Road Tripping

We have eleven people from America visiting here for the next couple weeks on a "Road Trip." Today I joined them for part of their first visit to Soshanguve. One of the places we went this morning was a day care center, where we had fun hanging out with the kids (who, as usual, greeted us with shouts of "makua!" = "white people!").


















Sign outside the day care center


















Connie entertains the kids with bubbles























Katie plays with a very smiley little girl

Happy Birthday

These pictures weren't taken by me and they weren't taken in South Africa. But I just have to post a couple pictures of my new nephew who I won't get to meet until November...





































Jesse Matthew
born August 20, 2007, 1:09pm
9lbs. 3 oz., 22 in.

I'm sick.

Here's a look at what's currently on my nightstand. And I don't mean for reading purposes.



Not pictured: my malaria pills.

Updated to say that you can now add to the above: cough syrup and three different types of colorful pills which I am taking thrice daily. I still don't want to move from my bed if I can help it.

More walking on the beach

Here are various shots of us girls walking on the beach on a very windy day. Sadly, Tyler is missing from this montage. I have no pictures of Tyler from this trip, but I swear he was there; he gave me his cold.

Lots of walking

It felt like we walked halfway across Mozambique via beach on this day. At least we had an awesome lunch at this cafe. On the complete opposite side of the bay from where we stayed...























Here's a bonus shot of one of the many, many crabs that freaked Carissa out.

Beach

There were several dogs who hung out around the beach lodge where we were staying. This one was just relaxing in the shade, taking in the view...






















Katie and I got caught up in collecting shells. Katie: "I'm going to be one of those old women who decorates her bathroom in shells!"

















Lunch at Dino's--our closest lunch spot was 1 km down the beach. We walked down that beach far too many times. I'm really not sure about my hair in this picture.

Accommodations

I'm posting this photo as an illustration of exactly how long it took us to get to where we were staying in Mozambique. This is pretty much what our first view of the Mango Beach Lodge looked like...when we arrived at 10:30pm after having left Pretoria at 6:00am.

















Some better views of our accommodations:


















I stayed in Hut #1...
























Have you ever slept under a mosquito net? It's kind of annoying.


















The view from my bed...sans mosquito net.

This isn't a photo

This is, instead, a post to say that I'm leaving for Mozambique early tomorrow and will be back on Friday. So don't expect any photos this week. I'll be staying in a "rustic bush hut" on the beach and frolicking in the Indian Ocean. Back-dated photos will be unashamedly posted upon my return. Have fun! I know I will...

Carissa says hello

This isn't Sarah attacking Carissa as she sleeps. She's administering arm exercises. Please note that Carissa is happily waving.

InnerChange

Today I spent the day out in Soshanguve with the InnerChange team, hanging out at Granny's house and Emily's house, visiting various friends and neighbors, learning more about the history of Sosh, and concluding the day with dinner at Granny's house. I had to say goodbyes to the team as they'll be out in Sosh until Wednesday...and I leave for Mozambique on Monday for a week off.


Hanging out in front of Granny's. I'm not sure about my expression here...but I love the light in this photo.


"Today I am Nanny Emily." Emily with Luc & Petunia's daughter Bahati. (And a crazed-looking Tyler in the background.)


Carissa with Annie, one of the InnerChange team members, who's visiting us from London.






















"Pizza Imonati." Granny sang her pizza song for the camera. Please note how she's playing air guitar...

Women's Day

Today is Women's Day, which is a public holiday here in South Africa. Sarah and I planned to attend a celebration at Potter's House, but we were late and missed it. We still got to hang out with some of the women...





Oh, and you might like to note from that last picture that I got a haircut last week...

Kitty

Sarah and the family cat at Granny's. Its name is Kitty.

No eating...where?

I'm not sure why anyone would want to eat in the toilets. But I guess it's a problem...

Protea Hotel

Sarah and I are beginning the process of interviewing women for our ministry project, and today we did an interview with a woman from Potter's House. We took her for lunch at a nearby hotel, sat at tables under umbrellas, and heard about her life, her struggles, and her dreams for the future.

