Hey,

On Saturday I went with all the American students on a day trip to the Drakensberg Mountains. It was a 2 and a half hour drive on the bus. Upon arriving at Giant's Castle, we hiked to the Bushman Caves which was about a 1 hour walk. The scenery was definitely the highlight - it was so beautiful! Some of them asked me if it looked like Australia and I said it reminded me more of New Zealand.
We stopped for lunch in the bush where many of the students climbed the trees and the rocks.

I had my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever which was actually quite nice. A tour guide showed us the caves and explained the original caveman drawings on the rocks. I couldn't understand her accent but I got that most of the drawings were of hunters and antelopes. We proceeded down a ravine where a lot of the students went swimming in the river to cool off (I put my feet in), and we got back around tea time. Overall it was a fun day and nice to go out exploring as opposed to being in the office everyday.

Yesterday I went back to GFLC church (God's Family Life Centre). I like the worship there, as most of the songs are familiar to me and in English. Although I was rather shocked by the pastor who gave the sermon, as it was very different to what I'm used to. She was literally screaming (some of the other students thought she was crazy). I found the message hard to follow and someone commented that she didn't quote from the bible until 50 minutes into the sermon (a verse from Lamentations) and that most of what she said was her own opinion rather than biblical truth.

Yesterday afternoon I had a nap (which is rare, I usually can't sleep during the day). I think I was very tired from the hiking. In the evenings I have been spending time with the people next door (a single mum and her two cute kids) where I've been watching TV and movies which has been nice, as the TV in my cottage does not work.

Hi,

Just posting two small design jobs I've done in the past few days. I designed an invite for the Foxfires Commissioning Service the other morning and then today a poster for the Foxfire youth team (which was a rushed job, it needed to be printed this afternoon and I was only told about it just before lunchtime).

Hi everyone,

I had an eventful weekend. On Saturday I decided to go paintballing with about 20 of the American students. It was my first experience of paintball so I didn't really know what to expect. It was about a 45 minute drive out of Pietermaritzburg. When we got there it looked like it was on a farm. The overall cost was 70 rand (including hiring the equipment) which is cheap compared to paintballing in Australia. Everyone had jumpsuits to put on and padded vests underneath for protection, and we had to wear gloves and goggles whilst on the field. One of the guys refused to wear a jumpsuit and crazily just wore singlet and shorts, needless to say everyone shot at him.
We played three rounds of Capture the Flag - it felt like I was back at school doing Cadets again. Each round everyone was given 50 bullets to use. I was a defender so most of the time I hid behind the tyres aiming at anyone who came near our team's flag. In the first few minutes of play, I was testing out my gun and accidentally shot one of my teammates in the leg and she wasn't very happy about it.

Each person had three lifelines (so if you got hit three times you were out - many people broke the rules though). In the first round I got hit twice in the mouth (it hit my knee and ricocheted up to my mouth), which resulted in a swollen lip and green paint on my chin (photo attached).
The next round I got hit in the arm and in the leg and had two welts (one on my arm which was sore after). Overall it was a fun experience though and I am glad that I went and joined in.

On Saturday night I decided to join some of the American girls in watching a Christian documentary called 'Furious Love' which was promised to be lifechanging. One of the girls warned us that there were some graphic scenes which we might need to close our eyes for. As the film started my vision went blurry and I fainted (twice!) I think largely the reason was dehydration, I hadn't had much to drink and it was hot in the room. Everyone was very concerned for me, and I told them that this sort of thing had happened to me lots. I was taken care of very well and it felt nice to have so many student nurses looking after me, and providing me with water and pillows. One nurse in particular sat with me, checked my blood pressure and heart rate (she said I looked pale) and then chatted to me while I was lying there. They even stood around and prayed for me. One girl offered me oreos and peanut butter (I took the packet of oreos). Ah, American hospitality.

