have been some inclination that the color of his skin would cause him to commit a crime over the other one. The only difference in the description I gave you between the two was the color of their skin, and you (I’m assuming) chose one of them over the other. Most of us would choose the black guy because we are white. Do you see where I’m going with this? When I worked at the U2 concert last weekend, the whites were handling the money and the colored were doing the dirty work. Seriously, I was the only white girl doing the grunt work. The apartheid here may have ended nearly 20 years ago, but its effects are still so prevalent. It takes time to heal. And even though I’m on the other side of the world, America’s racism has become so apparent to me. It’s just hidden. But we all think it.  Everyone is racist. Even describing someone as black is sometimes taken to mean something bad. It’s like…the last resort in describing someone is to say they’re black. But why? What’s so bad about it?
            Cape Town residents are also very chill. There’s a thing called African Time. Every African, at least in Cape Town, uses it. It’s kind of like Bjorklund time, but worse. Seriously, when they say they’ll be 5 minutes, they could mean an hour. I’ll be honest, it’s annoying. I’ve spent a lot of time waiting because of it. But it’s also partly the reason I’ve allowed myself to ruminate. I’m in no rush… I’m just trying to take things as they come. At home it’s like, I have to this, and then this, and then that, and then that, and then I’ll eat lunch as a break, and then I’ll do that…you get the idea. Don’t get me wrong, To-Do lists do exist here. But they’re just handled in a different light here.
            People hug a lot here. I’m a hugger, and I think people hug a lot here. It’s actually quite beautiful. Africans have a word they use called “ubuntu” and it is considered a way of living. It means community. It doesn’t matter whether we met 5 seconds ago, or 5 years ago, they don’t shake hands…they hug. Just think about everything that this encompasses, I don’t want to write it all out…
            Alright, now on to the personal lessons I’ve learned. These experiences, I feel, are more from the basis of being away from home, with little contact to people I’m used to seeing everyday, and really having to figure things out on my own.
            There are 3 big changes that I’ve tried to make to my daily habits since being here. The first is to keep a food log. The second is to exercise more. These two go together, so I’m going to explain them together. I’ll be honest, I started these two things because, for the first month of being here, I couldn’t stop eating. I constantly felt hungry and I started to feel fat. But it’s turned into something more than that. My body is my lifeline, but it is also God’s creation. I wouldn’t have this body if it weren’t for God (or my parents…but that’s besides the point). If I don’t take care of it, I’m not protecting God’s creation. It also means I’m just not being healthy, which could cause serious health problems… obviously.  I have become more aware of what I eat and how much I eat through my food log, and I have become more aware of my body’s strengths and weaknesses through exercising. It’s a learning process, and I’m still journeying through this process. And I can’t wait to keep learning. The third change I’ve made is that I get up a half hour earlier in the morning to spend time reading the Bible. I’ve tried this before, but it’s always only lasted like two days and then I get tired. But I think since being here I have realized how important God is in my life. He is a priority now. And He’s beautiful.
            To delve into God’s love deeper is the biggest thing I’ve learned since being here. I came here knowing one person, and she was an acquaintance. She’s now my roommate, and I’m extremely grateful for her. But essentially, I came here on my own. Or so that’s what I thought at first. But God brought me here, and He is with me every moment of every day. When I don’t feel like I have anyone to talk to, I talk to Him. When I feel homesick, I pray for His strength. When I need patience, I ask Him. I’ll be honest; I’m still learning to trust Him. I still complain a lot. But I’m becoming more aware of it. I’m here with His blessing because He wants me to realize how much I have at home, how good and beautiful His creation is, and how much He has to offer outside of the Pacific Northwest. He’s brought me here for other reasons that I have yet to learn, and that’s the great thing about it all. I’m here for four months. It feels like I’ve been here forever already, and I’m eager to go home. But before I do, I know I still have so much to learn, and He’ll guide me through it all. I have good lecturers here, but the greatest teacher is God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all working in and around me to allow me to ruminate on my experiences, to learn from the people around me, and learn to love and trust the biggest, greatest God ever.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

