Tuesday, July 29, 2008
A Trip Within a Trip
Before I left, nearly everyone I talked to who has been to South Africa told me that I HAD to go to Cape Town if I had the chance. I mentioned that to Mrs. Miskin, and she said she would see what she could arrange. Before we knew it, she booked us flights and we made plans to leave. That happened this past Saturday, and today we flight out of Johannasburg at 3. John, Morgan, Scarlett and I plan to be there until Saturday morning. We will be staying with family that the Miskins have there. When we get home, I PROMISE we'll update.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Day 6 - Tuesday Update
Erika, Scarlett and I made our second visit to Kwamhlanga. Dr. Sonja Miskin informed us that we would be going with Randy (Rose’s husband) and travelling with him throughout the city to observe his duties with MCDC. We stopped by the highway and Randy pulled up alongside in a car full of other Ndebele people. We learned of one of Randy’s duties already—giving villagers a lift through town.
We looked at each other awkwardly, wondering how we were going to pack into the already-packed car, but shrugged and squeezed in. One of the villagers greeted us with the Ndebele handshake that I was still trying to master. It was an upward thumb hook, then the regular customary handshake, and then back to the thumb hook. She smiled at my attempt to learn the shake and said her name was Agnes.
We got our first site of the orphanage as we dropped off a few of the ladies. They urged us to get out with them and take a look. We opened the gate to the yard and my leg was immediately embraced by a small child. I lifted her up and smiled into her grinning, mucus encrusted face. She was quite the cute little thing. She made me put her down so she could hug Scarlett and Erika as well. The child rotated from each of us continually so as to gain an equal amount of our attention. Erika again sacrificed her church candy.
After greeting several of the caretakers we were given a tour of the building. The manager, who’s name was Alex, gave us a PowerPoint presentation. We learned that the orphanage brought in about 120 children, ages 1 month to 18 years of age. The staff consisted of two teachers, four kitchen staff, and a few others to assist in extra aid. Needless to say, managing the orphanage looked like a challenge. After the presentation, Randy said we had to go check on a woman named Julia in the village. Two of the ladies who drove with us stayed behind at the orphanage and we returned to the car, this time with much more space.
We arrived at Julia’s, entered her shack, and greeted her. She was thin, her eyes red with exhaustion and tears. Randy talked with her and Agnes helped translate Ndebele. Agnes then kindly narrated the situation to us outside observers, joking that Julia had “awoken from the dead.” Apparently an extreme illness had almost taken her life but she had survived.
Randy talked with the woman and suggested that she join a support group that he would start for her and other people in the village. He suggested that the physical sickness might be coming from stress. She nodded her head. Agnes agreed as well, adding that when she was alone she “thought too much” and worried herself sick—literally. Julia spoke again and Agnes translated. Apparently Julia’s sister had stolen all her money and taken the food. Julia’s mother had also abused her. Randy said he would do what he could to provide food for her, but suggested we pray first. The Ndebele women looked at me and asked if I would pray. As I folded my hands one of the ladies ran to close the door. We learned later from Agnes that it was customary to shut the doors in KwaMhlanga when in prayer. In the darkness I asked God to help her with her physical inflictions, her financial problems, and more importantly her spiritual strength. The doors were opened and we walked back to the car.
Randy brought us back to the AIDS hospice where Dr. Miskin took us home. As we drove, Scarlett discussed with her mother the economic situation. Was colonization to blame for the blacks suffering? She made the point that no other continent seemed to struggle with such problems. Why was it that Africa was inflicted with so much sin, poverty, and suffering? Was it merely the lack of education that caused the problem? Dr. Miskin responded quickly, “No, education won’t solve anything. Martin Lloyd Jones says that you educate a sinner and he will only become an educated sinner. He will only become craftier in the way he sins.” I thought of Americans and how we had mastered the art so much it took lawyers and attorneys to charge someone with a crime.
Of course money and education was a major issue in KwaMhlanga—but perhaps the biggest problem was something that none of us could see and yet see so easily the affects it caused—a spiritual poverty.
We looked at each other awkwardly, wondering how we were going to pack into the already-packed car, but shrugged and squeezed in. One of the villagers greeted us with the Ndebele handshake that I was still trying to master. It was an upward thumb hook, then the regular customary handshake, and then back to the thumb hook. She smiled at my attempt to learn the shake and said her name was Agnes.
We got our first site of the orphanage as we dropped off a few of the ladies. They urged us to get out with them and take a look. We opened the gate to the yard and my leg was immediately embraced by a small child. I lifted her up and smiled into her grinning, mucus encrusted face. She was quite the cute little thing. She made me put her down so she could hug Scarlett and Erika as well. The child rotated from each of us continually so as to gain an equal amount of our attention. Erika again sacrificed her church candy.
