It has been so great reading all of your messages to me this afternoon when I bought my internet time at the cute little cafe down the road from our humble home. I absolutely love Africa. No doubt resides in me anymore. My new family is fantastic and although sometimes I feel as though I am not connecting, I start a new bond with one of my teammates I hardly know yet. Everything has been great. Johannah, Isabel, and I arrived late on Thursday night and went straight to bed. Then we had one half of a day and were told to pack up… we were going to live in “the bush” for the weekend. I thought, “the what?” Well I found out that in Afrikaan, “the bush” means the woods or basically out in the wilderness. So yeah.. YIKES. They said it would be cold and to pack for the weather. Well I was like whatever I am from Maine I can take it with a few sweatshirts and jeans. Boy was I wrong. After driving up and down and up and over and around the GORGEOUS mountains we found ourselves dropped off in a valley. The place was set up like a summer camp (I have never been to one, but looked like the descriptions I have heard), with cute little fire pits in a half circle, very small cabins with no insulation, more bunk beds, a meeting area which was cement floor and a wooden roof. The camp leaders said that everything was made by them and they acctually had to clear everything out(trees,etc.) and build what we saw in front of us. It was crazy cold. I think Saturday night it hit -2*C which is equal to about 30*F. I had a fleece throw blanket. HAHA! My legs were numb. I borrowed three blankets from the camp to sleep with. I slept in three pairs of socks, two pairs of pj pants UNDER my jeans, a tank top under a long sleeve shirt which was under my hoody which was under benjamin’s big sweatshirt. Talk about layering. But when I was dozing in and out of sleep I was still freezing. So that was my weekend. I will buy an adapter and converter and figure out how to charge my new camera and then I will attempt to figure out how to put pictures on these! The pictures are beautiful. Nothing like I ever have seen.
We got back home last night (sunday) and it was amazing and warm! I already have finished my book, No Time For Goodbye. I recommend it to anyone who loves the shows CSI, Without A Trace, or 48 Hours. I love mystery, and the book was an easy fast read so I loved the book. I already lended it to one of my teammates, Kristen. Jeffreys Baai is absolutely gorgeous. The beach is on the next block, and there are tons of small stores all over. We walk everywhere. The ocean breeze is just like home… times five. Mom and dad you probably won’t be excited, but I got a monroe piercing. It is super cute so don’t worry. It didn’t hurt at all haha. But I have a big ugly silver ball as the stud until it heals then I can get one that barely shows. A diamond or somethig. I bought a track phone today, so as soon as I figure out how to use it I will call all you guys and give my phone number. How it works is… If you guys call my phone I don’t have to pay for my minutes. So that would be grand if you could do that. BUT REMEMBER: there is a six hour difference. For example, right now it is 4:29pm my time. Our daily ministries are from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. We numbered what ministry we would like to do from 1 being the highest interest all the way to 9 being the least desirable. I picked Seventh Heaven as my first choice. Seventh Heaven is a orphange that is run by one woman. Acctually, it is her home and she has five kids.. she’s getting her sixth one this weekend. Right now the ages range from 2-13. She has two girls and three boys at the moment. They are precious. My leader Em, Jess G., Amanda, and I went over for our first day at S.H. this afternoon. We met with the mom and played duck duck goose and other fun games with the kids. The kids laughed at me because I was wearing a bandaid on my lip piercing because Em had told me to cover it during ministry. However, once I took it off they were accepting of me again haha. The mom had no issue with it either, so now I don’t have to wear one anymore. We will be helping her with cleaning, painting her play room, organizing, cooking, and caring for the kids. I LOVE IT. We will go almost everyday until December as far as I know.
Well thats all for now I guess… I can’t think of anything else to write and I have already been on for a half hour and we have to pay by the hour. So, talk to you all later!
Love, Victoria
