Happy Spring!
In other news, I spent some more time at the Rafael Centre this past week (I suppose I should spell it properly, although I am not handling this American to British English switch very well, and will probably blame that when I can never spell properly ever again. Of course, 'again' implies that I could spell anything properly in the first place…). Aya and I are getting on well—I asked him if he played any sports and he told me that he didn’t, but that he liked to read novels and write poetry. Also, he really likes life sciences/biology, and when I asked him what he wants to do later in life, he told me he was considering being a psychologist or a lawyer. Could there be a better mentor/mentee pair? Granted, he writes most of his poetry in Xhosa, so I can’t understand it at all, and I do have difficulty understanding his accent some times, but hopefully that will improve as we go. On Thursday when we met, he asked if I had extra time to meet this week, so I went in again Monday and we worked on his projects a bit. Honesty, so there wasn’t a lot that we could do except for some brainstorming before he does his research for the papers, so we mostly just hung out and chatted. He is graduating at the end of this year, provided that he passes his examinations, and then in December he is going ‘into the bush’.
This is sort of a coming of age thing for Xhosa guys that has survived over time and is still a part of the culture in this area. As far as I can gather, some older men take a bunch of guys (all around the same age, although there are not really structured age-groups in society the way there used to be) out into the surrounding countryside and leave them there to survive on their own for 3 or 4 weeks. While I can imagine that this would actually be quite difficult (I have no idea what you would eat… it’s a good thing no one is leaving me out in the bush), I can’t help but think that this is also an excuse for male bonding time. But no man-dates at Servo or Saturday morning brunches here… this is serious. Anyway, after the older men go out and bring them back, there is a big celebration that involves lots of beer, gifts, and possibly slaughtering a cow. I am a little fuzzy on the details, but it sounds like a big deal. When I took my tour to the township shortly after I got here, we saw some guys coming back from the bush, as well as a party with tons of neighbors and a cow… there’s just a difference between knowing that it happens, and Aya telling me that he is doing it himself.
This week has just been a mash of trying to get work done while planning for vac. I finally have plans… well, a rough sketch, anyway. I am definitely going to Durban with Kristen. We are going to leave Saturday morning (for a 12 hour bus ride) and are coming home the following Sunday overnight, so that we should arrive back in Grahamstown around 5:30 in the morning. Hopefully, we are going to rent a car in Durban (I don’t know if the 21 age requirement is nationwide, or just in Grahamstown… we were able to book a car through Economy Car Rentals, so hopefully everything will work out in Durban and we will just possibly pay an underage insurance fee), which will allow us to drive up to Kruger National Park with a stop in Swaziland. The plan is to drive to Swaziland on Wednesday and get to Nelspruit (just outside of Kruger) by Thursday night, do some drives on Friday and Saturday, and take a shuttle/minibus back to Durban on Sunday. There is still a part of my mind that is panicking and saying that the rental car isn’t going to work out, but if not, we will just stay in Durban for the week. I am sure we can find something to do… I mean, there is a beach, so it wouldn’t be that terrible.
Anyway, in the meantime, I am just constantly being reminded that God is has been taking care of me, is taking care of me, and will take care of me in the future regardless of how much time I spend panicking and trying to control things in my life. So, the real plan is: I am going on a trip over vac. I will explore new places and see new things. I might not go everywhere I planned, but I will find a place to sleep at night, food when I am hungry, and I will get back to Grahamstown more or less in time for classes to start (although will I really want to go to class when I get home 3 hours before it starts?) I was in the dining hall yesterday, taking a break from stressing over bus and car bookings, and a girl was making toast with her back to me so that I could read Jeremiah 29:11 written on her shirt. God knows the plans he has for me! And then today my dear Melissa sent me Proverbs 19:21 "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."
It has just been so helpful to be told over and over again (because I can forget very quickly… as soon as I get back to my laptop and open up travel booking pages or something) that God is in control. He is big enough to have this great master plan, and he still cares about the details my life. Like where I am keeping my stuff over vac, how I will get malaria meds, and hopefully where I will be sleeping next week. I have to be smart and make good decisions, but I am not alone in them. And that is a big comfort.
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