After greeting several of the caretakers we were given a tour of the building. The manager, who’s name was Alex, gave us a PowerPoint presentation. We learned that the orphanage brought in about 120 children, ages 1 month to 18 years of age. The staff consisted of two teachers, four kitchen staff, and a few others to assist in extra aid. Needless to say, managing the orphanage looked like a challenge. After the presentation, Randy said we had to go check on a woman named Julia in the village. Two of the ladies who drove with us stayed behind at the orphanage and we returned to the car, this time with much more space.
We arrived at Julia’s, entered her shack, and greeted her. She was thin, her eyes red with exhaustion and tears. Randy talked with her and Agnes helped translate Ndebele. Agnes then kindly narrated the situation to us outside observers, joking that Julia had “awoken from the dead.” Apparently an extreme illness had almost taken her life but she had survived.
Randy talked with the woman and suggested that she join a support group that he would start for her and other people in the village. He suggested that the physical sickness might be coming from stress. She nodded her head. Agnes agreed as well, adding that when she was alone she “thought too much” and worried herself sick—literally. Julia spoke again and Agnes translated. Apparently Julia’s sister had stolen all her money and taken the food. Julia’s mother had also abused her. Randy said he would do what he could to provide food for her, but suggested we pray first. The Ndebele women looked at me and asked if I would pray. As I folded my hands one of the ladies ran to close the door. We learned later from Agnes that it was customary to shut the doors in KwaMhlanga when in prayer. In the darkness I asked God to help her with her physical inflictions, her financial problems, and more importantly her spiritual strength. The doors were opened and we walked back to the car.
Randy brought us back to the AIDS hospice where Dr. Miskin took us home. As we drove, Scarlett discussed with her mother the economic situation. Was colonization to blame for the blacks suffering? She made the point that no other continent seemed to struggle with such problems. Why was it that Africa was inflicted with so much sin, poverty, and suffering? Was it merely the lack of education that caused the problem? Dr. Miskin responded quickly, “No, education won’t solve anything. Martin Lloyd Jones says that you educate a sinner and he will only become an educated sinner. He will only become craftier in the way he sins.” I thought of Americans and how we had mastered the art so much it took lawyers and attorneys to charge someone with a crime.
Of course money and education was a major issue in KwaMhlanga—but perhaps the biggest problem was something that none of us could see and yet see so easily the affects it caused—a spiritual poverty.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Day 5 - by John.
This will be my first official post in South Africa. It’s Monday as I’m writing this, which means I’ve been here for five days. I’ve already gotten so used to everything it seems like I’ve been here for longer. My South African lingo has increased alarmingly and I even find myself using an unusual inflection along with foreign phrases and vocabulary.
The Miskins have given us plenty of time to get comfortable in this alien environment. Dr. Sonja Miskin let us sleep in and slowly adjust to the drastic time change. We were also given the chance to visit Cullinan, a quant tourist town near Pretoria.
Today was our first day outside of the white wealthy cities to the villages where Dr. Miskin works. The plan was to leave at quarter to nine; however, an unforeseen delay left us detained. After three attempts, Scarlett and Erika finally managed to wake me from my deep slumber. By the time I had finished my breakfast we were forty-five minutes late. So let’s just say I’m not fully adjusted time-wise.
The village was only about a half an hour drive from Pretoria, granted South Africans drive much faster than Americans. The large wealthy Pretoria mansions thinned out to a dusty orange earth, peppered with trees. Soon miles and miles of shacks appeared on the desert hills, cluttered into small spaces. It’s one thing to see it on National Geographic, in a magazine or on the television, but another to see poverty with your own eyes. We had arrived in Kwamhlanga.
Dr. Miskin took a sharp turn off the highway onto a dirt road. We came to Rose’s house, a fellow American from California who now lives within the village to provide care for the poor. Erika, Scarlett, and I were dropped off there to assist her in grocery shopping for some of the poor in the village. We hopped in the “bakkie” (pickup truck) and made our way to pick up a woman who would help us in purchasing food and translate Ndebele. After we greeted Ester we went to a grocery store and purchased food.
We ventured back into the village and unloaded the groceries at a shack. Erika gave some of her “sermon” sweets to a few of the children. One house held a crippled child. Rose told us that he had a tumour on his spine. Though it had been removed, it left the boy without the use of one of his legs. It was bent unnaturally, the foot frozen into a point like a ballerina. Because of his distortion the boy had the habit of wearing out his knee until it bled and needed to be bound.
Rose returned us to Dr. Miskin by dropping us off at the MCDC AIDs hospice. We were fed corn maize, chicken and spinach. No, it wasn’t so strange as roasted bugs or chicken feet—however, I can’t lie, when I bent to pray for my food I honesty asked God that I would be able to swallow it all down so as not to offend the nurses. My American pickiness shamed me, but I got the food down. It wasn’t so bad.