2/20/11


2/20/11 8:20 PM
            This week has been an interesting one. I was exhausted, then incredibly giddy, then homesick, the tired again, then giddy again…you get the idea. Right now I’m…tired. But I am grateful for a relaxing weekend.
            In the first couple weeks of being here, we had a lecture about culture shock. One of the stages of culture shock that was explained to us was when everything irritates you. This is how I was this week. Like seriously, EVERYTHING irritated me. I’m over it now, but I think after having such a busy weekend last week, I was just overly exhausted and just needed some “me” time. I spent the first couple days of the week writing a research proposal that I had spaced about, on top of all my other normal weekly readings. But after Wednesday, it was better because I had turned it in. On Thursday I went to the primary school to observe again, and it was super good. I was there for over seven hours, so I felt like I got a really well rounded experience. I did some reading tests, helped a few kids write out their names, and did some organizing. The teacher, Lavona, was also able to give me some background on why she teaches what she does and stuff, so that was cool.  That night us girls stayed up late talking, and it was super fun.
            You’ll be so jealous of what I did on Friday. Maybe. I thought it was cool at least. After class, a group of Cornerstone peeps carpooled down to the Cape Town Stadium to work at the U2 concert. That’s right, I worked at a concession stand at the stadium, the stand closed just in time for U2 to come on stage, and then I got to watch them for free. And I’m getting paid. It’s a long story how it came about, but how sick is that!? The working part wasn’t super fun, and it made for a good 20 hour day of school and working, but it was all worth it. U2 isn’t one of my favorite bands or anything, but they were really good live, and it was in South Africa, so it was automatically awesome.
            Yesterday Krystle and I were so exhausted that we slept till nearly noon, and then just sat around all day. We did a little baking, hung out with our host mom a lot, and watched a movie. Then this morning we got up and watched another movie, ate some French toast, and then went to the mall to get some coffee and use the internet for a while. We went to the Hillsong church again this evening, which was good. Now we’re just relaxing, and I need to do a bit more homework. I’ve been having this issue with just putting homework out of my mind on the weekends, so when Sunday night hits I have a boatload of work to do. All well, I enjoyed my weekend while it lasted.
            I definitely struggled/am struggling with homesickness more this week than I have so far. But it’s still not as bad as I expected it to be. Things are constantly busy, so the days fly by and the weeks are gone in a flash. This next weekend we head to Johannesburg to do some sight-seeing up there with the other Americans. We only have 4 more weeks of classes, 10 days in the Eastern Cape, a week in a township (that’ll be an interesting experience…) and then 3 weeks of whatever we want to do before coming home. It’ll be over so soon, but yet it feels like so long at the same time. I’m trying really hard to be optimistic and know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I know I will regret it if I go home knowing that I didn’t embrace the opportunities as much as I could… so I’m trying to avoid it. It’s just hard sometimes.
            I pray that you all had a great week and a relaxing weekend as well. Lots of love.


