"Our house, in the middle of the street! Our house!"

The weather turned and we've had two beautiful days to build! And build we did! Friday morning we arrived on site eager and bubbling with excitement to finally begin this project. Brick lines were formed (aka people standing an arms length away from each other throwing bricks as an efficient way to move them), mixing of duggar began (2 parts sand, 1 part cement and lots of water = heavy, messy cement-like mix to adhere the bricks!), and various other tasks around the site - including being jungle gyms for the many gathered children. My friend Lizaan (a current student at the University of Stellenbosch) and I took the task of painting the door and window frames with linseed oil to ensure that they last for generations.

Brick by brick the house began to form and soon our lonely cement slab had four walls and some windows set in! We built 8 bricks high and then called it a day as it had to dry before we could build more on top. There are so many children here and they love playing with us, observing our building and running rampant as children do.

We arrived back at Nerina and dashed to the showers wiping away a good six hours of sweat and laughter from the build site. Dinner that evening was served in downtown Stellenbosch at Arizona Spur which reminded me of a mix between TGIFriday's and Denny's. I enjoyed a hamburger and chocolate milkshake almost just like home, South African style definitely adds their own unique tastes and spices! Exhausted from the day we turned in early.

Saturday morning came too soon and we were back at the site passing bricks again, mixing duggar and filling in holes in the bricks for a finished shine. The builders are South Africans that live in the township and are so skilled and fast! The walls were soon finished and all windows and door set, we began bending and setting the hoopbines (metal rod-like things to help support the tresses) in the top when time ran out. All in all, it's a fabulous feeling to step back, shake the dust from our gloves and see the makings of this beautiful house. Our home owner, Zaminlonghusi (sp?), was able to join us because he wasn't working. The joy and twinkling in his eyes was enough to change anyones world and put a smile on your face. You could tell with every shovelful his future was changing, his heavy shoulders lifting with the growing hope of a new beginning.

It is also amazing to be hosted by the woman around our house - they cook for us and sustain us as we build away. And each day there's a tea time! Greatest thing ever, the US so badly needs tea time it's not even funny. They've made us faetcoks (fat cakes) which are similar to doughnuts, but not quite as sweet and homemade bread with jam which is just delicious (and instant coffee is a huge hit over here, I'm not gonna lie, I really appreciate our ground coffee variety back home!!) The lunches are even better: Friday was this amazing curry-like sauce (not as spicy) over rice with chicken and pumpkin. Honestly melted in my mouth, the foreign flavors dancing and filling our souls with renewed energy. Saturday they made this traditional corn and bean dish, but the corn was different than U.S. corn - it reminded me of the texture of chickpeas mixed in with different types of beans and some kind of sauce and a chicken sausage. YUM, I tell ya what, YUM! So - our bellies always full of South African treats and our eyes swimming with the people, cultures, experiences, beauty. It's overwhelming and amazing all at once that I have to pause sometimes and look at the soil my feet stand on and say, "I'm in South Africa! I'm on an entirely different continent!"

Back at Nerina and after dinner, we proceeded to hold a make-shift Talent Show with our house groups, I ended up singing "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night with Lizaan and Pierre. A night full of laughter.

Today is our "rest" day which means we're trying to accomplish all of our schoolwork along with some time to hang out with new South African friends and explore Stellenbosch. Things are great, life is amazing and abundant. Hope all is the same wherever you are.

Rain, Rain Go Away!!

Another rainy day in Stellenbosch...which meant we weren't able to get anywhere with building which is frustrating, but tomorrow is looking better so we are all ready to get 3 days worth of work done tomorrow! Hoorah!

However, while in Mfuleni we played with all the neighborhood children and took time to get to know each other. The children are all so precious and wonderful, they are fascinated by our cameras so we taught them how to take pictures and their huge smiles and giggles from taking pictures of one another and looking at themselves was adorable. Some of the community mothers from the township who live next door to where we are building cooked us the most delicious lunch - it was a vegetable and meat stew with homemade bread that just melted in your mouth! Everything is so hearty here...full of robust and definitely filling. I love getting to be a part of their community - they are all so wonderful and their strength astounds me, so resilient. No matter their conditions they are able to share and pour out love, we are so blessed to be with them.