So that was my first time outside of Pretoria. More reports on the way.
The Miskins have given us plenty of time to get comfortable in this alien environment. Dr. Sonja Miskin let us sleep in and slowly adjust to the drastic time change. We were also given the chance to visit Cullinan, a quant tourist town near Pretoria.
Today was our first day outside of the white wealthy cities to the villages where Dr. Miskin works. The plan was to leave at quarter to nine; however, an unforeseen delay left us detained. After three attempts, Scarlett and Erika finally managed to wake me from my deep slumber. By the time I had finished my breakfast we were forty-five minutes late. So let’s just say I’m not fully adjusted time-wise.
The village was only about a half an hour drive from Pretoria, granted South Africans drive much faster than Americans. The large wealthy Pretoria mansions thinned out to a dusty orange earth, peppered with trees. Soon miles and miles of shacks appeared on the desert hills, cluttered into small spaces. It’s one thing to see it on National Geographic, in a magazine or on the television, but another to see poverty with your own eyes. We had arrived in Kwamhlanga.
Dr. Miskin took a sharp turn off the highway onto a dirt road. We came to Rose’s house, a fellow American from California who now lives within the village to provide care for the poor. Erika, Scarlett, and I were dropped off there to assist her in grocery shopping for some of the poor in the village. We hopped in the “bakkie” (pickup truck) and made our way to pick up a woman who would help us in purchasing food and translate Ndebele. After we greeted Ester we went to a grocery store and purchased food.
We ventured back into the village and unloaded the groceries at a shack. Erika gave some of her “sermon” sweets to a few of the children. One house held a crippled child. Rose told us that he had a tumour on his spine. Though it had been removed, it left the boy without the use of one of his legs. It was bent unnaturally, the foot frozen into a point like a ballerina. Because of his distortion the boy had the habit of wearing out his knee until it bled and needed to be bound.
Rose returned us to Dr. Miskin by dropping us off at the MCDC AIDs hospice. We were fed corn maize, chicken and spinach. No, it wasn’t so strange as roasted bugs or chicken feet—however, I can’t lie, when I bent to pray for my food I honesty asked God that I would be able to swallow it all down so as not to offend the nurses. My American pickiness shamed me, but I got the food down. It wasn’t so bad.
So that was my first time outside of Pretoria. More reports on the way.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Days 1-4
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Good news guys, in case you haven’t heard, we made it to South Africa. Our trip was, in a word, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. Coming from Erika, who can barely sit still for an hour and a half in church, the 26 hour trip almost made me go crazy. We left Grand Rapids at 1:05 in the afternoon on Tuesday. We had a 2 hour flight from there to Minneapolis. We had choice seats…last row of the plane, right across from the bathroom. It was super loud, but we managed to talk through most of the flight, so it went pretty quickly.
In Minneapolis, we found our gate easily. We ate the “gross sandwiches” that John had made, which turned out to be REALLY good. Maybe we were just hungry. We boarded the plane to Paris about an hour before take-off, found our seats, and settled in for the nine hour flight. We both had our own DVD screens, so we watched movies together by pressing play at the EXACT same time, so as not to be ahead of each other. We watched 21 together, and then John started like, 3 more movies, before settling on Phone Booth, while I watched Tarzan (Sarah and Maggie, I had our Disney movie day alone:-( ). We both read for awhile, as well. They served us what was supposed to be breakfast, but since our body clocks were still on Grand Rapids time, eating airplane egg McMuffins at 11 p.m. seemed a little funny.
We landed in Paris at about 12:30 in the morning our time, and faced a four hour layover. We waited in a line that zig-zagged back and forth SEVEN times, and got pointed to a much faster one on the 6th zag…it figures. Once we finally got through there, we promptly forgot the gate number that had taken us forever to find when we had gotten off the plane. We crossed our fingers and headed left, and luckily we were correct. We set up camp on the bright orange chairs at E-37, and promptly fell asleep. John couldn’t get comfortable in the chairs, so he lay down on the beautiful red-striped carpet. Yes, orange chairs and red carpet…I know. We slept for about an hour, and shortly after I woke up and we both made trips to the bathroom that I had a terrible time following signs for, which may have just been my own fault, it was time to get in line to board. By this time it was about 4:30 a.m., and my hour of sleep was not NEARLY enough. I was so tired I was having trouble standing up straight in line…I was kind of doing a weird sway thing that I’m sure wasn’t healthy.