Sunday, February 13, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

2/13/11 9:20 PM
            And another week has passed…. And I’m tired. Let’s hope for a good night’s rest tonight before another great week of classes.
            The first few days of the week weren’t super exciting. Just went to school, hung out on campus doing homework afterwards, went home, did more homework, talked with the family, went to bed. I was able to get some logistics worked out with my Doctrine of the Triune God lecturer so that I can get credit for it at Fox, so that’s good.
            I was finally able to get some time in a primary school classroom on Thursday! Praise Jesus for it finally working out! I’m doing a 30 hour observation time in a special needs class at a school called Denneguer Avenue. Ironically, the teacher’s name is Lavona (same as my host mom). It’ll definitely be an experience… there’s a lot to take in as far as differences in teaching techniques and everything goes. But it’ll be a great learning opportunity. I’ll also probably be able to sit in on some regular classrooms as well, so that’ll be cool.
            After class on Friday some of us went to a restaurant for pizza and just hung out. Krystle’s really good about forcing me to go out and meet people. She doesn’t have to do much convincing, but it’s nothing I would initiate on my own. I’m glad to have her around. Friday night was our host brother Aaron’s 7th grade Valentine’s Dance, and we ended up going and helping out. It was pretty entertaining… he goes to a boys’ school, but the girl’s school is right next-door, and the dance was for both. Lavona is making the valentines for the boys to give to their “special girl.” Before the dance, Aaron needed her to make 2… afterwards he needed 5. And he looked pretty awesome in his skinny jeans, white t-shirt with a sports jacket, and his sports cap. He thought he looked pretty awesome too.
            We finally made it to the beach on Saturday! But first we went to breakfast with Lavona and Josh. Krystle and I each enjoyed a delicious vanilla latte (flavored coffee is hard to come by here) and I had some French toast. Then we met up with this guy Robin and went to Muizenberg beach. It had a really cool vibe with brightly colored cabins lining the beach, people kicking soccer balls, and others surfing and kite surfing. We even enjoyed a delicious chicken salad at a restaurant overlooking the beach. I got to talk to my parents that evening, which is always great.
            Today Lavona, Jason, Krystle, and I went on the City Sightseeing Red Bus tour. They have these things in all the big cities, you’ve probably heard of them before. It was pretty cool, we didn’t stop at all the stops, but went to another beach and got fish and chips, walked around the “rich people” part of town, and went to the waterfront and looked at some cool artwork and listened to some live music. A small US Navy band was warming up for a performance, so we heard them play a couple songs. They were pretty good, and made me want to go see some live music. We’ve been talking about it, but now it definitely needs to happen!
            We went straight from the bus tour to the Hillsong church. It was the best church we’ve been to since being here… I want to keep exploring, but I wouldn’t mind going there again. You know the worship group Hillsong United? This is that church… or one of the locations, they’re all over the world.
            I’ve been pretty homesick the last couple days. I woke up Saturday morning knowing that I had dreamt about being at home or something, and I just haven’t been able to get it off my mind since then. Honestly, I haven’t had to battle homesickness as bad as I thought I would. The hardest thing to think about is still how long it will be before I’m home. But I’m not ready to go home, there’s still too much to see and explore and learn. It’s a weird feeling really. I think part of the reason is that I’m just busy all the time that I don’t really give myself time to breathe, and I’m not used to that. I haven’t really given myself much “me” time, and it’s starting to bog me down. Things have started to irritate me that wouldn’t normally, and I think it’s just because I’m getting overly tired from constantly going. I just have to learn that it’s ok to say no to some things so I can breathe.
            But anyways, Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Special shout-out to my favorite guy Taran. J Love you all!!!

Monday, February 7, 2011

2/6/11


2/6/11 7:30 PM
            Can you believe it’s already February? Not only is it Feb, it’s the second week of Feb. Time flies, man, time flies.
            This last week was the first week of classes. I have three classes…African Worldviews, Doctrine of the Triune God, and Intro to Sociology. I’m not so sure about the African Worldviews class; it has the potential to be very interesting but the professor (or lecturer as they call them here) is new and doesn’t really seem to be the greatest teacher. We’ll see how it goes. I’m really excited about the Triune God class. I’ve been doing some reading for it today and there’s just so much to the trinity that I would never think of if it weren’t for this class. Intro to Sociology seems like it will be good too, I need to experience it a bit more before I decide, but I at least like the lecturer.
            Classes took up most of my week. I, unfortunately, came down with Strep Throat this past week, so it wasn’t super fun. I went to bed early every night, could hardly talk by Friday, and just wasn’t myself. My host mom told me she wanted the old Shelly back. But my host parents graciously took me to the doctor Friday night and I got some antibiotics and am now doing much better. I actually feel like I have more energy now than I did before getting sick. I think all my energy was pent up inside me this past week and now I’m letting it all out ;)
            Last night, Saturday, I had my first rugby experience. This guy Andrew from Cornerstone is like super into it, so he took us Americans to a preseason game to experience it. It was fun, but I really had no idea what was going on. Just a whole lot of huge guys running into each other without any padding on. But seriously, you should see how huge these guys are… their thighs especially. I don’t even know what to compare them to. Like…tree stumps or something. They’re just super muscular all over, and freakin’ tall.
            After the game we went out to dinner, which was fun. It’s been good to integrate with the South Africans at school and allow them to show us some of Cape Town. I feel less tourist-y when they take us, instead of on a bus going around to museums and such.
            We went to a different church this morning. We have now had the two extremes of churches here: extremely charismatic and extremely traditional. The church this morning was a Presbyterian church, which is what I attend at home, but this was even more traditional than my home church. Next week we’re going to try to find a “middle ground” church. It all adds to the experience, I guess.
            We’re always having interesting interactions with people here. This past week, Krystle and I were waiting for the bus and a not-so-cute guy came up to us telling us we were SO beautiful and started to serenade us. We also, within 10 minutes of that wonderful experience, saw a lady getting her bag rummaged through by a strange man… pick-pocketing I guess, but much more obviously done. We get whistled at everywhere cause we are so clearly not from around here. Krystle got made fun of by the waiter at the restaurant last night for how she pronounced “water” because they say it like “wata,” There’s no hiding that we are not from here.
            We still haven’t made it to the beach, but we’ve been talking with some Cornerstone peeps about taking us soon.
            So ya, that’s about it. As I was writing this, I listened to a David Crowder song that sings, “what a glorious day.” Isn’t it a glorious day? It is the day the Lord made, so rejoice and be glad in it.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Table Mountain!!!






