What’s up in Cape Town

Howdy Faithful Folks,

What’s up in Cape Town, you ask? Well, let me tell you. Tuesday of this past week was a national holiday, Heritage Day aka “Braii Day.” (Braii is essentially outdoor grilling or barbequing.) We went to buy Gina a guitar for her 16^th birthday which was at the beginning of the month but we didn’t find a guitar that was good until Tuesday. Watched “Turbo” about a racing snail in the theater. Rode around in the minibuses quite a bit. And went to a braii at the Petersons, where we celebrated our heritage by grilling “Texan Steak” and cuddling “the Sether”.

Mark finished his second and last block class in Chinese Law and Investment in Africa. He feels like he understands it all and is happy to be done with the intense classroom time. Other than that, there’s a big rugby match today – the SA national team is playing just a few kilometers from our house. The weather is starting to warm up. And we both took a stress inventory and realized that we have a lot of stressful things going on in our lives. The most pressing right now are post-graudate fellowship applications, which will both be turned in by the end of the week, and my visitor visa renewal application, which is totally out of our control but under God’s control!

Also, I’m working on my second paper for my Conflict Transformation program, and it’s quite interesting. My thesis is: Small international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) are overlooked and uninformed regarding conflict-sensitive development principles, and they could make a significant contribution to international peacebuilding if consulted.

Wonderful Hospitality

 I know when we first arrived, I thought about writing about incredible hospitality, and since we’ve just returned from yet another spontaneous Sunday lunch at someone’s home, I’m inspired and thankful and want to write about it now.

Many (white) South Africans have been so hospitable to us here! The first weekend, we stayed at a B&B one night (paid for by our would-have-been landlords when the housing arrangement fell through). The little old man, Ron, asked what we wanted for breakfast; when M suggested hashbrowns, R said he didn’t know what they were but he wanted to learn, so M found a recipe and emailed it to R. Ron practiced making them for dinner for his wife, and in the morning, he made us delicious, crispy hashbrowns! He also drove us to UCT campus and dropped us off where we needed to be. And he stored our bags for us overnight until we found another place to live.

The first Sunday we went to Jubilee church, we chatted with the man who oversees small groups in our area, and he offered us a ride home since he lives nearby. Then he offered us lunch; we went home with in and as we’re walking in the door, he tells his wife that there are guests. She was so sweet and flexible and just pulled out some more food to offer us. The have continued to be very welcoming, allowing us to do laundry, use internet, or drop by for tea.

Another neighbor was an exchange student in high school in California and now is a mom of middle school age kids. She also had us over for dinner, and we have a standing invitation to pop in for tea or coffee any time she’s home. (Because houses are not warm, we drink lots of tea to warm us up!)

Of course, there’s this American couple who have been helping us out from the beginning with a bed to sleep in the day after their 2^nd son was born, sharing meals their neighbors brought them, loaning us all kinds of kitchen utensils and offering rides, laundry, internet, welcome. They’re amazing.

Today was rainy. We got a ride or a “lift” to church and knew we’d need to find another one home. We chatted with a lady in our small group who has an American exchange student in her home, and she offered a lift and lunch. Mark said “yes and yes”. It was lovely and laid-back - sitting in front of the fire visiting, drinking tea, answering the potentially awkward questions M asked about life during apartheid.

It cleared off and the sun was shining so we walked home from their place. As we walked, I told M how much I admire these ladies who can just invite us over without prior planning. I love having people over, but I want to know ahead of time so I can have the house clean and something prepared. It is so nice just to be welcomed into life as it is, nothing to impress – like joining the family for an afternoon. I’m thankful for the Body of Christ and how it does work like a family.

the last couple of days

Today feels like an Africa day here.

The weather forecast was completely wrong. Like 180 degrees.

The bureaucratic runaround for my visitor visa extension.

The scooter getting locked for parking in an “illegal” spot that was not marked and looked like every other place we’re supposed to park the scooter. And having to pay a release fee.

Yesterday, I went to a children’s home in a township (aka slum, colonia, compound, ghetto etc.) and it felt more like real Africa. I helped tutor a student in grade 11. He mostly needed help in Afrikaans, but since I know nothing about that, we settled for physics. Laws of ideal gasses. It started coming back to me: degrees Kelvin, mols, atms…It was fun.

Sunday, we celebrated Gina’s 16^th birthday. We are getting her a guitar, although we haven’t found the right one yet. (My parents got me a guitar for my 16^th b-day, too!) Mark’s words of wisdom to her: “Don’t let something imaginary keep you from doing something that’s real.” I don’t remember exactly what he was talking about, but Gina was impressed.

Saturday was another Africa day because we took public transport to town (downtown Cape Town) to look for a guitar. Walked around a lot, bought food for a maybe con artist beggar guy, couldn’t find a grocery store we were happy with, ate too much oily sauce in my chicken wrap and felt sick, and were SOOO tired when we got home! 

Spring Break

Last week was UCT spring break, so we did a little bit of vacationing. First, we climbed to the top of Table Mountain. It was a really awesome hike. Mark did his research and we definitely were on the trail less travelled by. It was very vertical and adrenaline-pumping, if you know what I mean. We really felt like we accomplished something. And it was beautiful. The weather was perfect, and we felt very blessed.

  

We also went on a two-night trip with the Petersons to see the wildflowers in the national part about 2 hours away. There were neat animals as well – lots of DLA (deer-like animals), ostriches, flamingos, zebras, and some other, less interesting ones. The kids were great and flexible; it was nice to take things at a slower pace than we’re accustomed to. I especially enjoyed sharing with Diana about an impacting spiritual development book I read this spring called Cloister Talks and what centering prayer has become in my life.

Some other sight-seeing included the Afrikaans monument, Paarl Rock (really impressed by 3-year-old Aaron’s hiking ability!), and another tough hiking trail on the side of the highway up to a mountain pass. We slept some, were in the car a lot, drank tea when we were at the guest house, and had a very pleasant time. Thanks, Steve and Diana, for your warm welcome and for letting us be Cape Town family with you!

How do you say "Worcestershire" sauce?

This past weekend, Mark and I went to Worcester, "Vooster," to visit my friend from Zambia, Keisha, who is studying at the YWAM base there. It's a beautiful area, about an hour north of us (by car; we took the train and it was 3 hours), surrounded by mountains on all sides.

It was colder there because of the elevation, and a lot of the mountains had snow. We got to do a bit of hiking and took lots of pictures. Here are a few of them.

It is almost spring here, and this week is Mark's spring break. We're going on another little road trip Wed-Fri with the Petersons to see the wildflowers.

We are doing pretty good. I've been feeling a bit frustrated about my lack of meaningful contribution to society here, but I think God is speaking to me in that hard place. And today is nice and sunny! High is 65. Yay!
Happy Labor Day. And happy anniversary to Joy and Brent AND to David and Grace!