We boarded the plane, and I stole the window again. As a punishment, according to John, my movie screen thingie refused to work properly, no many how many times I smacked it. We were just hoping that we had our three person row to ourselves when some lady who, according to John didn’t smell so pleasant, sat down on the end. I was so tired, I fell asleep almost right away, despite the 4,000 very LOUD students from London or somewhere, who were making the trip with us. I slept on and off for the next 3 hours or so, stopping when they fed us lunch. Apparently, French people are notoriously rude, and airplane food is notoriously bad. We found the former to be mostly false, and the latter to be mostly true. John was a big fan of the stewardess’s French accent, even when I was getting frustrated because they kept babbling over the loudspeaker in French, and then following it in English too rapid and accented to really understand. The lunch food wasn’t so bad, except the mango-something chocolate fruitcake and cold chicken with cold vegetables. Supper, however, was less than palatable, including Creole-style salad that I almost spit out and John consequently refused to try, and chicken that was a little green. The apple crumble, however, was excellent. John supplemented his food with about 300 starbursts (the smoothie kind), which he managed to drop at some point on all three flights. We tried to watch P.S. I Love You…John succeeded, but my player kept going back to menu every two minutes, and I eventually got so frustrated that I went back to sleep. The loud English kids woke us both up with about three hours to go. John started about 5 more movies, and, in honor of Disney movie day, I watched Mulan (Let’s get down to business to defeat the Huns…). The last half hour draaaaaaagged by, but around 3 in the afternoon our time, and 9 p.m. theirs, we landed and got off our last plane for a MONTH!! The passport line was super long again, and it took forever to get our luggage, but we finally found it and headed to the front of the airport.
Morgan was the first Miskin we saw, and it was so nice to see a familiar face. Gordon was the one who drove to get us, and seeing him for the first time in a year and a half was amazing. Linz, he was wearing a scarf…actually, I’ve seen lots of scarves lately, so I guess you were right:-). On the ride home, we learned that apples don’t fall far from the tree, that all roads lead to Rome, and when in Rome, one should do as the Romans do. We also decided to follow Pat’s advice, which was confirmed by Gordon, that we needed to just “take it all in”. Anyway, we got to their house around 11, and Mrs. Miskin fed us REAL food while we got acclimated. John, who had been pumped at the airport and ready to do sit ups, finally got tired, and we all went to bed pretty quickly.
The plan was for us to just sleep as long as we wanted on Thursday. I slept until noon, which pretty much caught me up on the sleep I’d missed, as well as Wednesday night’s. I got up and showered, and, Mrs. Sikma, used SCARLETT’S blow-dryer. John was still sleeping, so Mrs. Miskin made me some lunch, and then went out with Gordon to John’s room, which is in a separate little cottage thingie to catch up for awhile. The rest of the day was spent touring the house and yard, both of which are amazing, and just hanging out and talking with Gordon, Scarlett, and Morgan. Tomorrow, Friday, we might go to school with Scarlett and Morgan. Other than that, we plan to take it easy for the rest of the week, and starting on Monday, we’ll be doing things with Mrs. Miskin.
Some things we’ve noticed:
-There are sliding bar thingies, like security gates, on some of the doors to the outside, and locks on pretty much every door inside and out, except for the bathrooms, which we found ironic.
-Along those lines, John found out that the faucets in his shower are switched, so the cold is hot and hot is cold. He discovered this unfortunate mix up while waiting and waiting for the water to get hot, and even trying to take a freezing cold shower, before trying the other faucet and getting warm water.
-Rather than grilling, they braai (rhymes with sigh)
-The water is too acidic here to be of much use. In fact, they don’t even shower with it, but use apple juice instead.
-I almost certainly should have gotten every single vaccination available due to the five pound mosquitoes we’ve been killing with baseball bats.
-The plugs do, in fact, require adaptors, so it’s a good thing I brought mine
-Making grilled cheeses at 1:30 a.m. makes the dogs bark and wakes the whole house…but we were HUNGRY because it was supper time for us.
Friday, July 19, 2008
For the record, we ARE keeping you updated; it’s just that you can’t always see the updates. I heard that everyone is waiting for our blog to start, so we’re sorry it’s taken so long, and we’ll try to do better from now on. We didn’t end up making it to the girl’s school on Friday due to vehicle issues. Gordon went to pick up the girls, bringing them along with two of Scarlett’s piano students. We hung around the house for most of the day, wandering between Gordon’s little house place and the living room, stopping occasionally in the kitchen for some food. I was super tired, so I kept dozing off at random intervals. I had to charge my computer in Gordon’s room, where he has a voltage converter, since mine had unfortunately decided to blow the night before. I need to go get another soon, I think. Scarlett showed John and me a bunch of pictures on Gordon’s computer, and he took over my computer to see what I’ve been up to for the last year and a half, as well. Scarlett’s friend Lydia and Gordon’s friend Nathan stopped by in the afternoon to meet us, which was nice.
