Hi,

I had a really nice weekend. On Saturday I was going to go cliff jumping but decided to go to the lake instead. I was the only guy that went, with about 8 girls and it was very relaxing. It was a warm day and we went swimming and then had a picnic beside the lake. They had a big assignment due yesterday so some of them were working on that (one guy took some of the girls out on his sailboat, but I didn't go). A girl brought her ukulele and was playing songs and singing along. At the end we got a group photo which I attached.

Yesterday morning I went to a church called 'North Hills Baptist' - it was quite a casual church, in an assembly hall at a primary school. It reminded me a little bit of Trinity in that the congregation was predominantly white and also there were a lot of families and we sang hymns, like 'Crown him with many crowns'. Afterwards I went outside for morning tea and there were no signs so I accidentally grabbed coffee instead of tea! I drank it, but it wasn't very nice.

In the afternoon I went with three of the students to Durban. Two of them went surfing and I looked around the market with one of the girls (she was waiting to meet up with a friend). I bought a cool painting of a map of Africa with an elephant inside and also two shirts. I had a long conversation with a couple at the stall where I bought the shirts, they were very nice and said they had worked in Melbourne and also hitchhiked across Australia - through the desert. After looking at the market I headed to the beach and found that the girl surfing had been stung by a bluebottle jellyfish (it had wrapped itself around her ankle) - she said it was very painful. Fortunately it wasn't severe and today she is a lot better. We went and got icecream and then I went for a quick swim (I was careful to look out for jellyfish!)

Last night I played cards with some of the students which was fun. This morning Hloni said he is planning to drive me to Capetown at the end of May/start of June for about four days (he is going to ask some of the other staff to come too). He said he has some work to do there, but that he will be my tour guide. I told him that I really wanted to go, as I've heard so much about it, so that will be nice.

Hi all,

Thought that I would share some of what's been happening this week. On Monday, some of the staff workers commented on how big the servings of food are at the AE centre. One of them made a comment how I will be 'much bigger' when I leave because I have been eating at the centre 3 times a day. I doubt  I will be but I did say that my pants felt tighter and they found that funny.

On Tuesday morning, Stephen Lungu came to speak at devotion. Afterwards he came over and gave me a hug and Hloni said to him 'Do you know Hamish?'' and he said 'Yeah, he's been here a long time. He was at the mission last year'. I said that Stephen had been to my church and he replied that he had been to Melbourne ten times and thought it was a very nice place. He shared in the devotion how he used to hate white people but now he doesn't even notice the colour of a person's face. He was telling me and some others some amazing experiences he had had of conversions that had taken place as a result of his preaching. He said he met a white man recently who said to him 'You are chocolate and I am cream, but those go well together'.

On Wednesday morning at devotion Biggie, one of the staffworkers, shared about her recent trip to Egypt and Israel. She talked about her experience in Israel as being the bible brought to life, through visiting places like the Garden of Gethsemane, the walls of Jericho, the tomb where Jesus rose, the walkway where he carried the cross and also the river Jordan and the Sea of Galilee. It was really interesting and all so different from what I imagined (but of course, it all would have looked different 2000 years ago). I actually didn't know some of those places still existed. Following her talk was a slideshow of photos accompanied by the song 'Mary did you know'. I found it quite moving.

I have been pretty busy with work. Marius, who normally does the graphic design work hasn't had much to do, because everyone has been asking me - I think they are trying to make the most of me while I'm here which is good. I have recently done an invite for a conference in July and a poster for Songe for a church service, and I have some proposals to design the layout for. I have some other small jobs to do when I have spare time, like some logos to design. I have attached two of the jobs I have done the past few days.

Hi everyone,

Wow I had a really full-on and exciting weekend! There is so much I could write about but I will try to keep it short.

On Saturday, before breakfast I decided to go for a walk to the wildlife reserve next to the AE centre and I found some zebras which was cool, I got pretty close and took many photos of them. After breakfast I went with the American students to uShaka Marine World in Durban (a bit like Seaworld). It was a very fun day, probably the best day I've had here so far. I patted an iguana, and went through the aquarium where I saw stingrays, sharks, jellyfish and turtles and also watched a dolphin show. The dolphins are so clever and did heaps of tricks like jumping out of the water, waving and dancing to music.

After the show we headed to the waterpark and spent most of the day going down waterslides which was so much fun. One of the guys ripped the back of his bathers on one of the slides (he wasn't wearing speedos underneath) and we were all laughing heaps! There was one slide called 'The Tornado' also called 'the toilet bowl ride'. I went down it three times. I am actually still a bit sore from it. The water was so forceful that when I came out of the tunnel at the end, I was rolling over and doing flips - which made me very popular with the other students! I told them I wasn't doing it intentionally, it was the force of the water. They wanted me to go down the slide and do it again.

I also went down the highest waterslide in the Southern hemisphere, it didn't actually look that tall though, one of the students guessed about four stories high. It was almost like a vertical drop and was over very quickly.

Yesterday I went back to GFLC church which was good, I stayed behind a bit and caught up with some old African friends who I met last year like Carmen and Lunga. In the afternoon Hloni drove me to the country to a chocolate shop and a craft market where I bought some things, like a new wallet, another wristband for myself and some other gifts. In the evening I went to a church called NCF which was a young and trendy church, and predominantly white people. It felt like I was at a concert with electric guitars and very loud music. Because I was a first time visitor, I was treated to tea and chocolate cake which was nice.

My weekend ended by coming home to find a snake trying to slide under the door of my cottage! It was a small red lipped snake and it moved very fast, Hloni tried to catch it with a bucket to stop it getting inside. 

