Update 2/25

Classes

Things have gotten really busy here in South Africa, classes have picked up and I have been spending most nights working on homework. It has been a struggle balancing everything I have here but also trying to stay up with people back home. It is a balance that I am still working on but other than that I can’t complain. The classes are very different than George Fox but still challenging. I really appreciate the fact that we have so much diversity in one classroom. We have black, white, and coloured South Africans, Americans, and Europeans. It tends to result in very interesting conversations and I believe I have such a wider picture of how people look at the world because of it.

Internships

I am now working at two different schools doing two different things. On Thursday I am still a counselor at Constantia Primary School and on Friday I am helping a women who does visual motor integration (VMI) at Lourier Primary School. They are both disadvantaged schools and even though I am doing very different work at both I am enjoying them. Thursday is definitely very stretching and more difficult but I think it is a challenge that will be good for me. I am basically on my own doing counseling and I get to organize it however I want, which is nice but a lot of pressure as well. I am currently seeing four boys of different ages and we will see if I see anymore during my time there. The VMI that I am doing at Lourier is way more fun and just working on motor skills with 1^st and 2^nd graders. It is fast paced and instead of having to organize it I am just an assistant, so that has been nice. They are very different but I think they will balance each other out.

Friends, Host Family, and Pieter

I have made some really good friends here and I feel really blessed to be surrounded by such great people. I absolutely love my host family and have created a great relationship with them. I have become good friends with my host sister Robyn Lee and really enjoy spending time with her. My fellow American roommate Monique and I have become good friends as well and really appreciate her dry sense of humor. And things with Pieter are great and I am so thankful for everything he does for me on a daily basis. He has been super supportive of me on the days when my internship has been tough and brings a smile to my face on a daily basis. I have been spending the weekends at his parents house with him and have enjoyed getting to know his family and friends.

Life in Africa

I have become surprisingly comfortable in this country. I feel like I sometimes have to remind myself how far I am from home because it just feels normal to be here now. There are definitely still the “only in Africa” moments but I have fallen into the routine of life here. It is a beautiful place and full of beautiful people as well. It is still a very broken society from the system that apartheid put in place but I have enjoyed learning and being with these people. I have been bad about taking photos recently but I will try to take more and post them soon!