Good Presbyterian Fitness Junkie

It's not raining anymore.  It's also not sunny.  I'm not exactly sure what this is called.  They tell me it's the tail end of fall.  I don't believe them because all the trees are still green, but the sky is gray.  It's almost like a Georgia summer has been mixed with a Seattle winter (ask me how many times I've been to Seattle).

Today was epic by any good Presbyterian fitness junkie's standards.  Yes, you read that right.  I just referred to myself as a good Presbyterian fitness junkie.  Here's why:

If you're following along on the Facebook, or if you read my post from yesterday, you'll know that I have been researching energizers to do with the youth here at Durbanville Presbyterian.  Energizers are unbelievably Presbyterian, so for those of you who don't know, see an old favorite of mine here.  That's right my friends, those crazy kids are doing Istanbul (a classic) in the barn at Montreat.  Other favorites include Ants Marching, Revolution, Star Trekkin', Firework, and 500 Miles.  After doing all my research yesterday, and with a little help from fabulous Matt in America, I started teaching (and re-teaching) these wonders of humanity to myself.  A new favorite, Wavin' Flag, was on the top of my list.  I went to iTunes to download it and could not for the life of me find the right version.  So then I started doing a little research on the song itself.  As I was typing, Google autopopulated with something about "World Cup 2010."  I thought that was interesting, so I clicked on it.  The official video comes up and I see Nelson Mandela.  "Holy crap, is this actually happening???"  It was.  Wavin' Flag, my number one song on the list of energizers to teach the youth was THE official song of the WORLD CUP in SOUTH AFRICA in 2010.  I really want to take credit for being super awesome at this job, but I'm pretty sure that was a God moment I had.  I ran out of my office, into the pastor's office, practically bursting with excitement.  I told him what I had just discovered (I know, you probably all already knew it was the official song of the World Cup, but give me a break, I've been living in bubbles for years).  He wasn't nearly as excited as I was, but he smiled, chuckled and said the kids would love it.  So, without further ado, here it is...my win for today.

This evening, I spent a solid hour in front of the mirror doing this dance.  It was a good night.  Also, I miss energizers.  Patrick, if you're reading this, I'm definitely in to be a small group leader at Montreat next year.  In fact, I'll do it every year from now to infinity if it means energizers.  (This could very easily be one of the reasons people hate me.  I would do energizers at 7 AM.)

Up next was a trip to the gym.  That's right, I went to the gym.  We have to do a learning covenant, in which we set goals, say how we're going to achieve them, and how they'll be measured.  In mine, goal number five was self-care.  So, I knocked off early (don't worry, I'll work enough evenings and weekends to cover the half hour I didn't spend in the office today) and got my butt over to the gym, where I signed up for two months.  Normally I would run outside, but you just never know what the weather is going to be like here, and it's cold.  So, for the first time in my life, I have a gym membership card.  In South Africa.

After my trip to the gym, I went over to a church member's house for dinner.  And by "went" I mean I drove myself there.  And by "drove myself there" I mean I went to exactly the wrong place and then drove around for twenty minutes trying to find the right place.  Eventually the pastor called me, because the member had gotten worried when I didn't show up and called the pastor's daughter, who called the pastor, who called me.  Fortunately, I got my phone and phone number today, so he was able to get in touch with me.  He directed me to the house.  I don't know what my plan was going to be, but I didn't think to call him.  I was just going to drive around for a while I guess.  But I made it eventually and had a delicious South African dinner.  It was babotie (pronounced bab-wa-tie) over yellow rice with raisins (I've never once considered putting raisins in yellow rice, but it worked).  The babotie was minced meat (ground beef) with egg and curry.  It's a "traditional" South African dish, developed by the Dutch and Malay settlers.  So I'm not really sure what the definition of traditional is, but I'm going with it.  It was delicious and I ate every bite.

Then they gave me apple pie a la mode for dessert.  I didn't take a picture of it because you know what that looks like.