Hello everyone!
I think it’s just about time for a life update. Sorry it’s taken so long, I’ve been putting it off until things have officially come together. Nothing is still fully set but by now I have my bearings much more than when I arrived super tired, sick, and full of anticipation 3 weeks ago. The delay in part has to do with the switch in placement from Kimberley to Cape Town but is also quite to do with South African Time. As one person put it: if you expect to do more than one thing in a day you’re in too much of a hurry.
Life update: Mina and Mesheck, members of my host church, have graciously invited me into their home to live for my first month here. Along with Mina’s elderly mother and her caretaker, Elsa, we are constantly laughing, cooking, talking, and drinking tea together. Mina had two sons and is so excited to finally have a daughter that she told my parents she’s not giving me back. Elsa, who speaks only Afrikaans plus a smidgen of English, and I play cards together regularly and she teaches me Afrikaans as we play. We’re becoming friends despite the language barrier and she showed me yesterday that she had set a picture of me as the backdrop to her phone. Love has no language :)
While volunteer placements have been coming together I’ve been helping out at church and will be re-starting the youth group with Shane, a guy my age from a nearby town that is also at the church for a year. It’s completely dead now so we have a challenge in front of us but I’m excited for it. I’ve also spent some time at a local elementary school that’s unfortunately in a rough neighborhood. My next door neighbor is a teacher there and the kids are incredible. When I visited the kids’ jaws dropped after I pointed how far away I was from on the globe. But the opportunity I’m SUPER EXCITED about is a chance to volunteer at a Red Cross as a kid cuddler. Some kids there have families that can’t visit often so they ask volunteers to come in to show them lots of love on a regular basis. Am I excited? YES YES YES. Hopefully I can work that out!
Life is a constant adventure and I never know what will happen the next day. I’m learning to take each day as it comes and savor it for the beautiful moments that come along unexpectedly and make it all worthwhile.
Now that I’ve finally gotten internet sorted out(after hearing the sales rep tell me buying internet online was “a bit dodgy, man” I took matters into my own hands and now have limited but reliable access) I’ll be posting here more regularly. So many stories to tell!
Love from South Africa,
Jen
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