Week 1: 12-16 Feb
All aboard for the first week of classes! (Sjoe and what a knock-out they were!)
The first week seemed to pass incredibly slowly, and by the end of it I was convinced I had never had a recess at all! There were a couple of less welcome surprises, which included having some of our lecturers who we had expected to have again this year swap out. It was not the end of the world, but it was rather disconcerting and made me feel rather uneasy about the start of the academic programme. I had a bit of a wobble in the middle of the week after all the confusion with service learning, feeling out of my depth with the content, and the loud construction work at Hagerhof. (Incidentally, the plumbing saga and the security problems are still ongoing-- stay tuned 😒) The wobble occurred on a Thursday and to fix it I actually ran to Dana's res in the rain. It was a very effective means of dispelling most of the stress. We watched the spinoff of Downton Abbey with lightsabres, and it was actually very good! I cannot understand how the actors manage to keep straight faces though! Since I had run to Dana at around 19:30, I landed up having to phone Tao and get an Uber home, but it was a R30 well spent and Tao was very chilled about it. I wish there was a better word than "chilled" for it, but that is how things are with Tao, she is just easy to live with and things flow smoothly and calmly.
I shall make no further mention of my wobble, there were plenty of lovely things happening too! It was so nice to see all the faces in class again, even those who I can never remember the names of. The faculty has had some lovely upgrades decoration-wise and the OSK/ESC had set up beautifully for the first day. Rachel, Paige, Carle and I took a photo with the blackboard display and outside the building to commemorate our last "first day". While we were taking the photo, the strangest thing happened, Paige got to chatting with the girl who kindly took the photo for us and discovered that they had gone to high school together! I'm convinced all people from East London are somehow connected or related, it is actually quite frightening.
Wednesday (which was also Valentine's), Dana and I went to stand in the queue at Kristen's to receive our free scoop of ice cream advertised as being "for singles". We met some interesting people in the line, one of whom told us both that we looked like first years. I think Dana is told this often, but sometimes it does bother her that she is in fact in her fifth year and people still assume she is only 18 or 19 years old. Dana got the salted caramel and I had roasted cherry (I am not sure why I am telling you, but it seems worth mentioning). We also had our first Bible study on Wednesday. It threw my whole week off to have it on a Wednesday, I am still not used to it! All the Wednesday groups are fairly small and have younger or first-time leaders, but everyone is hoping the groups will expand. After the study, a bunch of us went to the sokkie at Kruiskerk. I have never been when it was so busy before, one could hardly breathe, let alone dance! People kept crashing into each other, even during "Footloose" (which sadly has become a line dance I am nearly sick to death of after welcoming).
Friday was Michaela's 21st, which was an absolute blast! There were around twenty of use there and we were well and truly hyped up as the evening wore on after being fed with lots of sweets and fizzy drinks. Talita's parents had cleared space in the lounge so that we could dance, which we promptly did after Talita's speech. Really though the dancing had all but begun earlier when the boys had swayed along to "Piano man" on the couch like drunk sailors. Marcel used a fizzer as a pretend harmonica and Gerdi directed the chorus as though his life depended on it. It was most entertaining and had us all in fits of laughter. There is a video of it floating around somewhere I'm sure! The real dancing consisted mostly of some hopping around, but also of sokkie (it wouldn't be Stellies without a sokkie!) Liesje is thrilled with my progress and still calls me her best sokkie partner. She is the only person I had ever let hold me nearly upside down, and the only one I trust to do so! We were all jamming out to "Give me a man of the Midnight" by ABBA just as Grant and Lillibet returned home. Dana was mortified that our pastor had seen and heard us like that and I think we all hoped he would not recognise us! He was also just in time to see us do the "Gangnam style".
On Saturday, we had some church service team training. During this I learned more about the reformation and Anglicans than I think I have ever thought to ask. Afterwards, Dana and I went to get ice cream with Nienke and dragged Luna along with us. Dana had a party to get to, so Nienke and I went to the botanical gardens and chatted happily for an hour or so. Nienke is full of the funniest and yet fittingly true expressions! I tried to get some work done and then in the evening went to watch the last Lord of the Rings movie at PULP with George and Jemma. I had forgotten how creepy Sherlob was-- I am sure Tolkien must have been an arachnophobe! I could not help but think of watching it with Caroline and missing her. I had forgotten so much of the film, and I am sure some of it was lost on me at the time, but I do treasure having the memories of seeing it with her for the first time. She used to apologise at the start of each film that she might "spoiler me" and talk in the movie, but that she couldn't help it. I think we took breaks to walk Bailey during at least two of the films. Those walks were so special looking back. The other thing I found myself wondering after the movie was about how much it drew from Biblical narrative. I have heard that it does, but I do not think I know the books well enough to see and fully recognise all the parallels.
 |
| Our last first day of classes! |
 |
 |
| A sweet "first day back" gift from Tao |
 |
| In front of the faculty Valentine's board with Paige |
 |
| "Scoop for Singles" with my favourite buddy who has taught me singleness is a gift |
 |
| A random selfie from Dana which is the perfect representation for how the first week went |
Comments
Post a Comment