Learn, Live, Laugh

Wow! Life is still so busy! And it is now technically November (for a whole hour) in South Africa! I can’t believe I’ve been here for 7 weeks! It feels like a long time but not at the same time (if that makes any sense haha). I don’t even know if I remember everything we’ve done! Back in the U.S. when us 9 nursing majors took Community Health in May, we created a teaching project for a group to take to Uganda and for us to take to S.A. We finally got to present them to a high school in Mpophomeni, near one of the clinics we work at. We taught 5 classes of about 40 students about basic hygiene, communicable diseases, and dental hygiene. We had a lot of fun and it was cool to implement a project that we actually created on our own.

Then on Saturday, we were given permission to take over the kitchen at AE and we cooked an awesome Mexican meal. We got to make taco salads or burritos and it was seriously one of the best Mexican meals ever (and I’m pretty sure it’s not b/c it actually tasted good). Mexican food isn’t really common over here at all so it was a nice taste of home! I got to make the guacamole and was SO excited… but they don’t sell tortilla chips over here so we had to use tortillas and it was still delicious =)

The next week was Homecoming week!!! It was actually the same time as APU’s homecoming back in the U.S. Each day of the week we had a certain theme and people had to dress accordingly! The first was backwards day so we all had to wear our clothes inside and out and backwards! And Tuesday was crazy hair/clash day. Wednesday was black and white day. On Wednesday we had the privilege of going to see the Drakensberg Boy’s Choir. It’s a school for 4th-9th grade boys that teaches music. Their voices were incredible!!!!! I seriously don’t even know how to describe it. Then Thursday was twin day! Our chalet had a pair of conjoined twins and then pregnant twins that were pregnant with twins haha. That day we also played a homecoming football game! It had been raining, which made the game even more fun! I even caught the ball!!!! And then that night we had an “airband competition”. Each chalet had a routine to a song. My chalet (Nicholas B) “acted out” a music video I Need A Hero from Shrek 2! We had so much fun trying to choreograph it… we didn’t even start until 2 hours before the actual competition haha. We didn’t win, but the guys’ deserved to… there’s was hilarious! And then on Friday each chalet had been given a color and everyone had to dress up in that specific color. Ours was black and we went all out with thick make-up and everything! And later that night we had a braai (South African BBQ) and tacky homecoming dance! The dance was a lot of fun and believe me… the outfits were awful! It was such a good week and it really helped with bonding within all of the chalets… I LOVE all the girls in this chalet they are all so wonderful!

A very important component to the South Africa Study Abroad program is that all the non-nursing majors participate in a community engagement class. On Friday and Saturday the nurses got to sit in on the lectures and they were extremely interesting. API fly’s in a man named Francis, from Uganda, every semester to teach this class for a month. He has worked for World Vision and done so many cool things in his life. He really is a blessing to Azusa and is one of the most interesting people to talk to! But this past week has been really different for the non-nursing students. This was their first week to go out to their service sites and work with the communities. I love hearing about what they see and what they do. I’m glad they’re finally getting a chance to go out and see what we’ve been experiencing the last month and a half. I know people are going to be wrestling with what they see and wrestling with God and just trying to make sense of it all. I’ve already heard some amazing conversations that have been sparked by what has been seen out in the communities!

This past Tuesday I got to go to the Family Center in Mpophomeni and basically hang out with kids for a couple of hours. I WAS SO HAPPY!!!!! There were 3 of us nursing majors there and we had children climbing ALL over us! There was this one little boy, who doesn’t know how to talk yet and couldn’t tell me his name, who I fell in love with. He kept wanting me to pick him up and hold him! He is such a cuddler and I didn’t ever want to set him down… I was so depressed when I saw our ride come.
The rest of the week was filled with lots and lots of homework! But today, Saturday, we went to the Drakensberg mountains and got to see cave paintings from a really long time ago. It was cool to see…but I was more impressed with the beauty we were surrounded by. It was SO green everywhere! I wish that the U.S. was as green as it is here… you really can’t even describe how vibrant the colors really are. And tonight we watched a Scooby Doo Halloween episode and then I Am Legend to celebrate Halloween. We were all exhausted so we kept it pretty chill.

Wow… these long posts are becoming ridiculous! But again if you read through this, thank you for taking the time to read about my life in the beautiful country! And I’m so sorry for the terrible grammar and sentences that don’t even make sense. It’s 1 AM here and I am so tired, but I wanted to blog before I forgot. I miss everyone a lot! And I can’t believe I’m past the halfway mark. Definitely Bittersweet…But my chipotle cravings are getting stronger I don’t know how much longer I’ll last! Hope you’re all doing well! Love you!

Oh yeah kind of random and not that important, but we’ve been having TONS of rain! And the most amazing thunder/lightning storms EVER!!!!!

God bless,
Kels