Yesterday was relatively uneventful. We had our first class, which wasn’t anything substantial except basic syllabus information. I don’t foresee this class being any real work at all, except a one-page reflection every night. I’m going to be coasting on schoolwork through September, when reality will slap me in the face. My blogging takes more time than my homework. Good stuff.
After class, we played volleyball for a little. Then Zach and I went to Scooter’s Pizza and bought 1.5 litres of Sprite and chowed down on the beach. After that, we walked back and played volleyball all afternoon. After the clock struck 5:30, it was time to return to our homestays, and we just hung around all night. I wrote 3 papers catching up from before and read 20 pages in my homework book. All this time, I was watching “Seize the Day” and “7de Laan,” which are both South African soap operas. I’ve been watching them, and so have Mitch and Riley, and Reagan and John, so I’ve had the opportunity to talk to all of those people about it and it’s really funny. I also witnessed Matt getting dreadlocks, which was exciting for him. They look great.
This morning, I knew it was going to be a rough day. I was in a funk from the beginning and didn’t really feel like being with people (which is difficult when you have to spend time with people). I slept up until my alarm went off for the first time in weeks. The bus ride was spent arguing about the lyrics to “Human” by the Killers (I won, of course. It’s “dancer”). Then we went for a tour through a township. It’s always a weird feeling going on tours through the townships, because I feel like I’m viewing their suffering as one would at a zoo or something. Drive through the township, look, take pictures, and maybe say hello, but don’t help anyone. Tell your friends about it, show them the pictures, and leave, while these people are stuck in their situations. Our guide was named Siphiwe, and he explained that people were much happier in this environment than they were before, because they used to not even be acknowledged. Now, there’s no way for them to believe they’re being ignored because they have people coming from all over just to see them. There were rooms they showed us that were formerly hostels for the male workers. While their families couldn’t live with them, they lived 16 to a 6 bedroom living area, with one communal room and the 16 beds spread among the 6 rooms. Then their families moved in, so now families of around 5 are living in this 6 bedroom house. 16 of them. And this is happening throughout the township. Some leave the hostel to live in shacks on the roadside, because they prefer the poorer living quarters and more privacy. I also discovered there are people who gain lots of money, but choose to build houses in the township because they want the houses and privacy, but also want to experience the community available in the townships.
For lunch we went to Mlozi, which was a brai place. It was similar to the other one we went to for Walk in the Light, but the meat wasn’t as good; while others were very impressed with it, I thought it was just good. After lunch we went back to BI and grabbed ice cream. Right next to ice cream is a wonderful little book store, and I think I’ll be spending time in there next week. It great! After ice cream, I played soccer with some of the guys from BI: Siph, Marne, Jesus, Elliot, Justin, and some other guys. It’s great how soccer and other sports make such an easy connection between people; I feel like I’ve met so many people just from playing sports with them. I’m looking forward to living there for a week so I can get to know some of the guys better. I’ll refrain from saying something about how (1) some people who were playing with us were pissing me off when they would launch shots at our goalie in our pick-up soccer game, and (2) the other team was selfish, because they only had one APU player, while my team had 4 APU players and we played a very team-first game.
After that, we headed back to homestays and hung out. Matt and I wrote a paper real quick, and got that taken care of right after dinner. We did it while watching “Seize the Day” and “7de Laan” again. After dinner, we drove to the mall to watch a movie. Water for Elephants was a wonderful movie, and despite Twilight, Robert Pattinson’s performance in that movie caused me to have respect for him. I read the book this semester in preparation for the movie, and the book was so much better. They left out a lot in the movie, and didn’t include character development in any characters except the two main characters. Slightly disappointing, but I still enjoyed it.
After the movie, Matt and I met a couple people from a program right across from the mall where people learn how to plant a church for 3 months in South Africa, and then go to another country in Africa for 2 months to plant churches. They went to the same movie as us, and they knew Thelma, so Thelma introduced us. She got distracted quickly after introducing us to Toby and Valentine. We also met Anita, Melissa, Titus, and Jonathon (I’m typing these names so I can remember them later). Valentine was from Switzerland, and after we told Toby where we came from, we found out he’s from Pasadena. He went to a school right next to Maranatha, which is basically a feeder school into APU, and he knew some of the kids I knew, like Eric Adams. And he said the name Bollenbocher sounded familiar to him. It’s just really funny, because I would never think I would meet someone in AZ from Pasadena who knew anyone from school, let alone South Africa. I can’t explain how exciting it was to talk to him, because after we talked about that real quick, I found out he’s been gone since December, and he’ll be gone until Mid-July. He seemed like a really cool guy, and I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s doing. He’s off to Malawi in less than a week, so that’s something I’ll be keeping in my prayers for sure.
After the movie we headed back, and Matt and I went straight to our room. He’s finishing catching up on homework, and I’ve been blogging. We were distracted for a little bit because Xavier came in and was delaying going to bed for a little. He came in an hour after his bed time (from the movie) and stayed in our room (really his room normally) for half an hour. We started out by talking about soccer, and then he challenged me in a wrestling game on PS2. After that, he played Matt in chess. When I type it, I realize how insignificant and inconsequential the interaction was, but it really felt like he was a little brother for a little bit, and it was really fun. I can pretend, right? And we finally sent him off to bed at 11, with a date planned tomorrow: me beating him in wrestling, Matt beating him in chess, and him beating me in cards (he’s already done that multiple times. He’s quick at speed). It’s fun to have a relationship with a younger kid. He’s a very enjoyable one.
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