this is a very typical scene at our house. on the left is our pastor-in-the-making (nkleko) who came over to borrow something around lunchtime. the boy next to me is called richard, but goes by jo-jo. he is one of the funniest kids i have ever met. the woman next to him works with our social workers. the two girls on the right were a part of the holiday club that was here this past week. apparently it was one of their birthdays so someone sent them over to our house for lunch. the hilarity of the situation was off the charts. no warning, no plan, just tossing together a meal for 7 people on a whim. 

i have realized that there is just no way to plan around here because no one else does. i love it.

rainy day:

today it is raining, which is apparently unheard of in the winters here. i for one am LOVING it. reminds me of my roots. i didn't think it possible, but the slow pace of life appears to get slower still when impacted by the rain. 

our 8am prayer meetings generally involve people shuffling in around 815 or so. but today, no one else showed up until 830. ha! i am such a DC-er, even though i try not to be. even when i try to be late for something, i am still the first one to arrive.

we had a going away party for freddy last weekend: this was our contribution to the party! this is my housemate Mbali. we made chicken and rice for 50 people. 

we had one of the teenage boys over for dinner last night. we made pasta, corn and salad. he was so funny. he was taking pictures of his meal with his phone. then he declared to me that someday he was going to make salads because he had been "watching me make it and it wasn't that hard." it was so funny. he then abandoned dinner early with a full plate of food just so that he could walk about the village and show everyone his plate. he was just so excited and so proud of the meal. it was very cute.

safari pics:

to whom it may concern, this safari took place just outside of lily, literally a stones throw away from the village, so for safety reasons, there were no wild cats present. so i will have to keep waiting for the day when i can wander around with lions :)

we ended up following this awkward bird for ages! he wouldn't pull over! i got a video as well, but it wouldn't upload, so stay posted.

 freddy's arm and part of my face. as well as some kind of deer.

 this is how the zebra's felt about us.

 it was soooo beautiful!

 we thought this was romantic

 this zebra would not break eye contact

 he was hilarious!

to see the hippo's 

 they were shy

 me and freddy. she has been at lily for 9 months and is leaving today. she is from germany and sooooo funny! i loved getting to know her!

 this is one of my favorite pictures.

 cute

 rhino 1

 rhino 2

 tree

 i was so used to snapping pics that i had to capture a pic of these dudes. haha

 signs pointing us home :)

apparently there is a "lion park" very close to us as well, might see if we can drop by at some point to check out the cats :)

"We do not fear God because of any compulsion: our faith is no shackle, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness nor driven to duty.  No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight." -Spurgeon

"'Tis when we taste Thy love,

Our joys divinely grow,

Unspeakable like those above,

And heaven begins below."

updates:

so this is the roster for grade 1. try learning these names in a hurry! asibongwe is a darling little boy who is getting adopted this week by an american family. i am so happy for him!

these are the books that i have been reading in my spare time. just finished pursuit of God (amazing).

i picked up this little phone shortly after arrival. i have been so spoiled by smart phones that i can barely operate it. everyone laughs when i try to treat it like it has a touch screen. it has been nice though to be able to communicate with staff/volunteers here. don't know if it can receive international calls though. i literally feel like i have gone back in time 10 years.

this little rooster starts yelping at 4  in the morning. this is literally the view from my bedroom window. and this rooster never travels far... he likes to stay close to my room for some reason.

so they apparently do controlled burning of the grass here. some of the kids told me that this was so that we can more easily spot poisonous snakes. bahhhhhh!!! someone else told me that it was to prevent forest fires during dry season.. i'm fervently hoping that it is the latter.

in other miscellaneous news, one of our boys, spinele, gashed his leg open the other day and had to be brought to a hospital for stitches. he was so brave and barely even cried. these kids are so tough here. its amazing. 

also, unrelated, i am going to try to squeeze in a trip to cape town at the end of my trip. it looks so beautiful there, and i can't imagine being so close and not being able to see table mountain and some of the other sights. will keep y'all posted :)

just a few thoughts:

• the money here (Rand) has had me in quite a fluster, but i now have it sorted out enough to guesstimate if 7600R is a good deal for a steak or not (it is) or if 2699R is highway robbery for a jar of jam (it is not). basically the best way that i found to navigate the system is to just divide everything by 10 and that will be close to dollar amount. the first time i went to the store i couldn't believe that i had spent 300.89R on a few groceries! then i realized that it was about 30 dollars. 
• roads here are CRAZY!! they are slightly better in durban/pietermaritzburg (richer cities), but they are real bad around lily. going into town today we were slowed down by 2 cows crossing the road and countless dogs/people who just wander around in the road. plus the steering wheel is on the right hand side and the lanes are all backwards. i have never been a wimpy passenger but i felt downright queasy today as freddie (volunteer from germany) sped around dodging people, cows and cars!
• weather. now, for anyone who has spent any kind of significant amount of time with me has probably figured out that one of my pet peeves is people who complain about the weather no matter the season aka "its too hot" or "its too cold" or "its too windy" or "too much snow" or "too little snow." anyway, having said that, i will go into a small rant about the weather. it is pretty warm and nice during the day (probably mid-late 70's). however, nights are FREEZING!! literally freezing! i literally put on every piece of clothing that i brought with me (not many!) before i go to bed. every time i feel uncomfortable or wish that i was warmer i am struck by the thought of how cold the children must be in the houses near me... sometimes it just breaks my heart to think of how cold they must be or how hard it must be when the water goes out for days. or how sad it is when i ask a girl why she isn't wearing shoes and she tells me that she doesn't have any-- just her school shoes. she is one of the teenagers and i have already decided to leave some of my shoes with her. it sometimes feels like i am doing so little, but i know that God has placed me here to love these kids, so that is what i am doing.
• the little children here (under 10 years) are so generous. one day at school i forgot my lunch and so many children came over and offered me some of their peanut butter and jam sandwich (they think that is my favorite sandwich because that is what i bring). it is so sweet that they have so little and are so willing to share what they have. 
• i have settled into a pretty nice routine here and am very much enjoying getting to know the other volunteers as well as the children and the teachers at school. i am amazed at how quickly this has started to feel like home. my housemate mbali is a primary reason for that. she works here at lily and is hilarious. she knows everyone and everything about everything- think rachel lind in younger and south african form. she is absolutely hilarious and i get along with her really well. she kind of doubles as a personal assistant since she knows the volunteers schedules. she has kept me from missing countless volunteer meetings and bible-studies. :)

prayer requests for this week (if you so wish to pray for me/lily ;))

1. for the health of the kids. it has gotten very cold here and many of them do not have warm enough clothing so they keep getting sick 
2. the staff at lily. there has been much turnover in the past few months and they are working with a very small crew.
3. that the teachers will have patience, compassion and love when working with the children. as well as discernment and firmness in upholding rules and structures. 
4. that the volunteers will be bold about sharing life and sharing Jesus with these kids. 

thanks! :)

celebrating that the water came back on today!!

in the news of the day: when i woke up this morning there was no cold water. when i came home from school today there was no hot or cold water. my housemate mbali and i have conned some of the village boys to fetch water for us. i have no idea where this water is coming from, but at least now we can boil it for drinking. :)
since i got here the water has been pretty sketchy. it turns off and back on again frequently. and more often than not, one of them is not working. today, however, is the first full day that i have been without water.
i survived my first week of school.  things went very well and i love all of the kids. they are so darling and mischievous. i am trying to learn a bit of basic zulu so i can communicate with them better. i was practicing some outside of my house today and some first graders came over to help me! they are so sweet. :)

and, the absolute HIGHLIGHT of the day:

an early birthday card from mel!!!! 

some candid shots of the day 

(photo's courtesy of the 5 year old who snagged my phone!)

the little on the left just does baby babble. and the girl on the right doesn't speak any english-- we had an interesting afternoon!

not the most flattering photo of any of us

i believe he was trying to capture me as well as the three littles sitting on my legs. fail.

this is how i spend my afternoons :)

playing with littles all day

this was a final warning to return the phone. if they get out of sight, you will never see your valuables again. sad but true.

my morning "commute"

there is a bus that transports the children in the morning to the school-- i could ride it if i wanted to, but i prefer the quiet and calm of the walk. however, in class today, several kidlets asked me if they could walk with me in the morning! the peace and quiet was nice while it lasted i suppose :)

more than just a stamp in my passport.

if you are expecting to read some beautifully constructed and thoughtful literature here, by all means, keep moving! ha! the plan of this blog is not elaborate or really thought out at all. my only goal is to keep those informed who wish to know what it is that i am doing and how i am managing day to day life. those who know me well know my tendency to attract crazy and bizarre situations. this blog will track my life as well as what i am learning.. who knows, i may go deep and talk about spiritual growth. its really anyones guess!  so, welcome to my crazy 8 weeks in south africa =)

here are a couple of pics to keep you at bay (haha, michelle, we all know that you were waiting with bated breath!!!) 

STAMP IN MY PASSPORT!!!!

so this was the sunset tonight at Lily.

the kidlets LOVE wearing my sunglasses. well, mostly the boys. ha! they are also always trying to steal my water bottle.. i feel super stingy, but i do not share with them due to germs/diseases. i think next time i go out i will buy some little dixie cups and pour them little bits of water upon request. 

this is my bedroom. the kids have realized what house i reside in and come around to my window in the mornings and yell and sing until i get up. ha!

this is my view from our kitchen. i LOVE the orange curtains! 

 i start "school" on tuesday-- i think i will be working with 2nd or 3rd graders. not really sure what is involved with that whatsoever, but i suspect i will find out on tuesday! the volunteer coordinator, fiona, is going to give me a detailed tour on monday so i know where things are etc. tomorrow is full of church in the morning and in the evening. i am carpooling with some other volunteers into town to buy more food (my first shopping trip the day i landed will not be considered a success)...
two little girls today asked me what i studied at "university" and when i told them my degree they both started shrieking with laughter. then i asked them what they wanted to study and they rattled off "conflict analysis and resolution"! these kids keep me on my toes, that is for sure. :)

more to come..