Fun with PhotoBooth, South Africa Edition

Ah, PhotoBooth. Hours of fun for the whole community. This started as taking a couple of profile pictures for our community blog. And this is where it went.

















Bryan

















Arthur

















Katie, me, Sarah

Continuing a theme

Birthday flowers from my parents. =)

Photo with conversation

Carissa: Am I missing a pillow?
Barbara: Carissa, there ARE NO MORE pillows. You have EIGHT pillows.

29

Birthday gift from Lizzy: a well-chosen book is always welcome.



Birthday cake. Here you have Carissa, Sarah, me, and Mosky. And a cake with a pile of flaming candles spelling out "29."

Concert

A group of us went to a concert on Friday night to celebrate my birthday. Sarah took this picture of me, in which I said I look like a lost street child. But upon reflection, I think I kinda like it.

Township sunset

Precious

On Wednesday, we had a time of worship & Bible study led by one of the NC staff, Doug, who's been involved with this family for a couple of years now. Here's one of the kids, Precious, with Doug's huge Bible!

Kids in Sosh

The photos have been more -ish than daily of late. I apologize. I've got a few for you now, though. I spent Tuesday through Thursday of this week staying with a family out in Soshanguve. Here's me with a bunch of the kids.

Winterveld

Sarah, Katie, and I went to visit several different ministries today in the townships of Winterveld, Mabopane, and Soshanguve. I drove, braving bumpy dirt roads and dodging taxis and wandering goats. (I'm continuing to develop ideas for a "Driving in Africa" video game. It'll be a big hit.)

This picture was taken at the Winterveld Community Project, which serves the community with home-based medical care, a day care center, youth programs, and a lot more as well. These are some of the kids in the day care center, waving goodbye.

This one's for Heather

Sorry it's blurry. This was taken hurriedly on our way to the hospital to see Carissa.

Busy Sunday

Sunday breakfast: freshly picked raspberries with milk & sugar. Sunday morning was peaceful and relaxing, sitting in the windowsill, eating raspberries, and reading. Things didn't stay peaceful, though.



While Carissa, Sarah, and Katie were at the hospital tending to Carissa's dislocated elbow, Tyler and I held things together at the farm. Between a flooded yard, escaped sheep, and dogs attacking the escaped sheep, it was quite the afternoon. Here are the sheep all over the patio outside the cottage.

View of the lake

Florence Guest Farm, Chrissiesmeer

We were told that the cottage we were staying in had 2 1/2 bedrooms. We wondered what that meant. Now, you can know, too. This is a half bedroom.























In the bedroom that Katie and I shared, there was a zebra skin rug on the floor. Each time I walked in the room, I got the impression that there was a zebra down on the floor with its head under the bed. See?


















Dinner outside under the stars: Tyler, Katie, Sarah, and Carissa. (Please take note of Carissa's left arm as it was before the fall from the horse and the really badly dislocated elbow and the surgery and the cast.)

Esoteric

I love this categorization.

Answered prayer

The end of this summer has been really really dry. We're moving out of the rainy season, and we need rain more than ever! Melissa wrote this on the chalkboard on the kitchen, and the next evening, it rained. Sarah added the thank you. =)



We still need rain, though!

Geckos are cool.

This is for you, Anne.

Rearranged room

Carissa and I got creative with our furniture. Now our room feels more like home and less like a guest room. =)

Fun with the big hand

Flowers

Daleen gave me flowers on Thursday. I love "just because" gifts. =) The heat has made them droop prematurely, but here's a picture of them from before that!























And a small housekeeping note: photos will be extremely erratically posted over the next couple weeks, due to computer charging issues. I'll be back with full battery power in two weeks, so stay tuned.