Entrance to uShaka Marine World

I want a pet iguana!

The slide on the very left is the highest waterslide in the Southern
hemisphere (though it probably doesn't look like it)

Hey,

So excited right now. This morning when I got to the office the newsletter I designed had been printed and it looks great! I got two copies. I received a lot of compliments from the other staff workers about it.

Not much interesting has been happening lately, just a typical week. Yesterday I worked with Hloni on the menu and programmes for his wedding. It was a simple job but they are looking good (he printed out a mock-up). Sandi asked me to show her how to use Indesign. I showed her the basics (hopefully she wasn't confused by it) and she was excited even that she could do the little things like changing the colour of a box and placing an image.

Yesterday was also Gloria's birthday (my neighbour), so everyone sang Happy Birthday at dinner and had trifle to celebrate. Afterwards she invited me to their place and I met some of her other family which was nice.

Had such a fun day yesterday. I did not go to church which was a shame, but instead I ventured to Durban with 14 of the American students. Though it was a cold day in Pietermaritzburg, in Durban the weather was humid (yet still overcast). The car trip took roughly an hour and a half.

Once we got there we looked at the market and then headed to the beach. I was considering jumping off the pier, which some of the others did, but I wasn't confident enough. However I did swim. The waves were big and I got submerged several times but it was fun. The water was so warm compared to the Pacific Ocean! Afterwards we threw the footy around (they showed me the proper way to hold a footy and throw it) and then we had pizza on the beach.

The pier I was going to jump off!

Sitting on the beach with some very nice girls

Hi everyone,

I now have internet access at the centre and not just at the office so will be able to post stuff on weekends, which is good.

On Thursday night during dinner, there was the biggest storm that I have ever seen. So much thunder and lightning! I thought it was a bit scary. It was a crazy night. All the American students were going wild and trying to video and take photos of the lightning. Every time there was a loud thunder clap they would all scream very loudly. To add to that, it was one of the girl's birthday and they invited me to her party. All the girls were acting silly, I think it was due to the amount of sugar in the frosting on the cake.
One of the girls decided it would be funny if everyone hid under the table while the birthday girl was out of the room. It failed, because only a few people did it and she didn't notice when she came back in. But she walked over to get a drink and one of the girls under the table grabbed her foot and she got the biggest fright and screamed! It was very funny.
The students have been on Safari this week (one group left on Wednesday and the second group left yesterday). They went to Umfolozi Game Reserve (used to be called Hluhluwe Game Reserve) which is the same reserve I went to on Safari last year.

Yesterday was a very hot day, 37 degrees - I heard that it was similar weather in Melbourne. Last night I went to the Foxfires Commissioning Service. I walked down to the service with Marne (my neighbour) and he went a bit crazy with my camera and took heaps of photos on the way down - some of them turned out quite artistic (I have attached some of them).
It was a fun night. The Foxfires performed two dances and one of them read out a very inspirational poem. Michael Cassidy was there and he spoke about wearing spectacles of faith, and being able to view God clearly. It was a great illustration. I took some photos and I stayed behind after the service till late and talked to the Foxfires.

Marne taking a selfie with my camera

The Foxfire Team

Hi,

This week in the office has been quite busy with work. I have been working on the African Enterprise quarterly newsletter which I have finally finished (assuming that they don't email me with more changes to make) and it is being sent to the printers I think today.
When I emailed it last week, one of my co-workers commented how it looked beautiful and fresh it looked which I found encouraging. Sorry it is hard to read, but I am mentioned in one of the articles (the bottom left article on the first page). It was a challenge to fit all the material on to just 4 pages so that is why the font size is small.

As well as the newsletter, I have attached another flyer I have been working on for a Moore college course in October. I also volunteered to do the wedding programmes and menus for Hloni (the intern co-ordinator) who is getting married in May. He had done a draft in Word but I did not like his choice of fonts and I know I can do a better job.

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted on here since last week. I've been meaning to post more about the work I've been doing but that will come shortly.

I have made so many friends here, including my neighbours who I have been hanging out with a lot, the American students (from APU) and all the workers at AE. I was sick with a cold most of last week but that has gone, thankfully. The APU students have final tests and classes this week so have been busy doing homework so I haven't done much with them lately, just seen them at meals.

On Friday night I was invited out to a stag party which was fun, and pretty relaxed. There were 15 guys there and we had a time of worship as well as speeches for the guy getting married. He is one of the guys staying in the intern cottage with me, though he has moved out now. They did some silly stuff as well. I'll only say that they made him wear nothing but shorts and walk around the streets on a cold night to try and raise money for his honeymoon (he had a cardboard sign hanging on his shoulders). He only got 10 rand. It was pretty funny though.

On Saturday I had a relaxed day and spent the whole day at my neighbour's place watching movies which was fun. I enjoy going over there, they are very hospitable and the mum gives me tea and food that she has baked (like cupcakes and scones). The kids are really cute (baby Claire and Marne who has just started school) and I play with them while the mum does the housework. They feel almost like a second family.
Yesterday I went to GFLC church again which I enjoyed. The sermon was about being servants for Christ and about giving and serving, and not having a passive role in life but actively applying God's word and fulfilling his purpose for us.
After church, Geri picked me up and I went with her and Shanna to have lunch with the foxfires. One thing that I don't like about Africa so much is the food. The lunch was very spicy, it felt like my tongue was on fire. I managed to eat it, but had to drink heaps of water. After that we went to an informal settlement and watched the Foxfires do ministry for the kids through games and dancing. It was also with the MNCP team (I designed their newsletter for them last year, which I attached in earlier blog post). I took heaps of photos and have attached some below. It was a fun afternoon and the kids really got involved