Week 2: Getting Comfortable

Just over a week in this treasure trove of a country, and we’ve seen so much already. I feel at home at AE (African Enterprise). I feel like this is my place, I belong. I eat here, I sleep here, I have friends here.

I’m at the point where I’m going past surface-level conversation with some of the group. As I spend more time with each of these peers, I get more comfortable with them and so excited to learn more about their lives! There are people from all over the states, from Alaska to our Community Life Coordinator from Cuba. Each person has such a different story, and it thrills me to be let in on those stories.

We’ve done a bit of exploration since my last post. I’ve had a full week of classes and I can tell that I’ll be visually, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually challenged over the next few months. I think my favorite class will be Life and Teachings of Jesus. My professor is Reg, who is the director of the APU SA Semester program. He’s a tall, sixty-something, very intelligent, passionate South African who loves his country, his god and his job. We’ve just had one day of his class and I’ve already learned a lot about the context of the gospels.

So Life and Teachings is my favorite lecture, for sure, but biology field trips will be something else. We’re in lecture all day on Mondays, but our Thursdays are spent going out into the field and putting a practical spin on what we’re learning in class. Last Thursday we went to Krantzkloof Nature Reserve and it was awe-inspiring.

I cannot describe to you the beauty that I experienced, but I can tell you that my jaw was pretty much hanging the entire time we were out of the bus. We were on the edge of a gorge, we hiked down to a better view of a waterfall, we hiked to the top of the waterfall and down to the bottom. As we wandered through the tropical forest, I couldn’t help but imagine I was on the set of Indiana Jones or Avatar. We saw brightly colored birds, big spiders and giant millipedesHave a look at my album for an idea of what we saw: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046258&id=1037910026&l=e1013496fc

On Saturday, the whole group went to a Birds of Prey reserve and a Lion Reserve. We saw owls, eagles, hawks and vultures, bunnies and guinea pigs and dogs. Best of all, we saw lions. There was a really high but pretty flimsy fence, and they came within inches of us! If I had worked up the guts (or the idiocy) to stick my fingers through the wires, I could have touched a lion. I couldn’t believe the size of them! The alpha male’s back was as high as my ribcage. I’ve added the pictures from there to my first album. Here’s the link repeated from last week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046002&id=1037910026&l=89c4a544dc

I experienced my first South African church yesterday morning! It was in a hot little building on a school campus and we were so enthusiastically received there. I loved being there in the midst of South African families—I think that interacting with families is one of the best ways to involve myself in a new culture. More on church next week, promise.

Last night, several of us opted to see a screening of the first lecture of The Truth Project, a series of lectures on Truth in the bible. I hope I can keep the motivation to go each Sunday night, because I think that it would be really thought provoking, challenging and beneficial for me.

This place is a unique one in which I can grow and learn so much. I’m praying that I’ll really take advantage of that to the full extent. I’m already over a week closer to my return flight home, and there are so many more adventures to be had before I’ll be willing to step on that plane.