This past weekend I slept for two nights in an ancient canvas tent that is older I am. Jess and I drove around two hours to join her parents, who have been camping the past week or so at Petervale Farm. It is close to Ceres, and we spent a wonderful two days with them. We had campfires both evenings, and braaied delicious things like lamb chops on it for supper. In the day we swam in the 'dam', which is a beautiful (albeit manmade) lake and read books in the sunshine. I read another couple hundred pages in Mandela's 700-and-something page autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom"--I have only a hundred or so more to go! And then there were the liesurely chats with fellow campers, such as the lady who lives across the road from Jess and I in Cape Town (we had to travel this far just to meet her!), as well as a lady from Uruguay with her South African husband and others. On Sunday morning we hiked to a waterfall on the mountain side where we swam in the pool of frigid water at the bottom.
It is funny how camping can be so familiar half-way around the world, what with getting water from a central location, walking to the bathrooms, living in one's swim costume, not washing one's feet before going to bed, playing Take Two outside on a picnic table by the light of a kerosene lamp in the evening, and washing plastic dishes in semi-cold water.
Of course, there were differences with camping here versus in Canada as well. For one, it didn't rain the whole time we were there! For another, the mountains behind us were covered in fynboos and hardy grasses instead of the usual greenery and 'conifer-y' (coniferous trees) of the Canadian Shield. And the bathrooms were supplied with hot water through a tractor-engine-operated heater. It was parked behind the row of bathrooms, and I'm guessing that is what it was there for since the engine kicked on whenever one turned on the hot water.
I started this blog post earlier this week, but never actually finished it. I am going to include some random notes now before I post it.
The past couple days have been 'admin days' at Jubilee, as we get back into the swing of things after the Christmas break. So much filing! :)
This past week, the bike I have been borrowing was also stolen so I am back to hitching rides to Jubilee with friends. Hopefully I can get another bike sometime soon.
I can hardly believe that I will be meeting the DISCOVER students from Prairie next week. They are going to be spending a couple days at Jubilee (discoverourglobe.prairie.edu)
And finally, some thoughts on CHANGE as we enter the new year:
C hange is a part of what I am created for--
H eightening relationship with God and deppening insights into life and love
A nd yet sometimes in the drama of life I feel like I
N eed to be the constant, even though I may live out of harmful patterns and even though
G od is meant to be the one Unchangeable I AM, the anchor of my soul and the goal of my
transformation
E ach day I must remind myself that change is part of what I am created for
It is funny how camping can be so familiar half-way around the world, what with getting water from a central location, walking to the bathrooms, living in one's swim costume, not washing one's feet before going to bed, playing Take Two outside on a picnic table by the light of a kerosene lamp in the evening, and washing plastic dishes in semi-cold water.
Of course, there were differences with camping here versus in Canada as well. For one, it didn't rain the whole time we were there! For another, the mountains behind us were covered in fynboos and hardy grasses instead of the usual greenery and 'conifer-y' (coniferous trees) of the Canadian Shield. And the bathrooms were supplied with hot water through a tractor-engine-operated heater. It was parked behind the row of bathrooms, and I'm guessing that is what it was there for since the engine kicked on whenever one turned on the hot water.
I started this blog post earlier this week, but never actually finished it. I am going to include some random notes now before I post it.
The past couple days have been 'admin days' at Jubilee, as we get back into the swing of things after the Christmas break. So much filing! :)
This past week, the bike I have been borrowing was also stolen so I am back to hitching rides to Jubilee with friends. Hopefully I can get another bike sometime soon.
I can hardly believe that I will be meeting the DISCOVER students from Prairie next week. They are going to be spending a couple days at Jubilee (discoverourglobe.prairie.edu)
And finally, some thoughts on CHANGE as we enter the new year:
C hange is a part of what I am created for--
H eightening relationship with God and deppening insights into life and love
A nd yet sometimes in the drama of life I feel like I
N eed to be the constant, even though I may live out of harmful patterns and even though
G od is meant to be the one Unchangeable I AM, the anchor of my soul and the goal of my
transformation
E ach day I must remind myself that change is part of what I am created for
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