Africa- Parties, BBQ's, and Friends

One of our first few days in Upington we had a youth leaders' meeting at the house. Lindsay and Morgan met with some of the leaders from the townships and Ethan met with one of the guys to teach him to play the keyboard. The rest of us planned stories and skit (that we never ended doing). After the meeting we played Mafia and the winking game with the youth that were there. Once they left we played Spoons (with pens). We played instead of someone getting out each round they got a letter (P-E-N) once they got all three letters then they were out. It came down to me and Megan and I was victorious! That was 29 rounds + any practice rounds and redos. Then we divided up into pairs to prepare a story/skit. That didn't take too long so I told Sloan about the letters Annie R. had put in my water bottle. The first 3 fit amazingly well with what we did. The first one said expect great things and God will move in mighty ways, praying traveling wasn't too bad. The second one was about praying. Be specific. People, bulidings, ministries, friends, team, focus, hindrances be removed, etc. That was the either the day we went to the prayer meeting in Rosedale or we went prayer walking. The third note was give your all, play extra, even if you're tired give your all. That day we went and played with the kids. The fourth note said make bracelets with children. We didn't see any children that day so I made bracelets with Sloan.

singing (or should I say Olwethu singing and us trying to) at the youth leaders' meeting (Megan's photo)

the group with the youth at the youth leaders' meeting (Mrs. Liz's photo)

Megan and me playing Spoons for the victory (Whitney's picture)

the beginning of bracelet making (see out Bibles and binders open on the bed, proof we did what we were supposed to first :) )
everybody's bracelets except Eddy who didn't want one and Ethan whose I made real quick that night, this was the night before Whitney and Tiffany left (Whitney's photo)

We had a cultural party one night with some of the guys from Rosedale (Sergio, JimLee, Amor, and Winston) and some of the girls from Paballelo (Monica and Patience), Suzie, Victoria and her husband (Freddie) and brother (Jeshua). We had quite a spread for the party: red beans and rice, corn bread, frito corn salad, frito chili pie, and fried rice. Before we ate we hung out outside talking about various topics like our favorite movies and the weirdest thing we've ever eaten. After we ate we just hung out talking and having fun in small groups which ended up being the guys, the girls, and the adults. Some point in there there was some music and everybody singing "Nobody Wanna See Us Together." Then we talked some more as a big group, about holidays.

the spread for the cultural party (Whitney's photo)

Patience, Monica, and Victoria (Whitney's photo)

Tiffany with Suzie (Whitney's photo)

Sergio, Winston, Amor (Whitney's photo)

Jimlee (Whitney's photo)

the adults group (Mr. John, Victoria, Freddie, Jeshua)

having fun (Whitney's photo)

the group (minus the girls) at the cultural party (Whitney's photo)

Braais. A Braai is a South Africa barbecue. There was a braai pit in the courtyard at the house and we had a few braais. The first one we had was when we got to try mutton (sheep). Let me say I was really excited about this and thought I would probably like mutton. However, after trying it I didn't like it. Sad day. We had a couple and their son, who were friends of Petrus and Mariana , over for a Braai one night. Thys (the husband) brought a dish but we didn't know what it was. I knew there were potatoes in it. He said he'd tell us what was in it later. For some reason that didn't fully register with me that hey there's probably something in this I don't want to eat. I got some and when I was eating it I realized there was something in it other than potatoes but I wasn't sure what. I then thought to myself it's dark out here, I can't see what I'm eating, it's probably better that way. Later found it it was chicken livers. Gotta admit it wasn't that bad though. When we were hanging out before it was time to eat Eddy was playing with Thys's neice with a soccer ball and Thys went to a store and got some chips that we were eating and trying to hide from Mariana, it was kind of funny.

Petrus cooking at the Braai (Megan's photo)

Eddy playing with Thys's neice and Thys's son

Victoria, who I mentioned was at the cultural party, is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The girls went over to her house one day to visit. We just talked and she showed us some pictures. She is really sweet.

Megan and Lindsay got to visit the hospital one day. Megan totally got asked out by a doctor (an audiologist) and got his number! He asked her if she wanted to go see a movie or something, I don't remember, and she was like there are 8 others of us. Ha! We were really hoping to meet this guy but it never happened. While at the hospital they met some dietitians who wanted to meet us! So on a Sunday afternoon they came to the house and we had tea and muffins that they made. I think it's awesome that they actually wanted to meet all of us. So we had tea and the muffins and talked. They were pretty awesome!

group with the dietitians