Sedelle

Totes Cray-Cray

2012-01-12T22:16:00.000-06:00

Today was very eventful! We began our day with a muy delicioso desayuno, very delicious breakfast, of fresh bread butter and fruit preserves! There was also different kinds of sliced meat but I was content without it.

After breakfast we tried to go to the Museum of Institutions but there was a protest on that street so it was blocked off by the police!!

So instead we went to a Franciscan Monastery, well it used to be a Franciscan Monastery, now it is a museum about the monastery that it once was!

After many many pictures and some amazing translation done by Gisella Shadle we got some lunch. Before this trip I had heard a lot about the Chinese food in Peru, that it was supposed to be the best Chinese food ever. Well let me just tell you, it wasn't Lily Garden but it was real yummz. Also I was told that the place we went to, which was an all you can eat buffet, was not the Chinese that I had been told about even though it was Chinese food! Confusing I know. We also had some Chicha Morada, Purple Corn Drink, which I though was muy delicioso! After we finished eating the buffet food they brought out a special dessert which I did not think was delicioso. It was some kind of fried doughnut with honey to dip it in.

Then we went to the CAAAP to listen to a Priest from Boston who is an anthropologist and works with the indigenous people in the Andes. There was so much more to learn from him about the conversion of the indigenous people and what he had to say was very interesting but we had to leave after a few hours.

We went back to the retreat house where we are staying to have some class time where we discussed the trip thus far and get any questions answered on what is to come. Then it was time for supper. For supper we had Arros con Pollo, which is chicken and rice with a green sauce! Again muy muy delicioso, which I'm sure you can assume most of what we will eat will end in that phrase!

After supper we went to a park where there was a water/light show.
This is the tallest water fountain in the world!:

This is the water show, the screen that this dance of the Swan Lake is being projected onto a screen of water!!:

This is a picture of a couple doing a Highlands dance which is an indigenous culture in Peru!!:

This is a picture of a fountain called the Rainbow Fountain:

Well that's all for now! Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the Seminary so check back in!

Peace, Love, and Jesus
Leah Sedelle Chapman

Ecuador, We Hardly Knew Thee

2012-01-12T00:26:00.000-06:00

I bet you are a little confused as to why the title says Ecuador!! Well our flight to Lima from Miami got re-reouted to Ecuador yesterday, Tuesday, due to bad weather in Lima. We chilled in the airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador for some time and then got back on the plane to Lima. About 20 minutes into the flight we started circling the Andes and ended up turning back around to Ecuador again due to heavy air traffic in Lima because the Lima airport was closed because of the bad weather earlier! So we were put up in a hotel by the airline and they also paid for a full day's worth of meals.

When we arrived to the airport we all ate lunch right away since it was 16:00 and none of us had eaten since breakfast around 9:00. Then it was pool time! Yeah that's right we went swimming at night in January, outside!! w00t w00t!

The next morning we had plans to go see a cathedral near the hotel but after receiving a call early this morning, Wednesday, we left earlier than anticipated for a flight scheduled to leave at 11:00. We got to the airport and through security and custom just wonderfully! Then after we boarded the plane we sat in the runway for about an hour, so the flight didn't actually take off until 12:00. But alas we arrived to Lima safe and sound and even went to a museum and church already!

For lunch we went to a place known for it's Chicharron Sandwichs, or pork sandwiches. Everyone ordered the Chicharron and Inca Cola. I had the chicken which was wonderful and some Sprite! What can I say I'm not a very good follower! =]

The museum was all about erotic pottery, well there was pottery from the pre-inca period. There was one entire building dedicated to pottery that had people having sex/pleasuring themselves which were for the gods asking for the ground to be fertilized and such! A little uncomfortable but it's history right!

The church we went to was called La Iglesia de las Nazarenas, or The Church of the Nazarene for those non-Spanish speaking readers.

It was a very beautiful church and just our luck there was mass going on so we got to go to mass today!! After mass we walked around to see all of the statues and such and there was a huge, I don't know if it should be called a nativity scene. It was the entire life, and even some scenes before His life, of Jesus Christ. The birth was definitely the main focus though.

We had Pollo a la Brasa for supper, or Rotissery Chicken. Again completely delicioso!!

Onward after that to a market to get snacks and anything that we may have forgotten at home. I got some fruit that I have never seen before and cannot remember the names but I will find out and let you know, as well as how they taste once I have some!

That's about it for today but tomorrow will be a full day of adventure so don't go far!!

Peace, Love, and Jesus
Sedelle

Were there Hippie’s in the 80’s?

2011-05-10T17:33:00.000-05:00

So after two weekends in JoBurg, we have decided to spend one in Pretoria. But we can’t just do nothing on the weekend. We have to do something crazy. Something like going on a double decker open top party bus with 100 people that we don’t know! The theme is 80’s but really just look ridiculous and you’re in! We started the night laughing at how ridiculous all of us look in our 80’s/Hippy outfits.

We were picked up by friends of one of the guys in our group’s friend. The drivers took us to a restaurant/bar where we had dinner with 100 other people. Well when I say we had it with them I really mean that we had it after them because we were the last to get out meals and by the time our food finally came we were being told to get on the busses. Ok fine we finished as quickly as possible and loaded on the bus we were assigned to. Lucky us we got the bus with no music because they forgot the sound system. What is a party bus with no music you may ask? Well it’s just a bus, but there’s alcohol and people ready to have a good time. So we made our own music. Some may not call the singing that we did music, but it was fun none the less. We stopped at one point to go to a bar. The place wasn’t the big and once all 120 of us got in there it felt ever smaller. But it was a good time none the less. Then we loaded back on the busses, only this time we were on the music bus. Everyone was having a great time and we were meeting a lot of really fun people. They were all very entertained by the fact that we were all so ready to party and have a great time.

They were also intrigued as to who we were since they did not know us from the hockey club that they were all a part of. After another stop at another bar, and back onto the busses for some more partying, we finally arrived back to the restaurant/bar that we began our journey at. Everyone was up for some more dancing now that we had more space to do so. I sokkied with a few people and had a great time just hanging out and being sober while everyone else would be trying to remember what they had done the night before. Around 1:00 we left the bar and were all taken back to Tuks Dorp by people from the party bus who were not drunk beyond belief. I arrived in the first car but could not get into my room because Luc had my purse which had my keys to my house and room in it. So I chilled with Jeff in his room while I waited for Luc to return. When he finally got home so did Caitlin, Lora, Lay Kuen and our friend Giacomo from JoBurg. Some people needed some taking care of so I stuck around to help out. Then after some interesting conversations and situations I went to bed completely exhausted. But alas it was another successful night, and I have some great pictures to prove it!
Peace, Love, and Jesus

Painted Faces, Row Boats, and Costumes

2011-05-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

Another weekend in JoBurg well spent. But again I must rewind a bit. At the Braai this Friday I left my room in a rush and forgot to grab my keys before I locked the padlock on my bedroom door. Bad mistake. It was Friday so the only person with a copy of my key wasn’t around and wouldn’t be around until Monday morning. A few friends tried to break into the room with a few bobby pins with no such luck. They all felt pretty bad for me and offered places for me to sleep that night but I had a room in Caitlin’s house where I could stay the night. I was more worried about getting clothes for the next day when we went to JoBurg. Tristan said he would break the lock open for me the next morning before we left so I said I’d get a replacement lock. Well the next morning Tristan didn’t show. I tried calling him, Abrie and Andy all with no luck. So, since everyone that I was going to JoBurg with was waiting for me so that we could leave, I called security to get them to open it for me. I was told it would cost R150 so I didn’t want to spend that but it was my only option. The guy came and opened my lock and it cost me R200. But there was no time to argue. I got my things together as quickly and humanly possibly. Changed clothes and got ready to leave.
The guys all rode in Jeff’s car with him, and the girls took mini busses. We females were dropped off at a gas station and picked up by Giacomo, another friend from JoBurg who we would be staying with this time. Before taking us to his house where the guys were all waiting for us, we stopped by a cricket field that was near a school on top of a hill that looked out over all of JoBurg. It was really amazing to see. Very green for such a large city. When we arrived at his house the guys had all already made themselves at home. After some time we went to a park, very family oriented with people having braais everywhere. We went to Moloko for lunch and after we finished eating we all got our faces painted [except Nathan he had enough face painting last weekend to last him a long while]. Then we went on row boats. We had two boats five people in one and six in the other. I was in the boat with six. Niels and Luc were rowing our boat and let’s just say they needed a bit more practice. At one point we got stuck under a large fountain in the middle of the lake and were all quiet wet, which was not at all fun because the sun was going down so we were getting a bit cold as well. We went to a bar in the park for a drink then headed back to Giacomo’s. Everyone played a drinking game called Kings, I of course had no desire to get drunk and refrained, but it was still very entertaining to watch everyone else. Then we went to a club called Town Hall. It was nice to get a break from the music that is played every night in every club or bar in Hatfield. It was also nice to get a break from the Akrikaana’s mullets that you see everywhere. We had a great time but were ready to leave earlier than we would have thought because the music was really loud and some people were really drunk. So we waited outside the club while a few of the guys tried to get cabs for all of us. We took three cabs to a McDonald’s and started walking back to Giacomo’s from there. Well the walk wasn’t really the shortest walk I’ve ever taken, and I would have preferred to have had a sweater on since it gets a bit chilly at night here now as the weather changes to winter. I would have also been fine if I had some comfortable shoes on for walking. But we finally arrived at Giacomo’s and everyone collapsed on whatever piece of furniture they could find. The sleeping arrangements we made and we all found somewhere to sleep.
Everyone woke at about the same time the next morning because the place was small enough that once one of us was up and started making noise, we were all up making noise. There was a lot of laughs as stories we shared of the night before and soon we were all getting up and moving around. I went into the living room and was reading a book on when Lora came in, not to my notice, with a Winnie the Pooh costume on. It took a while for me to realize she was there but when I looked up at her I busted out laughing. Evidentially Giacomo has a lot of costumes and everyone had put something on. I had to see this so I went into the room and sure enough everyone had some piece of a costume on. After some pictures and laughs we were all pretty hungry so Giacomo made scrambled eggs and toast. Then we rounded up our things to head out. But we were slightly postponed leaving by the hail that began falling from the sky along with the rain pouring down. Once the rain stopped all the girls got into Jeff’s car to ride back with him and the guys got into Giacomo’s car to catch a minibus home.
When the guys finally arrived home I was talking with Niels and he said that he has decided that no girl is every allowed in Hillbrow again. He thought it very dangerous and would not trust any of us going there again. I assured him that I had no desire to go there again and would do everything in my power to avoid it. All in all the weekend was yet another success. We all had a great time and other than the long walk would do it again any day, maybe even the walk if I had a sweater this time!
Peace, Love, and Jesus

P.S. Sorry there are no pictures from this weekend, My camera was dead! Sad Day!