I went with Gordon to the grocery store to get hamburgers and buns for supper, my first time out of the house since we had arrived. Gordon had made plans for us to go to some church opening thing that Nathan invited him to, but at the last minute, due to my extreme tiredness and more vehicle issues, he and John ended up going alone. The girls and I cleaned up, and then settled down on the couch for a girl’s night of Grey’s Anatomy. I brought the first two seasons, and was delighted to find that Scarlett and Morgan are as addicted as I am. We watched what may have been an unhealthy number of episodes before being interrupted by two more Miskin friends, Danielle and Handsome. They had tea and we all talked for awhile. Handsome says he’s going to take us rock climbing, which sounds like it might be fun…if I don’t fall out of the harness or something.
I had been pretty sleepy before they arrived, but by the time they left I was wide awake. Gordon is house sitting, so he left to go take care of the dog, but the girls, John, and I sat up talking awhile more. I decided I really need to get on some regular time here, though, so I said good night and told myself I was GOING to sleep. It kind of worked…I was sleeping by 1:30, which is a pretty regular time to go to sleep on a Friday night, so I suppose the jet lag is getting better. Six hours is a lot of difference when you think about it!!
Today, Morgan woke me up at 9:30…when we were supposed to eat breakfast. Since anyone who knows me at ALL knows that I’m not at all fit for human contact right when I wake up, I opted out of breakfast and grabbed a shower and got ready before I ate my pancakes. I’m far more civil after a shower. By that time, Gordon and Nathan had arrived at the house. Mrs. Miskin told them that they had to take John and me to Cullinan, so that’s what we did today. Cullinan is a former diamond mining town that now kind of reminds me of a small, quiet Grand Haven. It has several little shops and restaurants on one of the streets, which is where we went. We ate at a place called The Lemon Tree. It was lunch time, but for some reason it was decided that we weren’t going to actually eat lunch, but rather just kind of get whatever. There isn’t very much sugary food here, which is very different than at home, so I decided to go for the cheesecake. It was the same color as the cheesecake at home, but that’s where the similarity ended. It was much more gelatinous, less sweet, and wasn’t very cream-cheesey. None the less, it was pretty good, and the piece was HUGE.
We stayed at the restaurant for quite some time, before leaving for home. Rather than taking the highway as we did on the way to Cullinan, Nathan drove us home on the back roads, so we went over about a million speed bumps and got stuck behind a very slow truck. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, though. We were on a road that was cut right through the hills. On one side of us were these red rocks that made me think of Mr. DeVries. I’ll have to get him a sampleJ. Farther up on that side, and on the other were more hills with pretty red-roofed houses and such. The whole scene reminded me a lot of the desert in Arizona, actually; I loved it.
We had to make a pit stop for Gordon at the house, before we headed back out to the Pretoria Government Buildings, about 10 minutes away. It was gorgeous there, as well. The street the buildings were on overlooked the whole city of Pretoria. The buildings were long and brown…think like, the Parliament building in England, except a lot smaller and without the guys in the tall, fuzzy hats. In front were stairs with gardens on either side…kind of terraced down the hill. The sun was out and it was about 70 degrees. We camped out in the grass for awhile in the sunshine, playing the Indian War Game and cards and taking pictures and just hanging out. It was just beautiful; I didn’t want to leave.
When we got back home, I had a missed call from my mom, who misses me:-). It was really good to talk to her and hear how everything is going at home. I hadn’t called since right when I got to the airport, so we had a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, we couldn’t talk long because, as Matt so helpfully likes to tell me, South Africa is a long way away, so it’s expensive. It made me miss being able to just call whoever, whenever I want. She told me that everyone is clamoring for blog updates though, especially you, Grandpa Meyers, haha, so here you go. I hope it’s not boring, but you guys said you wanted to know EXACTLY what’s going on. Plus, it’s John’s turn next, so that will keep you entertained, I’m sure. I’m writing this in the afternoon, so hopefully I’ll be able to post it tonight. I also hope to check Facebook, because I miss TALKING to some of you guys!!
Good news guys, in case you haven’t heard, we made it to South Africa. Our trip was, in a word, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. Coming from Erika, who can barely sit still for an hour and a half in church, the 26 hour trip almost made me go crazy. We left Grand Rapids at 1:05 in the afternoon on Tuesday. We had a 2 hour flight from there to Minneapolis. We had choice seats…last row of the plane, right across from the bathroom. It was super loud, but we managed to talk through most of the flight, so it went pretty quickly.
In Minneapolis, we found our gate easily. We ate the “gross sandwiches” that John had made, which turned out to be REALLY good. Maybe we were just hungry. We boarded the plane to Paris about an hour before take-off, found our seats, and settled in for the nine hour flight. We both had our own DVD screens, so we watched movies together by pressing play at the EXACT same time, so as not to be ahead of each other. We watched 21 together, and then John started like, 3 more movies, before settling on Phone Booth, while I watched Tarzan (Sarah and Maggie, I had our Disney movie day alone:-( ). We both read for awhile, as well. They served us what was supposed to be breakfast, but since our body clocks were still on Grand Rapids time, eating airplane egg McMuffins at 11 p.m. seemed a little funny.
