Week 26 – “I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for…”

(As I was posting this, I realized that my Week 16 post from December never went up properly, but it’s there now. Check it out!)

I’ve already been living at AnHouse, the student house for the Anglican Chaplaincy at the University of Cape Town, for over a month now. In that time, I have watched the house come alive as the students return and a new school year begins.  With O-Week long complete, we’re starting to settle into our weekly routine.  Last Tuesday night, I began what will become a weekly routine: 9:00pm evening prayer or compline in the AnHouse lounge. Even more exciting, on Wednesday, we had our first evening Bible Study.  We read John 11, the story of the death of Lazarus.  It led into this really interesting conversation about resurrection and afterlife and purgatory; one of my housemates even covered his face and started laughing because if made him think of an episode of South Park where Michael Jackson’s in purgatory. Life after death, Michael Jackson and South Park!?!?! To think, this was only our first week! What might we cover with an entire semester?

In other news, last night I joined my housemates in attending my first rugby match! It was a short walk up the hill to the University of Cape Town’s Upper Campus to watch their team, the Ikey Tigers, conquer the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Mandibas.   Rugby’s similar in many ways - from what I have made of it so far – to football, but the fact that they don’t have pads (yikes!) makes it also remind me of wrestling a little as they all pile up trying to grab the ball.  The rugby rule that seems the strangest to me - as an American used to watching the very occasional football game – is that you can’t pass the ball forward towards the goal. You can only pass sideways or behind you.  Another thing I learned about rugby: it’s played in two 35-40 minute halves with a 10 minute half-time that lacks both a marching band and cheerleaders. Like football, after a touchdown (although I’m not entirely sure it’s called a touchdown in rugby), teams get to kick for the extra point.  I still have a lot to learn about this rugby stuff, but I would go again. My housemates were good company and the ones who knew what was going on were very helpful in trying to convey it to me.

Here are some pictures of us at the game and then back at the house celebrating our housemate David’s birthday:

My First Rugby Game

 In closing, I want to that all of you who have supported my journey and who have taken time to follow it.  Once upon a time, long long before I thought I might take this journey, when I was in high school at the great Watchung Hills, I had the pleasure of managing the Watchung Hills Warrior Wrestling team.  While being a stat girl seems like a past life to this missionary, there are things that I will always carry with me from that long ago chapter.  The reason that I’m writing all this to you is that I would as you faithful readers to check out the story of someone I knew from those days and to send some extra prayers and love and light in the direction of his family today most especially. Here is his site, his blog, & his story.

Week 24 - "The sunshine shines and it warms your skin & the soul within..."

It was about twenty-four hours after the Superbowl was actually played while I was skyping with my fellow YASCer Jonathan when I finally found out that the Green Bay Packers won. Last year, I spent Super Bowl Sunday at Camp Weed, just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, at an interview for YASC – aka the interview that got me here. I was on my delayed flight home when the pilot announced – much too my joy – that the Saints won! My sources tell me that fifteen young adults spent their Super Bowl Sunday getting interviewed at the same discernment weekend.

With no thought of the Superbowl (except where it’s related to Glee) and no worries of winter weather, the UCT Anglican Society (AnSoc) Committee and I spent this week marketing our fine campus ministry! Remembering Delaware’s Activities Night and UD Episcopal Campus Ministry’s opening picnic, I found myself the same thing totally differently in my new home in the Southern Hemisphere. Sunday evening marked the first evening student service of the academic year and Monday began O-Week (or Orientation Week) madness! From 9-3 on Monday-Wednesday, AnSoc members and I worked a table on main campus with no more than the little shade offered by a small tent. On Wednesday, we spiced things up a bit with a visit to the med school campus (Gold star to anyone who hasn’t been to South Africa and can tell me why Groote Schuur is famous!) in the heat of the day to promote AnSoc to the students there. Wednesday evening we celebrated being finished sweating it out at the table for six hours a day– I mean, celebrated having most of the students back and welcomed new members – by heading to St Peter The Fisherman Anglican Church (which reminded me of the lovely St Peters By-The-Sea, where I once interned!) in Hout Bay, which is a beach town on the inner coast of the Cape Peninsula (look for welcome signs reading “Welcome to the Republic of Hout Bay”).  From there, we walked to the beach and got our swim on in the cool (but not cold) water for a few hours before heading back to the church for a fish braai. All in all, a winning O-Week - exhausting, but glorious!

One of the super-cool things I get to do here when I’m not working with AnSoc or at the ASF office is see other pieces of the Anglican Communion in this area. On 30 January, this took the form of attending a meeting of the Cape Town Diocese’s Diocesan Environmental Group. They had a guest speaker: Brian Cuthberson from the Diocese of London.

Cutherberson spoke about environmental initiatives that the Anglican Church has in the London area. Since the city area of London has more than one diocese, the London Churches’ Environmental Network is inter-diocesan.  In addition to workshops all around London that primarily focus on the reality of climate change, the initiative promotes ideas for parish-level environmental engagement like the “Transition Towns” movement, which is an initiative that promotes sustainability in local communities, encourages practices like producing and buying locally grown food, and recognizes the need for self-sufficiency. The London Churches’ Environmental Network also encourages partnering with communities in other places such as Angolo or Mozambique, where one parish partnership has resulted in a project to provide clean water. They have targets for 2012, 2015, & 2020 for shrinking their carbon footprint; at the parish-level, this is based on individualized plans for each parish based on that parish’s individualized circumstances. I’ve never been to London, and I think this may be the most I’ve ever learned about it outside of a classroom!

After Cutherberson’s  talk, the conversation moved towards plans for the Cape Town Diocese for 2011. Since the meeting only had around twenty people, those attending expressed their eagerness to grow! They have some great projects that they’ve already done and that they want to continue, such as having a diocesan clean-up day at a public park, which is an even I attended my second week in Cape Town! Also, they have a curriculum for the Season of Creation to be used in parishes and can get involved even the youngest parishioners in Sunday School. Churches that are already engaging in “green” practices should be recognized as well, and other parishes should be provided with more opportunities to hear what the Cape Town Diocesan Environmental Group is doing.

Listening to their conversation, I realized that between living in the Diocese of Delaware for the last five years and immersing myself in all kinds of campus ministry, I don’t really know that much about what’s going on in my sending diocese of New Jersey. I do have fond memories of my church in Delaware, St Thomas in Newark, in this department (and countless other non-environmental ones) such their thin service leaflets and general avoidance of paper towels. Most of all, I remember their desire to preserve the beauty of the Grove, a large piece of beauty right next to the church that was purchased a few years ago to help the growing parish.  While there are many ideas for development, the land’s beauty is never forgotten.

It’s hard to believe that I’m almost halfway through my time here and some of my fellow YASCers have just passed their halfway points.  The time is flying by. In a few months, one or two of those fifteen discerning young adults will probably be sending an email in Amanda’s and my direction asking about our lives here. Right now, my biggest challenge is how ridiculously hot it is to commute on public transit and walk uphill, but if that’s my biggest challenge, then what do could I possibly complain about? :-)

(PS - Sorry my last post only JUST appeared - I thought I had published it when it was written, but bBlogger had other ideas!)