Bafana Bafana

2011-04-22T10:39:00.001-05:00

Bafana Bafana
Haven’t updated my blog in a while but I haven’t really done anything interesting in a while either and I don’t want to bore you all with my day to day life that bores even me and I’m the one living it! Well really it was just this week that was boring because classes took up all my time during the day and reading, studying and researching for classes took up all my time at night. But that it past me now and I have just returned from a crazy night in JoBurg, for those of you who are still not familiar with the lingo here JoBurg is Johannesburg! Well let’s back up a bit to Friday night. Every Friday we, the exchange students of Tuks Dorp have a Braai, after all it is Braaiday Friday! So at the Braai I was sitting with Luc, Niels, and Julian discussing the rest of the weekend. You see Lay Kuen, Caitlin, Nathan and I were all planning on going to the South Africa vs. Egypt soccer match in JoBurg the next night and I had mentioned it to Luc to see if he was interested in joining. Well he was neither here nor there about it so I of course continued to pester him about it [these are the ways of Sedelle]. He then decided that I could no longer play Plants vs. Zombies on his iPad if I mentioned the game or night in JoBurg to him, Niels, or Julian for the rest of the night. This was a big deal! I couldn’t ruin my chances of playing PvZ, the game is too awesome! So I made the deal with him. Well bad timing on my part, because Julian and Niels then decided to attack me in claiming that I am stealing Nathan away from them. You see Nathan and I have pancakes [American Style] every Sunday. I deal is he makes the pancakes and I provide the ingredients and clean their kitchen while he is making them [the cleaning part was added later because I don’t like just sitting around in the kitchen while he is making the pancakes, I need to do something as well]. Well Luc and Jeff have never made a peep about me being there on Sundays because they wake up early enough to get whatever leftover pancakes we make but cannot finish ourselves, and they get a clean kitchen. So I refrained from talking about the plans of the next night and don’t worry Alex Liebrecht I can still play PvZ!
*Random question about PvZ for anyone reading that may know, can your plants in your Zen garden die if you have been away from it too long and have not watered them?*
Then after the Braai we all went out because it was Cath’s last night in town before she left to go home. We went to Aandklas and Luc and I dominated the Foosball table going undefeated and having a great laugh about it! Then we moved to another bar, well everyone but four of us. Luc and I got stopped by some guy that Luc almost kicked in the face while trying to trip me but the guy didn’t want to fight in fact he wanted to buy us a drink, but we were heading the other way. When we got to the bar that all the others we waiting for us in, we couldn’t get in because the guard outside said it was closed. Julian came out of the bar and tried to talk to the guard saying that we weren’t going to order any drinks but that the rest of our group was in there and we just wanted to stay together. Well the guard was looking for a fight even though Julian wasn’t so we all left. Then we ended up in DropZone. Luc and I made a deal that we would leave at 3:00 because I had to get up very early the next morning. 3:00 came around and Luc had just ordered another drink, so it was now, after this drink we’ll leave. Well I really had to get up early and didn’t want to go to DropZone in the first place so I left with Caitlin and Lay Kuen [that is why you should never trust a Dutch Pinkie Swear!]
The next morning I woke up to Caitlin yelling in my window from the grass below my room. My alarm did not go off and I was going to be late for the bus to Mamelodi where we were putting on a camp for the children there. I threw on the first pair of shorts I saw and the first shirt and threw my hair up into a messy bun on top of my head. I grabbed my bag threw my cell phone and keys inside and ran to the bus. I got there in plenty of time; we actually sat around waiting for a while.
Once we got to Mamelodi I found my classroom that I was going to be spending the day in. All of the other volunteers were assigned to groups of kids and went from station to station with the same group all day. But I was assigned to a station, the music station. I was to spend the entire day teaching all of the kids a song that was written for them by kids in England to raise money for Mamelodi. I was also to make up and teach them dance moves to go along with the song because we were going to record them singing it for a video that the organization was making back in England. The day went by quickly and the kids were wonderful. The song was a lot of fun to sing and dance to with them. I was pretty much horse by the end of the day but it was totally worth it to see the smiles on those kids’ faces.

When we got home from Mamelodi we were rushed to get ready for the soccer match and get to JoBurg. Caitlin and I had Iris paint the South African Flag on our faces, as we had seen a picture of a guy with his face painted this way the first day we arrived here and decided that day that we were going to do it too!

! The four of us that were going to the game rushed to get a minibus to Bosman Station. We got one and they dropped us off about four city blocks from the station. We walked through a tiny, smelly, nasty alley to get to the station and when we came around a bend in the alley we were faced with about twenty black men drinking and smoking goodness knows what. As soon as I came into view, for I was leading the group, they all turned toward me. They saw my painted face, as well as Caitlin’s as she came around the corner as well, and started talking to us. We both stopped dead in our tracks and turned toward Lay Kuen and Nathan. We both said “We’re scared” because we thought that we would have to walk past those guys to get to the station. Then I saw it, the exit. It was before the spot where the guys were standing. I went for it and the others followed. We found a guy directing traffic in the station and asked where we could get a minibus to JoBurg. He pointed to a man walking away and said to follow him.
The Minibus played Celine Dion as we drove to JoBurg [David Summers and Dana Disteldorf I thought of the two of you immediately]. We were dropped off in JoBurg two blocks away from Park Station where we were to meet up with Moosa, our friend who lives in JoBurg. We finally met up with him and started walking to the game because the trains were no longer running due to the hour of night. We walked through Hillbrow to get to the stadium, which we were later informed is the second most dangerous place in the world. There was never really a point in the night where I was scared I was going to get mugged or anything like that [I think the fact that Caitlin and I had our faces painted obviously for the game, and Caitlin had a South Africa soccer jersey on helped us even though it gave us more attention] except at one point I turned into Mother Hen because two guys who “helped” us get to the stadium were asking for money saying that they had worked and needed to be paid. Well Moosa had already paid them both and they were coming to the rest of us. They were getting really physical about it too. One tried to grab my water bottle and tried to get into my purse. Also since there were two of them they would sandwich you pushing you into the one on the other side. When they started grabbing Caitlin’s hands and pulling her back away from the group I turned into Mother Hen and yelled at them to leave her alone. I gave my best “I mean it” look and grabbed Caitlin away and started walking quickly away from them. We got to the stadium without much more hassle from them or anyone else.
The game itself was a bit boring because the teams were pretty evenly matched. There were no big goals or anything. It was “just a couple of goose eggs” [if you can comment on this blog with which movie this quote is from I will bring you something back from South Africa, but not a lion sorry they don’t sell those]. No one scored the entire game until 17 seconds after the three minutes of stoppage time had run out. South Africa scored a perfect shot. It was beautiful, looked like a masterpiece. Everyone erupted into cheers and dancing. The crowd went literally wild!
After the game we had to walk through Hillbrow again to get to our cars but there were more than twice as many of us now. Moosa’s friends had joined for the walk back. We went back to Moosa’s place and painted Nathan and Moosa’s faces with the flag as well.

Then we went out to a bar, but no one was really in the mood to party or drink because Lay Kuen, Caitlin and I had all been up since early and were running on only a few hours of sleep. After one drink we went to a pizza place and chilled talking to random people for a while as we ate our pizza. Then back to Moosa’s and to bed. Caitlin, Lay Kuen and I all snuggled up together in one bedroom, while Moosa was in his and Nathan was on the futon/couch thing.
The next morning we all woke up around 10:00 [well Nathan woke up at 8:00 then dozed for a bit between then and 10:00, goofy kid]. Moosa was bringing us back to Pretoria but first we were all pretty hungry. So we decided to eat at Wimpy but couldn’t get a parking spot. So we went to the Wimpy in Hatfield and parted ways after lunch. All in all it was a great night and I can say that I survived the second most dangerous place in the world and am fine with never going back!
Coming soon: Another weekend in JoBurg!
Peace, Love, and Jesus

Lights Out, Goldfish, Old Records and Hummus

2011-04-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

Well now that I’ve summed up my entire past week in the title of this blog, I’ll explain a little more. Last week I went to a cricket game on Wednesday night. I was invited by a few friends from South Africa who had a bunch of free tickets. So me, not understanding much of anything about cricket took them up on the offer immediately. It was a very different atmosphere from any other sporting event I have been to in the past, especially the rugby game I went to last weekendI was picked up by my friend Abrie, wait let’s rewind a little more. So this is on Ash Wednesday right. The night before was the night of Fat Tuesday right. So Caitlin and I made three batches of good old homemade from scratch American Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I am becoming very well known for since I have made them at least six or seven times since I have been here! But I saved a bunch of them for the guys who I was going to the game with as a thank you for inviting me. So Abrie picked me up and we went to Andy’s house, the guy whose mom got the tickets. Then we all loaded up into two cars, I was in Abrie’s with Abrie, Tristan and Monica. The rest were in Andy’s mom’s car [my apologies I cannot remember her name but she was wonderful, very motherly and very fun! I truly enjoyed her]. When we got to the game we all had lawn chairs. Yes there were stands to sit in but no one sits in them, they all bring chairs and blankets to sit in the grass. The game was fine, I mean I now understand it and it was kind of interesting for a while. It was a little difficult to be near the cookies though because I gave up all sweets including adding sugar to my cappuccinos, nutella, and sorry dad but I gave up peanut butter too!!! It’s been difficult, but I’m still alive. I was also not eating at all on this Ash Wednesday so it was difficult at a few points when everyone else was eating and I was dying for something, but I survived and am stronger because of it! The most exciting part of the cricket game, I hate to admit, was when the lights went out throughout the entire stadium. This was around 20:30 maybe, so it was dark out, so when the lights all went out it was dark. So the players all left the field while they got the backup generator warmed up. While we were waiting for that, people began to get their flashlights on their phones going, and taking pictures, and such. The game got going again when the lights were on again. And it ended up being a game to go down in history. Evidentially they broke some huge record for a high scoring game! I was there to witness it and didn’t even really realize how big of a deal it was. I mean I understood that it wasn’t that common, but to break a record!!! So that’s lights out obviously
So now, what you’ve all been waiting for [even though you have no idea what it is]…GOLDFISH!!! To many of you this means that I bought a goldfish [roommates of Club 305 I didn’t not get a Tres Cero Cinco! But I wish I did!] Goldfish is a very good, and very popular musical group in South Africa.

It was a good concert and they performed well but I haven’t been to a concert that large in a long time so it was a big weird for me to be around that many people

because I’m used to going to concerts at music festivals or smaller more intimate concerts. I’m not used to people being everywhere and having to try to look over the shoulders of freakishly tall guys. But the highlight of the night might have been when I convinced a few random guys that were standing near me that I was the female vocalist on one of the songs but I wasn’t on stage because I got sick recently and am on vocal rest. It was great! I love making people believe complete and ridiculous untruths! Look out world, HERE I COME! =]
The next morning I went to the square where the concert was held and stole a couple of posters from the concert, one for me and one for a friend. Then I went to the Sunday Market and spent almost an hour looking through some great old records. I ended up giving in and buying four albums. I got the Doobie Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and Alex you are going to be so jealous…Led Zepplin. I also bought a CD of Louis Armstrong and Guests [which I’m of course listening to right now!]. These guests include none other than Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Velma Middleton, Jack Teagarden, Louis Jordan, The Mills Brothers, Gary Crosby, and none other than my girl, the queen of jazz, Miss Ella Fitzgerald!!!
Then off to Pick n Pay for this week’s groceries. Luc and I got the bright idea to get Peta Bread and Hummus for lunch, well we couldn’t find the Hummus anywhere! We even asked multiple people that work there and they all looked at us like we were the ones who don’t speak English. But thankfully Havard was with us and is a Hufflepuff at heart because he’s great and FINDING things [If you know the musical you will understand; AJ, Darren, Kim]. He found the Hummus for us!!! W00t w00t! What would we do without him!
So that’s my past week in a nutshell! Can’t wait to hear what you all have to say about it!
LEAVE COMMENTS! I want to hear from you all back home I miss you! But not enough to come home!!! =] <3

Peace, Love, and Jesus

Our Blood is Blue

2011-03-15T10:22:00.000-05:00

Evidentially this phrase means that we are of royal blood! I have never heard that before, but to me it means that we are true blooded Blue Bulls fans!! For those of you that are confused because the only Bulls that you know are black and red and were made world famous by Michael Jordan; the Blue Bulls are the professional rugby team of Pretoria and Dustin, a friend of one of my roommates, and now a friend of mine, plays for them! Last night I went to the game to watch him play, as well as the rest of the team!