To combat the rain our afternoon activity included touring some of the local vineyards in Stellenbosch. South Africa is actually the second leading exporter in wine! Something I never would have guessed. The vineyards were breathtaking - grape vines crawling up the hill sides, the architecture of the buildings to accommodate visitors and touring the wine cellars was an amazing experience. The beauty here is so contrasting - I've found so much beauty in the townships - people, building projects, glimpses of endurance, even their make-shift homes are ingenious, though hardly should be deemed livable and definitely not deserved. But they still hold a unique beauty - that of someones story. Behind those shacks are beautiful stories of coming together as a community and creating hope and support surrounding by tin and leaking roofs. Then the beauty of the country, green hills with rocky mountains engulfed in mist rise on all sides. The architecture and buildings are lovely and have such an elegant ambiance.

I met a girl who lives in South Africa that traveled to Colorado and worked there for awhile at the ski lifts! She told me she'd been in Denver, Boulder, Breckenridge and Frisco...all my favorite places! It's amazing how the South African students know SO much about us - they rival us in American trivia! Plus they are all bi-lingual speaking English and Afrikaans with such ease. It's wonderful making friends from around the world.

Tonight will be devoted to homework and paper writing as we've all fallen behind on our classwork with the excitement of Habitat. Hopefully tomorrow the forecast will hold and we will be able to get some progress going on these houses!! The families anxiously await a new beginning!

Traveling along...

I am pretty sure today is Wednesday June 24th at 3:42pm which means if you are in Seattle it is Wed. June 24th at 6:42 in the morning (7:42 in CO). The days are flying by and I'm mixing them all together!

Yesterday we ended our time in Cape Town (will return a day before our flight home in a few weeks). Re-packed all of our belongings and spent the morning downtown at the District 6 museum which is a fascinating place, our tour guide was full of information and recalled where he lived in District 6 before he was forced to relocate and see his home bulldozed. You can find out more about what happened here.

Van packed to the brim, our sweet driver Desmond back to transport us we headed to Stellenbosch. The town itself is so quaint and adorable! It reminded me of the U-District, or Fort Collins, I suppose a college town is the same no matter where in the world you are! We moved our belongings into the dorm Nerina where we will stay for the next 8 days. They look much like our dorms except that there's no heating and it's a quite cold. Thanks to Nick for letting me borrow is SUPER warm sleeping bag!!

We assembled with other students (mostly South Africans) who are here for the International Student Build (ISB) 2009. They split us up into different "house" groups as we will be building 6 different houses in the Mfuleni township about 20 minutes away. My house group is number 2 - our leader, Klaus, is a 3rd year here at the University of Stellenbosch (they are on winter break currently) and lives in Stellenbosch. There's a girl from Switzerland in our group, Bri and I are representing our American Washington group and the rest around from South Africa. There have been so many great conversations asking each other what life is like in each place. Turns out, 20 year old around the world do basically the same things! My favorite question:
"Is spring break really like they show it in the movies?"
Um, I hope not. And on that note - don't believe everything you see in Hangover either! (Though Vegas is a rather wild and crazy anomaly).

Anyways, there were activities last night as we got to know each other. This morning at an all too early 6:45 wake up call we gathered and headed to the township. It's so exciting to see the tin shacks slowly being replaced by strong brick homes, Habitat does such an amazing thing, truly changing people's lives. Our site right now is a slab of concrete I believe 40 km square. (I think that's what they said...it's not very big and I'm not very good at conversions so don't ask me what that is in feet...) We spent some of the time clearing water from the foundation and moving building materials. We then started a brick passing line to get bricks piled and ready for assembling walls. I feel tougher already...hopefully I'll come back with some muscle!!

Unfortunately, it's been raining a lot and we weren't able to continue building because the cement wouldn't settle right and it would be tragic to have to tear a house down because it wasn't stable. So, we must wait for better weather when we can do the job right -- please pray for sunshine!!!

Friends are abundant and the Habitat leaders have plenty of activities for us (we learned how to drum last night) and a quiz night this evening. Stellenbosch is treating us well (I just wish it was a teency bit warmer...)

Off to Stellanbach!

A quick recap as my internet minutes are quickly passing!

