pastaa!!!! and soup!! and cars!!

Three things that I love about South Africa – pasta, soup, and cars.
We just recently got pots and pans! As in a couple of days ago. As in Monday. Up until Monday, we had no way to cook anything! Granted, we were out of town and eating in a cafeteria until Sunday night, but we missed being able to cook and eat good food. So first thing Monday night, Tim made spaghetti! His famous spaghetti sauce turned out to be really really good! It was so good. It was awesome. We were all so happy to eat hot food at home! It was a real partayy.
Then Gabby made soup yesterday – potato soup! It also was very goooood. And then we went out and ate pizza. So two dinners! Yes! Double win!
Then today I made lasagna and French bread rolls! It took forevvverrrrrr but I love making bread! And it was so fun and then we got to eat it and it was oh. so. good.
And also, I just want to say that the cars here are so wonderful. That is, wonderful aside from the fact that I can’t drive them – yet – because they are all standard and also they drive on the wrong side of the road here. But they have an abundance of beautiful old Mercedes-Benz and Mini Cooper and VW vehicles, and they are all oh-so-gorgeous! Anytime I go anywhere I have to stop myself from drooling all over everything and/or taking pictures nonstop. It’s like heaven.

Convention!

Okay, so we have been in South Africa for under a week and already we have traveled all the way up to Bloemfontein! Bloemfontein, or Bloem as people usually call it, is about 7 hours northwest of Pietermaritzburg, where I now live. Every year New Zion Ministries International (which my new church is a part of) has a big, four-day convention in Bloem and lots and lots of people go. This year the attendance was somewhere around 850, but somehow it felt much bigger. There were people everywhere! The semi-overwhelming atmosphere was definitely aided by how enthusiastic and downright loud everybody was, seemingly all the time. I mean that. All. The. Time. They stayed up late having parties and got up early to sing and pray.

They are insane. But it's definitely a good insane - their excitement was inspiring and even a bit contagious, even for born-and-raised-no-dancing Mennonites like us.

The weekend started out hard, with us having trouble adjusting. Not only was it a completely different environment, but we were all pretty much exhuasted in varying degrees. However, looking back, I'm so glad that we went. It was a really good experience. So good, in fact, that I came up with a Top Ten list of great moments!

10. The arts were so emphasized at this convention - it was awesome. I especially liked the dancing - they were good at it, and everyone did it! By that I mean that boys and girls danced, not just girls.

9. We saw baboons on the way to convention, just hanging out by the road, and ostriches on the way back - also just hanging out by the road.

8. There was a bus that shuttled people from our lodging to City Hall, where we had our meetings. One night, on the bus, everyone, seemingly simultaneously, burst into song - in Zulu!

7. One musical artist I remember listening to as a kid was Christofari - Christian rastofari! It's awesome music, and I hadn't heard it in years - until this weekend, when a group of guys couple of doors down were playing it (very loudly, of course) in their room.

6. We helped out with children's church one day, and every day after that I got stopped and greeted by little kids who knew my name!

5. Two kind Zulu members of our church taught us to say "hello," "how are you," and "yes" in Zulu.

4. The founder of the church (Apostle Hilton Toohey) has a grandson named Casey. Casey, while we were helping out with children's church, very kindly and sensitively broke up with me for Gabby.

3. I lent my iPod to one of the guys at the convnetion, and he wandered away with it. So Anna and I went looking for him and somehow ended up at a party! A group of maybe 15 people were crowded into someone's room playing a game: someone gives you the "mic" (a can of spray-on deodorant) and you have to perform, whether you want to or not! Of course Anna and I were given the mic, and we sang "My Girl" by The Temptations in front of a very encouraging audience :). It was very, very fun. (Also, I did get my iPod back.)

2. We went to a steakhouse called Spurs whose motto is "The official restuarant of the South African family." However, Spurs is entirely decked out in Native American Indian decorations! Totem poles, placemats, stained glass, pictures, you name it, it was all Native American. It was bizarre and hilarious. Picture above!!

1. On our way back to the hostel from Spurs, someone called Tim (one of my teammates) a trekkie (as in Star Trek). There was a moment of silence, and I was sure Tim was going to deny it, and then he said "Actually, the term is trekker." It was absolutely hilarious.

Are We There Yet?