Sadly we lost but it was still great fun to go. I may later regret admitting this to all of the Americans reading this, but I think I enjoy watching rugby more than American football! Here is my reasoning behind this. The players have so much respect for each other. For example: before each scrum [that’s where they go shoulder to shoulder and the ball is thrown into the pack of players] the front line taps the other team’s front line on the shoulder. Why do they do this? They do it out of respect for the other players, to make sure that they are ready for what is coming so that they do not get hurt from the crashing of shoulders against shoulders with no pads. This is only one example of the respect amongst the players. Another reason is that the players do not pretend to get hurt [like in premiere league soccer] so that they can get a free kick. They are tough and they may fall and get stepped on but they get up as soon as they are able and continue with the game. Another reason rugby is winning me over is that in a good game there is always game action going on. In American football there may be a good run every now and then. But there are constantly tackles here and there. Every few yards, and after a guy is tackled that’s the end of that down and it takes them forever to set up again. When a rugby player is tackled they keep playing they just scoot the ball back to another one of their teammates so that they can get it moving again. There are a lot of tackles but it doesn’t stop the game play. It just makes it go a different way.
So to you, American football, I say gain some respect in the game [but at least you are not as bad as hockey with fights every game], stop being babies and man up. Don’t pretend that you are hurt, you have pads on and you are still crying like babies! And lastly, keep the game moving, don’t take you sweet time to set up. I paid to watch a football game, not to watch football players stand around and talk! But yes I do understand that there are reasons that football is played one way and rugby another, otherwise it would be the same game! But to this is say, “I have every right to prefer one game over the other, and at this point in my life I say that I am increasingly enjoying rugby more than American football, so shoot me!” But please don’t I have made it this long in South Africa without any disasters and I would like to make it a while longer, maybe even until the end!
Peace, Love and Jesus

Chili Con Carne

2011-03-15T10:13:00.000-05:00

I am truly deprived of choir! I miss singing in a choir so much that it’s slowly eating away at my music soul! Not really, I don’t even know if that is possible, but I do miss it A LOT. On Friday night I went to a choir concert of a friend of mine here. He sings in an accapella choir [funny enough one of my lecturers sings in it as well] and invited me to their first concert of the year. I went and it was amazing! They did very well, and I was told over and over to wait until I hear them at the end of my 6 months when that have had more time to prepare. I cannot wait. The high school boys’ choir that sang before them was spectacular as well! I miss hearing the Troubadours of Beckman High School back in the good old days when people actually worked hard to be in it and make it the best choir Beckman has ever seen. If was a large boys choir, and of what looked like a large age group, but freshman in high school look so tiny to me know that I am older.
My friend, Tristan’s choir that I went to see was stellar as well. They sang some amazing pieces. Some were in English, which I thoroughly enjoyed being able to understand. There was an Eric Whitacre piece, one that I have never heard before, probably because it is one of his newest pieces and I have been keeping up on my Whitacre lately! Oops! They also sang Bruckner’s Ave Maria which I have sung before so that was good to hear from an outsiders view. You don’t always get to truly enjoy the sound that a choir makes when you are part of the sound. It is different from the singer’s ear to the spectator’s. And here come the plug for Loras College Choir: They also sand Chili con Carne. But when I heard Loras choir sing it three or four years ago I enjoyed it much more. It was more empowering…expressive…energizing…exciting…elaborate…none of these adjectives are the one that I am looking for but I feel like it starts with an “e” that is what’s up with the all the alliteration that’s going on!! So Bruce and the Loras choir [please if anyone from choir reads this pass the message onto Bruce because I think that he should hear this] thank you for giving me the experience that this piece deserves to be given! I’m not saying that Tristan’s choir was not completely and utterly exceptional in their performance, maybe it was the space, maybe it was the different sizes in the choirs, maybe it was the difference in the mood that I was in, or maybe it was that I knew more people in the Loras choir when I heard them sing it, but Loras this time you have succeeded to excel beyond a professional choir from a country filled with music! Bravo my friends, Bravo.
After the concert there was a party that the choir had won in a competition the year before. I was also invited to this. The venue was amazing. It was at Capitol Theatre, which is literally an old theatre! The bar was in the foyer and the band was playing in the entrance hall to the theatre so if you were looking at the stage; to your left you could see a set of very regal looking stairs going up both sides to the level above to get to the gallery of the theatre. There were massive paintings of very renaissance looking people hanging all around and the walls, floor, steps, and pillars throughout were all made of marble. We even went to the gallery of the theater as well as on the roof! WAY COOL! The venue was great, but the band…well let’s just say that I’ve heard better! This band was supposed to be one of South Africa’s best bands. Maybe that’s why most of the music that I hear around here is American! But it’s not always about the venue or the band. It’s mostly about the people that you are with and what you make of your time with them! I was with a great group of people who had a great time just dancing and goofing around. When the party at Capitol Theatre died down we all headed to Hatfield Square. It was pretty packed there, but the group that I was with was pretty chill. We stood around talking for a while, during this time I ran into the group of exchange students that had gone to the foam party that I skipped to go to the concert. They all seemed like they were having a good time, some were maybe having too good of a time but we’ll leave that up for discussion. The exchange students left after a while to go to another part of square but I was content with the group I was with. I had some great discussion with some of the guys from the group and most of them are really great guys and a lot of fun to hang out with. {Don’t worry mom I’m being careful! I’m not making too many friends with weirdos, only a few to make things interesting! =] } As the night went on some went home but those of us that were left went up to Dropzone for some dancing. We were there for over two hours just being goofy. Abrie and I started imitating the dance moves of the people around us, starting with Andy of course because he has a very…”particular”…way of dancing! I’ve never seen someone who looks so tense in their shoulders yet so relaxed while dancing! It was a great night and I had a great time! At the end of the night I got talked into going with the guys the next morning to take part in the Shavathon which is an event where you can shave or spray your hair for cancer awareness.

Don’t worry ladies I did not shave my head. But don’t worry guys, I was told many times over by the guys that they would pay me to shave it. They just didn’t offer enough! Life is good when you have great friends and plenty of activities to bring you closer! I can’t wait to show you all some of the crazy dance moves I’ve learned here! Hope all is well back home and where ever else my readers are!
Peace, Love and Jesus

No Guts, No Glory

2011-03-02T16:22:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Helen and Edwin, the house parents of Tuks Dorp, took 30 of us exchange students to Clarens, which is a tiny little town in the mountains in the Free State [which is a province of South Africa for those of you that do not understand what I’m talking about because you know nothing about South Africa, which is fine]. When we got there it was chilly, well really it was quite cold for Africa, but we were in the mountains so it’s understandable. Well my bag was in the trailer that Edwin was bringing later with the people that had class on Friday and needed to leave later. I was very cold and had no jacket or anything so Thomas gave me his sweater because he had a long sleeved shirt on and I had short sleeves. Those of us who were on the earlier vans all split up for dinner, I went to a pizza place with a group of people and had an amazing pizza. We were eating outside next to a fire pit and it was very cozy, if it wasn’t so chilly. But we all had some hot chocolate which was probably the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Then we all met back up at Friends bar where there was live music. There were also a few really drunk girls that were completely obnoxious. One of them kept taking the microphone from the guitarist/singer and screaming the song into the mike. It was her way of singing I think, but it was screaming none the less! But thankfully they eventually left. The rest of the group arrived looking like they needed a good night of dancing, which they got. Lora Lay and I met a group of guys from Pretoria who were in Clarens for the weekend celebrating one of their birthdays which was on Sunday. We played a game with them called pluck the chicken. It’s another one of those Big Booty kind of games if you know what I’m talking about, but definitely not as cool as Big Booty, so I guess I’ll have to teach them all how to play! The group tried to get me to sing, but I wasn’t really in the mood and couldn’t really think of any song that I knew well enough to sing that the guitarist would know as well. I finally thought of “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliet, but I needed a guy to sing it with me. Kim asked Luc if he knew it on guitar so he could play it and possibly sing but he didn’t know it. Niels is the other singer in our group, but he wouldn’t sing and didn’t know it. Then we talked to a guy that sang earlier and had a pretty good voice. He knew it and was willing to sing. Now we just needed to get the band in on it. Kim asked if the guitarist knew it and he said no but he could listen to it during the next break and possibly play it. Well there was no next break so I didn’t sing, that was fine with me.
We left Friends around 2:00 and went back to the backpackers. Some people still wanted to stay up and hang out but it would be too loud to stay outside of our rooms and people were sleeping in the rooms so we all went into mine and Caitlin’s room [the honeymoon suite!

Because there was an overflow of girls] I was ready for bed when they all came in but it was fine, I could stay up a while longer. There was some interesting conversation that really didn’t go anywhere because some people had no idea what they were talking about and would not remember any of it in the morning. But a few of us had fun just being goofy and taking goofy pictures [Luc and Jeff].

Then everyone finally headed to bed around 4:00 so Caitlin and I had our pillow talk =] and went to sleep.
The next morning was white water rafting. EXCITED!!! I was with Luc, Niels, Jeff, Julian, and Caitlin in a raft and our guide was Andre. The other raft had Edwin, Nathan, Paul, Iris, Yvette, and Marie and their guide was Kennedy.

The water was freezing but we didn’t care, we were having too much fun to care about the water. They measure rapids 1-6 and we went down two level 4 rapids! They were a lot of fun. The first 4 that we went down we stopped for a bit of a break after it and most groups went down a second time. We asked our guide, Andre, if we could go down a second time but he said no because he didn’t want to carry the raft up again, and that we had to stay with the rest of the group. Well the rest of the group went down a third time while we watched them carry their raft up, go down and have a great time. We watched all this from our raft, on land!!! Not happy about this! So Andre kind of pissed Caitlin and me off with this. But that wasn’t going to ruin our time. We started splashing fights with other rafts and at one point the other UP raft attacked us jumping onto our raft and throwing us in the water. Well this was fine with me so long as I took them in with me. Soon enough everyone was in the water! Which was cold!!! But too much fun to care! Then Kennedy, the other guide, started a back flipping contest. So we were all doing back flips off the fronts of the rafts! Great fun!!!!! Caitlin and I showed off our amazing yellow jackets when we finished

and we of course got an America picture, but we seemed to coordinate our clothing to fit Africa more!!! =]

We all sang a song that Jeff made up that goes like this, “In the back of a Bakkie in the Free State” That’s it! But we all sang it on the ride back to where we started because we were riding in the back of a bakkie in the Free State.
When we got back everyone was hungry so we went to Highlander’s restaurant for lunch. Caitlin, Luc, Jeff and I got Foccacia bread for a starter and then Caitlin and I shared a pizza and for dessert we shared a slice of cheesecake. Sharing is most definitely caring here in South Africa. If one person orders something, everyone has to have a taste!! But it’s all good because then I get to taste their food as well!!! The lunch took over 2.5 hours but all that for only R50 [which would be just over $7] was well worth it, and it was really good food, it just took a long time to get it on the table! But as I’ve been hearing since I’ve arrived, “Welcome to South Africa”. Then everyone was full to the brim so we all laid down in the grass outside the Beerfest that was going on in the city center. After we were all rested up, yes some of us fell asleep there we went into the beerfest. Earlier there was a beer tasting where you bought a glass and walked around to taste all of the different kinds of beer, such as chocolate beer, coffee beer, honey beer, and so on and so on. But we missed that. Now you got a cup free and paid R15 for a ticket for a drink. I of course did not partake, beer=bleh grossness. But it was interesting to talk to the people there. There were bikers and gypsies and college students and older couples and all ages and walks of life! Crazy! And it was the most white people I have been around in a long time. I talked to Niels, one of the guides from rafting for a while, as well as the guys from Pretoria that we met the night before. We met some new people as well. One guy, who was completely drunk and high, did the famous matrix move and it was really good. I’m surprised that he could do something like that in general let alone in the state that he was in! =]
Saturday night we had a Braai for all of the exchange students at the backpakers. I had some great conversation with Havard who really really enjoyed the chocolate beer [which Thomas brought a cup of it back so we passed it around so everyone could have a sip to taste. I didn’t taste anything close to chocolate in the taste]. I also had great conversation with Helen and Edwin who are amazing people really they are! They are doing great things for children here in South Africa who are really quite bright but do not have the funds to act upon their talents. That’s where Helen and Edwin step in. They take over many of the financial difficulties that these kids face into their own hands and into their own wallets! All because when Edwin was in the US someone there helped him, so he’s passing it on to these kids here! After the Braai we started a bonfire in the backpackers and we all sat around the fire telling jokes and having a great time.
The next day was horseback riding. Kyra you will not believe me when I you read this, if you read this, but I have 14 witnesses that can tell you that I galloped on the trail ride and had no fear!!! I’m serious we were trotting and I was telling people how to post because they were all complaining of the pain from trotting and then we took of galloping and I loved it! You’ll have to take me riding when I get back I don’t know what’s up, maybe it’s the air here but I have some guts!!! I’m not a big scardy cat! Maybe it’s Christian giving me some guts and letting me live my life here to the fullest, Thanks buddy! But yes we were riding and Caitlin was scared of horses from past experiences with them, but she was having a great time. When we would start to trot you could hear her in the back just cackling away, laughing her head off! We were all laughing at her. It was great to watch and hear! She really had a great time which I’m happy for because she didn’t want to ride but I as well as everyone else kind of talked her into it.