1/29/11 4:22 PM
            I CLIMBED TABLE MOUNTAIN THIS MORNING. For all you who received my support letter before I left, you know that I was excited. It’s a beautiful mountain, and draws a lot of tourists to Cape Town. It was so surreal to actually be climbing it. It was one of the many excursions that had just been talk for so long, but had become reality. It still hits me at random times that I’m in South Africa. I guess I just forget sometimes (I know, it’s silly), so outings like this one reminds me of where I am and how blessed I am to have this opportunity.  But anyways, it was awesome. It took a little over 4 hours, with lots of breaks. It was basically all rocks, kinda like walking up rock stairs for 4 hours. There wasn’t much downhill, either. There were several times where I thought “I will NEVER do this again.” And in all honesty, I probably won’t. It’s something that I am proud of myself for doing, and to be able to say that I climbed Table Mountain is pretty sweet, but I don’t want to do it again. It was HARD. And now I’m TIRED. I enjoy hiking, but 4 hours nearly all uphill was a bit much… but I’ve climbed it!!!!
            To back up and fill you all in on the week’s happenings, I’ll begin with last weekend. Krystle (my roommate) and I had our first outing without a South African. This may sound funny, but it was very exciting. One of the hardest things we’ve faced since being here is a loss of independence. No longer can we just get in the car and drive where we want, when we want. And even if we could do that, we don’t know the area well enough to get many places. But one place we have discovered is a mall right near our school. So Saturday we spent the afternoon going into nearly every store in the mall. It was awesome. Then we got some dinner and joined up with our host mom and brother Josh to go to a Moi Thai (spelling?) promotional even thing. Lavona (host mom) knew the guy that owned the gym and so we went to support him. But she had gotten a little confused on the logistics of the event, so we ended up leaving early. But then Krystle and I joined up with a host sister of a couple of the other American girls and went to birthday party for one of her church friends. We met some pretty cool people, and we’re planning on trying out their church soon. Sunday we went to church with our host family. We’re a little unsure if we like the church much, so we’re going to do some exploring of other churches in the coming weeks.
            Monday through Wednesday we were at orientation camp with the new students at Cornerstone. It was at a campsite called Rocklands, and it was pretty awesome. To be honest, both Krystle and I were pretty unexcited about the camp, because neither of us have ever been big camp fans. But because it ended up not being packed full of get-to-know-you-games and forced introductions, it was pretty good. We met some cool future classmates and had some pretty insightful info sessions. My favorite was with a guest speaker who wrote the book Unlearning. His name was Sean…Tucker I think. I’m excited to get a hold of his book. He really spoke to my heart and helped me realize how much I need to take time to think, or ruminate, on experiences in life. So often I just go through the motions (even since being here) and not really allowing myself to fully engage and think about what I’ve seen and heard. He used the analogy of a goat. A goat takes a bite of grass, chews on it for a very long, swallows it, and then throws it up later to chew on it more. I know, this is gross. But if you think about it, it’s a really good analogy. So I walked out with a new insight that I think will really help me grow. Wednesday was Lelia, one of “us”, birthday, so we had a surprise bday party for her at her house.
            Thursday and Friday were just spent doing some more orientation stuff and working on a research paper. Friday night Krystle and I got dressed up just for kicks and giggles and went to this cool restaurant called Primi Piati (do we have these in the states?). We had a delicious pizza and good conversation.
            Tonight we have another braai…we have so many of these things. They’re fun though, and tonight’s is with fellow Cornerstone students, so it should be fun.
            We’ve tried several times to get to a beach; locals can’t believe we haven’t made it there yet. It’s just that the times that we actually have time to relax, we want to do nothing. If you haven’t noticed, our schedule has been pretty jam packed. Breaks are good. We might make it out tomorrow though (if we get our papers done). It’s been super perfect beach weather the last couple days.
            Classes start Monday. I’m excited to start to have a routine and maybe some time to breathe. We’ll be done by 12:30 most days, so then we can choose what we want to do with the rest of our day. I can’t believe we’ve already been here for nearly a month. Time flies by so fast!
            I so appreciate ya’lls support. This last week I was able to e-mail some family and friends, and I really realized how much love and support I have from you all. Thank you!!!!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Friday, January 21, 2011

