4 months

Well, this is just plain weird. I literally feel like I JUST wrote about my 3 months being spent at Cape point. Each month has consistently gone faster than the previous one. I now only have a month and a half left here-crazy!

It's been much more "wintery" here, meaning rainy days and chilly nights. Last Thursday, I woke up to rainy morning and simply thought "Lord, thank you for this season in my life where I'm not too busy and can stay in bed on a rainy day and not feel bad about it!" This last Saturday, however, the sun came out, which was very convenient because everyone who works\volunteers at the clinic at Jubilee had planned to climb Table Mountain! There was about 13 of us, and it was a rocky incline. We did it though, and enjoyed a feast of a picnic at the top! It was quite chilly up there actually. Half the group took the cable-car down, but the more hardcore of us climbed back down, which proved to be much more intense than the way up. Our legs were all shaking by the time we got done! Afterwards we took our tired selves to the City Centre for coffee :)

This was one of those things that I had wanted to do while I was here, and tried to be patient for an opportunity to come up with friends. As I was hiking, I was so struck by the fact that it would have been absolutely miserable if I had climbed back in January and February, in the middle of summer. I was so thankful that we were doing this on a mild sunny day, with friends I had been with for awhile rather than a group of random students I didn't know. So much better than I originally thought; He knows what He's doing :)

Yesterday Stacey and I went to The Bay Church, about a half hour away, which is another NewFrontiers church. It was a plant from Jubilee in 1993, and is now about the same size, and multiracial as well. I really enjoyed it; thought about how crazy it was that I was connected to all these people and a church I didn't even know of because of NewFrontiers. There was an incredible span of young and old there, and they were really sensitive to where the Spirit was leading the message; the worship ended up being so long the pastor had to condense his message to the remaining 15 minutes, and didn't seem bothered by it at all! I thought that was really neat.

So today was 4 months. It was a gorgeous day, and I spent it at a beach along the Indian coast with 3 other girls. We got lunch there and just enjoyed the sun. I looked around, soaking it in, realizing it may be my last time getting over to that side, depending on how weather is my last bit here. I took many "mental" snapshots.

I have grown so much in these 4 months. I had made peace about the fact that most of how I'd grown I wouldn't see until I was back home, but I feel like in these last few weeks I am starting to see some fruit in my life a little bit. I'm really looking forward to enjoying this next month and a half, and I'm starting to get really excited about coming home as well! I feel like God is beginning to show me some things about my time here that is going to shape my future. I don't know what all it is yet, but it's exciting to me. That's another blog post though :)

Ok, well this is where I say "On to month 5"--my last full month here, ah!

South African Music Video

The World Cup is only a month away, and the fever is starting to rage throughout the city. It's pretty neat to watch. Below is a link to a music video shot here in Cape Town. I don't personally know the band,Hot Water, but they are friends of several students at Jubilee, who are in various shots in the video. It was made in anticipation of the World Cup. It does an excellent job of catching the excitement and emotions that people are feeling here.

There are a few things in the background that I wanted to point out for you to notice and get just a tinny insight into what it's like here:

-At the beginning with the guy at the bar, you can see on the sign how it's sold as "500 ml", not ounces...they use metric measurement here as well.

- The van the boy (Laduma) tries to get in is a minibus, a rather nice, safer-looking minibus than one I've ridden in, but one nonetheless!

--There's a brief shot inside a train. The carriage is first class, where most laborers don't ride, but I would. It cost about R11 for a ticket, about $1.50, so not a stretch for me to get to be a little safer. The third class doesn't have those cushioned seats, just a hard row lined on either side of the carriage.

--There is a shot of a man selling newspapers at a traffic light, or "robot" as they are called here. That's really common; so many times men will be selling fruit, random trinkets, newspapers as you are waiting for the light to change. It is very rare that anyone I've ridden with would buy anything, but sometimes there are just beggars, and several times I've given a few rand when they approach the car.

--When Laduma gets to Cape Town, the sign he sees is just a rectangular circle, symbolizing the stadium. That's really common for road signs to have symbols, sometimes with the names, sometimes without names.

--At the end you see two shots of the stadium at night. Those are taken from Signal Hill, the lower end of Lion's Head...it's even more beautiful than in the video :)

Here is the link, enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4V9s9xQwTw

My First Last

Today was my last day of classes at UWC. It was rather anti-climatic actually; I was thinking about the end of the semester in the States, and I totally don't have that same feeling. Now I wait around until the end of this month to take my exams!

There is a massive train strike that is going to happen on May 10. I am so thankful I am done now having to use the train, but my heart really goes out to all of the South Africans who will be stranded and have no way to get to their work. For my exams, the international advisor at UWC is picking me up, so I have another option...they don't have that :/

Although I am SO happy to not have to take the train or minibuses anymore, I am in a strange way thankful I got that opportunity. I didn't like feeling unsafe or not knowing whether a train would be on time or not show, but I really did get an insight into life of a lot of people here. Whether its the "clicks" of the Xhosa language or seeing the tired, lined faces of laborers, there is a little part of it that will stay with me.

Also, I was thinking over these last 3 months with the minibuses and trains, and how I had gotten so many warnings about being so careful, being a white female. I stuck out like a sore thumb, being the only white person (although that didn't bother me really), but God was incredibly faithful in how I've never got mugged or approached once while doing the public transport thing. That really is a small miracle, given the crime rate in this country, and I'm just so thankful!

This morning as I was getting ready to go, I said to Holly, "This is my first 'last' here. I still have exams, but this is my last day of classes, and in about a month's time, alot of things I do will be my 'last' things." I'm glad my first last is something I didn't really care for; it's still a bit of a weird thing to think about though!

So I have a final on the 12th, then not one until the 24th, then the 25th, then my last on the 31st. Talk about dragging it on...! 59 days left of 169 days here..wow.