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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Different.


It is quite interesting to look back across this last year. It’s interesting to see how much I’ve changed and grown in every possible way. I can see it in my journal chicken-scratch, I can see it in my posts, I can see it in my relationships. I like the idea of maturing, even though it is a process coated in colors that tend to taint the skin, colors that burn and are not pleasant to experience. It’s always worth it, the outcome anyway. Every year I reflect, I see that process I went through and the maturing God blessed me with, but I still saw me. Now I see an entirely different person.

I’m finding myself these days sitting in a season of rest, refreshment and reflection. I don’t know if the South Africans that have been my company for these last 250+ days see the difference and I don’t know if those state-side that were my company in the past will see the difference, But to be entirely honest with you, I feel the difference in who I have become deeper than my bones.

Phil Edwards said, “There is a need in all of us for controlled danger. That is, there is a need for an activity that puts us on the edge of life. There are uncounted millions of people, right now, who are going through life without any sort of real vibrant kick. The legions of the unjazzed.”

I’ve never wanted to be a member of the unjazzed legions, a member of a crew of individuals who never took any risks, never faced danger head on – those groups that sit comfortably in there comfy chairs so long that it has the imprints of their ass. I dreaded the idea of becoming a member of that society. So my entire life I have done everything I could to be in the legions of the jazzed, to be in the life-style that risks it all so that they may move with the ebb and flow of the raw-side of this world, in order to truly live.

When you move to a foreign country, all by yourself something happens. That ‘life’ cup you had, that cup that formed your identity and security (and essentially makes up all you are) gets emptied. Living in America we have the luxuries of filling up that cup daily, rarely does it get half-empty, if even close to dry. You fill it up with material possessions that bring you comfort, you fill it with family and friends, you fill it by succeeding in American expectations, with rewards, with promotions, with compliments, with financial security, with social acceptance, with cultural comforts, you fill it by being busy, using every minute of every day and you may even save a small degree of that cup for God’s love to comfort you and bring you some identity.

But like I said, something happens when you leave your home-land, your culture, your society, your social network – your cup runs dry and you have no way to re-fill it, no way at all. Except with God. This year was hard, my cup was very dry for a very long time and it was a risk I didn’t realize I didn’t want to take. It was an experience that tasted awful in the midst.

But I guess that is why I am so vastly different today, so different from that girl I was at the beginning of 2011. I guess being a member of the jazzed, taking that risk, emptying the cup… actually filled my cup, filled it with something different, with a substantial substance that has stained the inner lining with a different hue.






If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

~C.S. Lewis

Thursday, September 1, 2011

South African Session





What I have learned while living with CSA in SA ...


  1. You can avoid rules and order, actually you should. Bring the spontaneity in your life at full force. The systematic structure, is good and helpful and sometimes brilliant, but it can never replace the organic growing and changing of having impromptu disorder be the system for your life.

  1. Don’t just embrace chaos, but create a little bit of it. Constant change will only keep you (and the people around you) nimble and flexible, ever growing, ever learning. Within this chaos, be creative – as creative as you want to be and encourage the creativity and ingenuity of those around you.

  1. You have to be flexible. All the time, everyday, no matter the project – being flexible is the best asset you can have.

  1. Embrace and Empower and Embark. You have the capability to embrace anyone, any idea and anything. Do not just observe but seriously consider going for something, embrace possibilities. Empower anyone, any idea and anything. You have the capability to empower anything in your life. And embark on all you want – all your dreams and all your desires.

  1. It’s all about God. Who you are, who you will become, who you want to become is all dependent on God and that’s the only thing it should be dependent on. What you want to do, should be all focused on God. Your entire life will always, should always revolve entirely around our God.


That's mainly what I have learned from the lovely folk at CSA, my coworkers and community. And this is what I have learned from SA culture...



Stay on the left side of the road.

Eat lots of chutney and use lots of zam-buk.

This rainbow country has the most extreme colors in their rainbow.

Braai with pride.

Love Mandela.

Respect the wildlife: the lions and elephants as well as the Nguni cattle and the neighbor's dog

Robots are not like R2D2.

Now does NOT mean now.

‘Eish!’ is for surprise, not short for quiche.

Understanding a country’s history will change your view on everything you see.

The best foods start with ‘B’ biltong, bobotie, boerewors, bunny chow.

You’ll die from dehydration if you don’t like rooibos.

And the best way to reply to ‘Howzit Boet?’ is always lekker!