Not Alone- A Very Potter Musical

So, I have been busy with business for the past few day now. I got my bank account open, which took several extra documents and three trips to the bank. Jill also took me around High Street and African Street, where most of the shops are that I will ever need. Grahamstown is bigger than Gettysburg, but it has a definite small-town feel to it... we run into someone that Jill knows practically every time we go anywhere.

Jill is a post-grad student that came here from the US a year and a half ago on a rotary scholarship (I think that is the real reason she knows everyone... they all seem to be in the Rotary Club). She loved it so much that she returned for this school year, where she has continued to work for the geography department doing research on water management. It is nice that she came here recently enough that she can remember how to do all of my entrance stuff, and she also can remember what things are different here. In fact, last night she took me to her house and gave me a tea lesson, since I am basically required by social norms to accept offers of tea or coffee. Now I know the most palatable way for me to take my tea, and have found that with milk and sugar to soften the tea taste, the rooibos tea is actually really good! Rooibos tea or "bush tea" is made from a plant in South Africa, and the people here are very proud of it (same with their wines, although I am far from wine country) and as an added bonus to me, it is naturally caffeine free, so I can down all the tea I want without becoming a caffeine addict. Woo!

I am living on campus now, in temporary housing until the other students come back from vacation, and the normal residence opens up. Right now, I am in a pretty cool room on the second floor of Matthews House with a balcony... very convenient for enjoying the nice weather. The word on the street is that we are currently enjoying a spell of unusually good weather... I am just getting spoiled. It is cool in the mornings and evenings, and actually cold at night, but the sun has been out every day, and I am comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. Also, there are flowers blooming everywhere I look, so I could really forget that it is the middle of winter here except for the fact that it gets dark around 5:30pm.

I am starting to understand the layout of the campus... basically, I can get wherever I want during the daytime, and as soon as it starts to get dark everything gets confusing. This is becasue the style of a lot of the academic buildings is similar, and everything is really close together. The campus is bigger than Gettysburg's, but I am in a Res that is really close to everything, so it wont take me long to get to class. These older residences, the ones that are close, are also built to look very similar, but they are luckily also well labeled. On a side note, these signs are much classier than the blue ones that they just put on all of the buildings on campus at the Burg... just saying. I have not been here long enough to determine if they can maintain constant blooming plants without having the gardeners replant everything every few weeks. I will report on that sometime in the future.

In the meantime, I am taking a nice, easy weekend here before my official orientation starts. Chris and Jill have pretty much finished my Interstudy orientation, although there is an Interstudy mentor, Gillian, who is a professor in the geography department who will be around all year if I need anything. Technically, Jill isn't employed by Interstudy during the year, but she will obviously be around as well, and she is really nice, so I am sure if I need her she would be happy to help. In fact, we made a plan to meet tomorrow morning so I can go to church with her... I have no idea what kind of church she goes to, but I will find out! Also, she said that she is sure there will be people there who have contacts with people that attend the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, so I can figure out where they are and what time they meet. Ah, small town life! I have been taken good care of since I got here, and I am so appreciative of the people... although I know the one that is truely responsible for giving me every good thing. To God be the glory :)