Last night we attended the Anglican Church service and listened to the choir sing Vivalde's "Gloria" which was beautiful. It was a really nice service in this beautiful stone cathedral.

Today we visited Bahumelele (sp?) which is an orphanage in a township that was started by this amazing woman, Rosalie Mishale, whose story I will have to divulge later - truly inspiring. It was so heartbreaking to see the living conditions of the people in the township living in tin shacks - there were over a million people living in that particular township - packed in like sardines.

We toured the orphanage and saw where all the children live and go to school and eat and even where those who are sick stay. It broke my heart, the children were so beautiful and sweet and just wanted love and have seen more pain and brokenness than imaginable. Babies are killed all the time, unwanted. The orphanage has a "drop box" where people can leave babies through a window in a cradle that the attendants check daily. An alternative to leaving them in trash cans...so tragic, these beautiful children as unwanted, as too much. Tears were abundant and the experience was overwhelming, but definitely a lasting impression. I didn't want to leave them. Seeing their faces and waving good-bye was so hard, their smiles so full of hope, but their eyes full of difficult moments they have to endure each and every day. So much more to say about this experience...

Tomorrow we will visit the District 6 Museum and then rush to the buses as we are leaving Cape Town and heading to Stellanbach where we will work with Habitat for the next eight days. Being in the township today shows what an amazing help Habitat can be to families. Trading lean-to shacks for bricks, a HOME. There was a billboard on the way back from the orphanage that said "Building homes and building dignity." A real home, everyone deserves a home, shelter. Should be an eye-opening, amazing and challenging experience. Posts may be few as not sure of internet access.

South Africa Update

Adventures are plentiful here in South Africa, here's a brief recap of the last few days:

June 19 (Friday)

An early rise and quick breakfast to sustain us on our trek from our hostel to downtown and the docks to catch a ferry to Robben Island. There was a bus tour around the island full of fascinating information about what the island has been used for since the 1500's, which was usually a place to sent the misfits. One of the main functions was to house those suffering from leprosy, then on and off as a small prison, at one point it's where the insane were shipped off to and then became the headquarters for prisoners - mostly those sentenced for 'political crimes' such as Nelson Mandela. We saw the limestone quarry where the prisoners were forced to work, we saw the large cannons built for defense in WWII but were ironically finished in 1947, they've never been fired.

The bus tour finished as the prison where we met our tour guide - a previous inmate of the prison who arrived in 1986. The cells were so small and cramped and we were able to see where Nelson Mandela lived for so long. Even within the prison there was different rationing for white and black prisoners.

June 20 (Saturday)

We took an all day excursion out to Cape Point about 2 hours away. It was breathtaking to see the massive mountains and the rolling oceans. It is almost the most southern tip of Africa. The mountains towered above, the quaint towns were buzzing with the early morning commuters. Giant cliff-side mansions overlooked the ocean - it reminded me of Malibu, but then across the street would be a shantytown. Make-shift tin homes smashed together like a compacted trash can - smoke bubbled up from the rubble as tiny cook fires of hope and life shown among the shacks. I've never seen anything like it, and can't imagine living in those shacks when across the streets the glinting sun blinds them from the shiny glass windows of mansions.

Cape Point was beautiful, we lucked out on weather as it was just perfect and clear. The sky was a deep blue and the ocean rippled in the blending of the Atlantic and Indian. I hiked out to the far lighthouse and lookout and peered over the cliffs and back at the stunning landscape of the African terrain. We then hiked down to the beach (which "hike" doesn't even begin to describe the descent. It was steep and included many stairs and winding paths. The sand there is also different - it's not small granuals like the beaches I know, but teeny pieces of seashells all smashed and worn. Picking it up you could examine a handful of colorful and sparkly grains. The long trek back up the cliff wore me out as we drove on to Boulders Park where we got to see the penguins!! Such an oxymoron in Africa, but there they were! Cute as could be waddling on the beach and diving into the waves. We ended our day tour with a stop at one of Will's favorite bakeries for some treats.