1/19/11



1/19/11 8:50 PM
            I have so much to say, I don’t know what to include before I bore you all! So bear with me, this may get a little tedious.
            Last Friday was a crazy busy day. It started with a morning in Ratunga Junction..THE WILDEST PLACE IN AFRICA…or the theme park down the street. But it claims it’s the wildest place in Africa. I will say it was more impressive than Silverwood, but still nothing too special. Amusement parks are difficult to get the full experience at when you don’t enjoy roller coasters. I did go on the “junior” roller coaster... but I would hardly call it a roller coaster. But I guess that’s why I liked it. After we rode all the rides, we went across the street to this HUGE mall. My friend Amy and I had enough time to go into about 4 stores, none of which gave me much luck. But I learned that these people here take their malls very seriously. The stores are much smaller, but there are SO many of them. It’s more like a bunch of boutiques, with a few department stores. Hard to explain, I guess. After shopping we headed to the Cape Town Stadium (where some of the World Cup games were held) for a double header soccer game. Upon going through security, we had a little dilemma with our water bottles. In the case of a riot in the stadium, people may hit each other with water bottles. So we weren’t allowed to bring ours in. Amy’s water bottle was worth like 60 dollars, and the game was worth 5. She wasn’t going to give up her water bottle. After a good 30 minute hassle, we ended up paying a lady at McDonalds to store them in her locker so that we could go into the game. It was crazy. The games were fun…I’ve never experienced such a big enthusiasm for a sport like there was there. The stadium was packed. This made traffic afterwards INSANE. We waited for our pre-arranged taxi for 2 hours (bringing us to 1 AM). Then we spent another hour and half on the taxi before arriving at home. It was a looooong day, but still fun.
            The weekend was spent writing papers and celebrating Amy’s 22nd birthday.
            This week has been filled with all kinds of excursions. Monday we went to the District 6 museum and St. George’s Cathedral. That night was our host dad’s birthday, so we went out and watched the sunset from a high point above a beach and then went out to dinner. Another long, but fun, day. Tuesday we went to Langa, the oldest township in South Africa. This was my favorite excursion so far. It was so incredibly eye-opening. People there are so welcoming towards each other. We were even welcomed off the bus by a group of little boys who ended up following us around for the rest of the time. I have some great pictures of them holding our hands and giving them piggy-back rides. Pretty cute! And Tuesday was Craig’s birthday! Happy Birthday, big brother!
            Today we went to Robben Island. If you’ve never heard anything about this place, and especially Nelson Mandela, you should definitely do some research. It has some pretty incredible history, and our guide was even an ex-prisoner who spent 16 years behind bars there. Then we did a little shopping, and now I’ve been reading for homework, writing to you all, and I even just got to talk to my mom on the phone! Yay!
            I think I’m completely adjusted now. I still have my little moments that I wish I were home, but I don’t think those are going to go away. It’s good to feel comfortable and be more familiar with the area. It will probably be a while before another update, I won’t have internet for the next week or so. Much love.

Monday, January 17, 2011

I hope you all can tolerate these long posts...


