Happy Moment

This, my friends, is me loving the sunshine and loving being able to sit on my deck while looking at the mountains and checking the internet.  If only I had a tall glass of sweet tea…(I blame the song “Chicken Fried” for my recent craving of sweet tea–excellent song if I do say so myself).

Whoa

I just had a “whoa” moment of I’m here, I’m in South Africa, I’m at Thrive, I’m a part of this ministry, my words represent the ministry!  I needed to look something up on the Thrive Africa website today and found my name plastered (okay, not plastered, but noticeable) on the front page!  Yikes, but awesome!  Go here to look at the blog I wrote.  I wrote the blog as part of my department interview, which the ministry used to help decide which department I would be working closely with in my “Behind-the Scenes” aka BTS time.  This is time set aside during the week.  I am working in the HR/Ministry Correspondence department, which means I get to communicate with people who contact Thrive among other things.  I will also be working closely with the Next Step summer internship!  I am very excited to get to know the applicants before they even get here and then to meet them in June!  So, there’s my “whoa” moment of the day. 🙂

What’s the Weirdest….?

As I was working out tonight, I began to think about how random and weird it is that I brought a yoga mat with me to Africa.  I mean really. Who does that!? Me!  But, I must say that I am VERY happy I made the decision to not let it get cut along with many other things like extra clothes, an umbrella, etc, etc.  I love the color that it brings to my room because of course it can act as a handy rug when not in use.  And I’ve already been able to put it to good use and it’s much better than the hard floor!  So, I’m pretty sure that’s the weirdest thing I brought 🙂 Any weird things that you would bring or have brought somewhere?

I’m a Wimp…

I really really am a wimp when it comes to being sick.  If I don’t feel good, I just want to be at home curled up in my bed with a good movie or listening to a song on repeat.  I’m one of those annoying “take care of me” sick people 🙂  The last day or so my stomach has not been feeling well and last night I did not sleep well.  But on a happy note, internet is working “up the hill” aka my house and I was able to jump on skype and get a little taste of home inbetween my non-sleeping-ness last night!  Today consists of planning for Hope House (we plan a lesson, craft, and a game), learning some of the language (ugh…I’m not good at making clicking noises), and teaching Launch Pad.  Hopefully I’m feeling better later!  What are you doing today? Hope you have a happy Tuesday!

Hitting Repeat

I have a tendency to hit repeats on songs that I’m listening to and iTunes lets me know that with all of my high play counts.  I have a song on repeat tonight.  If you had to pick a song to have on repeat, what would you pick?  What should I listen to tomorrow?

Rainy.Stormy.Curl-up with a blanket.Weather.

2/23/08

Well I wont back down, no I wont back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I wont back down

Gonna stand my ground, wont be turned around
And Ill keep this world from draggin me down
Gonna stand my ground and I wont back down

Hey baby, there aint no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I wont back down.

Well I know whats right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin me around
But Ill stand my ground and I wont back down

Hey baby there aint no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I wont back down
No, I wont back down

Eagle’s Head

I climbed the Eagle’s Head today with Tara and Andrew!  There are 3 mountains on the Thrive Africa base: Everest (I know, I know…not the one everyone thinks about), Moihook (not sure on the spelling, but it’s pronounced like moy-hook) and then Eagle’s Head.  The last one is named because at the top there are rocks that really do look like an eagle’s head, fun, huh?  We even found a wonderful little lake on the top of the mountain too.  I had “heaps” of fun as Andrew, the Aussie would say.  I love being able to go out on a Saturday and hike and climb!  Here are a couple of pictures for you:

Taking a break…notice my rock for my pillow, ha!

the pond/lake

I climbed that!

The Interns

Andrew, Jen, Chelsea, Sam, Katy, Allen, Tara, Amiel

Andrew: The Aussie and the youngest at age 16, but also an amazing cook!

Jen: The oldest at 24 who is from Virginia.

Chelsea: My roomie!  She is from Colorado and is always smiling

Sam: From New Jersey, a vegan, and super sweet personality

Katy: the writer of this blog

Allen: Californian who will help you out if you get stuck on a rock and can’t get down..

Tara: From Michigan and loves to climb and be outside. She hates watching movies.

Amiel: From Illinois, used to work at Starbucks, and thinks mentoring is awesome

 

My Days Are Full

Last weekend provided a much needed breath of fresh air.  The rain tends to be a downer during the week, but during the weekend the weather thus far has been absolutely gorgeous!  Today, Sunday, I woke up without an alarm kind of early, which was nice.  I knew I was going running, but then once I got dressed I decided to make it a 10k.  I ran the first 5k went great and I had a time of about 27 minutes.  Then I gave myself a bit of a break and walked for 4 minutes and then ran the rest of the 10k.  I finished under an hour–my goal!  Felt great and I ate oatmeal with brown sugar after drinking a lot of water.  Then we had planned to go on a picnic on top of the mountain at around 11:30.  So, we hiked up Everest and ate lunch and laid out in the sun.  The view was gorgeous and it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.  To top it all off, we took a dip in one of the ponds (I miss lakes…) and now we’re going to make enchiladas for dinner!  There’s my day for you….how was yours?

love heart on top of the mountain

feet!

Hope House

Every Friday afternoon, we get to go to Hope House, an orphanage in Harrismith.  We’ve gone twice already and we have all already taken a ton of great photos of the kids!  The kids range in age from infant to about 14.    They are adorable and have already stolen my heart!  Don’t be surprised if I come home with a few 😉  I am so thankful that we are able to spend time with the kids and develop relationships with them throughout this next year.  I am excited to see the ways that the kids will grow and change this next year!  This month we’re going over the “rules.”  They include: Listen, Speak Truth, Respect, Keep your hands to yourself, and Share.   I’m part of the Hope House planning team so if you have any great kids games let me know!  Here are some of the kids: 

So cute 🙂

The older kids playing telephone

Ticklish!