We landed in Paris at about 12:30 in the morning our time, and faced a four hour layover. We waited in a line that zig-zagged back and forth SEVEN times, and got pointed to a much faster one on the 6th zag…it figures. Once we finally got through there, we promptly forgot the gate number that had taken us forever to find when we had gotten off the plane. We crossed our fingers and headed left, and luckily we were correct. We set up camp on the bright orange chairs at E-37, and promptly fell asleep. John couldn’t get comfortable in the chairs, so he lay down on the beautiful red-striped carpet. Yes, orange chairs and red carpet…I know. We slept for about an hour, and shortly after I woke up and we both made trips to the bathroom that I had a terrible time following signs for, which may have just been my own fault, it was time to get in line to board. By this time it was about 4:30 a.m., and my hour of sleep was not NEARLY enough. I was so tired I was having trouble standing up straight in line…I was kind of doing a weird sway thing that I’m sure wasn’t healthy.
We boarded the plane, and I stole the window again. As a punishment, according to John, my movie screen thingie refused to work properly, no many how many times I smacked it. We were just hoping that we had our three person row to ourselves when some lady who, according to John didn’t smell so pleasant, sat down on the end. I was so tired, I fell asleep almost right away, despite the 4,000 very LOUD students from London or somewhere, who were making the trip with us. I slept on and off for the next 3 hours or so, stopping when they fed us lunch. Apparently, French people are notoriously rude, and airplane food is notoriously bad. We found the former to be mostly false, and the latter to be mostly true. John was a big fan of the stewardess’s French accent, even when I was getting frustrated because they kept babbling over the loudspeaker in French, and then following it in English too rapid and accented to really understand. The lunch food wasn’t so bad, except the mango-something chocolate fruitcake and cold chicken with cold vegetables. Supper, however, was less than palatable, including Creole-style salad that I almost spit out and John consequently refused to try, and chicken that was a little green. The apple crumble, however, was excellent. John supplemented his food with about 300 starbursts (the smoothie kind), which he managed to drop at some point on all three flights. We tried to watch P.S. I Love You…John succeeded, but my player kept going back to menu every two minutes, and I eventually got so frustrated that I went back to sleep. The loud English kids woke us both up with about three hours to go. John started about 5 more movies, and, in honor of Disney movie day, I watched Mulan (Let’s get down to business to defeat the Huns…). The last half hour draaaaaaagged by, but around 3 in the afternoon our time, and 9 p.m. theirs, we landed and got off our last plane for a MONTH!! The passport line was super long again, and it took forever to get our luggage, but we finally found it and headed to the front of the airport.
Morgan was the first Miskin we saw, and it was so nice to see a familiar face. Gordon was the one who drove to get us, and seeing him for the first time in a year and a half was amazing. Linz, he was wearing a scarf…actually, I’ve seen lots of scarves lately, so I guess you were right:-). On the ride home, we learned that apples don’t fall far from the tree, that all roads lead to Rome, and when in Rome, one should do as the Romans do. We also decided to follow Pat’s advice, which was confirmed by Gordon, that we needed to just “take it all in”. Anyway, we got to their house around 11, and Mrs. Miskin fed us REAL food while we got acclimated. John, who had been pumped at the airport and ready to do sit ups, finally got tired, and we all went to bed pretty quickly.
The plan was for us to just sleep as long as we wanted on Thursday. I slept until noon, which pretty much caught me up on the sleep I’d missed, as well as Wednesday night’s. I got up and showered, and, Mrs. Sikma, used SCARLETT’S blow-dryer. John was still sleeping, so Mrs. Miskin made me some lunch, and then went out with Gordon to John’s room, which is in a separate little cottage thingie to catch up for awhile. The rest of the day was spent touring the house and yard, both of which are amazing, and just hanging out and talking with Gordon, Scarlett, and Morgan. Tomorrow, Friday, we might go to school with Scarlett and Morgan. Other than that, we plan to take it easy for the rest of the week, and starting on Monday, we’ll be doing things with Mrs. Miskin.
Some things we’ve noticed:
-There are sliding bar thingies, like security gates, on some of the doors to the outside, and locks on pretty much every door inside and out, except for the bathrooms, which we found ironic.
-Along those lines, John found out that the faucets in his shower are switched, so the cold is hot and hot is cold. He discovered this unfortunate mix up while waiting and waiting for the water to get hot, and even trying to take a freezing cold shower, before trying the other faucet and getting warm water.
-Rather than grilling, they braai (rhymes with sigh)
-The water is too acidic here to be of much use. In fact, they don’t even shower with it, but use apple juice instead.
-I almost certainly should have gotten every single vaccination available due to the five pound mosquitoes we’ve been killing with baseball bats.
