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It has been awhile since I have let you all know about what is going on here in South Africa. We have been extremely busy. Last week was the last week of regular classes and we started our community engagement course and community service this past week.

A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to see the two battlefields where the Battle of Islandwana and the Battle at Rorke’s Drift were fought. We had a fun tour guide named Tony who knew all about the wars. There were some cool sights we saw, I don’t think we were prepared for the four-hour car ride both directions. We made the most out of it though.

We also went to the Drakensburg School for Boys which was about 2 hours away to see the Drakensburg Boys Choir. The Choir was very good. The Drakensburg School is a boarding school, I believe students are anywhere from 8 to 15 years old.

“The Curse of the Elephant” is one of the fun continuing games we play around campus. We have a ceramic elephant that we pass around, a different person gets the elephant everyday. Each person has to do something unique as their “curse.” The “curse” and person the elephant is given to is determined by the person who had the elephant the previous day. When I had the elephant I had to sing a full song before the prayer at every meal. The day I had the elephant we happened to be eating out at a nice Indian Restaurant. Luckily the restaurant was almost empty when I was belting out Taylor Swift’s Love Story. I gave the elephant to my friend Doris; I made her have insane hair. She had to be as creative as possible, and she was. Doris managed to put the elephant in her hair.

I left APU on a beautiful winter evening one month ago. What an incredible month this has been. I just wanted to list a few lessons I have learned in my short time here in South Africa. I have learned so much about culturally, academically, and spiritually.

1. What is a bathroom?… Toilets
2. Obama is the bomb!
3. The contrast between the rich and the poor becomes more apparent everyday.
4. What is the deal with KFC? They are everywhere!
5. God has given me an incredible passion for traveling and seeing the world. I see my dream job as something that involves supporting missionaries around the world.
6. Monkeys are not cute cuddly creatures, they are a menace!
7. Don’t scream or you will scare away the Zebra!
8. Enjoy every experience! Soak it in.
9. I love the dry weather of Las Vegas that makes my skin crack and bleed! Humidity is not cool!
10. South Africans spending R100 is like an American spending $100. They get paid far less than we do. America is extremely expensive.
11. There are random speed bumps in the middle of highways and roads.
12. God is moving in the most incredible ways in so many people’s lives.
13. I am a proud owner of a passport with five stamps after my trip to Lesotho
14. I am SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED!
15. South Africa has a 40% poverty rate. The best way to put food on the table for a family is give them a job. Many people in South Africa do random things to get money and have jobs that would be considered ridiculous in the states, but that is the only way they have to make money.
16. There is an incredible need for God and for the love of God in all places of the world!
17. People can be content with little. It is so good to get out of the consumer-focused mindset that the US has.
18. Sani Pass is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
19. Having someone else do your laundry has its pros & CONS! It takes about 5 days to get the clothes back.
20. LOVE GOD and LOVE PEOPLE

This week I had the opportunity to ride with the nursing students when they went to clinical. Phillip, our South African driver was driving us in the truck. He was going to drop me and another person, Stephanie, at the University so we could go to the library. On the way to the clinic I saw many impoverished neighborhoods and mud houses. It is so easy to forget as we are on our “Luxury South African Adventure” that there is extreme need and poverty just a short drive down the road.

We drove by a community of mud houses and Phillip asked if we had any communities like that in the States, our answer was not. Later I thought about that. People either are homeless or have some sort of an established place to live. There are no such things as “Informal Communities.” The thought occurred to me… Should there be informal communities? Should there be a place that the impoverished could call home even if it was a shack made of random materials? At least people in informal settlements have a shelter and a place to lay their heads, the homeless in America have nothing. Just something to think about.