Surfing at Muzienburg!

Though I predicted that the power outages were coming to an end this week, the city of Cape Town has proven me wrong. Rumor has it that this “current”(get the irony?) saga will continue for another two years in the Western Cape! Life without power makes for unpredictable challenges all across the board. Candles now sit by my bed side, gas cooking stoves are sitting next to the electric stoves, thermoses are by the electric water heater, and the location of the lighter is known to everyone in the house! When the current is on you must take advantage of every possible electric appliance in the house! Though I get frustrated when we don’t have light, I have come to appreciate the times in the evening when we sit by the candle light to eat our supper without the television noise in the background. Last night Benita made Astrid and I some amazing omelets on the gas stove at 10:30 at night. I’ve never had such amazing omelets! I think Benita should become an overseas consultant for Betty Crocker! What do you think Mom?

This week has been pretty laid back so far…

Monday, in place of attending leadership class in the classroom, we separated into groups and went out into the community to ask leaders about their leadership experience, styles, and ideas. My group went to the Anglican church just down the road from Cornerstone to interview Father Alan Smith. We had a very in-depth interview with him for an hour and a half! He had a lot of wisdom for us! Following our church interview we went to the local grocer, Pick-n-Pay, to interview managers at the executives office in Claremont. Because of miscommunication in booking these appointments with the managers, we ended up having three groups interviewing at the same time! I came out of the interview with great respect for the company of Pick-n-Pay. I should really shop there more often, I thought to myself. J Needless to say, I learned a lot about leadership on Monday.

Tuesday we had our “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” class from 9-11AM with Alan. We had a panel of three South Africans, along with four other American students who are working in Cape Town for three weeks, visit us for the morning. The discussion revolved around us asking the panel their views on the TRC. I have been learning a lot about the struggles of dealing with the country’s horrific past of being under apartheid and the challenge of moving towards reconciliation. I’ll have to share more of my thoughts and new knowledge with you all someday!

Wednesday(today) was a public holiday- what does that mean, you ask?- NO CLASS! That’s all it means to me, but for every registered voter in South Africa, it means that you vote today! People were voting for their wards and other local government people. Because I didn’t have to vote, I became very lazy today! I did get off my behind to go to an Ash Wednesday Mass at the church down the road with Allison and Ryan tonight. The priest was scared we were going to lose power so he skipped one of the readings and just read the gospel, gave us our bread and ashes, and we were out the door in literally 41 minutes…not that I was timing it or anything. Talk about a get-in-get-out Mass! This will be my first time being away from home for the entire Easter season! Easter is only 40 days away!

OH!! Can’t believe I almost forgot to mention it! Monday night I found out that I was hired to be a Freshmen RA in Egdren for next year at Bethel! I get to live on a floor with 25 other girls again! I wasn’t sure whether they’d place me in a Freshmen dorm or an upperclass residence, so it was totally up in the air! Though I’m excited about this amazing opportunity, I’m also going to thoroughly miss living with amazing roommates! You all know who you are! So can we all get an apartment to live together in for this summer? That’d be great.

Some thoughts to leave you with…

“Any gospel which is not social is not gospel. God so loved the world that he didn’t just sit is his great theological rocking chair stroking his white beard and glory in his love for the world. He did something about it. He became social in the form of his son. In the incarnation the spiritual word became a social event. To separate word and deed is to deny the incarnation.”
- The Upside-Down Kingdom by Donald Kraybill