Faithful-Shawn McDonald

In case the organizers of Destination Imagination were concerned, their program does help prepare people for real life. Actually, I am sure they already know this, but what they don’t know is that I averted a major crisis Friday night when I lost the key to the padlock on my closet door. I lock my laptop and other important things in there (like all my shoes, belts, and laundry hamper, actually), and being the super smart girl that I am, I stuck the extra key to the padlock inside the closet (I didn't exactly anticipate needing it after losing my key). However, with the help of a belt, a necklace, some newspaper, a flashlight, a shoe, a toothbrush (with travel cover), scissors, tape, my dry erase board, some bobby pins, and a thesis I checked out of the library (probably shouldn’t have used that one, but it is fine), I successfully got into my closet in under an hour. It was touch and go for a while, but everything worked out in the end, and I was fairly pleased with my creative problem solving.

In other news, Friday was a good day. I forced myself to go to Cory library and the music library to do research for two of my papers… we have so many libraries it is going to make me crazy. Granted, I like books as much as the next person—probably more, actually—I just wish that these books could be kept in one convenient location, perhaps the huge and beautiful and totally non-sketch library that is a 30 second walk from my door. However, we also have Cory library, which is the historical library where super old and/or super cool books are stored dealing with Eastern Cape (and, I am assuming, South African) history. I enjoy the books in Cory library, but unfortunately, nothing is in circulation, so you have to go there to read them, and this library is only open business hours during the week. Thus, I cannot simultaneously have the primary source for my history paper, write my history paper, and either be in my room or work during the weekend. Moving on, the Music library (not to be confused with the International Library of African Music, which is completely different) is in the music department, which is not a place I would go if it was going to get dark, or if there was bad weather. This library is basically open during business hours, too, although I believe it is supposed to be open for a short time on Saturdays. This is where the sources for my Ethno paper are rumored to be located, so I went there Friday as well. We also have a SAIAB/Ichthyology Library, which is where the sources for my Zoo paper appear to be, based on the catalogue searches I have been doing. I have no idea where this library is; I could always look on a map, but I am thus far boycotting the idea that I need to go to four different libraries for three papers, so I will see what I can find at the main library first. 

Anyway, after getting a bit of work done in the afternoon, Nhla (one of the sub-wardens in Beit) invited me to go with her and a few friends to see Carl Ncube, who is a comedian from Zimbabwe that she knows from home. It was a really funny time, although part of that had more to do with being out of place than actually understanding what was supposed to be funny. Nhla said that most of the people there were from Zimbabwe… I have no idea if she knew all of them (which seems pretty unlikely, since there was a big crowd) or if she just has some magical radar that I am unaware of (this seems pretty unlikely as well, so I am at a loss to explain how she knew). The Rhodes cheerleaders performed, which was a particularly… entertaining… experience. I am pretty sure that my nearest basis of comparison would be Gettysburg’s Bomb Squad, except that Bomb Squad has the occasional guy and/or white girl. Anyway, it was very amusing, and I enjoyed the comedians, although I didn’t get all of the jokes, which was half the fun. Afterwards, I met up with some of the girls in my res, and we went out for a bit. I didn’t really feel like going all that much, since it had gotten so cold, but I don’t want to go out late on Saturday nights, so if I go Friday, I can stay in Saturday and have a nice quiet evening to myself without feeling antisocial. It worked out super well Friday, because one of the girls wanted to head back early, so I went with her and ended up having a nice chat. Roxanne is really sweet, and I am realizing, once again, that there are lots of people here that would be wonderful friends if I would just put the effort into getting to know them. Ah, so much teaching time.

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. I didn’t do anything worth mentioning on Saturday, unless you want to hear about really boring papers (turns out I only really like researching history papers, and that is still a chore) and quiet evenings in Res. On Sunday, I had intended to go back to Frontiers, but I slept badly (luckily, this doesn’t happen nearly as frequently anymore) and I was so tired this morning that I decided to sleep a few more hours. However, it turns out that when Roxanne goes to church, she goes at night, so I went to River of Life with her this evening. It was an interesting experience; I would definitely call it contemporary, but I don’t think it is somewhere that I would want to attend all the time. The majority of the people there were students (sometimes you just have to spend time around “grown ups” and being around adorable children is always nice), but the important thing was that there was some substance missing in it for me. On the other hand, it was almost nice to be jolted by being in a place where I knew none of the music… it reminded me that the universal church is connected through the bible, not by the worship songs they sing. It’s kind of eye-opening to see, as I have in my time here so far, Christians who are really different than what I am used to in terms of worship, fellowship style, or the way they relate to—or understand—God. God is working in their lives and receiving honor and praise from them just as he does with me… and yet, in different ways. God is way more ‘big picture’ than I am, and that can only be a good thing. I just want to see a bit more of the picture the way that he does, and even that seems overwhelming.