1/13/11 9:10 PM
            It’s after 9, and I still have energy! I sound like such an old fart. I got a good 10 hours of sleep last night, and I think that helped a lot. Yahoo!
            Yesterday was a history-filled day. We had our daily History of South Africa lecture in the morning. These lectures have actually been pretty interesting. I’m not a huge history buff, but one of the main reasons I wanted to come here was to gain a knowledge of their rich history. The lectures are a bit long, 3 hours every morning, but very useful. Or professor (or lecturer, as they call them here) makes it way more interesting because he has put a lot of time into his powerpoints. Instead of just words on a screen, he incorporates pictures, songs, quotes, and history facts all in one lecture. After our lecture, we had a break for lunch and then got on a bus to head off on our afternoon excursion. We went into downtown Cape Town (with an awesome view of Table Mountain) to visit the Slave Lodge. It was a little eerie, knowing that it was the exact place where so many slaves were held in such miserable circumstances. It’s one of those moments when you wonder, “how could a human being think that it’s ok, in any circumstance, to treat a fellow human being in such horrible ways?” It’s been on my mind all day today as well. There was so much information, and we were there for such a short time that it’s hard to not think about it more. After the slave lodge, we went to Bo-Kaap, a primarily Muslim community in downtown Cape Town. If you’ve ever Googled pictures of Cape Town, you most likely will have seen images of brightly colored homes. This is where we were. It was crazy hot, and I almost passed out in the oldest mosque in the southern hemisphere, but I still enjoyed it as much as I could…considering the circumstances. I learned a lot about the religion, which was cool cause I really knew nothing beforehand. At the end of the day, I was exhausted and not feeling so good. I was ready to be home and rest my brain after a day full of history.
            Today I got to Skype with my parents for a short while before class. Unfortunately, I got there late and we had a little misfortune on getting the sound to work. But once it was up and running, we got to talk for a few minutes. I’ll be honest, I started crying the moment we started talking. It was a weird feeling. It’s like… you don’t realize how much you miss someone until you see them or hear their voices. I was on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for the rest of the day, but I am still grateful to have the opportunity to talk to them. I’ve also gotten to Skype with Taran a couple times, which has been great, of course! J After class, we had group reflection time. We’re going to have these every once in a while with the study abroad group to be there for one another and reflect on the experiences we’ve been having. Afterwards, we came home and headed to a field down the street to play soccer with our host brothers. It was really fun, and I think it allowed us to break the ice with them. We were joined by a random neighbor kid for the game, who managed to ask me on a date and tell me I was beautiful. He’s 12, don’t worry Taran. ;) We came back and made a batch of sugar cookies, but managed to smoke out the kitchen when trying to preheat the oven. OOPS! We waited for Lavona to get home to put them in the oven, and now we have a delicious batch of cookies to enjoy. I did a little homework (I have 5 papers to write in the next 2 weeks, and that’s just for one class), and now I’m writing to you all!
            Each day gets a little easier and flies by a little faster. Hallelujah!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

1/11/11


1/11/11 9:10 PM
Adjustments are still being made. I still haven’t managed to get through a night without waking up, but hopefully tonight will be different. We haven’t quite figured out the bus system, today we waited for the bus for 2 hours before just having our host dad come pick us up. Luckily, we have connections and will be getting a ride to and from school most days. When I found this out, I was relieved more than you can imagine. Cape Town is a bit rough, to be honest, and if something were to happen… I think it would most likely happen on the public transportation system. So, it’s a good thing we won’t be using it as much!
I’m tired, but not homesick. I got to skype with Taran this morning J so that was great. It was a bit difficult focusing in class at first afterwards, haha. I was frazzled and excited. But don’t worry, Mom, I focused for most of it!
I talked to the registrar today about figuring out my classes. I have to now e-mail the people at Fox to find out what exactly I can and can’t do, but it’s nice to have the ball rolling with that. It has been made clear that Cornerstone’s work load is crazy busy, so I’m hoping to only have to take 3 classes and then my classroom observation time. Time will tell, I guess.
My eyes are getting heavier by the second, so I’m going to call it a night. Much love to all.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Greetings from South Africa





