I've never felt so white in my life...

We've moved on from Pretoria to Soweto and what a change it's been.  A move from a rich white city to a poor black one wreaks havoc on your heart.  But I wouldn't change it.  It has been so interesting to see history from both sides in the last 2 weeks, to hear two different perspectives on the same topics, to meet people who have lived through both sides of Apartheid and to see the reverberations of such a huge part of history.

And it's true... I've never felt so white in my life.  It's actually been a little uncomfortable at times, walking through parts of Soweto in a large group of well-off white people 'gawking' at what we see.  But I'm changing as I experience this and I'm excited to see what sort of fire I come home with. 

The move from Pretoria to Soweto doesn't mean things have slowed down at all, in fact, they've gotten busier! 

We arrived in Soweto in time for church on Sunday morning, and it was so different from church back home.  And yet no different at all, just a building filled with people worshipping God.  The pastor spoke a bit louder, that's all :)  Afterwards we stayed around for a braai and to play with the kids.

playing hair dresser at church

Monday started with a tour through Soweto - it's unbelievable to think that people today, in the 2011, live in such squalid conditions.  Not all of Soweto is impovershed, a lot of work has been done since the end of Apartheid, but it still gave me a lot of food for thought.  

Kliptown

We also visited the Hector Pieterson Memorial.  On June 17, 1976 the government tried to enforce a new law whereby math and science would be taught in Afrikans.  To the black students, this was the straw that broke the camel's back.  They organized a peaceful protest, but as things go, it escalated into a violence conflict.  A small boy, Hector Pieterson, was caught in the middle and killed.  The memorial is heartbreaking, but such a tribute to a people who fought so hard to be treated like humans.  Again, South Africa is changing me, how could it not?



'To honour the youths who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom and democracy'

 The next stop of the day was much more fun: Soccer City!  I may not be the biggest soccer fan, and was no devout follower of the World Cup, but it was pretty neat to walk through the stadium.

leaders in the change room

about to charge onto the field to score the game winning goal!

group shot!  even though, technically, we weren't allowed on the pitch :)

 The next day, after a few lectures that really provided another viewpoint on apartheid, we went to the Apartheid Museum.  Incredible.  There is so much to it, so many twists and turns into darkness... And such an incredible rise out of it.

the 7 pillars of the consitution outside the museum

segregated entrance

It's been on heck of a week, and it's only halfway done!

Cheers,
Sandy

Week 1: Pretoria

We've been in South Africa for a week now, and I just love it!  Pretoria has been a blast, and although we're already all longing for the coast and the ocean, we've had some incredible adventures and experiences already.

Our very first stop of the week was at UNISA (University of South Africa) - the largest correspondance university in the world.  They have some 250 000 distance ed students!  We were treated to a lecture on Afrikaner History, and I just couldn't get enough.  South Africa is fabulously interesting - it's like being back in Germany for the 20th aniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It's history I haven't learned about in school, and I get to experience it firsthand.  Fabulous!

everyone at UNISA

 Afterwards, we went to the Voortrekker Monument.  Around the time when the Brits showed up in SA, the Afrikaner people went on a 'Great Trek' into SA's interior, looking for land to call their own.  There was a particular battle, in which the folk prayed for God to grant them victory.  If he did, they would make a huge monument in tribute.  Thus the Voortrekker Monument. 

Mimi & I outside the monument looking over Pretoria

 Then we decided to have a little fun...

Aaaaaahhhhhh!

 Our next stop on the tour was the Klapperkop Fort.  I'm not entirely sure what went on here, but a battle for sure.  And now they have a really sweet tree growing in the middle of the yard:

group shot!

 On Tues. Jan 18th (the following day) we had another lecture about Afrikaner culture.  Willie was a great speaker, and brought lots of memorabilia to show us.  Gold coins, a map of SA drawn in the 1500's, duelling pistols, a flintlock rifle... And there were more guns to been seen when we reached the Diamond Hill battlefield.

don't be fooled by the smile... enemies beware!

 We then moved on to the University of Pretoria for a lecture on the Truth and Reconciliation Comission.  Our lecturer was personally involved in making it happen and was good friends with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (wow!).  Our last stop of the day was the Sammy Marks House - he was a fabulously rich entrepeneur in SA at the turn of the 20th century.  His house is exactly as it was when he died, which was really neat (and beautiful) to see, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures.