Just a quick disclaimer – the past few days have been very full. This is a long blog.
Our travels on our way to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, have been both memorable and interesting. We left Chicago via O’Hare airport on Sunday, September 20th, at 4:15 pm, on a plane to Amsterdam (which is in the Netherlands, Gabby J, not Germany). Sunday was a day of mixed emotions. We were sad to say goodbye to the other teams, but we couldn’t help but be really excited to be on our way to South Africa!
Our flight to Amsterdam took about 7 hours, and it came and went largely without incident. Sure, we were crammed into the back of a huge airplane with next to no leg room and no way to recline our seats, but the flight didn’t last forever. Also I slept most of the time J. Eventually we made it into the Amsterdam airport. Flight one over and done!
We had about a three hour layover in Amsterdam. At the time it seemed kind of long. We didn’t have much to do and we spent the time wandering aimlessly or bemoaning the lack of free wi-fi.
Eventually we got onto our second flight: a ten hour flight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, South Africa! We were all excited to finally be getting into South Africa, and the plane was even a bit roomier. Also, we all had our own TV screens and a whole list of free movies, TV shows, and games to pick from! Yay! Airplane heaven! Again, I slept for a good five or six or even seven hours. I realize now that I am blessed to be able to sleep almost anywhere. Others on my team had a less slumber-full time and I’m sure they wish it had gone differently.
So finally we made it into Johannesburg. It was about 9:30 pm in Joburg when we arrived, and we were all tired, so we set off to get the money we needed for the room we had booked for the night. We needed to get about 1500 rand (which is about $200) to cover the taxi and the room. So we found an ATM, and I stuck my card in, and the ATM kindly informed us that my account had insufficient funds.
WHAT?
Here is what should have happened: Darrell, the Radical Journey director, was supposed to put Radical Journey money into my account for us to use for things like this. We should have gotten the money no problem, and gotten a pretty good night’s sleep at a nice guest room in Joburg. INSUFFICIENT FUNDS? REALLY?
So we had no money, except for the little bit of cash we all had with us. Not nearly enough.
So by then it was about 11:00 at night. We had close to 40 tons of luggage with us, and we were more exhausted than ever (I was actually doing okay because of the large amounts of sleep I got on the planes, but Anna, for instance, was really tired). Johannesburg, by the way, is not our final destination. We have another flight that will take us about an hour south to our home for the next ten months – Pietermaritzburg. We really, really, really wanted beds.
But, since we had no money, we decided to stay in the airport overnight. After wandering about for a while we found a row of semi-comfortable looking seats and set up camp, surrounding ourselves with luggage and trying to work ourselves into positions that encouraged sleep. A couple of us had blankets (not me! Oh me oh my!) and pillows (again, not me), and over the next seven or so hours we all got sleep in varying amounts. I think Gabby and I slept the most – yay! I must have gotten about five or six hours of sleep. Kyle slept the least, with a grand total of no hours. He was also kind enough to give me his blanket. This happened at some point when I was asleep, so I woke up warm! It was lovely!
Now we are still in the airport. As I write this, it is 8:05 am here (and about 1:05 am in Chicago) and we have another hour and fifteen minutes before our flight to Pietermaritzburg even starts boarding. But at least we are still all together, and we have had no security or border or health issues. This is quite the adventure!

P.S. Now we are here! We made it!

Only Two Days Left!

I cannot believe it! We are leaving for South Africa in two days. Two days. Two days!
I don't know if I'm ready to leave or not. Today my visa will be arriving, so technically I am finally ready, but I'm not so sure. I will miss everyone here lots and lots.
Yesterday was a celebratory day. As teams we went out to enjoy the city, and Team South Africa went mini golfing and to get ice cream. Mini golfing was hard, so we quit early, but it was still quite fun. And (of course) the ice cream was delicious.
Later in the evening we went out as a big group to have dinner together. It was awesome! The staff treated us to a three-course meal at a local restaurant called Cafe Too (Cafe Too provides job training to the homeless and underprivileged, and for many of the cooks our meal was the first one they had prepared). I was so impressed with the food, and it was a really good time. The meal took a couple of hours, and afterwards we headed to the beach to pray and talk, so we had lots of good conversation and fun for one of the last times in ten months :(.
I am really looking forward to leaving, but also I am really really not. I guess that doesn't matter much though. Pietermaritzburg, here we come!

