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Sunday
Forgive me the lack of photos, but take my story of a remarkably satisfying day.
I have a friend, Lulu, on the ship, who is from Zimbabwe but lived in Cape Town last summer and whose boyfriend and brother are currently there. For her, it was like going home, and she was more than gracious to invite a couple of us to hang out with her on Sunday. She was staying off the ship so we caught a taxi that morning, our driver really as unsure as we were about where we were going with our ambiguous directions. We were driving up a street when one girl recognized Lulu's boyfriend walking down the street- impressive, considering she had only seen a photo of him before. She rolled down the window and shouted his name. We laughingly introduced ourselves and he walked with us the block left to church.
It was a mainly student church, with some families and young couples, about 40 people in the morning service. Hearing our accents, many people approached us to ask where we were from, and then with knowing smiles as we introduced as "Lulu's friends from the ship". It felt so familiar and comforting that I teared up during worship - worship really unites Christians worldwide, I'm learning, there's nothing like singing the songs that are so important to me at camp while I'm halfway around the world.
We made our way to Lulu's brother's house, after a quick stop at a Pick n' Pay to pick up groceries. Splitting the bill and carrying the groceries down the street, I felt like I could live there. Just a typical student Sunday.
We had a 'brye', aka BBQ- sausage, buns, pineapple, potatoes, juice. I get hungry remembering it.
From there, two of our group went off to a concert, myself and another to Hillsong Church. For those not aware, Hillsong is a Pentacostal megachurch that grew out of Australia, largely based on the strength of their worship band. I knew there was one in Cape Town from my research pre-SAS, and wanted to go, mainly because a lot of worship I grew up with has come out of Hillsong. But I wasn't sure how to get there or if it was a good idea.
Rewind- Saturday. I volunteered for the Open Ship Tours, thinking it would be showing South African students around the ship. However, our group ended up being various people, no college students, with connections to SAS - past faculty, family of past students, past students. Including one young couple. The husband paused to read the "Religious Community" poster on a hallway during our tour, and so we got talking. He casually mentioned he and his wife (SAS alum) work for Hillsong.
Like I said, God provided.
He is from Holland, she's from America, both of them felt called to work in South Africa and met there. They had their wedding in Cape Town to force their families to visit. Their story was incredible, I wish i could have spent more time with them. When saying goodbye, he wrote down directions and told me to come to the 6:30 PM service.
When we arrived, he greeted me with a hug.
Hillsong is... an experience. The contrast between the student church in the morning, 40 people in a gymnasium, to the three storied theatre with lights and fog was incredible. It was fun, but I could never see myself calling it "my" church. It was like a concert, although we were told it was the evening service, the youth-centered service. The loud, the dancing, it was a lot.
Our cab ride home I was bubbling over with happiness. It was a full, delicious day.
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If that was one day, you can understand why I don't describe every day blow-by-blow. We do so much in each day.
One day, I ignored everything I had ever read about safety, climbing up a mountain at dusk in the rain. Just as I about to insist we turn around, we met a local who saves rhinos and had two broken feet and offered to take us up to the top, as all the tourists and locals, were turning around before the top. We were in the middle of the clouds, alone and laughing.
Then the clouds began to glow as we descended slowly, and then the lights. The lights and stars, blending into one were worth the danger. It was indescribable.
That same night, Dawn and I tried to go out partying on the infamous Long Street before we realized with her being homeschooled and I being small-town Canada we couldn't figure it out. We sat in a classier version of McDonald's with our burgers before spotting friends across the street and dashing to them and proceeding to dance the night away.
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I took the train to Simon's Town, which I think was quite possibly the most perfect places I have ever seen. We came for the penguins,
but I fell in love with the water and mountains.
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Then there was Table Mountain. It was the last day and I hadn't been up it yet and this felt unacceptable. I took a taxi there, determined to go, even if I had to do it by myself. I ran into two other SAS girls intent on the same thing. We got a little turned around halfway up but saw some incredible waterfalls, before finding the correct path.
We earned the view, and the food at the top.
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I joke about having a "When I Come Back" list for each country, because our stays never see long enough. In South Africa it felt like a "When I Live Here" list. There's so much life.
I wrote for my India entry,
"I had this thought - if Burma asked me what I would die for, India reminded me that I will indeed die one day."
To continue this thought, at the risk of being cliche, South Africa reminded me that for today, I am very much alive.
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