-The plugs do, in fact, require adaptors, so it’s a good thing I brought mine
-Making grilled cheeses at 1:30 a.m. makes the dogs bark and wakes the whole house…but we were HUNGRY because it was supper time for us.
Friday, July 19, 2008
For the record, we ARE keeping you updated; it’s just that you can’t always see the updates. I heard that everyone is waiting for our blog to start, so we’re sorry it’s taken so long, and we’ll try to do better from now on. We didn’t end up making it to the girl’s school on Friday due to vehicle issues. Gordon went to pick up the girls, bringing them along with two of Scarlett’s piano students. We hung around the house for most of the day, wandering between Gordon’s little house place and the living room, stopping occasionally in the kitchen for some food. I was super tired, so I kept dozing off at random intervals. I had to charge my computer in Gordon’s room, where he has a voltage converter, since mine had unfortunately decided to blow the night before. I need to go get another soon, I think. Scarlett showed John and me a bunch of pictures on Gordon’s computer, and he took over my computer to see what I’ve been up to for the last year and a half, as well. Scarlett’s friend Lydia and Gordon’s friend Nathan stopped by in the afternoon to meet us, which was nice.
I went with Gordon to the grocery store to get hamburgers and buns for supper, my first time out of the house since we had arrived. Gordon had made plans for us to go to some church opening thing that Nathan invited him to, but at the last minute, due to my extreme tiredness and more vehicle issues, he and John ended up going alone. The girls and I cleaned up, and then settled down on the couch for a girl’s night of Grey’s Anatomy. I brought the first two seasons, and was delighted to find that Scarlett and Morgan are as addicted as I am. We watched what may have been an unhealthy number of episodes before being interrupted by two more Miskin friends, Danielle and Handsome. They had tea and we all talked for awhile. Handsome says he’s going to take us rock climbing, which sounds like it might be fun…if I don’t fall out of the harness or something.
I had been pretty sleepy before they arrived, but by the time they left I was wide awake. Gordon is house sitting, so he left to go take care of the dog, but the girls, John, and I sat up talking awhile more. I decided I really need to get on some regular time here, though, so I said good night and told myself I was GOING to sleep. It kind of worked…I was sleeping by 1:30, which is a pretty regular time to go to sleep on a Friday night, so I suppose the jet lag is getting better. Six hours is a lot of difference when you think about it!!
Today, Morgan woke me up at 9:30…when we were supposed to eat breakfast. Since anyone who knows me at ALL knows that I’m not at all fit for human contact right when I wake up, I opted out of breakfast and grabbed a shower and got ready before I ate my pancakes. I’m far more civil after a shower. By that time, Gordon and Nathan had arrived at the house. Mrs. Miskin told them that they had to take John and me to Cullinan, so that’s what we did today. Cullinan is a former diamond mining town that now kind of reminds me of a small, quiet Grand Haven. It has several little shops and restaurants on one of the streets, which is where we went. We ate at a place called The Lemon Tree. It was lunch time, but for some reason it was decided that we weren’t going to actually eat lunch, but rather just kind of get whatever. There isn’t very much sugary food here, which is very different than at home, so I decided to go for the cheesecake. It was the same color as the cheesecake at home, but that’s where the similarity ended. It was much more gelatinous, less sweet, and wasn’t very cream-cheesey. None the less, it was pretty good, and the piece was HUGE.
We stayed at the restaurant for quite some time, before leaving for home. Rather than taking the highway as we did on the way to Cullinan, Nathan drove us home on the back roads, so we went over about a million speed bumps and got stuck behind a very slow truck. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, though. We were on a road that was cut right through the hills. On one side of us were these red rocks that made me think of Mr. DeVries. I’ll have to get him a sampleJ. Farther up on that side, and on the other were more hills with pretty red-roofed houses and such. The whole scene reminded me a lot of the desert in Arizona, actually; I loved it.
We had to make a pit stop for Gordon at the house, before we headed back out to the Pretoria Government Buildings, about 10 minutes away. It was gorgeous there, as well. The street the buildings were on overlooked the whole city of Pretoria. The buildings were long and brown…think like, the Parliament building in England, except a lot smaller and without the guys in the tall, fuzzy hats. In front were stairs with gardens on either side…kind of terraced down the hill. The sun was out and it was about 70 degrees. We camped out in the grass for awhile in the sunshine, playing the Indian War Game and cards and taking pictures and just hanging out. It was just beautiful; I didn’t want to leave.
