hugs to all. i finally was able to post again... these computers i think are a bit too slow to handle blogger.

we spent the day in town today... shopping a bit and relaxing. it's good to have some time built in to chill amidst lots of new things. the whole week here in kimberley has actually been really restful for me. i find myself able to come down from a busy spring with the house and school and things and just sleep really hard and have time in my lovely room with the tall windows to pray and listen to music and write and be. the wind outside comforts me and the sunset last night was so clear and vivid through the lace curtains.

the courtyard outside of our rooms is cold and full of an orange flowering vine and a dog that is persistant with pine cones, leaving them in strategic places where you foot just might happen to kick it for him so he can attempt his infamous catch with one bounce trick.

we have tea often too rudy... rooibos is my favorite, with lemon filled biscuits. i will bring some for you jeannete, as well as some chutney, and maybe even this liquor they have here called amarulla.... so yummy over ice. this morning i had an ice coffe south african style, with ice cream. everyone here in town assumes that you speak africaans, so english please is a phrase for today.

i'm so glad to be able to post, i was feeling a bit cut off... this is becoming a sort of lifeline, a blessing to know that you know about my journey and are following my steps a bit. do you notice my speech/writing is a bit more formal? can you detect my accent even?

we went down into the diamond mines yesterday... it was really fun to get dressed up in miners' outfits, big big overalls and head lamps and "survival" backs... hard hats too. it's not so much of an industry here now in kimberely, de beers has moved on to exploit some other countries (sorry for the bitterness) but kimberley has quite a history. there are seven huge holes in the earth here in the city... they say now that they are supposed to refill them but it would take so much land, the city would be gone. they actually dig a shaft and then do this thing where they go to the side of the shaft and create tunnels and then cavities so the kimberlite falls down into the tunnels and then is pulled out and lifted through the shaft. brother matt, i was thinking about you, watching these thick coils on these huge drums that pull or push one of the weighted things up and down and this lever pushes the kimberlite through this crusher (imagine this word with a delightful south african accent, we laughed again and again) and then dumps back... you get the idea... very cool to watch.

we did not get any "souveniers" though... interesting thing is that there are "dumps" all over the city, actually the whole city was built on man made mounds of dumped material from the 1800's when their production mechanisms were less effective and only the true gemstones were worth enough to pull out, so the dumps are FULL of diamonds that now are worth lots of money, and so they are "remining" the dumps a bit at a time, they say it will take at least 30 years to redo all the dumps. but it's becoming very contravesial... who owns the dumps, if de beers is moving on, the goverment needs to find another investor to finish, but the profit really belongs to the goverment.

anyway... interesting to see one of the most famous, infamous pieces of south african history. i'm sure the gold mines are a bit different, but it rounds out a bit of the labor history.

this morning on the way to pick up some of the women, we passed one of the many and huge cemetarys... saturdays i guess have become the day when people hold their funerals. they save the body until saturday and then have a viewing in the home and then set up a tent in the cemetary over the gravesite and hold a service there. we could see and hear groups of people scattered at grave sights all over the cemetary... huge groups of people just standing, dressed in sunday best and singing singing singing. kathy says we will most likely be able to attend a service while we're here... there are so many of them that many people attend one each saturday, and now the tradition of saturday morning is changing becuase people are not able to attend all of the services they would have normally becuase so many more people are dying. so they are spilling over into friday night and sunday afternoon. it's really hard to grasp the impact of aids on these communities.

also, we went to our first choir rehearsal. did you feel the chills that went through my spine when they sang some of their traditional music for us? what a tradition that is. the patterns in their feet always surprise me, the beat falling in unexpected places as i watch with my symmetrical western training. we will sing with some of these choirs during the week, hopefully i will be able to bring a small piece of this beautiful music back to share.

the other thing is that i am getting ready to teach on monday. pray that i would have confidence in my own ideas and teaching instincts. it's hard becuase the director knows the community so well and has her own style. she will be at my school teaching 6 and 7 and choir, so i feel a bit like she is watching over my shoulder. the kids will be so sweet and ready to learn i know, but i am not used to students who learn so quickly... more to come after monday when i start. i may be doing a recorder class also at the middle school/high school. i would like to be there as much as possible, and get a feel for if i could see myself teaching at the secondary level.


my super principle followed me here... and i yearn for peace in my choices... to pray, to read, to sit and do nothing, to live with white people in africa, to drink tea and not water, to buy and spend and not regret, to think my own thoughts and not wish for others. God, may I have grace under your wings, and confidence in my skin.


we are off to see john Q. we can go to the movies AND eat popcorn with coke for under R50. ($5US) this is fun!


by the way, Rudy you're always welcome. i wish i could post pictures. they have a scanner here but i think i will wait till i get home to develop picture. it is expensive here.



this is from thursday, trouble with the website.

cold and windy day here... it feels so strange to be in the midst of
winter here... when i haven't had a "REAL" winter in years. (no offense
to southern cali people, but you guys don't have winter.) it's so
refreshing though... the air is cool and clean, the sun warm and
comforting, it shines sideways like it does at thanksgiving in the east, and it's
familiar to me, though a shift from july in la.

we just spent some time with my principal, steven mokwena (which means
crocodile), a very nice man and good musician and principal from what i
understand. he is young and energetic and does much with the students
for music, also directs an adult choir which we will get a chance to be
a part of. the school is small, grades 1-7 about 500 students. we
will be in the all purpose room, which is a nice space, clean and medium
size. some of the classes are over 40 kids though, so that will be
new... most have at least 30. i am feeling... how am i feeling about
teaching? a bit intimidated by all the other more experienced teachers
with the program... they are more i would say "sold" on music education,
in a way that i am not. they wear, for example, turtlenecks with music
notes and earrings with the musical staff on them. ahhh. this is not
me, but i remind myself that i am a good teacher, and that God has
gifted me and prepared me. pray for my time with the students, that it
would be rich and relaxing and growing and full of much joy and laughter.
i want to do a good job, and so will try to spend some time finalizing
material and reviewing for monday.

the pace will pick up quite a bit next week when school starts again
and everything is rolling.

ok, let me try to give you a few mental pictures... i call this:
scenes from kimberley.

the dirt is red here and catches in the wind as it passes
hooking onto skirts of passing women and the soles of walking feet
it swirls softly around homes and yards, where children play and gaze
open eyed
reminding me so much of dark faces in mexico and a detour around back
yard train tracks
the people greet and extend again and again with polite niceties and
"pleasure", "is it?"
the sky is blue blue and fills occasionally with the puffy kind of
cloud i love
casting shadows on homes of many kinds, tin and brick and laundry
blowing
i drive on the right slowly and deliberate, although i cannot remember
the difference between the turn signal and the wipers, and so we giggle
and continue on with wipers wiping, though there is no rain, and the
childrens' eyes grow bigger yet.

singing children cannot stop when the "welcome" is done and continue
intrinsically motivated and bickering
this one, that one, this game, that game.
when they decide, they jump into song and clapping quickly, feet
collide in a pattern complicated and we watch learning.
i snap a few photos and smile, grateful and moving forward
into what i am unsure, but these moments pass too soon
and i want to engrave everything into this mind.
perhaps that is why i buy more and more of africa at this shop and
that.
a giraffe, bowl, basket, key chain, necklace, elephant picture, ebony
cup
and still i am unsatisfied.

thank you for faithfully reading and praying and thinking about me, my
friends and family that ring continous in my heart.

mom thank you for loving me..