south africa: the beginning
unfortunately the internet here is a bit sketchy, so uploading photos hasn’t been working thus far. so until it decides to be a bit more compliant, i’ll fill you in with words.
this may be more of a challenge, however, because this place is so picturesque and so full of life that i’m not sure my words will do it justice. we’ve had orientation and a good deal of exploration around cape town so far. we started our j-term class on monday (the history, culture, and people of south africa), and that’s been super, super interesting. i am so hungry to learn about this place. the african worldview is so fascinating. i feel like the western world could learn a lot from these beautiful people.
so much is going through my head right now. i don’t even know where to start. so i’ll just give you a stream of thoughts—hopefully they’ll give you a bit of a picture.
- i’m already burnt and probably hours away from peeling:).
- aaron and my host parents (maureen and melvin) are the absolute sweetest people in the world. maureen loves to talk and spoil us rotten and her husband is silent but hilarious with a very dry sense of humor. they’re both retired, and their kids have all flown the nest. melvin can fix just about anything and loves to garden; maureen writes letters to prisoners in america and just gives and gives and gives. they’re both very selfless, joyful people. i cannot wait to learn from their wisdom.
- our three mentors (afrikaans students at cornerstone) are unbelievably great. their testimonies are incredibly moving and their hearts are bursting.
- we have encountered a great deal of wildlife thus far including baboons, ostriches, penguins, and some other animals i’m not sure how to identify.