Wildlife, part two

Here's the thing. Last week, I finally lugged my suitcases out of my room and down to the loft in the main house for storage. Behind said suitcases, I found a rather large, flat spider. He scuttled away behind my bed. Hmm. Katie had a run-in with a similar spider and was told it was harmless, but that it ate mosquitoes. So, I cringed but left the guy where he was. In a couple days, he had migrated to behind my backpack, a place where I felt more comfortable for him to take up residence.

Well. Tonight as I was kicking off my shoes, I noticed my friend the spider hanging out beside my backpack. Here's a picture for you.















Then, I glanced at the other wall in that same corner. And then? Then came the revelation. There are two of them. Take a look at this guy hanging out next to my bed, by my shoes. It's backpack spider's slightly larger friend.















I can't quite believe I'm ok with this. They're both still there on their respective walls. And I'm going to bed.

We have a pool at Pangani.

And this is what it looks like when the pump's been broken for over a week.

Wildlife at Pangani

I think this is a centipede. If so, it's a HUGE centipede.

Next up in this series: the rather large but flat spider who lives behind my backpack.

Bohemian

Sarah and I decided to go hippie for the afternoon.

There actually was a point. We went to Marabastad, a largely Indian area of Pretoria, to visit a Hindu temple there. This was our attempt at semi-appropriate garb (trading our shorter skirts for long ones + head coverings).

Evening sky

Uthando

On Friday, Carissa, Sarah, and I did an assembly at Uthando Primary School in Soshanguve. This is the three of us with two of the teachers. Dorothy, next to Sarah, was our translator for the assembly.

Salon Pangani

Doug was looking for a haircut and Katie obliged. She's so professional.

Gigantic Mollusk

My foot is in the picture for perspective. I do realize that this is the second time I've posted a picture of my foot. I apologize sincerely if this bothers you.

Hairdo

This is me with Precious and Loveness. =) They had just done my hair.

Sarah and I tagged along with Doug today out to Soshanguve. We visited Uthando Primary School and hung out with the kids there before visiting a couple of families in the township. This picture was taken at Granny's, where the girls not only did my hair, but also taught us some dance moves. There was a birthday celebration for Doug (whose birthday was on Sunday) and we had a Bible study as well. I'll probably post more thoughts later...but this afternoon was a really great time of seeing some of the ways God's been working in this family. Good stuff. =)

I found a new dentist

Books!

My shelf for the year. I miss my books. But last week we received our books for the year (bottom shelf), so I don't feel quite so bereft anymore.

On the way to Checkers Hyper...

Thursday was my "I'm-proud-of-myself" driving day. I drove out to a farther-away grocery store, via this road, all by myself. Small note: I took this picture on a different day, while someone else was driving. Just FYI.

Edged out

On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon in Soshanguve, visiting a school there as well as visiting with some friends that Doug's made there over the past couple of years. These kids were great, even if I only managed to peek into the corner of the picture...

Driving!

Proof for the skeptics. Me driving on the right hand side of the car, left hand side of the road.

Sunday Braai

Jonas and Valrey

We spent today out in the township of Hamenskraal, painting the home of Jonas and Valrey, friends of Arthur and Melissa's.



Sarah and Tyler hard at work


Valrey and Jonas with their daughter Motlope, standing in front of the freshly painted house. I called it Cookie Monster blue. =)

Cricket match

On Friday night, we went to a cricket match in Jo'burg. South Africa vs. Pakistan, and we totally cleaned up. (Can I say "we" when I've only been living here for two weeks?)

I was told by several in our group that this hat suited me. I'm still not sure if that's a compliment or an insult.



Cricket fans...

Team building and...a dog

On Thursday, we spent most of the day at Kwalata, where we did a bunch of team building activities including a ropes course. It was really hot and really fun, too. In spite of the blisters I managed to acquire on my hands...ouch. This is Katie taking a picture of me taking a picture of Sarah being goofy.



After Kwalata, we headed for Pangani Pori, Daleen's parents' farm. (Pangani means "come together" and Pori means "in the bush.") We did a little game drive while we were there. This isn't the game we saw; this is the dog that followed us.