They wanted to keep a close eye on me so arranged for me to stay the night in one of the chalets (close to them). Another guy stayed in the room with me which was nice. Looking back at what happened, it was a bit scary at the time but I felt like it was a blessing in disguise.

I recovered well and felt better yesterday, and many of the students asked how I was doing. Yesterday morning I attended GFLC church (God's Family Life Centre). It was held in a tent and there were many people there that I knew. The worship was probably the main highlight. It was loud and uplifting, many people clapping and jumping and most of the songs were in English. The sermon, though 1 hr long, was very entertaining and also encouraging. The pastor mentioned about God giving strength to those who feel weak, fatigued and anaemic and I felt that it was directed towards me.

I also saw Carmen there (who I worked with at the mission last year) which was a nice surprise, as I wasn't expecting to see her there. She was interested in the internship and introduced me to her family. I had a quiet Sunday afternoon and went for a walk to the wildlife reserve next to the AE property, where I saw a deer (photo below).

Hey,

The start of this blog post is not that interesting, but keep reading because it gets good.

Monday and Tuesday were very stressful. I spent all of Monday trying to get this video of Michael Cassidy to work (it was a very big file and would not fit on to a CD or a memstick) and it needed to be posted to Johannesburg for a conference. I tried compressing the video so many times and each time that would take 45 mins to an hour. On Monday night I realised that I hadn't actually watched the whole video and I had repeated the speech twice by accident! Now the file was a smaller size but then on Tuesday there was the problem that it was a quicktime movie and wouldn't play on a PC. Finally on Tuesday afternoon we sent it on a memory stick and hoped it would work.
Yesterday morning the never-ending video problem continued! Got an email saying they could not open the video. Every time I exported it as a different type of file (compatible with PC) the quality was pixelated and low resolution. Not to worry, finally yesterday I managed to get a high quality version that worked on a PC, and made two copies on CD for Hloni to take to Johannesburg (the conference is this weekend). Yay! Much relief.
Needless to say I am sick of video editing at the moment, and looking forward to doing other design work which I am more experienced at. I am currently working on an invitation for the 2013 Foxfires Commissioning Service and have been coming up with some ideas for a logo for MNCP (Mama Ntombi's Community Projects).

Aside from work, yesterday was Valentine's Day and it was a hot day (33 degrees). I got to breakfast (which was pancakes, yummy) and all the American girls had decorated the dining hall with love hearts (photos attached). Geri told me that I was her valentine and I got a cute Valentine's day card from Shanna. I had heard about a Valentine's day dance that was happening and some of the girls invited me to come. I found out that there are 40 girls here and 13 guys, so I thought I would go since there is a shortage of guys. I also really needed to relax and have some fun.

The dance was really fun (first there was a formal dinner in the dining hall). The tables were pushed together and there were roses on each table. It was to celebrate a girl's birthday as well so they had red velvet cake. The 'matchmaker' girl came up to me and said she had a girl in mind for me and it happened to be a girl that I like (but not revealing too much yet). There was a photobooth, karaoke and dancing which was pretty wild and crazy but very fun. I even had a go at karaoke! It was embarrassing though. I was pretty tired by the end of the night.

Hi,

I just wanted to share the fun weekend that I had. I spent most of Friday editing a video of Michael Cassidy which will be shown at a conference this week. Although it was only a 10 minute video, it was a bit slow because I am still learning how to use Final Cut Pro.
On Saturday morning, I went for a walk taking photos of the AE property which is something like 52 hectares. There was no one around, it was very quiet at the centre.
In the afternoon I went out with Geri and her daughter Shanna, and Lunga. It was great to catch up with him again (I did some work with him last time I was in Africa). This was a fun outing. We went to a restaurant and ordered heaps of food, including a massive chocolate sundae (photo attached).
Shanna (4 years old) gave me a cute and funny drawing she did of me eating icecream. Just before we left I gave her a present which I brought from Australia (the book 'Koala Lou' and a koala bookmark).
On Sunday I went with Hloni to his church, called 'Eston Mid-Illovo United Church' which was on a farm. It took about 45 minutes to get there. It was the smallest congregation I have ever seen! Only 7 people there including me (all white, the service was in English) and they were all over the age of 60, except for me and Hloni.
Lunga invited me out for lunch and we went out and had a picnic at a park with 5 others (including one lady who is from Geelong in Australia). She asked me how long I am here for and I said four months and she said 'Of course they'll want you to stay longer, you won't be able to leave'.
The lunch was to celebrate the end of fasting for them (they have been going without junk food for a month), so we had a feast. It hasn't taken me long to reach the conclusion that Africans love food and they will eat heaps.
Though it rained, it was a fun afternoon and we went for a walk through the park afterwards. They invited me to their church next Sunday which has about 500 people and is one of those very loud charismatic services, they also have songs in English and Zulu. So I'm looking forward to that.