Thursday was a blast as well.  We started the day bright and early (I'm not kidding, my alarm went off at 4:40am!) to hop on the Gospel Train.  Each morning there are hundreds of black people who commute into the cities for work.  In some of the carriages there are church services that go on.  They have a preacher and everyone else joins in with singing and dancing and percussion (they are incredible... seriously!).  It was the best start to an early morning I've ever had. 

Afterwards we went back to the U of P, this time to the music department, for a drumming workshop.  We spent a couple hours banging around on djembe.  SO MUCH FUN!!! 

Next stop in our busy schedule: Parliament.  That folks, is where Nelson Mandela worked on a daily basis.  They're lovely buildings, but I enjoyed the market out front better.  They had all sorts of tables set up for people to sell their wares at - it was hard to say no!

girl time in the Parliament gardens

 This week has been what we Outtatowner's call a homestay.  For the duration of the week we live with families in Pretoria; a few students in each house.  It's an incredible opportunity to get a real feel for life in the country as well as make some wonderful friends.  On our way to our host families the other night, Raf, Steve, Mimi and I stopped at a little park to see if we could catch any wildlife around.  There were zebra's galore!  One was even pregnant!  And quite a few ostriches as well.

eep!  a zebra!

Friday was lovely and chill -  after such a long day we were all ready to relax.  The major event of the day was heading to the Lion Park.  Baba (our bus driver - he's amazing!) drove us through the park full of lions, zebras, cheetahs and hyenas and then (this is the ridiculously cool part) we went to the petting zoo, where we spent a few minutes each cuddling with the lion cubs.  And while you were waiting, you could go feed the giraffe.  It may not appear so, but they have really slimy, raspy tongues! 

Needless to say, I was a little snap happy...

soooo cute!

eep it's trying to eat me!!

And that's all for now folks.  It's a free day with the host families today - we're going to have a braai later (that's a SA barbeque) and then we head to Soweto on Sunday.

Lots of love,
Sandy

Welcome to South Africa

Hey Everyone!  I'm currently sitting outside... and it's 20 degrees.  Jealous yet?

It's been one heck of a journey getting down here, but stepping out of the airport saying: "I'm in Africa right now..." was so worth it.  We left Winnipeg on the 11th and flew over to Toronto - and for all of those who know how much I love Big Bang Theory this should make you smile: I sat next to a theoretical physicist!

It was smooth sailing getting our group and our luggage checked in at the airport, but the first bump hit at Pearson.  We were heading over to our next gate and Raf told everyone to get out their next boarding pass.  Steve (my co-worker) and I looked at each other, because neither one of us had another boarding pass.  Just Winnipeg to Toronto!  So we had to exit out of the airport, head to the Lufthansa desks, print our next 2 boarding passes and check back through customs.  Not a huge hitch, just a little annoying.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since, as we rounded the corner to walk up to the desk I got hit by something hugging me and calling me a liar all in one go.  Holly had come to the airport to say hello to those flying out of Toronto (and I had told her the day before that I wouldn't see here because we didn't have time to come out and check back in.  Hooray for life's little surprises!

Toronto to Frankfurt was another smooth, albeit long flight.  I don't sleep well on planes... which was great when we landed at 9am and I hadn't slept in some 24 hours.  But it was just fantastic being back in Germany.  I loved being able to speak German again and I managed to eat just about everything on my list.  First stop of the day: a café to delve once more into the deliciousness that is German bread!  Mmmm.

After a quick nap at the airport, we took off on the last leg of the journey: Frankfurt to Johannesburg!  A late night departure had us landing at 10:00 am in South Africa.  It was the day that just wouldn't end!  Luckily enough, all our luggage showed up, so we hopped on a bus (driving on the left too!!) and drove over to Heronbridge - the retreat centre we're doing orientation at.

It's just lovely here in South Africa - green, warm and full of bird-song.  Not that I was aware of any of it until the second day we were here.  I don't think I've ever been that jet-lagged in my life!  At dinner I couldn't even remember what hand I normally hold my knife in.

These past couple days have been great for hanging out, catching up on what happened over Christmas, learning to breathe through my nose again (goodbye allergies!), and filling everyone in on what's going to happen this semester.