We stopped at the top of the mountain to give the horses a break and to take some pictures and such. Then we hopped back on and went down. When we got to the bottom and got off the horses I reached in my pocket to get my camera but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t in my other pocket either, but I know that I had it at the top of the mountain so it fell out sometime on the way down. I told Edwin and he talked to the guides. One of them went to get the bikes to take me back up but the person with the keys to the bikes wasn’t around so the guide and I mounted horses again and went back up. This was the best part because it was just the two of us and he let me gallop a lot more than before when we were all together! It truly takes your breath away moving like that! We found the camera not far up the path and it was fine. It still works perfectly!!!
When we got back from the horses we had leftovers from the Braai for lunch and headed out to Golden Gate national park to go hiking. We chose a path and started hiking.

When we got to the end of the trail we took some pictures of the amazing view.

Then some of us went off the path and started venturing off. At a few points we were no longer hiking but literally rock climbing completely vertical walls of rock with no harnesses or proper shoes. This was exhilarating! I really don’t know what’s going on with me but I still wasn’t scared at any point! I was climbing up a freaking rock wall with no safety equipment [and it wasn’t the safest place to climb] and I was the confident one telling others that it was fine and that it was safe!!! Mom I’m changing and I’m loving it!!! When we got to the top it was the most freeing feeling to know and see what I just climbed with no fear!

Now I’m totally pumped to bungee jump and sky dive and anything else South Africa throws my way! After some celebration and view catching we went back down and chilled at the bottom until the vans came to pick us up. Nathan and I decided that when we get back to America we are going to go on a hiking trip to Colorado together. Anyone else welcome to join but you have to be up for the challenge!!! We’re serious hikers/climbers now! =]
After a stop at the top of one of the mountains for a group picture, after which Caitlin and I took our own picture

After a stop at the top of a mountain with an amazing view for a group picture, afther which Caitlin and I took our own picture

we headed back to Tuks Dorp, what we are now all used to calling, dare I say it, "HOME" The ride home was pretty chill. Most people slept here and there. I walked with Havard. He’s a great listener. It was good to talk to him. He let me talk about Christian and how I miss him and how it’s difficult to be here knowing that he was here and he did all these things and not be able to talk to him about it. There are so many things here that remind me of him. Clarens was completely amazing and when you all come to visit I will take you there and we will do all these things again!!! =] So come visit because I want to go back! [but we can do without the drunk girls screaming into the microphone].

Peace, Love, and Jesus

Teach me how to Sokkie, teach me, teach me how to Sokkie

2011-03-02T04:46:00.000-06:00

Thursdays are great! No class on Friday means I can stay up late and have a great time! This last Thursday I went to Sprinbok bar with a group of exchange students for karaoke. It was a bit crazy there because a few of the nearby residence halls were having socials. But it was still fun. Caitlin sang Barbie Girl after we signed her up without her knowledge. Then a group of us sang Wannabe by Spice Girls! Then it was off to Cheeky Monkey bar in the Square for some dancing! We had a great time there with friends form Mozambique that we partied with in Joburg last weekend.

Also a new friend, Tristan who I met at Springbok Bar quiz night on Monday was there.

At one point he asked me if I knew how to Sokkie. I had no idea what he was talking about so he showed me. It’s a dance, kind of like ballroom, that Afrikaans people do here. He taught me how to Sokkie and we had a great time. But I suck at following the guy because in high school I was always the guy and SEMK 1 my love was my partner because there were not enough guys in gym class!!! I kept wanting to lead, but in the end I got the rhythm of it. I’ll keep practicing so that I can teach you all when I get home. Drew you should know how to do it as well and we can show everyone how to Sokkie, just don’t drop me on the dips and drops please!!! It was a great night at Cheeky Monkey and DropZone and I know that those of you that know what I’m talking about are truly missing it so just come back and visit and we can have some great times at all of these places!!!

Peace, Love and Jesus

UP Chorale

2011-02-28T09:54:00.000-06:00

For anyone that is reading this from the University of Pretoria, I do not mean to bad mouth the University I am simply sharing my experiences in South Africa, some of which have to do with the University. These are only my views; they do not reflect anyone else’s views of the University and should be taken as nothing more than opinion from experiences.
Now I’m sure that you are all very intrigued as to what I have to say. Well let’s start with an over view of how my first week of classes went. I am a bit overwhelmed because everything here is very new to me. I have many classes and am meeting many new people. This sounds great, but for me I am in the Music building all day. None of the other exchange students are in this building at any time, or even in this area of campus unless they feel like being nice and having lunch or coffee with me at Burgundy’s during the few breaks that I have. The way the BMus students [meaning Music undergrad major] work here is that they start off together in their first year of varsity [the abbreviation for university here] and they take all music classes [that’s right no Gen. Ed. Courses to get in their way, thank you very much Liberal Arts college] and they move on together. If you fail a course you take it again with the year behind you. So needless to say the BMus students here are very close to those that are in the same year as them. So when I entered my classes everyone knew that I was a new student, or different because they have all been together in every class for their whole time here and many of them sang together in the youth choir before they started here. So I was easily picked out as different and some took it upon themselves to inform me of everything, things I needed to know and things I could care less about. Others decided that I was different and they already had their group of friends and there just wasn’t room for another one. There were only a few people that I received this reaction from so if any of you are reading this, it was probably not you! But they eventually warmed up to me and the professors, once they realized that I was in their class [because I didn’t not show up on any of their attendance lists] were excited to have me there. All of the professors were very welcoming and seem to be very passionate about their subjects which in turn makes me excited for their classes. One professor however did not give me the best first impression. There could be many reasons for this, but I know none of them. When I was noticed for the first time by this professor I got the same reaction as the others. I got a face as if to say, “Who are you and why are you in this class? You were not here last year. I’m confused.” So I stood up from my seat and reached out my hand to be polite and shake his hand. I said, “Hello my name is Leah and I am an exchange student here from America. I will be here for six months.” He shook my hand with a disgusted look and said, “That is the last time that you will ever shake my hand.” And walked away. There was no welcome to South Africa, how are you enjoying it? Or From America well I hope that you will find yourself well here. Nothing just walked away. So I sat in this man’s class for two hours wondering what I did wrong and then it was over and I had no way of finding out because I did not know any of the third years at this time and I still don't know because I don't want to ask. But I'm just going to do the best I can and show this guy I mean business!

But what this is really about is the Choir that I was going to join. The Camerata is the choir that sings music that I am used to singing, classical stuff but they were full and auditions were in October so I couldn't join them. But I wanted to join them as well as the UP Chorale which sings indigenous music. Real South African music in Zulu and other such national languages [trivia answer there are 11 national languages in South Africa, there are none in America!] I went to the rehearsal on Thursday because I was told to show up. I didn't know that I would be doing an audition but the other people auditioning were pretty bad, completely tone deaf. But they were trying. The director however was very rude, a complete jerk if I may say so. Thank you Bruce for being the amazing director that you are. I truly appreciate the way that you handle the choir now that I have seen how you could be yelling at us and saying that we suck and are terrible and that you hate our voices. I know that you would never treat a student this way even if you did hate their voice and they were completely terrible! But I sang three notes for him, not warmed up at all and he told me that he hated my voice. He said that I had no tone and that my voice was weak. He said that I needed to sing out more. Ok well yes I do need to sing out more, but give me a chance to start singing and I will and how can you tell me that I'm tone deaf when you just listened to those guys!!! I said none of this to him but really wanted to. he was very rude through out rehearsal too. I sat through 2.5 hours of rehearsal not reading real music with the director directing music that he wrote in 3/4, directing in 4/4!!!! Not ok! i love rhythms and he messed them up big time!!! And many people weren't singing because they can't, they were just yelling!!! No dynamics!!!!! Also it's a huge time commitment and there is rehearsal on Saturday's which is not ok if I want to travel, and it costs over R800 to join and pay for uniforms and such. So I have decided to not put myself through the stress since I already have nine classes to worry about!!! I am learning to say no! Be proud of me!!!

Good bye UP Chorale you may be great for some people, but you're just not my cup of tea!

First Day of Classes!! =]

2011-02-28T09:36:00.000-06:00

So I’m sitting here in lecture hall 3-3 20 minutes before my class starts. Yes mom I’m not only on time, but I’m early! There’s no one else in the hall yet so it worries me a bit that I am in the wrong room, but then I remember that I am in South Africa and the class is very likely to not even start on time. So my mind is put at ease. I feel like the new kid again, except in the movies the new kid always arrives to the class in the middle of it and the teacher tells them where to sit. I am here alone before the teacher, so I have no guidance where to sit. I feel that the spot that I choose will forever mark me as what kind of student I am and who I sit near will decide who I become friends with. Have you ever noticed that if the teacher doesn’t make a seating arrangement, the students will make one themselves. Humans are very predictable. When I sit somewhere on the first day, it is very likely that this seat will remain to be my spot throughout the course of the whole semester. Also if someone sits in my spot I will be offended and quite possibly get upset at the person, even though they may not see that the seat is mine, because it’s not really but I just think of it that way. We all like to have ownership of something. We like to know that when we get to our class our seat will be there waiting for us. We don’t want to have to make the decision every day where we are going to sit. We want to find a good spot and stick with it. “Don’t mess with a good thing right”. But choosing your seat isn’t as simple as it sounds. It’s not just the comfort of the seat. It’s not even really about the view that you have of the boards or the teacher. In fact it’s about where you sit and how others view where you sit. For example if I sit in the very front row in the exact middle, I will be seen as a teacher’s pet or a know it all. If I sit in the back corner I will be seen as a slacker. So I know that you are all wondering where I am sitting. I, knowledgeable student that I am, am sitting in the second row from the front, towards the middle but slightly to the right of the middle from the students’ point of view. Why? Because I want to be able to see yes, and I don’t want to been seen as a bad kid, or as a real goody goody. But I do want people to know that I mean business, I’m here to study and learn, not to mess around and have a good joke. But I do like jokes so don’t hold back! I’m sitting slightly to the right because I like to look to the left more than the right, I think eyes are just adjusted that way because I always sit on the left side of the car so that I can look out the window to my left. So we’ll see if I have made the right decision. There are still no other students in the room and the class starts in 8 minutes so I’m getting very nervous! But I’ll stick it out for another five minutes! There’s no way that everyone will be that late to class!! I hope, otherwise I’m in for quite the culture shock!

Peace, Love, and Jesus

Durban & St. Lucia Will Never Be the Same

2011-02-28T08:50:00.000-06:00

I have safely returned from my week long holiday before classes even started in Durban and St. Lucia. I know that I told many of you that I would be spending time in Durban and Lesotho, but plans changed, but I will get to that later! Patience is a virtue after all!!! =]
So we left for Durban on Wednesday. We were planning on leaving at noon but we must remember that I’m in South Africa now and nothing ever starts on time, unless you are running late!!! The vans that we rented took a lot longer to get than we expected so we didn’t leave until 14:30. No problem, we were just happy to get on the road. I was in Van Wylder as we named it [yes we had the best name out of all the vans] Luc was the driver and Thomas from Canada was the navigator.

The other people in my van which is now forever known as Van Wylder, were Lora, Fe, Le, and Caitlin.