1/9/11 9:30 PM
Greetings from Cape Town! Currently, I am sitting in my bed (yes, this will be a common thing) at my host family’s home.  It is so good to finally be settled in to the place where I will be for the next couple months. The family is so sweet, and I really feel that it will be a great place to live. They have 3 boys: Josh (16), Aaron (12), and Jason (10). The mother’s name is Lavona and the father Pete. Their grandma also lives with them, but she has her own little place in the back, so we haven’t seen her yet. Krystle Halvorsen is my roommate, and I think we are going to get along really well! She is very outgoing and personable, so I think it will be fun to be around her as much as I will be.
When I arrived Thursday night, Wayne (the dean of the school) picked me up from the airport and took me to the Bible Institute of South Africa. This place was beautiful, and had a great view overlooking the ocean. I will post pictures! By the time I got there, everyone else was asleep except for Tammy, the study abroad coordinator. She let me use her phone to call my parents and let them know I had arrived safely.
The next day, Friday, everyone else arrived. There are 9 of us total from the states that are here on this journey together. There are 3 of us from George Fox, 5 from Bethel University, and 1 from Wheaton. We are quite a diverse group, but our backgrounds make for a lot of beauty and intrigue within us. I can’t wait to get to know all of them more. So Friday was spent getting to know each other at the institute, and we took a walk down to a town nearby called Fish Hoek. There were a few shops there and a beach that we walked around for a bit at. That night we had a “briee” which is basically the South African version of a barbeque. I have quickly learned that South Africa is very fond of their meat, and this was an occasion that this was very apparent. There was lamb, chicken, and sausage. We met some of the Cornerstone faculty and some of the other students.
Saturday we set out for a day excursion around the area. We stopped at Boulders to see the penguins. I know…who woulda thunk that there would be penguins in South Africa? But there were lots! And yes, I have pictures of them as well. From there, we went to Cape Point, which was unfortunately very foggy so we didn’t have quite the view we would’ve hoped for. So I don’t really have pictures, but it’s normally a beautiful place, so you should look it up. J Then we went to a place nearby to eat our lunch near a beach. One interesting thing about there area is that there are a lot of baboons. These baboons are quite intriguing creatures. They have become so adapted to human civilization that they have learned to open car doors, screen doors, and take your food at parks. Some people’s job is actually to follow the baboons and make sure they don’t get into trouble. So, sitting at the park eating lunch, we had to keep our eye open for baboons to make sure they didn’t take our food, and the monitors kept watch as well. We made a couple other stops at some viewpoints after lunch, and then headed back to the institute for the night.
This morning, we packed up our stuff and headed to church. This church was unique because it was racially integrated. Most churches around here are still separated black and white. So, this church was a bit confusing because as the pastor was speaking in English, there would be a translator speaking at the same time in Xhosa (a local language). It was confusing. And I hadn’t been feeling good already, so I can’t say I fully enjoyed it. But it made for a new experience. After church, we went to Cornerstone (the school I will be attending) for lunch and to meet our host families.
And now we are “home” and getting ready for bed. It’s only 9:30, but we are really exhausted. Jet lag is a weird thing, and I really am not fond of it. Hopefully we will find our energy soon enough. Tomorrow morning we get up for our first “History of South Africa” lecture.

So I would like to explain something. I do not have internet at my host family’s home. Internet down here is very expensive so even when host families do have it, it is advised to not use it much. Therefore, the time that I write my blog posts will, for the most part, not be at the same time they are posted online since I will have to wait until I am on campus. I will write the date at the beginning of each post of when they are actually written, so don’t be confused!

I am so blessed for this opportunity. I will admit homesickness has already hit me harder than I expected. But being able to unpack my stuff and a have place to call home has already made me feel better. Thank you all so much for your interest in keeping up with my adventure. I love you and miss you all!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

And the journey begins!

Hello all! Right now, I am sitting in Tjitske's bed about to call it a night. But first... I thought I'd fill you all in on my adventures thus far! I left Spokane yesterday (Tuesday) at 1:25 and arrived in Minneapolis a few hours later. Upon arrival, I realized that my next flight (to Amsterdam) was to board 5 minutes later. And it was on the other side of the airport. Minneapolis airport is a tad bit larger than the Spokane port. So, I got there just in time to hear them say "now boarding all rows all zones." BUT there was a very long line still, so I hustled over to get a little bite to eat. When I got back...the line was gone and I heard "last call for flight to Amsterdam." I was like... the last one on. But I made it! So that's all that matters. After flying all night, I got here at 11 this morning. Tjitske (the exchange student we hosted my junior year of high school) was to meet me at the airport. We had discussed that if we couldn't find each other at the arrivals area, we would meet at the Schipol plaza. I spent over an hour going back and forth between these two destinations, with no Tjitske. As I began to enter panic/on the verge of crying mode, I went to the Information desk to ask them to page her. To my surprise, she came up behind me at the desk...no page needed! Turns out...there's 4 arrival areas and I had taken a long journey through the airport (because I had no idea where I was going) and ended up at the wrong one. OOPS! From there, we spent a few hours being tourists around Amsterdam. She treated me to a Cappuccino and a canal boat tour. We went to this awesome cafe to get a sandwich, and she told me I got the most Dutch sandwich and I didn't even mean to! And it was delicious. So that's a plus. From there, we ventured back through the very cold, brisk air to the train back to her house. Relaxed for a bit, and went to this awesome pasta venue near her house. Came back, showered, and am now in bed. I'd say it's starting off well! I'm a little nervous about getting back to the airport in the morning...but it should be alright. Thank you all for your interest and support for my trip. I hope to keep you updated regularly!

Monday, January 3, 2011

OH MY GOSH!

36 hours from now... I will be about to board the first plane of my adventure. Can you believe it!?