Saturday, August 17, 2013

A New Time, A New Place


17 August 2013
 

Other than my work (that’s for another post, another day) the most challenging thing about living here has been adjusting to the different lifestyles of the different volunteers that I live with. I am here until January. The other volunteers that have come have only stayed a month or two. I see them come and go. They are each different in their own wonderful way and each time they come it’s a bit of adjustment for me…

When the Czech girls were here, they liked to sit around the small kitchen table and talk and eat and laugh. Then spent lots of time in their rooms; they were cliquey. They didn’t understand me. They would often look at me like I was stupid. They definitely were not open to the American way. Shortly after they left, the Irish volunteers came for a month. They liked to be out and about during the day. We took walks, spent lots of time outside and we even went to Cape Town for a week. They spoke English well so it was easiest to communicate with them. At night, one person would cook dinner and we would eat in the living room on the couch while watching a “film” as they would call it. We would watch films until late at night. The next day we would go to work and do it all over again. I really enjoyed living with and getting to know them. After a month, they left and it was just Chrissy and I for 2 weeks (Chrissy was here when I got here in June). That was an adjustment too. She was busy with school work and projects for the sisters so she spent lots of time in her room. She didn’t cook, so I had to cook our meals each night and we often ate separately. That was when I got really sick with bronchitis. I spent 3 days in bed. It was very quiet and dreary in our house those 2 weeks. Now the Italians are here! I had been looking forward to their arrival. They are an interesting group. They like to do things their way. They are very particular about how they wash their clothes, what they wear, what they eat (pasta always) and how it is cooked. We all chip in and cook dinner together every night. But I have to approve what I’m cooking first to make sure they would eat it. We sit around the dining room table and eat a huge meal family style. Then when were done, we stay there and talk forever. We would do dishes and then play card games or board games or share pictures from our work that day. The two boys speak some English and the girl speaks no English at all. Lots of times they have conversations with each other and I’m in the dark. After a head nod and look of confusion, one of the boys would jump in to translate for me. I learned some key words thought that would help me communicate with them. That brings me to now.


Now I am looking back on my crazy past 2 weeks since Chrissy left and they arrived. Sister G wanted to show them around town both the weekend they got here and the weekend after. So we spent the first weekend going shopping at the malls and markets and eating out. Then we worked the next week and spent the following weekend on Safari and more shopping and eating out. I think I did too much too soon and didn’t fully recover from the Bronchitis because this Monday I got sick again. This time it’s sinus/cold like symptoms with fevers and headaches. I tried to work but couldn’t. I stayed in bed and slept from Tuesday until Friday. The sisters were really worried and took me to a doctor on Friday afternoon. The doctor wasn’t real clear on a diagnosis but he said infections and pneumonia and he gave me LOTS of medication to help. Now it’s Saturday and I’ve been taking the meds for a day but I already feel better. I have the energy to write this post and most importantly, say hello to TWO MORE Italian volunteers that got here last night. Yes, last night we were a large Italian family of 7 (including Sister Giovanna). We ate a huge pot of pasta and drank wine (well not me thanks to all my medications, wine, cortisone and tranquilizers don’t mix very well). We were also celebrating one of the girl’s birthdays. It was a wild time. Then this morning I had to kiss them all goodbye for a week. They are going to Cape Town for a vacation. When they leave Cape Town, the two newest Italians will be coming back to work and the old 3 will be leaving straight for Italy. So it’ll be a house full of Italians until they leave mid-September. To be honest, I am glad they are gone for the week. That will give me quite time to rest my body, my stomach and my ears (they talked a lot and very fast, I could never keep up). I need to recover fully this time. I have been sick more days then I have been well.

Amidst all of the going and coming and the sickness, I’ve hardly had time to think about the fact that this time, for the past 4 years, I have been preparing my classroom, sitting through meetings and enjoying the start of a new school year. Because I have been so busy here and have had so much going on, I haven’t spent much time thinking about my old life. Now I can reflect on it, though. I thought I would be sad during this time. I thought I’d be wishing I was home doing that stuff as usual. I thought I would start questioning myself and why I chose to leave the job I love to come to South Africa. But it hasn’t been like any of that. My lifestyle, my routine, my health, everything has been so different and I have been totally embracing it. I haven’t been dwelling on the past and my past routine and lifestyle. I do know, though, that one day I will be back to that routine again, just not now. I know that I am meant to be in education. I know that I will always be in a classroom, in a school, with children. But for now, it’s just a different time and place. At home it’s the end of summer, the start to a new school year. Here, it’s the end of winter and the three quarters of the way through the school year. So I have to look at it like that: same teacher just in a different time and in a different place.

Lastly, I have gotten many cards and packages from friends and family at home. Because of all of the craziness, I haven’t had internet access leaving me unable to contact those people to properly say thank you. But I mean it from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. The cards I have received from previous students and their families, cards from my sweet grandmother, packages from my friends and family and even a fundraiser to support my mission, all mean so much to me. Those things make me feel close to home when I am so far away. There are days when I want and need to feel close to home. The first two months here were like a honeymoon period where everything was smooth, for the most part. Now, I’ve adjusted to the lifestyle and gotten into the meat of my mission and its getting hard to keep going day to day (that’s also for another post another day). I am also praying about what to do after January 4th. I have been asked a few times to stay here in South Africa and work at the schools thought June 2014. Some days I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else and then other days the thought of being here any long sounds insane. I am praying hard about it though. I dedicated this year of my life to mission work. I want God to show me where he wants me to spend February through June whether it’s in South Africa or somewhere else. God’s answers and plan are just not always that clear. It was clear for me last January when I decided to go on mission but I have a feeling this time it’s not going to be that clear. I just have to keep praying and be patient.

Love from Africa!!

 

No comments:

Post a Comment