We only had 7 people in our van because our van only seated 8 and the others seated more so we let them take more people. The ride was a bit nerve racking for me in the beginning, but as Luc and the others soon learned I am a nervous passenger. But it wasn’t because of Luc’s driving, well not always because of Luc’s driving [little side note I decided that I would officially call Luc, Luc Skywalker and he decided that I was now Princess Leah, this will come into play a lot later on so just remember this!]. It felt like there was construction the entire way there, and on top of that we drove through a rain storm, or maybe three rain storms!!! But we stopped a few times for bathroom breaks, gas and dinner. When we stopped for sinner we were at a gas station with a fast food restaurant called Steers in it. *Here is my warning to you all! NEVER EVER EAT AT STEERS* I am not a picky eater, and on road trips I’ll eat pretty close to anything, but after three bites of this chicken sandwich I was far more than done!! I’ll do you all a favor and spare you the full details. Let’s just say, rubber would have been better, very close, but better.
When we got back on the road I decided to start a game amongst the people in my van that I like to call “The Favorites Game”. This game consists of nothing more than favorites. It starts with one person asking a category. So you can start with something like color. Then the person who asked the question has to answer what their favorite color is and then everyone else answers. Then the next person in the circle asks a new category, like food or book or movie. Well we didn’t want to stay on the surface level, we wanted to really get to know each other so we asked our favorite stereotypes and our favorites dreams and our favorite things to hate! It was interesting. I am convinced that this is the best game for when you are stuck with people that you don’t know all that well. You will learn a lot about them that you would never learn about them in any other situation.
We finally arrived at the hostel, Tekweni, which wasn’t so bad, even though my two Swedish roommates made it sound as though it was a complete dump. The guys who were driving needed a cold drink when they arrived from the stress of the long 8 hour drive that they were told was only 6 hours. Some of the guys had a few more than just one and soon some of them were drunk. A few of them, Julian from Germany, Jeff from Australia, and Niels and Luc from Holland were finding themselves a new game called let’s talk like girls from America. This game goes as such, you say “like” every few words and use very large hand gestures, and when you want to say something you have to start with “Oh my G**” [using the Lord’s name in vain]. It was actually really funny to listen to them and throughout the rest of the week I would often catch them speaking that way and so it was great to point that out to them. I didn’t actually have anything to drink but I was talked into trying a sip of a Savannah as well as Black Label. Gross to the Black Label and different to the Savannah. The guys cleared out all of the Castle as well as Black Label at the bar at the hostel.
The next morning was BEACH DAY [that one’s for you SEMK 1 I heart you love]. We walked down to the beach but needed some breakfast first so we ate at Mugg & Bean. Scrumptious! Then everyone was ready for a nap on the beach. The ocean was so nice! I have no officially stepped foot in The Pacific, Atlantic and now added to the list the Indian ocean! The Indian is my favorite so far! It’s the only one that I don’t remember being completely freezing! I learned to paddle with a wave, like when you surf, but I didn’t have a board and I never did learn how to surf, sorry to disappoint you all, but I will keep trying to find the opportunity. It was so great to just sit on the beach and do nothing and have nothing to worry about! We had nowhere to be and nothing to do! I’ve never had that experience before and now that I’ve had a taste of it all I wanted was more! We headed back to the hostel after a drink at Mugg & Bean, I had a strawberry daiquiri for Gladis and Nancy,

and getting some meat for the Braai that the hostel was having that night.
The Braai was good and the guys that worked at the hostel were pumping some music and had the lights and fog machine going so that we kind of made a club within the hostel! It was nice to work off all the food that we ate! We wanted to find a real club but the only one that we knew of had a dress code and many of the guys didn’t bring pants so we couldn’t get in.
The next day about 22 Americans from all over the country arrived at the same hostel as us. They had to search for some kind of room for them to stay. But it was nice to talk to people without having to listen as closely as we have to with everyone else that has these crazy accents. Then all 24 of us headed to the Indian district to see the Blue Mosque and the Indian market. We got lost many times on the way to the Mosque, and ended up just chilling in the market for a while. Then we finally found the mosque but since it was Friday it was their holy day so we would have to wait until 14:00 to get a tour. I wasn’t really up for that. I just wanted to go back to the beach or swim in the pool at the hostel. So I split off with Luc and Niels and we caught up to Jeff and Julian. Everyone else went to the Botanical Gardens, we tried to get a cab back to hostel. We spent over half an hour trying to get a cab and were not successful. But it was an experience, or as we have begun to say here, it’s a story to tell. We did learn how to get a cab to stop though, and a few did stop but made excuses as to why they would not take us. Either we were not on their route or they only did long distance. So after some time we gave up and just started to walk home. We needed a rest part way there so we stopped in at a small coffee shop called BBB. We got plenty of water and some coffee/cappuccinos. Then we order a platter to share! It was so delicious and really hit the spot!
We decided to head back to the hostel and jump in the pool. When we got there the pool was occupied by a little boy and his brother and we were not really in the mood to be splashed so we hung out playing pool instead until everyone else arrived. That night most of us went to the Greek restaurant for dinner. Terrible choice!!! Let’s just say 20 people was a lot for them to serve, but the place was disgusting. There were cockroaches on the table, the waitress forgot my drink [which was just a water] and then later forgot my meal [which was just a salad]. Needless to say I needed a major detox after that meal. As soon as I got back to the hostel I popped in my headphones, turned on Harry Potter Musical Soundtrack [thank you Darren Oaks] and ate chocolate sitting next to the pool with my feet in the water. It was great, very relaxing! Then Lora came over to where I was we got to talking and were observing the rest of the group which was very entertaining expecially when Waka Waka came on. Jeff, I still cannot believe the facial expressions you make when you sing that song! In the words of Weezy from Dragon Tales [you all know you watched it and liked it] “LOVE IT”!
This night we were determined to find a bar that would take us without a dress code so we talked so some of the guys from the hostel and they told us about a Reggae Club called Cool Runnings. About 20 of us, including a few of the American girls, jumped in about five or so cabs. We arrived at the club and realized that we were by far the only white people there. But did we let that stop us? Heck no! We made the most of it. I won’t go into too much detail to let some people that were with me save some face, but just keep up on everyone’s blogs and you will hear the whole story!!! But I hung out with people and danced a bit, but it was more fun to watch other people dance! Some of the American girls were begin taught how to dance like black girls. They were dancing up against a tree in the club and were told to act like the tree was their husband! A few were also told that they were too black for their own good! It was very entertaining. Then I went out to the alley with a few people and we were talking to some native South Africans and just talking about their culture. It was very interesting to see how they see their country compared to how we all see it. And we all see it very differently coming from different countries and backgrounds ourselves. Then around 3:00 we left to go back to the hostel. While waiting for a cab Luc and I convinced a few people that we are twins. Julian kept saying, “Luc I am your Father” So Julian became our father. Then it escalated into coming up with names for all of the guys. Earlier that day Jeff was given the name Indiana Jones because he carries a satchel, so he is the only guy with a name not from Star Wars. But the rest are as so…Luc=Luc Skywalker, Me=Princess Leah, but the guys just call me Princess. Julian is dad or Anakin. Nathan [from Wisconsin] is Obiwan Kinobi. Niels is Hans Solo. Pim [From Holland] is R2D2. Paul [from Holland] is C3PO. Raymond [from Singapore] is Yoda, and GJ [from Holland] is Chewbaca. *To all you Starwars fans out there, I apologize if I have spelled any/all of the names incorrectly.* Julian started doing a goofy dance as we were waiting for the cab and I started to do it. We tried to get Luc to join but he wouldn’t have any of it. So we decided that this was the family dance and that he was shunned from the family until he did it. Well he did on the way home in the cab when two of the people from the hostel were with us and they were quite interesting! Very, errrr, energetic let’s say!!! I don’t think that the cab driver was really happy to have such a lively bunch in the cab!!
The next day was a bit planned. We woke up to find that there was a soccer game at the Moses Mabhida World cup stadium that day.

So some of us went to the beach before the game and some went to the city center. Then most of us went to the game. It was Amazulu [the home team from Durban] against another team from South Africa. Lora and Luc weren’t allowed in the gate at first because they had their camera’s and they are nice camera’s a lot nicer than the one that I have. So they went to find the van but couldn’t. So they hid their cameras in Lora’s bag and claimed that they left their batteries in the car. This was not true, but they got into the gate anyway. I was waiting there with a beer that I owed Luc! Much needed! The game was pretty boring up until the last two minutes or so when the players on both sides stopped acting like babies and faking cramps and injuries. Amazulu scored in the last minute and the crowd went crazy! Guys started slapping their butts at the opposing team! Very entertaining to observe!!!
After the game we had a dinner reservation at an Italian restaurant that was very highly recommended by Gladis and Nancy. Everyone was ready but the four boys who are always late, well to tell you the truth two were on time but they don’t go without the other two. So I sent the rest of the group ahead so that we could be on time and I would wait for the rest. When I finally arrived to the restaurant with the boys the table didn’t have enough room for all of us because someone brought a friend that we didn’t plan on. Not a big deal we just got a table for the five of us. It was an amazing dinner! We had ordered a nice bottle of wine and some starters. Then we ordered our meals which were to die for! Half way through the main course we had another bottle of wine. I only had a glass of the first one and a few sips worth of the second one. Then we ordered a few plates of Tiramisu to share. We were done with our full three course meals long before the table of all of the others so we went outside up to the bar so the guys could smoke and have a drink. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable dinner! Definitely the best meal I have had since coming to South Africa!! There was a lot of great conversation consisting of many things including how Lora and I questioned Jeff’s sexual orientation toward the beginning of the trip. In our defense he holds his cigarette in a very interesting way! But we are confirmed now that he is in fact straight, but this made for a great ground breaker and great joke for the rest of the night! Well week, well it’s still a great joke!
When we got back to the hostel many of us sat around the pool talking and hanging out. A group of people went out to a bar or something and when we left the hostel at 2:00 to find a place that was still serving beer, because the guys wanted just one more beer before bed, we ran into them and they mentioned that Coco’s was still open and serving alcohol. So we went there. On the way we got stopped by a few people and one guy asked Jeff is he was an Australian Guy, I thought that he said “Are you a STRAIGHT guy?” Julian and I thought that this was great and will never let Jeff live it down! When we arrived at Coco’s we were again the only white people there but this was the kind of club that we had been looking for all week! Good music and a good mood! We danced until 5:00. Jeff has some mad dance moves! He decided that he was just going to do the most ridiculous thing that he could think of and look confident doing it, and that made a new dance move! This is exactly what it looked like he was doing! The family dance became quite the dance move for the night. Thanks you Erica Beth I taught a few of the guys how to hula dance! It was interesting to watch them try to do the guys part. They were all better at the girl which I though was pretty entertaining. Nathan did the tango with some guy that kept trying to dance like us but our moves were a little too much for him!

We left the club at 5:00 to head back to the hostel but that doesn’t mean that we went to bed. We all changed into our bathing suits and went for a swim. While in the pool we played “Honey I Love You” and it got pretty interesting. Luc put his legs around Niels’ head, and Niels didn’t even crack a smile. Then he took the pool vacuum and rolled it all over Julian’s face trying to get him to smile. It was really, ummmm, we’ll say interesting. Then we all got cold so everyone got out. When you are up all day walking around, then up all night dancing you get tired the second you stop moving so the guys all went to bed and I jumped into the shower because I had to go to mass in an hour. I went to mass and what I remember of it, it was a good mass. But I kept falling asleep, even when I was standing up I fell asleep a few times. As soon as I got home I went to bed. I slept for four hours until noon and then I got up and woke up the guys. Everyone else had already left for Ushaka, a water park kind of like Sea World. But we didn’t go. We went for breakfast around 14:00 and then half of us headed to the beach the other half went to a township for a Braai. The beach was nice. I was so tired that I didn’t even go in the water I just laid on the sand and listened to the waves crashing in. Glorious!
None of the guys were going to drink, Sunday night because they had to drive to St. Lucia in the morning. Everyone went to bed kind of early. Then we all got up the next morning around 8:00-9:00. Breakfast was eaten. Coffee and cappuccinos were consumed. Bags were packed. Vans were filled, and we were on the road again. It was an interesting drive to St. Lucia. The cars here sometimes decide to drive on the shoulder to let you pass, but it’s a little scary because there still isn’t much room to pass and if the decided to veer toward you and there is oncoming traffic you’re gone! But we didn’t die so that was nice. We did however get lost. We took a random road that back home I would call a dirt road or an unmarked gravel road but it wasn’t even that. It was like a sand trail!

