Here's a bit of an update from when I first arrived 2 months ago...sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, it's partly my new technology not agreeing with South African not so new technology, lack of internet access and sheer laziness.
So my first week consisted of doctor visits. I arrived with a flu (gotta love international travel) and stayed with the Barnes family. Caitlin Barnes is one of the girls in Cornerstone (the young adults groups) who I met when I was out here in December/January. I discovered monkeys at their house. They’re so bold and have no hesitation in coming into the kitchen windows through the burglar bars to steal any food they can eat. They’re quite intimidating because they don’t blink. They just stare. And you can imagine what is going through their evil minds. I did however summon up much courage within the day and by the time one was coming through the bathroom window I was brave enough to scare it away all by myself. Josh (Cait’s younger brother) decided that a shotgun would be an appropriate tool. Personally I prefer banging pots and pans together.
My second week I stayed with a couple who have 2 Siamese cats/substitute children. Siamese cats are without a doubt THE snobbiest of all cats. I have a dislike of cats, but I must admit these two grew on me over the week and a half I was with them. One is Issy Mikyake, the other, Coco Chanel. I went downstairs one morning to see my folded socks sitting on the floor of the living room. I quickly dismissed my immediate thoughts of supernatural actions at play and finally realised that Coco had decided they were a fantastic toy and had taken them downstairs of her own accord. I also found other items floating around the house. I’m sure it’s a ploy for the cats to make their house guests look like careless slobs!
My second weekend here I went to Alistair and Jo’s wedding. Al is Lyle’s old housemate. Lyle was taking some photos of them with the professional photographer (another mate of Lyle’s) and so I was treated to hanging out with the bridal party during the photo shoot which was lovely fun.
A couple of weeks ago we had an American missions team visit from Grace Community Church in LA (John MacArthur’s church – the same one I attended while I lived there). It was a huge blessing to have them visit.
We had a Cornerstone retreat while they were here and Jesse Johnson, one of the Pastors at GCC spoke. He went through Seminary with Clint (my pastor) so they were hugely blessed to catch up with one another as well. Jesse is a truly gifted preacher it was a pleasure to hear him. He spoke on the life on Jonathan Edwards and his life’s resolves which he wrote at the age of 17. If you haven’t heard of his life, I highly recommend finding a biography! We went on a hike that was so beautiful. There were some ‘beware of crocodile’ signs that the Americans were in awe of. Frankly I was just scared and thought it beyond ridiculous that we would even walk near where crocs could be! The retreat was on a nature reserve and we saw a few Impala (antelope looking creatures).
Lyle and I on the hike
They really are beautiful and I get a surprise when I see them because it reminds me that I really am in Africa! At the end of the hike, which was rocky, steep and a little dangerous in parts of it, Lyle was walking along a deceptively flat part of ground and badly sprained his ankle. His story reads “I was busy taking photos and started to run because I saw a buck, and the grass was very high (I’ve noticed that the grass gets higher every time he tells the story) and the ground was uneven and rocky and I thought ‘I’d better stop running before I hurt....’” then he fell. Basically his foot went into a ditch and he kept going.
This is one of the last photos Lyle took before hurting himself....
So he was on crutches for the last few weeks and I’ve had the privilege of driving. Ahem, did I say privilege? Let me share with you driving in South Africa. You’re driving the speed limit, yet there are 8 cars behind you reeeeeally closely; You learn that road ‘rules’ are more like guidelines; Indicators are decorative. One nice thing is that you’re not allowed to fill your own petrol tank. So you have to sit in the car while it’s done for you, suits me fine. They have “taxi’s” here that are actually just vans. Now, taxi’s are a great refiner of the Christian living in South Africa. They truly do believe that indicators are decorative – I say this because they don’t use them for the purpose for which they are designed, rather, they just leave them on arbitrarily while they drive along, swerving from lane to lane, stopping whenever they feel like it to pick up passengers wandering on the sides of the road... sigh.
Anyway, back to the Americans briefly. We had a Braai (BBQ) at my place a few days before they left. It was really fun to have people over. We had some back yard cricket happening, I had to show them some true Aussie form, and of course we constantly yelled at them for chucking instead of bowling, but they ended up learning quite well.
Did you know they have moles in Africa? I didn’t. Which is why my new little house had a rather unusual front yard decoration of what looked to me like ‘mole hills’ when I arrived. THEN, after a few days there were MORE! I was rather intrigued for a day till I realised what was happening. Apparently the only way to get rid of them is to physically kill them. Unfortunately for me the only vision I’ve ever had of moles is the character Mole from Wind in the Willows, so the thought of killing Mole is quite traumatising. I’m thinking of advertising to the kids in my estate to kill it for me and I’ll pay them.I have a dog. His name is Chaz. He is Lyle’s dog. A rather large beast, Mastiff cross Boer bull (a South African breed) He’s about 8 years old so he’s quite settled in his ways and really is lovely. I appreciate his company. Yesterday some ‘hardy-dars’ (brown Ibis) were in the yard essentially teasing him. They were brave enough to come over to his food dish and have a nibble. He finally had enough and launched himself at them. I don’t think that dogs are quite smart enough to realise the concept of birds with wings, they seem quite confused the bird just magically disappears. I do let him inside on occasion, Hillcrest can be freezing in winter sometimes, so he comes in to join me in front of the fireplace. A coal popped out and hit his rear the other day, he jumped up and looked at the fire indignantly, went for a quick walk around the living room and at down again. But not before I moved his rug far away from the fireplace. I haven’t lit any fires since then.
