Weekend in Bulembu

So I was in Bulembu the entire weekend and it was actually pretty nice, but definitely not something I would be up for every weekend. There isn’t anything to do here, so you have to create things. This means a lot of together and having friends over, watching DVD’s on the laptop, playing games, sitting around talking, etc. So that is all pretty normal and similar to home…except there is no “going out” here. No restaurants or shops or anything. This is what I mean when I say you have to create things to do. Luckily, I REALLY REALLY like people and enjoy just hanging out so it was really a nice, fun, relaxing weekend BUT I also really really like a change of scenery/change of pace every now and again…so staying in Bulembu every weekend is just not possible! The problem is that I do not have a car, so we’ll see what happens.
I taught all day Thursday and Friday and it went really well. It’s an extremely tiring job though! Wow. Like I said before, these kids have a difficult time grasping new concepts, so math is really a challenge. We will persevere and just do the best we can! Thursday night we had a big thing at the community center with sports/games, worship, skits, a talk, and some food at the end for the people. There were 200 people there!!! How crazy is that! It was the first one, so this week they expect more people once word gets out about the free food. So that was a pretty cool deal. Friday afternoon the 4 of us American girls and Candace and Kathie had our first Christian Life Skills group thing with the older girls. It went really well. We set up a manicure station so that they would come in and have their hands washed, dryed, moisturized, nails filed, and nails painted. So that’s what we began with. They LOVED it. Afterward we talked to them about how our bodies belong to God and we are the temple of God-so we must take good care of our bodies…so we talked about good hygiene. We had little skit type things that were funny for each thing we talked about-like dental hygiene and bathing and deoderizing and such. Then we gave them each a bag that we had put together with a journal, a purse/bag, deo, soap, toothbrush and paste, pen, shampoo, lotion. They really had a great time and we are looking forward to our next get together with them.
Then Friday night Candace (my awesome roommate) and I invited over the other American girls and Brian for a bring and share (potluck) meal and a movie. It was really fun! Brian and I mad cous cous and chicken, Candace made spaghetti, and the girls brought over pancake mix, but we were all full from the other stuff and didn’t get to it. Then we watched Wedding Singer. Saturday was really chill and Candace and I pretty much stayed home all day and watched The Color Purple and just hung out. I also moved in to my new room, which was pretty exciting. Now I’m all settled in! Then Saturday night we had a big braii (SA cookout/bbq) at the club house. I guess it was just for the people working for Bulembu ministries. It was good eatin’. I had chicken sausage for the first time ever. Yum. Sunday was chill too. I watched 3 episodes of LOST!! I had never seen any and I immediately became addicted. It’s really intriguing and you just want to keep watching and see what’s next. Great stuff. I also did some planning for school. Then we had church at 4 and it lasted until 6! Afterward a bunch of us went over to the American girls’ house for the pancakes and eggs we never got to enjoy on Friday. It was seriously yum. Good times all weekend. Oh, and there is another new girl from South Korea and she is super cool. I really like her. She doesn’t live with us though. Her name is Sujin I think. I have no idea how it’s spelled. She is here 3 months and was previously doing YWAM in Capetown.
Did I tell you that the kids call the adults aunty’s and uncle’s? So I am Aunty Lindsey to all the children. It cracks me up. I’m used to it now though really. That’s about it. Hope you had a nice weekend too.