So I figured it was probably time for me to get back to it. Love you, Grandaddy!
Last week was an intense week for a lot of reasons. I spent most of it working on my sermon, which I stressed hard about. You see, yesterday was not only Father's Day, it was also Youth Day. People aren't as over the moon about it as I expected, but I guess we aren't really super into VJ Day, which is kind of how it was equated to me. Youth Day is a combination of a couple of things. It's celebrated on 16 June because that was when the Soweto Uprising started. In 1974, a mandate came down from the apartheid government that children needed to be doing half their school subjects in Afrikaans. The problem with this, particularly for black students, was that they didn't speak Afrikaans. Teachers complained that they would spend more time trying to understand the language and less on critical analysis of the subject. Afrikaans was the language of the oppressor, and this was a way of further oppressing black and colored people. So, students and teachers took to the streets in an organized protest. Basically, the situation devolved, and I say that because I am not knowledgeable enough to make a judgment call on who started what. But it became a day of mass casualties, and was the turning point in the anti-apartheid movement. It would still be another 14 years before apartheid was outlawed, but this is widely considered one of the most influential moments in the history of the movement. SO, that was what was on my heart as I was trying to write a sermon. I wrestled with the juxtaposition of my place as a foreigner and as a spiritual leader. I talked with a lot of people (a LOT) about what this day means and how my presence and words could make an impact (which could be either good, really good...or really, really bad). When it came right down to it, after many days of reading, researching, listening to music about apartheid, watching movies about apartheid, praying, talking, thinking...I finally sat down to write my sermon on Saturday and just left it all behind me. But the whole thing was unbelievably exhausting and I was grateful for a public holiday today, Youth Day.
Last Wednesday was my birthday and the pastor's daughter and I decided we were going up Table Mountain that day. I worked a few hours in the morning and when we were ready to go at 1:00, the clouds had gathered and there was 0% visibility on Table Mountain. So we went to a giraffe park instead. I climbed in the car with her and her boyfriend and we were off. Once there, we looked around and saw no other patrons. They said, "Is it open?" I said, "Look y'all!! A giraffe!!" So we went in.
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| We fed some very hungry ostriches... |
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| ...met an adorable meerkat... |
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| ...made a new friend... |
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| ...his name is Jeffrey... |
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| ...we're tight. |
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| Look Matt!! Giant rabbits!! |
Seriously y'all, it was quite a day. There were a lot of other animals that we hung out with, but I was so enamored with Jeffrey. He even came running to see us, which is how I know we're totally besties now. Plus, I'm pretty sure giraffe licks are lucky...so my camera is clearly about to get rich.
After that we went into Cape Town to see Green Point Gardens. The boyfriend is a landscape architect/horticulturalist/something or other and had a lot to do with the design and implementation of this garden. He showed me around and told me the names of a lot of the plants. I listened, I swear I did, but this playground was way more enticing and I couldn't keep focus for very long.
Once the sun went down, we headed over to The Waterfront, where a bunch of the youth leaders met us for my birthday dinner. These people are awesome. They've known me for three weeks and I had ten people show up for my birthday dinner. And they really got a kick out of me when the server brought my birthday "cake" (it was glorified ice cream) with sparklers in it and I clapped and grinned from ear to ear like a giddy school girl. Then I drank alcohol. Seriously, no one here quite knows what to do with me. I guess if we're being honest, no one in America knows what to do with me either.
Friday night was my night to do the youth lesson. So, of course, I started with energizers. At the end of the night, when we were talking about the retreat we're going on in a few weeks, one of the girls asked if there would be energizers. I may bring her home with me. One guy, who was supposed to be going to a braai (spelled it right this time) showed up for half an hour simply because I had talked up the energizers so much. It was a blast. A very sweaty blast. Oh, and the lesson went well too.
I said earlier that today was a public holiday because of Youth Day. It was also GORGEOUS. I decided to do Table Mountain today, and tried to get Princeton guy to go with me. But he was busy and rather than calling around to try and find a buddy, I decided to go on my own. Piet and Moira lent me their buckey (again, truck) and I hit the road. When I was almost to Cape Town, a sign popped up saying the N1 (the national road, like the interstate) was closed due to an accident and to find an alternate route.
"Alternate route? But I planned this route. I don't know an alternate route. I'm pretty sure there's only ONE way to get to Table Mountain and I need to go that way."
Fortunately for me, because of a series of car accidents in college which subsequently taught me to be hyper-aware of my surroundings when I'm driving, I had been reading the road signs. The pastor's daughter had told me I needed to go to Kirstenbosch (the botanical gardens) so when I saw the signs for Kirstenbosh, I headed that direction. I wound up on the other side of the mountain from where I needed to be, which was really stressing me out, but I went with it. The gardens were beautiful...
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| The entrance to Kirstenbosh... |
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| ...where there's an enchanted forest... |
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| ...that I climbed a tree in. |
I know I work best in community. That goes for sight seeing as well. I would have enjoyed it so much more if I weren't alone. My victory, however, was finding my way to Table Mountain from Kirstenbosch on my own. In fact, the most exhilarating part of today was driving myself around Cape Town. But once I got to Table Mountain, I didn't want to go up alone. I decided, since I know myself so well, that it was okay to have been bored at the botanical gardens because I don't really care about gardens all that much anyway. But since I am so excited about Table Mountain and Robben Island, I'm definitely not doing them alone. That means, once again, I did not make it up the mountain today. Did I tell y'all about my dream? Maybe. Anyway, I've now dreamed twice that I came home without going up the mountain. And every time the plan to go get squashed and I get a little closer to going home, I'm actually afraid that it might come true. I guess I'll just have to come back. *le sigh*
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