Cape Town!

I arrived in Cape Town on January 9 at 11:00 am Cape Town time (they are 8 hours ahead of Mpls). It was a long day! The United flight from Mpls to Chicago that we were scheduled for was cancelled so we ended up taking Delta/Northwest. The flight from Mpls to Chicago was about an hour and the layover in Chicago gave us enough time to find out next gate, hang out and grab something to eat. From Chicago we flew to London, which was about a 7 hour flight. This flight was the worst because I only slept for about 2 hours. We landed in Heathrow and had a 7 hour layover. I was not able to sleep at all during this part of the trip either, so I walked around the airport…a lot. We were finally allowed to go to our gate where we boarded South African Air bound for Cape Town (12 hour flight). This was the best flight by far! The flight attendants cater to your every need. You were given a “over night bag” complete with an eye mask, socks to wear around the plane, tooth brush and tooth paste, blanket, and pillow. The plane food was quite good as well. We were served some traditional South African Food that had some curry in it…YUM! When I was walking down the terminal, the South African heat hit me, which made me take off my Augsburg sweatshirt that I had been proudly wearing only to reveal my “This is what an Auggie looks like” shirt (an appropriate shirt for the time). Customs were relaxed as ever, and I only had to answer one question (crazy!). I found my bags and was happy to find that a tri-colored beagle was walking around with security searching bags…it reminded me of home and our wonderful barking beagle named Abby. There was one similarity between Abby and this dog…it was only interested in the bags with food. Hmm… I don’t know what the country will do when people from around the world come down here for the World Cup.
We met our hosts from Cornerstone and were taken to the South African Bible Institute, located right off the coast (wonderful, breathtaking views of the ocean and mountains). I was looking out the window the entire time just taking in South Africa. The amount on poverty down here is amazing. There are squatter camps, called Townships, which are massive, containing housing structures made out of scrap metal surrounded by a seven foot fence. In certain areas there were telephone poles with power cables coming out of them like a spider web, attaching themselves to the nearest “houses.” On top of them were large flood lights. Talk about living in the Ghetto! South Mpls has nothing on that! We stayed 2 nights at South African BI and then went to Cornerstone to begin classes. During our stay, we attended a coloured church located outside of a Township. I was a small storefront church that was full of youth and mothers and 12 Americans haha. There were 2 young boys sitting in front of me who were board during the service and found that playing with a white person’s hair (one of the Bethel girl’s) more entertaining. It was quite funny to watch and reminded me of all the Banyan children. Later on the next day we met our host families during tea time. When my host mom arrived, I went up to formally introduce myself and she wrapped me in her arms and said, “Call me Mom.” What a comforting first impression. My host family is a retired coloured (this is the politically correct name for this group of people in SA who are neither fully white nor fully black) couple who have 2 daughters that are older and have moved out of the home. They have such a grandparent feel about them and unmovable Christian faith, which has been wonderful. I also have a Bethel roommate, who shares a room with me, and there is another student here from a small island off the coast of Madagascar who speaks French and is in Cape Town for a month on an English Immersion program (his English is quite good). The fruit and fruit juice here is amazing as well as the different types of curries.
There is, of course, much more to say, but it would end up being a book. I feel so blessed to come to the tip of Africa and be grounded in an open community of love and faith by people who don’t even know my story yet. Although there are a lot of issues in South Africa, my heart has a sense of peace. I can relate to the good Rev. Dr. DeYoung when he came here for the first time and said, “I think I am coming home.” ~Shalom