Some beautiful photos I took this morning at 7:30am of the AE property (on my walk down to the office). The second last photo is the building that my office is in.

Had a good day at work today. Feeling settled in. I'm enjoying working with some very funny co-workers. They make a lot of jokes (some about me) and I've liked all the attention. This morning we met for devotions (it happens most mornings at 8am), and I was welcomed to my first devotion meeting. We were given people's names on cards to pray for.

Last year I designed a newsletter for an ex worker at AE (Sandra Pillay), which I have attached below if you want to see. She started a mission called MNCP (Mama Ntombi's Community Projects). We have sent a lot of emails to each other and today I met her and she was really nice. She took me to her car and gave me a big present to say thanks for my help. In the present was a diary, a cap and some bottles of lemonade. She is doing a second newsletter soon which I will design also. 

This morning Sandi asked me to design some bookmarks for her, about the Foxfire team. There were 12 overall (I have attached four if you want to see). She was really happy with them. They have asked me to also edit a recent video of Michael Cassidy speaking which will be shown at a conference (there isn't much time, needs to be done by Monday). I've had a lot of trouble in that my laptop won't recognise the video camera when I connect it, but it worked on her laptop so tomorrow I will use that. It should be a pretty basic job (it's only a short video).

Had another funny experience at lunch today. I sat next to an American girl who wanted to know if I had a girlfriend and she was determined to find me one out of the American students staying here. She asked if I had any preferences and she said she could think of at least four girls that fitted my description, and asked 'Are you ready for my matchmaking skills?'. The other guys on the table were laughing but I think she was actually serious. She said I might have a date for Valentine's day. 

Um, okay . . not sure what to think about that.

Hey,

Feeling so blessed to be here, had such a nice welcome. All the AE workers were so excited that I had come back (especially Geri who I worked with last time in Africa). I got several hugs. One of the guys remarked on all the hugs I was getting and said 'I hope your girlfriend back home doesn't mind' and I said 'I actually don't have a girlfriend'. They insisted that I will probably have one before I go home!

Also had an embarrassing thing happened to me last night. I got back to the cottage and it was dark and I couldn't find the light switch. I accidentally pressed the Emergency button and a loud alarm (like a siren) went off for ages. I didn't know what to do. I think it woke up the baby next door.

Today is my first day of work! I have a newsletter to design and I've been told that the lady I'm working with (Sandi) has got lots of work for me to do. Here are some pictures of my office.

Hey all,

So last night I arrived in Pietermaritzburg after three flights and one very long flight from Sydney to Johannesburg (14 hours!) I got a few hours of sleep but last night I was ready to crash. It feels so good to be back, even though I am still a bit tired.
I am living in a cottage shared by some other interns (it is perhaps on the messy side since it is all male interns staying there). I have a bedroom to myself which is small but nice. It is about a five minute walk uphill from the AE Centre. It will probably be good to get some exercise daily. Also apparently it has been raining a lot here. Last night when I arrived in Johannesburg it was pouring and there was thunder aswell.
Feel free to post comments (it is free to all, you don't have to be a member to post a comment).

The outside of the cottage