Live Out Loud

Well, we’ve been here for nearly a week and it’s been great! I will admit to sometimes when I felt completely out of place and awkward and thought to myself “WHAT AM I DOING HERE???” After spending two months in Europe this is a culture shock in the biggest way. You have to tip people a few rand everywhere you go, which can be stressful when you have no change. You feel constantly grimy and hot. Other kids make fun of your athletic abilities or lack thereof. But all in all, there are so many things to love about this place!

We’ve been to the Seed of Hope three times now, and I’m really looking forward to spending more time there. The kids are adorable! They’re so smiley and eager to play and talk to you, even though most of the time they can’t speak any English. On our first day we sat in on Simunye time for the younger kids, Simunye meaning “we are together”. It started off with singing, which wasn’t exactly music, mostly just organized hollering on different notes. It was beautiful either way. I made friends with a round faced boy who’s smile is a big as his face who kept on giving me the thumbs up, and trying to say things to me in English that didn’t make sense, like “who’s watch is this?” He was super cute and hilarious, like they all are. We also played on the playground with kids for a solid 2 hours yesterday, a couple of rubber swings and wood pieced together can entertain these kids so easily! They’re so fun and cute and hot and smelly, but great. I’m excited to get to know a few of them over these next couple of months.

Today when we went, we helped our new friend Karen prepare for a year end party for the Live Out Loud group, which is a group of high school students chosen as leaders in their community to be sort of mentored by our new friend Karen, and grow within a group. We set the tables, washed dishes, and served food, which was great, but actually getting to hang out with the students was the best part. We stuffed all eighteen people into three cars and took them to the Galleria Shopping Center to take them for their first time bowling. It being their first time, I assumed that I was going to have a chance to shine athletically. That was not the case. They got really into it, and were surprisingly talented! And let me tell you, bowling with South Africans is a whole lot different than hitting the Deerfoot Mall bowling alley with some buds. Bowling tonight involved jumping, dancing, high-fiving, squealing, rolling on the ground, moon-walking, leap-frogging over the ball return, hugging, and a whole lot of laughter. It was a blast, and they were all so much fun, and very eager to talk to the Canadian girl. A boy even asked if he could marry Lauren. We said we’ll have to think about it. Haha

After bowling, Adam and Lauren went to a youth group while Mum, Dad and I went to help out with the dinner for the kids. It went well and listening to them talk about how the group had changed them was inspiring and made me get a little teary. It’s so cool when people can come together and feel like a family. It made me miss camp a little bit. Mum freaked out when it was time for dessert, because the chocolate sauce was gross and liquidy, but then at the same time really chunky and dry, it kind of looked like dog poop on top of ice cream. If you know my mum, she is a Jedi Master at planning events, and she likes things to be done right, and hey, what’s wrong with that? Bossy yet effective. In the end, the kids were happy with their dessert, and mum didn’t develop any kind of ulcers. The evening ended with pictures, bongos, singing and dancing. I think I’m going to like it here. :)