I have been having an incredible month in South Africa and I am very excited to be able to tell you all that has been going on. There have been two major breaks this month from school and during those times I was able to travel extensively. We had our school break between terms 1 and 2 during the first week of April. For this time I went and traveled to Cape Town to meet up with my amazing family friends from Texas. We were able to do all of the touristy things like seeing Cape Point, climbing Table Mountain and visiting the Penguins in Simon’s Town. We also had relaxing days on the beach and in the wine country of Stellenbosch. However the most exciting part of the trip in my opinion was cage diving with great white sharks. Yes I actually got into a cage that was in freezing cold water, filled with fish guts while a 16 ft great white shark circled around the boat. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We actually were able to see 7 different sharks that day. We have some underwater footage as proof and I will get those uploaded when I can. It was very refreshing to spend time with such good friends and it definitely recharged my battery for the last leg of my time here.
I came back for a week of school and then we headed into Holy Week. I couldn’t have asked for a more special place to be during Holy Week. The Monastery is very busy yet it keeps absolutely Christ focused. We held an Easter egg hunt for the school kids on Maundy Thursday. It was their first Easter egg hunt and they absolutely loved it. The culture translation for find the hidden candy works amazingly well. I had received a package from Grace Episcopal church with gloves and hats for the kids so we also gave those out along with the candy. The joy that erupted from the kids hearts is something that I will never forget and has forever strengthened my soul. Later that evening we had a foot-washing service. It was extremely moving to see our Prior Timothy who is a white man washing the feet of all of children and elderly black women. For the Good Friday service all of the kids came to the church like usual and the Bishop came as well. We read through the Passion of the Christ and at the end the children went up to kiss the feet of the crucifix that stands in our church. It was another overwhelmingly powerful moment. My Easter morning started at 3:30am as I had to take the truck and shuttle as many people from the neighboring farms to the Monastery as I could. The sunrise service was gorgeous and very inspiring. We ended up having an incredible feast that afternoon and I ate until it hurt to walk.
Right after Easter I headed back to Cape Town to visit some of the other Young Adult Service Corps members. We had planned a trip to visit each others placements and it turned out to be a fantastic time. It was very good to be able to talk with other people that are in my situation and we were able to complain and unwind all our frustrations and our hopes for our work here.
I headed back to work today and I feel recharged and refreshed after this past month. I won’t have any more holidays or breaks for the rest of my time here but that is only about two more months. As I get closer to the end I start to think about how hard it is going to be to leave this place and how strange it will be to return home.