! I wasn’t the most comfortable with this but I wasn’t the one with the GPS or the one driving. We ended up turning around and going back to the road we were on earlier.
When at last we arrived to St. Lucia we all got our hostel rooms and many people went to the beach. I stayed behind with some and swam in the pool. Then the owner of the hostel took us to the beach, but not the same one that everyone else went to. It was beautiful. We saw hippos in the lake when we were on the board walk to the beach. Then the water was truly amazing, but it was nothing compared to the views all around us! Breath taking! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful. When we were heading back we stop at a dock to see if we could spot a crocodile! We did and it was right under the dock. We had to stand back from the edge because crocodiles can jump 2-3 meters in the air and they would have been able to grab us and pull us in if we were near the edge. It was amazing to hear all the stories! We also learned that Hippos stomp out fires!
When we got back to the hostel we went back in the pool. I have been going from one body of water to the next. From pool to ocean to shower and back again! But that’s what a holiday is for huh! We went to get dinner but nothing was open so we went to the only place open in town which was the gas station. So we got gas station food and ate it in the parking lot of the Spar, which is a grocery store here. It was, well it was a story to tell!
The next morning I awoke to Lora falling out of her bed and almost falling on top of Yvette. Lora and Le had to get up with most of the rest of the group to leave for a safari at 4:30. I decided that I am already going on a safari in Kreuger Park so I decided to go Kayaking instead.

It was amazing! The feeling of the power of the kayak under you and we got so close to some crocodiles! We also got pretty close to some hippos but they are very territorial so not as close as the crocs. We also saw this amazing bird called the Goliath bird. It was a freaking pterodactyl! The thing was huge! It was like a blue heron only red and way bigger. We also saw the king fisherman bird and some prawns jumping out of the water. We didn’t see any sharks, I was hoping to see them as well but no such luck. The kayaking turned less into looking at the wildlife and more into seeing who could splash the other kayaks the most. I think Team America won, Team America being Nathan and me. Luc and Jeff kept picking on everyone though and Julien was not happy when someone else’s kayak came close to his! Very amusing.

We arrived back at the hostel before the safari group and went to the purple hippo for some lunch. Then off again to the ocean for snorkeling and surfing! The water was so blue and so clear at this beach that I thought we just drove into a post card! There were so many fish. You could stand knee deep in the ocean and a school of fish would swim right by you. But you could also swim further out and snorkel and see so many more! So many colors, and shapes and sizes! They all move in such different ways too! Truly amazing! Inga and I went for a walk a little ways away from the rest of the group and found literally hundreds of crabs just walking around from the water to the sand! It was so cool!!!!
We had a Braai when we got back and after the Braai I was so exhausted that I was almost delusional. I was also very frustrated at the millions of mosquitos that kept biting me. So went to bed early. I slept like a rock! I’m normally a really light sleeper but I didn’t wake up any of the three times that Lora and Le came into the room and I didn’t hear any of the three alarms that Lora set on her phone. Neither did she. Le did but didn’t do anything about it! So we woke up later than planned but so did everyone else. We packed everything up and left for Pretoria! No one was ready to leave and go back because going back means no more beach, and means classes are starting soon! But we had to anyway. Again there was construction almost the entire way home and it was so bad that there were a few times that we were stopped on the road because of construction and everyone would get out of the car and stretch and talk for a while. This happened 3 or 4 times. We stopped in a little town for lunch. The place was really cute. It was an antique shop with a tiny restaurant in it. We asked if they could accommodate 24 and they laughed. But they accommodated us! The place reminded me of Galena which made me miss Grandma Chapman and when I was looking around the shop I saw a heart that was the exact kind of thing that she would have given on top of a present. So I bought it in memory of her! I miss you grandma and I love you and I promise to never do anything to make you cry. I also promise to never regret anything that makes me smile and I’ve been smiling quite a bit since I’ve been here so no regrets!!! Xoxo. There were also a lot of old signs and some were tire signs [well here it’s tyre but you understand so I thought of you DADDY! I miss you too!!!]

The rest of the car ride was pretty normal as far as long car rides go except we drove past a lot of corn fields! I felt like I was driving through Iowa, So Caitlin, Nathan and I took a picture!

I now love goldfish and cannot wait for their concert in the Square coming up in a few months or so. When we got back we decided to head out for a drink and dinner after everyone showered. I threw my laundry in as soon as I got back so that I wouldn’t have to wait for everyone else because we all had some pretty nasty clothes. We went to the Square but wanted a place where we could all sit and talk so we went to Roman’s where if you buy a pizza you get another one free. I got the vegetarian and it was really good!
I’m definitely ready to head back to Durban and not ready to start classes. But I cannot wait until the Clarens trip in two weeks with white water rafting and horseback riding up the mountain! Tonight Caitlin, Lora, Le and I are having pasta dinner and then a big group of us are heading to the cinema to see Easy A since I’m to only one that’s seen it and it’s only R22 a ticket! That’s like $3 w00t w00t! I will make all of them love it as well by the time I leave! Then tomorrow I think I’m heading to the music store at Brooklyn with Jeff and Luc to look and Guitars and so Jeff can play some drums! It I currently Rag week at UP which is a huge celebration and fundraiser and Saturday there is a huge parade and party so that will be great fun! I know you all wish you could be here and I wish you could as well! Please keep me updated on what’s going on at home and if you have any questions or if there’s anything that you think I should do for sure, especially those of you that have been here, let me know! I want to do it all!

Thanks everyone for a Great trip to Durban!!!

Peace, Love and Jesus!

Friends in ALL Places

2011-02-01T05:30:00.000-06:00

The Braai was great fun. There are about 40 of us exchange students, which is a lot considering the only other time that they had this many was when the World Cup was here in South Africa last summer. There are about 16 guys and they all live in House 15, both the top and bottom floor. Then the girls are spread out throughout houses 6, 8, 21 and one other house, but I don’t know which one it is. There are people here from Holland, of course, America, obviously, Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, Germany, Canada and maybe a few other places as well that I cannot remember. At the Braai I spent the night just talking to people and it was great to just sit around and talk about our countries and their similarities and differences as well as other things. Mainly other things but when you are talking to someone from France you are bound to talk about France. Some people went to the Square after the Braai but I went to bed because it was already 1:30 and I was planning on getting up on Saturday to register.
On Saturday my alarm didn’t go off or I slept through it or something because I didn’t wake until much later than I wanted to. I decided that it was too late to go to campus to register. I got a text later in the day from Caitlin asking if I wanted to go to the Brooklyn mall, so we went. Then when we got back we went to Pick n Pay to get ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies for everyone, but they were closed. Dumisani, a student here that is like an RA for us in America, told us about another grocery store that would still be open. So he and a couple of his friends took Caitlin and me along with Le and Lora to Woolworth’s [the other store]. They had everything that we needed, except the baking soda. So we decided to get everything and see if Helen and Edwin, our house parents, might have some. They didn’t but Edwin went on his scooter to find a store that would have some. While he was out looking for the baking soda Caitlin and I started our dinner. The water was taking forever to boil but we had nothing better to do and nothing better to eat so we just waited, and waited. Finally Edwin came to the house. He had a full grocery bag full of things. He informed us that he didn’t buy anything but he got everything. Which confused me because we only needed one thing. But he explained that he went to his friends from the American Embassy to ask for supplies and they gave him a massive bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips that Caitlin began throwing in the air out of celebration. Some brown sugar, some vanilla, and vanilla extract and also the baking soda. We started to make the cookies at Caitlin’s but decided to move to my house after we ate because we had something to put into the oven. Well that something was a large metal bowl, like one you might use for a small mixing bowl. So we put about half of the cookie batter into one of the bowls as one big cookie. Then it took about three hours to bake. While we were letting the cookie bake we saw a large group of the guys from House 15 get home from dinner so we waved them over to our house. They all came over and it was soon a party, but let’s call it a gathering because we’re not allowed to have parties. This may have been the best night in South Africa so far because it was a spontaneous gathering of about 20 or more exchange students. It was in no way planned so there were no expectations to be met so everyone had a good time just hanging out and talking. We brought out some snacks to munch and when the cookie was done we out some out on a plate for everyone to try. Even though the cookies were a little over done everyone seemed to like them, enough to ask us to make them again sometime at least! I think that I will be fine with that since we have so many supplies now! Everyone left around 1:30 and a few of my roommates stayed up to help me clean up the mess. I got to bed around 3:00 after my shower!
Sunday was market day. Caitlin. Lora, Le, GJ and I went to the markets near Hatfield mall. There were a lot of great things and now I know where Drew bought all of the gifts that he got for us when he was here! I avoided those shops because I can’t give the same things that Drew gave, but Kyra I found a ring that I thought you would love, the I remembered that I’m pretty sure that you already have the same exact ring from someone or somewhere else. So I got you a bracelet that you’ll love instead. After the market Gladis and Nancy were laying around outside so I joined. Then Caitlin joined. Then Marie joined! I left to go to an internet café hoping that Neil would be on since it has been almost a week since I’ve talked to him last. He wasn’t. When I got home a few girls asked if I wanted to join them for dinner at the Ocean Basket down the street and to invite anyone I know. So I hung out with the guys outside their house until 19:00 and then a huge group of us, maybe like 30 of us went to the restaurant. I stayed back with three other girls to wait for a fourth. When we got to the restaurant a few minutes after the rest there was no room for us at the inn [in this case the inn is a huge table] so they made a different table for us five that was close but definitely not with the others. Which was fine. At one point we thought that it was going to rain so we were all moved inside, quite a big task.
Yesterday I went to campus to register for my 8 courses! I’m taking the most courses out of all of the exchange students and I’m a little scared! But I don’t have classes on Fridays so that’ll be my ketchup day! Fe and I went to the pool to swim a few laps and then laid out in the sun to dry off a bit before we left. When I got back I went to see if Caitlin got everything squared away at the Education campus, which she did and she registered as well. Then we were walking to my house and I ran into Ian, another RA person, we somehow started talking about movies and I found out that he has never seen Easy A! Actually no one here has that I know of so that is my new goal! To get everyone to see that movie here before I leave! Yes, it’s that good so if you haven’t seen it yet, or haven’t seen it in a while, or haven’t seen it today, you should watch it, RIGHT NOW! Well wait until you finish reading my blog.
I was making spaghetti for all of my roommates so that we could have a roommate dinner. Kaisa made the salad. Fe made the dessert. Pearl did the garlic bread. Marie provided the wine [she’s from France it’s expected]. Gladis helped with everything bopping around. Nancy provided music for a while, and Wendela couldn’t make it because it was her night to cook for her friends. But we had a wonderful meal. The dessert was delectable. It was homemade whipped cream, with papaya and peach bits as well as Amaretto cookie bits in it. MMmmmmmmMMMMmmmmm! Then after dinner Nancy showed us pictures from her trips last semester, which made me really excited for our trip to Durban that I am leaving for tomorrow, Wednesday, with about 23 other exchange students for a week. Some of the boys organized it! I’m stoked!
After the pictures I went to Ian’s to have some coffee and sit and talk. Caitlin was supposed to come but she was playing a game with her roommates. We got talking about movies again and how I like the ones that I cannot predict and Ian told me about one that he didn’t think I’d be able to predict, Meet Joe Black. So we watched it. This guy has a huge TV and tons of movies on his computer that you can watch on the TV! Awesome? I think so! The movie was good, and for the record I did predict the ending. Then I went home, well I went to the laundry room because I was finishing some laundry, but it wasn’t dry when I went to I put the dryer on for ten more minutes and waited. Then it still wasn’t dry. I was too tired to wait any longer so I put the clothes in my laundry bag and went to my room. “I’ll deal with it tomorrow”, was all I could think.
Today I have to pack for the trip tomorrow and I’m going to an internet café with Caitlin to post these blogs! Other than that I’m just chilling and having lasagna tonight for dinner with Caitlin and some of her roommates. Maybe another movie. We’ll have to see!