But the highlight so far?  Driving over to the mall.  Let me tell you... it's really really weird shifting with your left hand.  And I couldn't find my blinker to save my life.  But I had a really really clean windshield!




all chipper as we head out of Winnipeg



loosing steam in Frankfurt

bus time!! (this is how we travel around SA)

on our last legs at Heronbridge (can you tell we're exhausted?!)

group Rock, Paper, Scissors with a twist

This week's challenge

"wherever you are, be all there"

I first heard that quote during LDP, and it's stuck with me ever since.  As things start wrapping up with first semester (we've only got 3 weeks left until Christmas break - I'm not 100% sure how that happened!), the challenge becomes not checking out too early.  It can get super hard not to start wishing to be home, surrounded by familiar faces and traditions.

This week has been challenging - dealing with tiredness, burnout and loneliness, but I also believe that it's worth it.  I love my job; I love what it allows me to do, who it allows me to be, and how it challenges and stretches me.  That doesn't make it easy.

I miss you all like crazy - and I'm so grateful for your thoughts and prayers.  Knowing that there are people back home who love and support me makes such a huge difference.

Sandy

ps. It snowed for the first time today!  Boy oh boy do the mountains look amazing when it snows :-)

The most remote place I've ever been.

If you were to travel to across Canada to the far west coast, hop on a ferry over to Vancouver Island, drive pretty much all the way up and across the island and then get on another boat for 20 minutes... you would reach Esperanza.  And that is where I just spent a week off then internet/cellphone grid - and it was fantastic.

What wasn't fantastic was our 4:00am departure time to leave Hope, BC (for Esperanza, which ironically enough means 'hope' in Spanish).  We had to be at the harbour by 6:00 to hold our reservation on the ferry... it was a hair-raising, rainy, dark drive; we arrived at 5:57.  Phew.  

And it was a looooong day of driving, including the windiest, hilliest road I've ever driven on.  But it was worth it in the end - Esperanza was breathtaking.  See?

the barge taking our luggage over

Unfortunately, I got stuck on the barge with all our luggage.  So instead of a 20 minute sheltered trip over the island, I stood in the frigid wind for an hour.  But I made friends with a little 3-year old boy out for the trip.  Which was hilarious when he was sitting on my lap that Sunday at church and we had the following conversation:

Sammy: What's that? (grabbing my necklace)

Sandy:  That's my necklace

Sammy: I have a scorpion necklace at home

Sandy: Oh wow!

Sammy:  What's that?  (grabbing the zipper on my shirt)

Sandy: A zipper

Sammy: What are those? (pulling out the zipper and looking down my shirt)

Sandy: ... 

And then I burst out laughing.  So did Christine, who was sitting beside me.  I figured out later on that he was probably looking at the writing on the shirt I was wearing underneath, but that didn't stop it from being the funniest thing I heard all day!

Sunday was actually one of the coolest days of my life.  One of our students, Laura, decided that she wanted to get baptized at Esperanza, and that she wanted me to baptize her.  I was so honoured.  And totally terrified, because, honestly, who am I to baptize anyone?!  But Steve reminded me that "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called".  

So Laura and I headed into the Pacific Ocean on November 7th, 2010 to proclaim her faith :-)

Laura & I

 ... and it was awesome, salty and cold!  Not that that stopped some of our crazier students from jumping off the docks afterwards.

getting ready... 

 Now, when I was being briefed about Esperanza, I was told we were gonna chop wood in the rain for a week.  And we got the most beautiful week ever!  We probably got 2 inches of rain all week in a place where it's not uncommon to get 10 inches of rain in a morning.

And I discovered on that first work afternoon, that I just adore chopping wood!  We had a competition later on (Dan, Pete, Jake, Raf, Blayne, Scones and I haha) to see who could split one of those giant logs into quarters first.  I came last... big surprise, eh?  But I did it!

chopping away!

Blayne.  Mad skills.  

 We ended up chopping all the wood that first afternoon (which was a little disappointing, since I just discovered how fun it is!), but we went trail-blazing all week long.

heading off to the trail head

We were helping to clear some new portage trails... and that meant: MACHETES.  Woot. 

hardcore

 It really was in the middle of nowhere... And there was no trail to speak of when we first arrived... As you might be able to deduce from the picture below.

Pete standing at the takeout

 Funny story.  Jake and Pete were trying to remove a root ball from the trail, where it was half buried.  They'd already removed the rest of the tree and were trying to roll the stump down the hill.  Pete was pulling and Jake was pushing, when out of the dirt came a giant hidden root - right up between Jake's legs.  It flipped him up and over the stump and onto Pete and they both rolled a little ways down the hill. It was the funniest, most surprising thing that happened all day.  I thought Scones was going to pass out he was laughing so hard!