Sharing life

Sarah and I gave Granny's family some "homework" last week. We're going to take time on Friday to share more about our lives with each other. To help do this we asked them to make a life timeline showing important/significant events, using pictures (something that NC had all of us do at the beginning of the year). Granny, Annah, and Sophia had already finished theirs and were so excited to show them to us. I'm excited to hear each of them share their timelines on Friday!

Downtown Monday

Tripping is not allowed at this corner.



Dinner at Potter's House...Sarah and I always compete to see who can find the smaller of the GIGANTIC portions of pap (kind of like really thick grits--it's a staple food here).

Lobola

Today I went out to Soshanguve with Sarah and Doug for what we thought was going to be a wedding for Champagne (one of Granny's granddaughters) and her boyfriend July. We had misunderstood, and instead of a wedding, today was the lobola negotiation. Lobola is like a dowry--it's the money that a man or his family must pay to the prospective bride's family. We were told that July's family would be arriving at Granny's just before sunrise, but we opted to go ahead and come a bit late...we arrived at 9:30 instead of 6:00am. And, the family had not yet arrived. There was some miscommunication between the families, so as things turned out, July's family still hadn't arrived by the time we left just after 2:00pm. But we had a great time hanging out with the family, hearing more about their cultural traditions, and even seeing Granny kill two chickens for the meal. You might not want to look at the last of these photos if that last thing on the list bothers you...

Me with Champagne's daughter, Sofatso


















Laundry on the fence...and Doug's car. The boys had fun washing the car while we hung out with the family.


















And...not for the faint of heart...the freshly decapitated chicken.

Building progress...and another birthday

Ma Ntabiseng's house is almost done!


















The team has been hard at work:























And, we celebrated yet another birthday today: Lungile turned three. =)


















I'll close with a beautiful African sunset:

Sarah's Birthday

We celebrated Sarah's birthday with a morning hike to Wonderboom Fort, where we had a picnic of birthday cookies, ginger beer, and dry lemon.























































And...we also celebrated by going to a concert at the Blues Room in Jo'burg...

Building and Birthday

We have a team here from California who is building a house for Granny's next door neighbor, Ma Ntabiseng. I got to hang out with them today and see the progress being made...as well as pitch in doing fun things like moving bricks. Here's Megan hard at work with the mortar, while Sarah looks on.



Back at Pangani tonight, we celebrated Carissa's birthday. Here she is, sitting in her favorite spot in the whole house. She's laughing over the calendar we made her, with pictures of each one of us wearing the arm brace she had to wear after her horse-riding injury back in March!

Han-Han

This is me with Hannah! Hannah was in Jo'burg with Scripture Union, and she joined us here for a week during the Road Trip in May/June...when she shared my room. =) She came back to Pangani for a too-short overnight visit last week, and she's off home to Ireland soon!

Banyana Banyana

"Banyana banyana" means "ladies...ladies." Today we had a ladies-only outing with some of the women from Granny's family. We've been talking for a while about doing this, and when we planned it for today, I said "It can be for my dad's birthday!" We did all say happy birthday for him, over our snacks mid-afternoon. =)

We grilled chicken and "blankets of meat" (according to Emily) and had far too much to eat for our picnic lunch. Then we played on the playground. Much fun was had by all!


Group picture on a tractor! L to R: Emily, Sophia, Dikeledi, Anna, Sarah, me, Christinah. (I apparently found something really funny at the point this picture was taken.)


Anna, Emily, and Pretty on the swings


Christinah above Sarah, Emily, and me...another tractor pose

Phinda!

Last year, when I came to South Africa on a 2-week Road Trip, I met both Katie (from Visalia, CA) and Phinda (from Soweto, South Africa). We were the only Road Trippers NOT from Point Loma Nazarene. =) Katie is one of my fellow apprentices this year, and Phinda is thinking about being part of the NC apprenticeship next year. This morning, Arthur and Katie and I drove to Jo'burg to meet Phinda, catch up, and talk a bit about NC. It was so good to see her again!

Happy Fourth of July

We marked the (wintry, rainy) day with ice cream and sparklers at the Stewart home.