Peace, Love, and Jesus

Chicken Pasta

2011-02-01T05:22:00.001-06:00

So I’m starting to settle in and meet people, which is nice. What’s even nicer is that I remember some of their names!!! And what’s even nicer than that is that a few of them remember mine! There is a guy who lives in House 15, which is really close to mine, I can see it from where I am sitting at my kitchen table right now, who is from Canada. It was nice to meet him because he was the first person that I met that didn’t have an accent! I also live with a girl from Oklahoma so it’s nice to talk to her and not have to listen very closely because she has an accent. Then earlier I met a guy from Wisconsin who goes to the same school as my roommate from Oklahoma and they even had a class together last semester. So that was really interesting! What a small world huh! That’s the first time that I have felt that feeling since I have been here.
Currently I am sitting in my kitchen cooking chicken to use for later meals and typing up this blog that I will later place on the internet because we don’t have wireless in our house, but we were talking today about possibly getting a stick that you put into your laptop and it has internet that you pay for a certain amount of minutes or something like that. I’m guessing it works kind of like a track phone but with the internet on your laptop! So our house was talking about possibly going in on one of those together but I’m not sure how it works completely yet so we are not sure. That would be nice though because then I wouldn’t have to work around the schedules of the internet cafés and when they are open and when I am awake and when everyone back home is awake and when it is safe to walk there on my own or when I can find someone to go with me! But so far it hasn’t been a problem.
As far as all of the difficulties with the classes and all have been going I have everything finished I’m just waiting to register which I was told I could not do until Saturday but I found out that two of my roommates have already registered so that cannot be right! So I think that I’m going to go to campus tomorrow morning and ask about that as well as try to find a practice room with a piano since I am taking second instrument as piano here this semester, first instrument being voice. Also I want to sign up for the two choirs that are here at UP. They have one regular formal one that does music from all over the world, much like concert choir at Loras or any other college really. And then they have one that is all African folk music. These are not classes but extra-curricular activities and you have to audition for them! That makes me a little nervous because I have not sung seriously since the middle of December. I hope I do not have to have a piece prepared because I do not have any of my music with me to even practice a piece that I already know to have prepared! But that’s what tomorrow is for, to find out everything like that.
Tonight I will be heading to the Square with some of my roommates. For those of you that do not know, the Square is literally a square of bars that all face in so you can go from one to the other and there’s music and tons of students from UP. It’s really close to campus so it’s always filled with students from here! It’s a little weird for me to be able to drink here legally. I don’t know how I’m going to react to that. But I’m still me and being able to drink legally doesn’t change the fact that getting drunk is still not very Leah like. The interesting thing is, is that I’m a little nervous to go to the Square, I wouldn’t know what to order. The only alcohol I have had is wine and the only thing that I know about that is that I like white wine, not red wine, and I don’t like it dry at all and I like it if it’s a little fruity or sweet [Mom if you are reading this, don’t worry your little girl isn’t growing up that fast, I’m still smart and in control and I will be a good girl! I promise!]
Tomorrow night there is a Braai which to America is a BBQ, that’s taking a little getting used to, all of the different words that they have for things here! This Braai is at the house parents of Tuks Dorp’s house. This will be a great chance to meet many of the other exchange students that live in Tuks Dorp with me. I am excited because I feel that the people that I meet tonight could very well become my closest friends here! But I also feel that I have already met some really great people. My roommates are so much fun. We are all very different and it is interesting how we fit together, but we do!
Just this morning [meaning the next morning compared to earlier when I was writing last night, but I’ll just keep adding to this blog until I upload it later today], I was sitting at the breakfast table with my two roommates from Sweden, Gladis and Nancy [or Glancy as they call themselves] and we talked about nothing and everything. We talked about religion, family, friends, a little bit of politics, and how our countries differ in many ways and also the many ways that they are similar. We are already turning into a make shift family and it’s wonderful.
Today I am going to campus with Pearl who wants to pick up her ID card because she somehow managed to register yesterday. And I am going to find a piano to play and what I need to do for choir auditions and pray that I can register because if I wait until tomorrow there will be long queues [lines for the Americans] that I will have to stand in and if there is anything wrong I will have to stand in more queues and that’s just not fun, especially in this heat!
Later today I may go to the pool or the gym, or both! Who knows! I have the world on a string and I’m sitting on a rainbow! Until next time.

Peace, Love and Jesus

ZA at last!

2011-01-25T07:38:00.000-06:00

So South Africa SUCKS!!!!! Just kidding, even though I am running into my fair share of frustrations I am still enjoying my time in South Africa. I left O'Hare airport on Wednesday January 19th at 16:15 [a knowledge of military time is a must here, thank you Ardyce for having me live on the Air Force base with you]. On the flight we were served dinner and we had personal television screens on the head rest of the seat in front of us. On the flight I watched Life as We Know It, the movie with Katherine Hiegle and some guy who are left with a child to raise together when their mutual friends die. I also watched an episode each of How I Met Your Mother and The Office I couldn't sleep at all, but that was fine. Although looking back on it I probably should have tried to sleep because on that flight the plane was far from full. In fact there were entire rows that were empty, especially in the back where I was. Within the last hour and a half of the flight we were served a small breakfast. Then the plane landed in Amsterdam. After a three hour layover in Amsterdam, where I slept through most of the wait, we boarded our plane to Johannesburg. We got on the plane and I fell asleep almost immediately. I would wake up periodically when the flight attendants were going up and down the rows with meals or snacks or asking if we wanted drinks. On this flight we were served lunch and a small dinner toward the end of the flight. And that's about all that happened there! I literally slept through the entire flight other than meals!

Then we went through customs which was fast because our flight was the last to arrive at the airport so there was no one else in the airport. Then to get our bags, which did arrive thankfully, and to find our driver. We found him right away and he drive us to the University where we were informed that they were not ready for us to move in. So we were placed in temporary housing in a dorm called Asterhorf. When we got to the room we saw that we had no sheets or pillows on our beds [we were informed that all of this would be provided. So we slept on the bare mattresses and i used my folded up towel and a folded up sweatshirt as my pillow! Not that comfortable let me tell you!

Then I woke up the next morning and while I was washing my face in the shower I noticed that it hurt a lot to put pressure under my right eye. When I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror I saw that I had a bug bite under my eye which made the entire underside swell up. So I looked like someone had just punched me in the eye and I was about to get a black eye, but it never came! We went to unblock our accounts so that we could register and were told that we needed to get medical insurance. So we went to get that and were told that we needed to open a bank account. So we went to get that and were told that we needed a letter showing our proof of residence with our address. So we went to get that and by that time everything was closed so oru day was over!

But amidst all of this crazy stress and unorganized chaos, we have managed to, over the last five days, get our letter of residence, open our bank accounts, get cell phones, put money in our bank accounts, move into our houses in Tuks Dorp [I'm in house 8!!!], get our medical Insurance, and unblock our accounts.

I have also picked out my classes and talked with the head of the music department and made a friend in my department as well! [I keep running into him when I get lost trying to find my way around the music area of campus [which includes an Ampitheatre!!!] Turns out he is really interested in America and hopes to soon attend Juliard, he invited Caitlin and I to coffee so that he could ask about America but we were on a mission so we politely turned him down. He was currently working on music for the Theory class. So I think I know who I'm going to for help on my Theory class now!!!

I've also met other great people, my roommates [well the other five that are already moved in, two more are to move in today] are amazing and we are all very different but will have a great deal of fun together! I cannot wait to have dinners at the table with all of them and simple laugh and talk the night away as we did last night with other friends from other houses. I live with two girls doing their masters here from Sweden, one girl from Holland teaching for her masters I think, another girl from Holland doing her undergrad, a girl from Finland doing her undergrad, and the other two i do not know what they are studying but one of them is from Oklahoma! Exciting! My house has 8 girls and is the only one with that many, it is the largest house and there are two floors but we only have the top floor, there are 8 other girls on the bottom and they are completely different houses. I have not met any of them yet!

Things are turning around for the best and I am starting to understand why everyone loves it so much here!

Well that's all for now! i'll try to stay up on my blogs better so that they aren't as long in the future!

Peace, Love, and Jesus
xoxo

P.S. And for those of you that are worried about my health safety it is ok! I am doing great and no one has dared to try to bother me with taking my things or anything! plus most of the time I spend in gates that you have to swipe you student card to get into and security is walking around every where! So stop worrying so much. But the prayers are always welcome! I miss you all and wish I could just pick up the phone and chat with you all but sadly that would break the bank!

Love you all

Finals Kick Butt [No not in the good way!]

2010-12-13T02:15:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow, well really today because it's almost 2 a.m. Here I am sitting at my desk in my apartment. Two of my roommates are in doing work at the kitchen table and I am in my room listening to the soundtrack to "Little Women" the musical, trying to avoid my ten page paper due on Wednesday. From my point of view I'm way ahead. Some people from my class haven't even thought of starting their papers yet, but I have not only looked over what I need to do, but I've started it! In fact I'm on the second paragraph! Yeah big step for me, the QUEEN of Procrastination. Now I'm not saying that I haven't procrastinated, in fact I played games on the internet for a good two hours before starting the paper, then I proceeded to e-mail a couple of friends from my walk across the country this summer. Now I'm writing a blog.

I wrote another blog last night, but it was on my other blogspot account because it was for my major. Instead of doing a portfolio or thesis we have to do blogs twice a semester about our classes that we have taken for our major, and a practicum our last semester to get experience in the outside world about our major. But I'm only a sophomore so I have some time before I have to start worrying about the practicum.

Wow this is not where I planned this blog to go! I planned to talk about finals and how I seem to not have much for finals, but the things that I would normally not worry about much [guitar and voice jury] are the ones that I'm most worried about. I have practiced both my voice songs and my guitar songs more than I've ever practiced anything, but I just can't seem to get them to the point that I am confident in them. To top that off I have this 10 page paper looming over me head and finals for the two most difficult classes I've ever taken, but they are both for my music major. So I need to pass them! I'm hoping to rock star the Music history final because my professor is allowing us all to individually decide how much we want our final exam to be worth for our overall grade, after we finish the test also! If I do well enough I can make it worth 90% of my grade. But we'll see what happens come Wednesday morning when I am actually taking the test and trying to hear Beethoven from Bach from Mozart from Chopin from Tchaikovsky and so on!

But none the less I cannot wait for finals to be over, even though I will still have a good amount to do. First of all I have to prepare myself for a surgery that is taking place in Denver, Colorado. I fly there only a few days after finals end, but I leave for Chicago, where i fly out of, only two days after finals are over. And I have to move out of my apartment before I leave because I will not be living here next semester. I will be living in South Africa!!!!! I'm so excited, but very nervous because I haven't sent for my passport yet and it is supposed to take 6 weeks to come in! I don't think I have six weeks anymore. I think I only have 5! But somehow I will get it! I know I will. I'm hopefully sending for my visa today so it'll hopefully be enough time.

Well I have a ton more to say but I should get to bed. I have a breakfast date with a friend that I went to Honduras with last spring break! Can't wait to remember all the beautiful memories of our time there! I miss all of the children: Bladimir, Jose, Bryan, Clementina, Gaudi, and all of the others [there are too many to name]. I miss them all and cannot wait to go back to visit them again!

Peace, Love and Jesus!

Reunited and it feels so good

2010-11-30T23:00:00.000-06:00

So I haven't written a blog in months. And there is really no food reason for that other than I am lazy. But there is much to write about. I have survived my walk across the country [from LA to DC] through Crossroads Pro-life, and I am about to head into finals week of my sophomore year. I've finally declared my majors as religious studies and music, and I leave in a month and a half for a semester in South Africa. While there I will be studying primarily music, yes it will include African music of course, as well as some religion and theology classes. I cannot wait to go because it will be completely different and I will be completely out of my comfort zone, which I love! Even though this will not be the first time I have traveled out of the country, I went to Honduras for 10 days last spring break for a service trip, it will be completely different. First, I will know nothing of the language there, where as in Honduras I knew at least some Spanish. Second, I will be gone for much more than ten days, I will actually be gone for more than six months. Three, I will be taking classes there, which are constructed very differently than they are in America, and I'm not the best at those so maybe this will be a good thing. =]

With a semester abroad comes many preparations though. My roommates are already looking for my replacement, which is sad but we all knew it was going to come. I have to get medical reports, police reports, and other reports. Africa travels require a lot of vaccines, but I already got most of them when I went to Honduras so that wasn't so bad, I'll just have to take those nasty Malaria pills again! Seriously made me almost gag, and I don't have difficulty swallowing pills, but these are so dry and nasty tasting that I regretted it everyday in Honduras. There are also a lot of rules that I will have to follow while over there. I cannot use ice at all, and when ordering water it have to have bottled water that must either be opened by me or in front of me. And as it should be in any occasion I have to keep an eye on any drink or food that I have, if I leave it I can't go back to it. Just like in America they use date rape drugs and other drugs for many reasons, even as simple as stealing your money. But that's all really just common sense and if you are smart there should be no problem.

