APU Blogs

So a little catch up with what’s been going on here the past few weeks…

1.) Classes are in full swing, we’re actually in the midst of “midterms” for our current classes. I love art; we’ve been learning some art history from all over the world as well as specific South African stuff. Last week we hiked up the Drakensburg Mountains to see 2000+ year old rock art, painted by the San people. It was such an unbelievable experience. The hike was really physically challenging for most of us and was 3 hours round trip.

Life & Teachings of Jesus is also really amazing. I feel like I’m encountering Jesus in an entirely new way. It could be that I’m reading the Gospels now from a changed heart and mindset than I had the last time I read them. It’s really cool and I am being transformed every second just by the new things (which are actually not new at all…) that I am learning from God about how to live a life of service and genuine love for all people-especially the ones who seem the hardest to love and least accessible. Living a life following Jesus has never seemed this real and tangible. It makes me wonder how many other people are living as I have been, completely oblivious to what Jesus really came to earth for, what he really cared about, and deep his love really is. Maybe I was just way more ignorant than the rest of the population, but I am grateful for God’s mercy and patience in my slow and gradual learning process, which I’m sure, is never ending. 

2.) There is a “swimming hole” on campus, which is almost entirely natural. It has been filled with mud and muck (a couple of tons, according to staff here), not really fitting for a swimming area. Once we got a clear, warm day last week, most of the guys in our group went down and started shoveling and shaping the area. It’s looking really good, I can’t wait to use it! It smelled pretty bad down there, as mud sometimes does. But it’s so worth it!
 

3.) The Christmas spirit is creeping upon us here…yes it is the 15^th of October. But the weather is dark and gloomy for the most part, the rain keeps us indoors, and frankly I think that listening to Christmas music is a coping mechanism we’re all using to combat the homesickness we’ve all not really realized yet. Also that Christmas time is the time we’ll be home again, so we’re starting it now. South Africans don’t celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving (oddly, some Americans don’t understand the latter), but we are going to anyways. 

4.) For the first 6 weeks or so, most of our group spent our downtime watching seasons 2 and 3 of The Office. Now we’ve all finished and are really jealous of all of you at home who are watching season 4. We’ve all watched each others’ movies that we brought, and the movie selection here is, well, different. This campus is a little bit of a drive from any mall or outside stuff to do, so we’re trying to get creative for entertainment, and it’s very fun. Pranks are quickly unfolding as amusement…

Another fun thing: Eric wrote a play, held auditions this weekend, and is now in the process of producing it. Everyone is pretty stoked about it, it should be great! My role: hair and make-up.

This weekend we all went to Durban (big beach town) and had lunch, watched some surfing, and then I went to a Sharks vs. Lions rugby game with a group while the other group went shopping at the markets I think. There was this insanely fanatic lady in front of us rooting for the Sharks, and her husband was a Lions fan, rubbing it in her face that they were winning. She was livid, and he was definitely going to be in the dog-house for awhile. That was a great show.

So that’s it for now, I’m off to go learn to speak some more Zulu!

Hambani Kahle! (I think that’s Zulu for goodbye…)