When we got back home, I had a missed call from my mom, who misses me:-). It was really good to talk to her and hear how everything is going at home. I hadn’t called since right when I got to the airport, so we had a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, we couldn’t talk long because, as Matt so helpfully likes to tell me, South Africa is a long way away, so it’s expensive. It made me miss being able to just call whoever, whenever I want. She told me that everyone is clamoring for blog updates though, especially you, Grandpa Meyers, haha, so here you go. I hope it’s not boring, but you guys said you wanted to know EXACTLY what’s going on. Plus, it’s John’s turn next, so that will keep you entertained, I’m sure. I’m writing this in the afternoon, so hopefully I’ll be able to post it tonight. I also hope to check Facebook, because I miss TALKING to some of you guys!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
So this is my first official post on this blog--and my first official post since I left my old blog a few years ago. Ah, the good old days.
So here I am at my house. I leave in just a few minutes but I thought I might as well make my first entry. Anyway, so on this blog Erika and I plan to record our full Africa trip. I'm not at all sure why it has to be called "Riding Camels and Surfing in the Sea" but apparently that's some inside joke, so please readers, don't get confused. I don't think we'll be doing any of that. In fact, we plan on doing missions work, so yeah. Don't worry, all your funding wasn't a complete waste.
My mom just said she's getting the car out. I really should quick finish packing, but there again, is a classic example about how relaxed and calm I am. Is this a bad thing? Hmm... I don't know. We'll see by the end of this all.
I just finished filling up my mp3 players so I'm all set for a 20 hour flight. I also made a few gross sandwiches so I won't have to pay a ridiculous amount for food at the airport.
Okay, I really should go now. This isn't funny. Here I go. Farewell Grand Rapids. Love you all and thanks so much for your support and keep checking for updates up here.
- John Sikma
So here I am at my house. I leave in just a few minutes but I thought I might as well make my first entry. Anyway, so on this blog Erika and I plan to record our full Africa trip. I'm not at all sure why it has to be called "Riding Camels and Surfing in the Sea" but apparently that's some inside joke, so please readers, don't get confused. I don't think we'll be doing any of that. In fact, we plan on doing missions work, so yeah. Don't worry, all your funding wasn't a complete waste.
My mom just said she's getting the car out. I really should quick finish packing, but there again, is a classic example about how relaxed and calm I am. Is this a bad thing? Hmm... I don't know. We'll see by the end of this all.
I just finished filling up my mp3 players so I'm all set for a 20 hour flight. I also made a few gross sandwiches so I won't have to pay a ridiculous amount for food at the airport.
Okay, I really should go now. This isn't funny. Here I go. Farewell Grand Rapids. Love you all and thanks so much for your support and keep checking for updates up here.
- John Sikma
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Counting Down the Days...
John and I officially leave in ONE WEEK...and approximately two hours. For anyone who doesn't know all the details, we leave July 15th and come back August 13. We hope to do mission work with AIDS patients and children orphaned by AIDS. We will be living with our friends, the Miskin family. Dr. Arthur Miskin is a lecturer at Mukhanyo Theological College in Pretoria, and Dr. Sonja Miskin is a medical consultant at the Masibambisane (MCDC) AIDS Hospice.
The MCDC ministry includes five day care centers for AIDS orphans, a family development program, a vegetable garden program, a foster parent program, and the hospice program that Dr. Miskin works with. Their website is http://www.mcdc.org.za/, if you want to check it out.
While in South Africa, we hope to spend time at the hospice with Dr. Miskin tending to patient needs. We will also be doing hospice visitations, helping Dr. Miskin assess the most pressing needs and concerns. We are especially excited to interact with the kids at the daycare centers, where we hope to help them with homework, read with them, organize games, and possibly help with a VBS camp, as well.
We're SO excited, I can't even begin to tell you. We're looking forward to the experience of a life time. Since a month is a LONG time, we would love to get comments and feedback from people, so don't be afraid to leave comments. If you don't have a blog, just pick "Name/URL" and don't worry about the URL, but leave your name. Also, we want to say thanks so much to our friends and family who have supported our trip, and to the Miskin family, for allowing us to stay with them. We'll keep you updated!!
The MCDC ministry includes five day care centers for AIDS orphans, a family development program, a vegetable garden program, a foster parent program, and the hospice program that Dr. Miskin works with. Their website is http://www.mcdc.org.za/, if you want to check it out.
While in South Africa, we hope to spend time at the hospice with Dr. Miskin tending to patient needs. We will also be doing hospice visitations, helping Dr. Miskin assess the most pressing needs and concerns. We are especially excited to interact with the kids at the daycare centers, where we hope to help them with homework, read with them, organize games, and possibly help with a VBS camp, as well.
We're SO excited, I can't even begin to tell you. We're looking forward to the experience of a life time. Since a month is a LONG time, we would love to get comments and feedback from people, so don't be afraid to leave comments. If you don't have a blog, just pick "Name/URL" and don't worry about the URL, but leave your name. Also, we want to say thanks so much to our friends and family who have supported our trip, and to the Miskin family, for allowing us to stay with them. We'll keep you updated!!
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