June 21 (Sunday)

Today we took an excursion up to Table Mountain. Half of the group chose to hike up the 1,067 meters with our leaders. The other half, myself included, chose to spend our time in the leisurely sky tram that takes you up in a matter of minutes!! We started in the mist and thick fog until about half way up when there were random breaks and the cliffs would emerge on either side. The top was windy and below was thick with fog. I'm sure the view without the clouds would be amazing as you could see all of Cape Town, but I suppose the post card renditions will have to do because the fog continued to roll in until you could barely see the gift shop on top of the mountain! We studied and chatted in the cafe sipping out lattes and cups of tea waiting for the second half of the group to emerge from the mist. They made it in about two hours - I was impressed!

The fog continued to roll in and we were all freezing so it was time to come down. The rest of the day will be devoted to uploading pictures, working on homework and a church service this evening!

Oh, and I learned my first Afrikaans word: akidis (no idea if I'm spelling that right, pronounced ach-ih-dees and it means lizard! We saw plenty at Cape Point).

20 hours later - we're here!

I've arrived in South Africa and it's surreal. I don't feel like I've traveled half way around the world, all I know is I'm sleepy.

We left Sea-Tac airport at 6am and headed to Atlanta. From there we left Atlanta and flew to Dakar, Senegal. They have maps on the plane that track the progress and it was such a weird feeling to see Africa pop up on the map and see our little plane draw closer and closer to it's shore. We stayed on the plane for a few hours in Dakar and then took off for another 9 hour trek down the coast to Cape Town.

That ride wasn't as agreeable with me as I spent most of the time after breakfast in the bathroom wishing I wasn't plane sick. But, I survived and we landed in Cape Town June 18th around 5pm. We caught a beautiful sunset that silhouetted Table Mountain and palm trees. I also received my first stamp on my passport. I think I'm too tired tonight to realize that I'm in South Africa, that I'm on another continent, but I'm just thankful to have arrived.

That's all for now, as my time is running out and my pillow looks awful comfy.

Countdown begins, T-Minus 2.5 hours.

It is now 1:32.

In 2 1/2 hours I leave for Sea-Tac and a 20+ hour plane ride to South Africa.

I am nervous and anxious, I've never done anything like this and don't know what to expect. I keep wondering about traveling, and what it will be like, what it will look like, who I'll meet. How hard will it be to live away from home? How will I deal with missing family and friends? The familiar? What will I learn? Am I completely insane??

But I'm also bubbling with excitement. Because with all that anxiousness I'm also envisioning the adventures, kodak moments, stories, memories, laughter, tears and experiences that will come back with me.

Here goes a big giant step into the unknown...(and I feel rather small).

dreaming in color

Now, where is the beach...

Beach Time by bostrj featuring Skechers Cali shoes

(and who wants to take my finals for me?)

summer dreams

This may be a week early, but the next nine days are going to be full of finals, studying, Nick's family coming to visit, graduation and packing!

Summer is sooooo close, I can taste it, feel it, smell it, but it's just out of reach. Thursday I will hand in my last final and the fetters of this insane quarter will fall and adventures will begin.

First Adventure:

South Africa.
~4weeks of traveling, studying, working with Habitat and simply living in another country!


Second Adventure:
Traveling home and resting, catching up with friends, spending time with family...


...catching up on reading, my book list is out of control and I'm yearning for late nights enraptured in a story, gripped by twists and turns in the plot my fingers hungry to turn the pages just because I want to. Not because it's assigned, no essays no tests, just me and my books. Here's a peek at my list:
The House at Sugar Beach
World Without End
Angels and Demons
and many many more...

...and lots and lots of afternoon naps in the sunshine. I'm yawning just thinking about it.

pictures found on www.weheartit.com

Sunny daze

The weather around here has finally decided to woo us with warmth and sunshine and I can't help but smile bigger....here's a few of my favorites about the dawning of summertime:

1. smell of freshly mowed lawns and BBQs
2. the emergence of skirts, sundresses, shorts, colors and overall cuteness
3. sitting by the canal watching all the boats (and geese and ducks)
4. not having to lug around a jacket
5. falling asleep to the whir and cool breeze of a fan
6. the overwhelming feeling of laziness...calm...warmth that comes with lovely weather
7. ice cream and Popsicles are newly discovered...who knew they could be so refreshing??
8. the excitement in the air...it means school is almost done -- adventures are coming!
9. the flowers are just exploding and it's overwhelmingly beautiful
10. flip flops! my toes can once again peek at the world