Joyfilled Moments

Because the concern of my readers (mostly of the Asheville variety), I decided to write a blog that only focuses on the things that have brought me joy here. Since everything is still relatively new (and will be for a long time), it’s really easy to focus on the negative, especially when some days (mostly weekends) are unbelievably hard. So here are some things from this week that have been awesome.

Tala Game Reserve :

After this ridiculous weekend, Phil and Christine took us to the Tala Game Reserve near Durban for a day of sun, food, debriefing and crazy wild animals. It was unbelievable.

Well, first of all let me explain something. Before this whole experience the five of us were excitingly talking about all the cool things we were going to see. And our dear, low-German speaking teammate (Gabby) accidently called the rhinoceros “rhinosaurs.” So going into this day we kept saying “rhinosaurs” typically followed by a “rawr.” Awesome.

Anyway, at Tala we had a great braai (a cookout, South African style) complete with “American” potato salad (which was probably my favorite part). Plus, we had some meaningful conversation. So win-win (win) all around. I really appreciate Phil and Christine’s input and guidance as we try to process everything that’s been happening lately.

After lunch, we headed out into the cars for some sightseeing. Amazing! Ostriches, wildebeest, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, and different varieties of deer looking creatures (all of which I forget the names) were literally just a few feet from our car. As the giraffes chomped on leaves right outside of the car window, I had this great sense of “I can’t believe I get to live this life.” Usually, that is not my mindset in this country – unless of course I am seeing the wildlife here (which doesn’t happen very often). Good moment.

Jumping pictures:

Apparently taking jumping pictures is what team South Africa does (thanks to my influence). Oh man. The pictures turn out ridiculous. Every time we look at them, I end up crying because I am laughing so hard.

Evening Team Times

After a long day, whether it’s good or bad, probably the best part of my day is when my team settles in the living (usually with some type of dessert and hot beverages) to watch episodes of The Office or Third Watch. It’s so chill. Ah, wonderful.

Pick n’ Pay:

This past Tuesday we went to the Pick n’ Pay (which is one of the local grocery stores that we go to every other day). Why? Because we actually had money in our bank account. OH MY GOODNESS! Connie and I bought more food then we carry. So we ended up calling Kyle and had him “practice” his driving by coming to the store to pick us up. (We’re not supposed to use the car except for work or long trips. But it was actually helpful for him to practice). When we unpacked the food, the fridge was beautifully full. Awesome.

Driving: South African style

Speaking of driving, Phil took me out driving today for the first time. Okay so I don’t really enjoy driving in the States. Don’t get me wrong, it can be very liberating to drive 8 hours with no one except the open road and a loud stereo, but it’s never anything I’m ever real pumped to do. Plus here they drive on the other side of the road, the other side of the car, and its shift. All those things freak me out. But actually I was impressed with myself. I didn’t stall too many times and when we drove around the church block I only stalled once and did not go on the wrong side of the road. But wow, was I sure sweaty by the time we got back. It’s going to take me a long time before I feel comfortable behind the wheel. But I am excited be learning something new.

Granola

Connie and I decided to make granola (since we had money to buy the rest of the ingredients that we needed). Yum. Yum. It turned out amazing. But the sad news is that food doesn’t last very long in our house. It will be completely gone by tomorrow. I like to eat heaps of it on ice cream. (Someone from church gave us a big tub of it, it’s pretty mediocre but still exciting that ice cream has graced out freezer with its presence.

Bananagrams

I have this sweet scrabble-type game called Bananagrams (which is basically speed scrabble). Connie, Tim and I played it again tonight. I am not very good but I have great aspirations to be. (I believe that if I am good at scrabble then I would become a better speller. So far, no luck). My aim is to not use small words. Instead they have to have at least 5 letters in them. I lose a lot. But it’s really fun.

Supper time

Okay, so if suppertime would fight with evening/dessert time, I am not sure who would come out the champion. Eating meals together as a team has been a definite highlight. It especially helps if we all have had a pretty good day. Tonight at supper was especially humorous for some reason.

KFC

This is random there is this giant KFC bucket (you know, the kind they use on top of the actual restaurants) on BCI’s property. After we discovered it, it was only a matter of time before pictures were going to be taken with it. Today it finally happened. We took this one especially that is especially out of control. I was trying to jump on to the bucket and somehow ended flat on my face. It’s great. Sometimes I just think of this picture and start laughing.

Okay, so those are some of the good moments of the week. Actually, I am thankful that I didn’t have to work very hard to find them.