Pete & Jake - mid roll

 I've mentioned already that Esperanza was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  The clouds hung so low over the water, between the mountainous hills on either side of the river...  And because it was the ocean, you got tides - which sometimes exposed starfish...

the docks at Esperanza

 My day off that week was gorgeous - I went kayaking, hiking, chopped some wood, went swimming...

out in the woods

 ... and fell through a tree.  There was a stream running through the compound - it was really neat actually, because it was salmon season, so you could watch them swim upstream to spawn.  I tried to find a place where I could see them jump, but instead I fell through some tree roots and got a really wet foot.

stupid salmon river... 

And that was our week.  We got some great classes on First Nation/White Man relations and colonization, played a lot of Cribbage and Dutch Blitz, cooked our own food and laughed together.  It was a lot of fun and we made some great new friends, but I don't think I could live there for a year.  

Lots of love

Sandy

Happy Halloween!

I finally did it folks... after 3 years of waiting, I was a semi-colon or Halloween!!

oh yeah :)

Just thought I'd share.

Sandy
xo

Piggy-backs, caving and deer... oh my!

Hey everyone!  Here's a bit of an update from the middle of October.  We've been hanging out at Camp Squeah in Hope, BC and it's just a beautiful place!  We're in the middle of the mountains and eating some of the best camp food I've ever had in my life!  And all that food has left us with a ton of energy... 

Rueben, Jake, Pete, Blayne, Darren and Caity present: the Ultimate Piggy Back

We had a great time relaxing at camp after our crazy Guy/Girl week - and it was really needed, because the next week we headed off on another Urban Plunge.  This time, we were going to help out in Vancouver.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here!

I spent a weekend in Langley, BC with my fantastic friend Kristy.  We had a sushi trio going on back in Waterloo - some Sundays after church we'd head off to Ye's All-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and just stuff our faces with sushi.  I always left feeling slightly ill and unable to even think about sushi until the following Thrusday.  So, since we were re-united for a weekend, Kristy and I decided that we just had to have sushi.  

We found a great place... and it turned into a bit of an adventure because 2 minutes after we showed up, the power went out!  So we had sushi by candlelight.  It was lovely!

Kristy & I

Before we took off for Vancouver, we had one last adventure waiting for us in Hope: spelunking!

Here we are showing off our fabulous caving coveralls. 

The challenges began even before we got into the caves... we had to find the entrance, and that sure wasn't easy!

Christine's feeling a little lost amongst the boulders...

Once inside, the challenges continued... we were never sure that everyone was going to make it through those teensy tiny holes

Dan's feeling a wee bit squished...

Now some of us were a... little nervous crawling around underground with no real idea where we were in space (ie. me), but others just lit up and went a little crazy crawling around.

all smiles for Christine!

I did pretty good in the caves, considering that I'm slightly claustraphobic...  But I did panic once or twice when we had to squirm through the really tight places, and when our guide casually mentioned that he always got lost in this section of the caves and once had to sit down, breathe and tell himself "it's all good, I'll get out of here eventually..."  It was about that point in time that I started to really need sunlight.

group shot in the caves; Dan missed the memo that said 'smile!'

The area we were caving in was gorgeous.  They must get a lot of rain here, because everything was covered in this intensely green moss.

Mimi & I

 See what I mean?!

Nadine & Allison

However, all that damp meant that while our clothing was clean(ish) - thanks to the coveralls - we all had rather wet rear ends...

After our caving adventure, we trekked back to camp, showered and took off for Vancouver, but I'll tell y'all about that at a later date.

We just finished up our service day at Squeah... and Steve totally jinxed us.  He mentioned that it just poured for his service day at Squeah, and what did I see when I opened my door the following morning?  Rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  And it rained all day!  But it meant that I got to wear my fantastically bright rain gear and jump in puddles.  Yay!

yay for rain!

the picnic table crew

 Now, most of the jobs were things like raking leaves, moving mulch, clearing trails.  Pete, however, managed to snag the job of helping one of the camp staff skin the deer his friend caught on the weekend.  I have never seen someone so excited for a service day before.

big smiles for the deer

And that brings you almost up to date on my life.  More to come as I get pictures!

Miss you all and love you bunches.

Sandy