December 10: Winter Dream

Last year after ASHE in Las Vegas I experienced my first cup of this deliciousness.  It's a little piece of heaven in a cup.  Yesterday, this package arrived in the mail and today I had my first cup of goodness.  Thank you Kristin for this wonderful treat!

October 23: Campus Ghost Tour

I've been trying to go on the campus ghost tour for FOUR years.  Yep, Mallory and I tried to go our first year, but it was canceled because of a light drizzle.  The second year, we forgot.  Last year, we had conflicts.  So this year, I was determined to go.  AND I did, only, because I was running late and Tiffanie and I wanted to stop at Jittery Joes first, we missed going with the group Mallory was with. Regardless, Tiffanie, Laura, and went from station to station around north campus hearing stories of confederate soldiers, students, and others who had met untimely deaths (for one reason or another).  The history was fun, and the latte kept me warm as we roamed.  

Pastor Wayne

When we lived in Stockton, we went to a church of the Nazarene that was lead by pastor Wayne.  I grew up in that church.  I don't keep in contact with many of my friends from my childhood, but there are some who I am 'friends' with on facebook.

Anyway, last night as I tossed and turned and prayed for sleep, I got a text from my sister that pastor Wayne had gone missing.  Apparently he and some others were out in the woods, they each went out to scout, and Wayne never came back.  When it got dark, they alerted the sherif, and by evening they were sending out search parties.

Since I was awake, I used that opportunity to pray.

I don't know when I feel asleep but it was somewhere in the midst of prayer.  I slept deeply.  When I awoke, I almost immediately checked facebook. 

He was found.

At 1:45am, the search and rescue found him with a sprained ankle sitting on a slab of granite rock.  I'm guessing it wasn't intentionally poetic, but how iconic that Jesus is our rock and foundation.

And maybe, just maybe I was restless last night so that I could join with other saints in prayers.

Most Popular Post

I've been blogging for over 5 years.  I mainly use my blog as a journal of sorts and to keep my family and friends updated on my life.  However, every now and then a random stranger will appear on my blog.

Why, you ask?!

Well, many of these lucky individuals most likely put "plopping before and after" into a google search where my blog post appears to be the fifth link.

Yes friends, my plopping post has been viewed 724 times.

But that's not my most popular blog post.  What?!  Any guesses?

My most popular blog post was the Jugular of the Jabberwocky coming in at 1,993 views.  Ridiculous.   Although my total blog count is at 13,861 that single post still accounts for the most hits to my blog, and about 15% of my views.  Just thought you should know.

Last Week in South Africa! :/

The last week was filled with lots of wonderful moments and it was the first time in weeks that all 143 students were back together!

Gerard's house where we had class

Monday: 

After class the academic staff went to the Mount Nelson hotel for High Tea! What a wonderful time!

 

Lori, me, and Mallory enjoying our tea and delicious treats (sweet and savory)

Our terrace overlooked the fountain and the grounds

Mallory taking a dive in the fountain

I became the holder of stuff :)

The academic staff (& Lori who we were happy to have!)

The Mount Nelson (from the backside)

The grounds were incredible.

After dinner I met up with some students at Bombay Bicycle. It's a fun restaurant that specializes both in ambiance and local South African cuisine.

Claire, Karishma, Michelle, and me

The chairs were swings hung from the ceiling!

So fun!

Although we didn't sit here for dinner; we got to snap a picture and sit as we waited for our taxi!

The taxi back was packed (21 people!) yikes! But it meant a cheap fare!

Wednesday: Final township celebration

All 143 students and staff headed back to the township for a final celebration. There were performances by both the global lead(ers) and the people from Sun City.  We also had a chance to visit with our family one last time. Each group was partnered with a soup mom or other family during our week.  Ms. Veronica and her family was our South African family for the week.

Emma, Kelly, Emily, Ms. Veronica, Anna Claire, me, and Elena

So sad about the shadow on Samatha's face. These are two of the young women I connected with throughout the week.  Baby Kelly is named after a former Global Leader.  Kaylee and Samantha are both extremely smart and I hope the best for them in their futures!

Thursday:

As we encouraged the students to think more about their transition back home, we did a poverty simulation to help them better understand poverty in the US. 