Other than that I don't have much to say today. But stay close, I will be using this blog to document my time in South Africa so that everyone back home can hear how it's all going!

God Bless
Peace, Love, and Jesus
Sedelle

Vow of Silence

2010-07-04T23:29:00.000-05:00

So I have decided to take a vow of silence this week. I will not talk at all this week whether I'm on shift or not. There are many reasons for this. First off I fnid that I get a lot more from witnessing the walk and others on the walk when I step back in the shadows and watch rather than stand in the spotlight. I know the whole one person that reads this if you have ever met me you are thinking that I will never be able to do this but the other reasons for doing this is what will get me through. I will admit openly and whole heartedly right here and right now that I am struggling with a few of the people on the walk. I feel that we are meant to love everyone whether we like them or not. For this reason I have decided to "hold my tongue" literally and completely this week so that I do not say something that I will later regret. Yes I will admit now also that I have not been the most humble person on this trip. It is something that I have been working on more and more as I notice and look back not only on this summer, well the past six weeks of this summer, but really on most of my life. I have been a very crude and rude person at times and most of these times are pointed at the same people over and over again.

Is there ever a time that we are truly humble. Is there ever a time that we never want praise and pleasure from our actions and our words. Will there ever be a time when we can honestly just do good to do good, not to get the praise of doing good and being the kind of person that you are supposed to be. Why should we get praise for what we should be like? And why should we not give praise to other for simply being the kind of person that they are supposed to be. Why is there this barrier between gratitude and criticism. Why can we only notice what people do incorrectly? There is no appreciation for what we do right. Because we are supposed to act respectful doesn't mean that we should be thanked for our actions of respect. On the other hand we should not be respectful simply to get the praise and gratitude that should be recieved. We should not expect it for ourselves but we should not be hesitant to give the praise and gratitude to others. How can we expect to recieve what we cannot give.

Sorry I didn't mean for this to be such a deep blog. I'm getting really tired so my words will soon become even more ridiculous than they already are. I apologize if what I have said doesn't make sense! My Vow of Silence will begin tomorrow morning when I leave to begin my shift. I am on day shift again this week! Thank God for all of His many small and mighty blessings. I really do dislike night shift even when it is with people that I do get along with quite well. As for those that I do not get along with as well, please pray that I have patience, strength, perserverance, serenity, humility, and grace to respect all who I come across. Even those that I do not agree with or fit with completely.

Thank you my one reader. Well at least you read one blog of mine! God Bless

Peace, Love and Jesus! =]

Top of the World!

2010-06-10T17:44:00.001-05:00

First week on night shift and I'm not going to lie, it for sure gives me the heeby jeebies! But to be able to offer up that fear and anxiety for all of the young pregnant girls who feel so much more fear and anxiety that I have all week combined, is a blessing that makes it all worth it. Originally I was on day shift this week for the third week in a row, because a friend of mine from Mesa, Arizona was going to walk with me for a day earlier this week when we were walking through Phoenix-Mesa, but this turned out that she wasn't able to walk due to conflicts. So when I got back from walking a full 15 miles [5 fo them in the wrong direction so that was pretty stinky], I found out that our walk leader was not doing very well due to lack of sleep. So I decided to pull a double and switch over to night shift since it was my turn to be on it anyway. I walked another 14 miles that night so a total of 29 miles in less than 24 hours. I was completely exhausted when the night was over so I slept well in the RV even though it was so hot you cold barely breath. That first night we walked through Phoenix, like right through it which was pretty interesting, but there really wasn't any point that I felt unsafe.

Tuesday night was a different story. I walked night shift in the middle of the desert where there were no lights or anything anywhere around. We heard rattle snakes right on the side of the highway that we were walking on but it was pitch dark so we couldn't see anything. There was also movement in the bushes at the side of the highway that were almost scarier because you didn't know what it was that was making that noise. Well to make it worse Tim, the guy from Ireland whom I was walking with that night, kept talking about what if this... what if that... he likes to bring up serial killers and people being assaulted in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the night. Well I was jumpy so I was literally clutching my rosary with white knuckles praying over and over to God to send down his angels to surround us and to scare anyone or anything that would harm us away. Well I survived so my prayers must have worked. Later in the morning I walked with Father Hilary to the top of a mountain and at the top it said, "Welcome to the top of the world" it was amazing! After I walked 13.5 miles and the group as a whole walked 30 miles for our second night in a row, we headed back to the RV park. When we got there we were told to leave Thomas there in case his mother came to get him and head back out to do more miles. So we did, only Father David joined us as well. I walked 2.5 miles with Father Hilary and Father David right when we got to where we left off and then Becca and Tim walked about half a mile because then we had to get to mass which we were offering up for one of the girls on our walk and her family who are going through a hard time right now. So those 36 hours I walked 45 miles! Never thought I could say that!

Yesterday we drove the RV to Hilary's house, a friend of Sean our walk leader from Steubenville. Her famly is wonderful and very full of life, love and God's message. Last night I only walked 11.5 miles because we were walking through an Apache Indian reserve and it was a little creepy. Also I was dead tired and my feet were hurting more than usual. So I didn't walk the last mile that I would have had to. But there is no way that we could have gotten 30 miles last night because we had a really short shift, but we still walked 25 miles and I'm pretty proud of that.

Today I didn't get much sleep for my walking tonight, but it's Thursdat night so it's my last night of walking. Let's just say Thank God it's Thursday. We'll be in Las Cruses [I don't know how it's spelled] this weekend speaking at churches. It's pretty close to the border! Please keep us all in your prayers.

Until I get another chance to write,

Leah Sedelle

I love babies

100 Miles to Next Services!

2010-05-31T21:32:00.000-05:00

Second week of the walk! Walked by a sign last week that said, "100 Miles to Next Services" Crazy!

This is the first time that I have gotten a chance to write my blog since I have started the walk. I am currently in the middle of nowhere! Well really I'm just outside of a small town called 29 Palms in the middle of the Mojave Desert. We have walked about 160 miles so far as a team, I myself have walked 62 miles. We Started at Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles and are almost to Arizona. We should hit Arizona during the day shift tomorrow if we walk enough miles tonight and tomorrow.

Yes that's right we walk about 20 hours a day. But really we are split into two shifts; the day shift which I was on last week and am on again this week, and the night shift. We are expected to get 30 miles a shift, so 60 miles a day. Our pace is supposed to get up to 15 minute miles.

There are 10 people on the Southern Walk counting myself. Sean is the walk leader and he is from Connecticut. Becca is from Texas, Amber is from New Hampshire, Rebecca is from Wisconsin [yay another mid-westerner] Erica is from California, Will is from Indiana and actually was on the central walk originally but we needed more guys on our walk and more people over the age of 21, Thomas is from Utah but he will only by with us for another week or so, Father Hilary is from Australia, and Tim is from Ireland! Yeah that's right we have two foreigners on our trip and yes they both have awesome accents! We will be having people join us on our walk for a week or so all through out the summer.

Last weekend I was in Las Vegas, Nevada speaking at churches and protesting in front of an abortion clinic. Sean, Amber, and Thomas were there with me. The rest of the group was in San Bernadino, California doing the same thing. While in Vegas I stayed at Living Grace Home for Girls. Living Grace is a place where pregnant girls ages 13-22 can come to have their babies and have the support that they would not have at home. While I was there they only had one girl living there. She was so courageous and very beautiful. I do not think that it would be appropriate to say her name so I will call her Joan of Ark because when she told me her story, I thought of how much she showed courage just as Joan of Ark did. So please keep Joan of Ark in your prayers, and her soon to be born son.

I am one of three people on the southern walk that can speak Spanish so I have to give talks at Spanish masses. At my last Spanish mass yesterday I said "Buenos Dias" which means "Good morning". This would have been fine except for the fact that the mass was at 7:00 pm. I should have said, "Buenos Tarde" which means "Good evening". So when I made this innocent mistake [and the only reason that I made this mistake was because it said "Buenos Dias" on the paper that I read the talk from] the people of the congregation gave a little chuckle and responded back with "Buenos Tarde". Some commented on it after the mass but most people said that I pronounced the Spanish very well for it being my second language. I have five Spanish masses last weekend and it was amazing! There were also four English masses at this parish so I did understand all of the readings during those.

Sadly I'm getting a bit of a cold. I think it's because it's so dry here and I'm so used to the humidity. Because of the dryness my throat has dried out. But I'm still walking and getting through.

I was the only one who trained before the walk so I was the only one that didn't get really sore last week. I also have the fastest pace. This week I am on day shift specifically because I can take the heat and the miles at a good pace. We are walking literally right through the desert and it hit 100 today. So it's definitely going ot be a hot summer, but I can't wait for the rest of it to come! We will be in Arizona next week. We are hoping to walk there by next weekend but if we don't get that far we will just drive ahead for the weekend and then after the weekend we will drive back to where ever we left off to continue!

More updates are coming! If you want to follow me more closely and frequently I will be updating my twitter from my phone daily if not more [hopefully! if I remember]

I love you all and please pray for all of us this summer, and all of those that never got a chance to walk, EVER.

God Bless.

Here it Comes

2010-05-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

Only 7 days until I leave for California! Yeah that means that in one week I will be snuggled up in the nice warmness of California and not in this bleak weather of Iowa! I cannot wait! I'm getting a little nervous that I'm going ot forget something because it's not the normal trip that I go on. But other than that I'm not really nervous about the trip at all! I actually just want finals to be over because, well because I'm ready to be done with studying and writing papers and all that, but also because then I'm just that much closer to the walk. I've been training, walking a lot and doing leg workouts, and lifting weights and stuff but I know that I'll be sore those first few weeks. There's really no way to prepare for this kind of thing. Physically maybe if you have the time to do it, but I don't! But mentally and spiritually I don't think that there is any way that I can prepare myself for what I am about to do. I have been in some pretty challenging situations in the past but I don't think any of them will come close to what I will have to face this summer. The best part of it is that I'm ready! I am so ready for something new in my life. But really that's how it will always be with me! I will always be looking for something new and crazy to do. Whether it's living in another state for a summer when all of your friends from school are spending their days at the Dyersville pool, or walking across the country, while everyone else is working for the summer to pay for college. Or moving to somewhere crazy like Honduras after graduation while all of your other fellow graduates look for normal jobs at desks or schools. ok that one hasn't happened yet but you never know what I'll do! I have three years still!

Well here's post number two and I think that there's only like three people that know about this blog yet. And it wouldn't surprise me if none of them have even looked at it yet! Hopefully someone will follow me this summer!

Please all keep me in your prayers! And if you have any questions or prayer requests I'm pretty sure that there is a way to reply to these blogs or something like that!

P.S. I won't be going on FACEBOOK at all this summer. I'll only be on this blog and twitter so you can kind of follow me on that as well!

First Blog April 27th, 2010

2010-04-27T22:23:00.000-05:00

So I haven't actually started the walk yet but I just wanted to start the blog early to let you all know a little more about the walk before it all starts.

Crossroads walk has accepted me to walk with them to "bring about the Culture of Life and defend the right to life of all unborn children." [taken from Crossroads official website crossroadswalk.org]
I have chosen to do the southern walk which means that I will walk through CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA, and end in Washington D.C.
There will be 15-20 other young adults joining me on my walk through the south.
I will be walking 1,200 miles in less than three months from LA, California to Washington D.C.
The group that I am with will walk a total of 3,200 miles.
I will walk about 17 miles a day
I will attend mass everyday
I will gives talks about what it means to be prolife and how you can be more active in the movement
I will be living simply meaning I will only have a few t-shirts and two pairs of shorts for the summer as well as one long skirt for mass.
They will take care of housing, food, and water; I just have to get to LA and home from DC
This means that I will not be working this summer: SCARY for MOM & DAD!
I have asked close friends and family to help me in this by sponsoring me in my walk.
I also ask for prayers from anyone and everyone!
Prayers for me and the others that I will be walking with including those on the Northern, Central, and Canadian walks
Prayers for the unborn babies that will die while I am walking
Prayers for all the people that I will encounter over this summer
Prayers for everyone back home that cannot take a summer off to walk for what is truly right.

This is about it!

I'll keep you posted through out the summer whenever I have access to the internet.
I will also be keeping all of you in my prayers and thoughts.

Thank you!

I love babies!! =]