Sunday, January 22, 2012

Happy New Year!

I had a fairly uneventful week at GCF when SDC was closed, but it was most pleasant. It was nice to see the daily life at GCF, which I don’t usually see much of, and to see what the other volunteers actually do here anyway. To be honest, it made me glad that I get to go out every day and work; I think I’d feel cooped up if I stayed at GCF all day, and I appreciate the distance between work and home. I must admit that it was also nice to feel sort of superfluous; while the volunteers working at GCF don’t always feel extremely needed, sometimes I wish SDC didn’t need me so much. In addition to the daily work of collecting, selling, etc., I’ve also gotten to do more interesting things like participate in the Strategic Planning meeting we had on January 17th; now that SDC has been an official organization for two full years (2010 and 2011) we need to figure out where we’re going and when and how the Co-Op can become self-sustaining. I'm also working on SDC's new facebook group.

On New Year’s Eve the volunteers just had a braii (cookout) with about five friends at a friend (Kevin’s) house. We swam in his pool, watched movies, ate, and at midnight shot off some epic firecrackers. (Well, the guys did anyway. As much of a feminist as I am, I do think some things are best left to the men.)

On January 6th I finally got the Christmas package my parents had sent around December 5th. There was enough chocolate to last me for the rest of my six months at GCF (well, maybe enough to last for a month) as well as my Kindle, which I hadn’t bothered to learn to use at home but which is very useful here. Since I can actually read books now, it looks like I won’t get mentally soft after all!

Did I mention my parents will be here soon? My mom arrives March 1st, my dad March 9th, and they’ll both leave March 13th. I can’t wait!

Lately because of people being on leave, getting sick, etc., my schedule has been a bit erratic, which isn’t really such a new thing because there are few enough of us at SDC that we always have to be flexible in getting the work done between us somehow, but also, people here are just more that way in general; there’s definitely less thinking and planning ahead than I’m used to. I’ve learned to be more adaptable and flexible; last minute changes that would’ve thrown me into a bad state a few months ago don’t bother me as much now. Welcome to South Africa!

On Friday 1/20 we received two new Swedish volunteers; both guys (Martin and Markus), and on February 10th we’ll get two more Swedish volunteers, one guy and one girl. The volunteer house is going to be very full and lively!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

St. Lucia festivities




Swedish/South African "julbord" on Christmas Eve

gathering in the Woodhouse's living room for reading of Christmas story/presents/carols