Friday: 

The reading rebels came and visited with us during class. The program (in Sun City) is supported by Global Lead. It targets students who are in gangs/fighting and hopes to turn them into productive members of society by giving them money in exchange for reading a book a month.  That evening I did some shopping and had dinner at the V&A waterfront.

Last amazing sunset

Friday night was then spent grading blue books!

Saturday: Old Biscuit Mill

Back to Old Biscuit Mill! Delicious latte!

If I haven't talked about the Chocolatire and the delectable homemade chocolate ice cream...there are no words for JUST how good it is! They would even pour chocolate shell on top. Yumm.

Claire, Haley, and me 

I talked everyone into ice cream. They didn't regret their decisions!

I was sad to say goodbye to Old Biscuit Mill, however, I'm sure all the delicious treats contributed to bit of extra weight I brought back with me from Cape Town ;)

The Crepe Man

Henry runs both the Crepe and waffle (some with ice cream) stations at the Old Biscuit Mill.  Last year, he wanted to thank Global Lead for all of their support/business during our time in Cape Town that he invited a group over to his house for dinner.  This year he did the same for the Global Lead team, academics, and the community group leaders (a smaller group than the 153).  It was a lovely evening visiting, eating all sorts of goodies, and hanging out with the student leaders.

On the way up to the 15th floor, the academic staff (sans Tiffany and I) got stuck in the elevator.

Ish (the man in charge of all our transportation & a fantastic individual) trying to help

Tillman, one of the students, had hurt her leg and with the elevator out, Ish and Brandon took turns carrying her up the stairs!  What troopers!

 The view from Henry's flat

 The Global Lead & Academic staff!

 Christina, Chase, and Lori on the balcony enjoying wine and goodies

It was a lovely evening, thanks to Henry for opening up his home!

Safari!

Since the academic staff was unable to go on the Garden Route, I knew I needed to find my own way to see some animals.  In part, because I love animals, and in part because I knew EVERYONE would ask me about what kinds I saw while in Africa.

It was a gorgeous, but chilly chilly day!

When we arrived then had tea, coffee, and cookies.  Since we hadn't had breakfast the lady had the kitchen whip up some breakfast sandwiches for us...it was so nice of them! Our tummy's were full and happy as we headed for the truck!

 Did I mention it was chilly?! They gave us fleece ponchos.

Our tour guide was fantastic. He knew so much about the vegetation, animals, birds, and anything else we had questions about!

 Lions, tigers, and bears...or just lions (three of them), two females and one male.

 Zebras!

 Ostriches!

 And giraffes!

The tour guide let us get out of the truck when we were near the giraffes. He told us to walk in a tight line, single file. He was trying to get us as close as possible to the giraffes. Unfortunately, some people didn't follow directions and we didn't get as close as we probably could have. Nonetheless, it was amazing!

 Click the picture to see the giraffe

 Christina posing next to the tree the giraffes eat. Check out those thorns! Ouch!

They have a cheetah rehabilitation program where they train the top male & female to run and hunt. They then release the animals into the reserve.  If they do well there, they release them into the wild.

 Beautiful animals.

 

After the safari they fed us lunch with all sorts of deliciousness.

 Yumm

 What a wonderful day!

One thing I've failed to mention thus far was how we got ourselves to Inverdoorn. The reserve is located about 2.5-3 hours away from Cape Town and we had some options in getting there.  The reserve offered a transportation vehicle, however, it cost about $160 per person. We did some research and decided we could get it cheaper if we rented a car. So on Friday night, Tiffany and I headed to the airport to pick up a rental car.  

Yep, that's me, driving on the right side of the car, and the left side of the road.

The drive was relatively uneventful and it was surprisingly easier to drive on the left than I thought it would be. There was only one time I thought about taking a free right from a one way road into oncoming traffic ;)  I was surprised how quickly I adjusted.

On the way back from the reserve, we used the TomTom for directions (instead of the Inverdoorn ones).  Well, TomTom decided to take us around the mountain instead of through it.  We saw some beautiful countryside, however, the mountainous terrain was a bit nerve wracking at times.

 These one lane passing roads were also a bit unsettling.

The trip was an adventure and I was grateful that we survived (didn't get eaten by lions or fall off the side of the mountain) and grateful for the company; fun to experience it with Christina & Tiffany!