Less Than One Week Left

We leave in less than one week!
It still has not hit me yet. I find it difficult to believe that a week from now I will be in South Africa, getting used to another new place and more new people. I will miss Chicago! But I am definitely very excited to leave.
Up until today I was not sure if I would really be leaving on the 20th. My visa application process was less than perfectly smooth, and I had not heard anything about whether it had been approved or not. It was extremely nerve-wracking. However! Today I called the embassy in D.C. and found out that it has been approved, and my visa is on its way to my house at long last. It was such a relief to hear that. If I didn't get my visa in time to leave, my entire team would be delayed and we would all have to wait in Chicago for it to come.
Six days left - South Africa, here I come!

Spirituality & Hospitality

This past week has been interesting and challenging in a number of good ways. We have spent a lot of time - intentionally and not - getting to know each other, ourselves, and those around us in different ways. For instance, I had a couple conversations with a man who lives here at Jesus People USA (JPUSA) about the spiritual realm and the gifts of the Holy Spirit - his personal testimony regarding the spiritual realm intrigued me and stretched my understanding of having a personal relationship with the Spirit.
My team going to South Africa also had a wonderful opportunity to talk to a former RAD participant (the RAD program was the predecessor to the Radical Journey Program) who spent two years in South Africa. His experience in South Africa was fascinating to hear, but I especially enjoyed hearing about his passion for a deeper understanding of spirituality and spiritual gifts. I am so excited to think of how deeply I can grow this year in my faith and understanding.

We have also been working our way through spiritual discplines - things like prayer, hospitality, journaling/blogging, and silence - as a larger group. This past week, on Monday, we practiced hospitality. This assignment was very open-ended, and I set off with a member of the Paraguay team to find opportunities for hospitality in downtown Chicago. We soon realized that hospitality is more difficult than it sounds, especially when you are not home. We struggled with defining hospitality as something more specific than merely being nice or caring, and ended up doing a series of small things; we bought food for a homeless man, took some pictures for families in Milennium Park, cleaned up some litter on the sidewalk. I learned that hospitality is harder than it sounds, and that it is especially difficult to be welcoming and caring when you have no space to welcome people into. At the end of the day I felt challenged, but definitely grateful for the experience.

Two Weeks Tomorrow!

Time here has just been absolutely flying by. Two weeks in and only two more left! While it's exciting to think about going to South Africa, I have to admit that I wish we could stay here too. It's been an amazing time so far, and I could see myself enjoying it for a while yet :).
We have learned a little more about what we will be doing in South Africa - namely, attending a camp revival style meeting almost as soon as we get there. On top of that, we will be driving and navigating our way there on our own. I'm looking forward to it!
This week we had a chance to hear some interesting stories. We attending a performance called "Stories from the Streets" from Emmaus Ministries, which is a ministry that helps male prostitutes in a variety of ways. It was interesting and even funny at times, but mostly it was an eye-opening experience. It's easy to put prostitution into a box labeled "Sin" and to not think about the effect it has on those entangled in it, or to ignore the stories that they have. It was good to hear the stories (presented to us by two Emmaus workers, Andy and Al, in song and monologue) and to be challenged to think more deeply about societal issues like prostitution.
We also got to hear from some people who have had cross-cultural experiences, from living a year in Miami to growing up in Istanbul. Hearing about the challenges they have faced was a good way to start to mentally prepare for our experiences, because many things they faced we will surely face too.
As we have gotten more into this experience, it has become more and more apparent that it will not be easy. While I'm looking forward to the challenge, I know we will need prayers and support to help us all deal with each other, as well as those we will work with and serve in South Africa.

A Week and a Half!

Today we begin team building exercises! Team South Africa had a meeting this morning in which we discussed the week and a half we have spent here so far, and we talked some about what to expect when we get to South Africa - among other things, we will experience a tent revival meeting almost right away.
I am so excited about things. I'm excited about being here, and enjoying the company of not only my team but other teams as well, and I'm excited about going to South Africa and experiencing who knows what! Today felt like the first day that I actually realized, "I am going to South Africa!" I won't be here forever! While it's exciting to think about all the things I will do and face and learn, it's also sad that we only have two and a half weeks left here. I love this city and wish I could continue to get to know the groups that are going to England, Paraguay and Australia.
Later this afternoon, we will do some more team building at a nearby park. Should be fun!