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.