Totes Cray-Cray

Today was very eventful! We began our day with a muy delicioso desayuno, very delicious breakfast, of fresh bread butter and fruit preserves! There was also different kinds of sliced meat but I was content without it.

After breakfast we tried to go to the Museum of Institutions but there was a protest on that street so it was blocked off by the police!!

So instead we went to a Franciscan Monastery, well it used to be a Franciscan Monastery, now it is a museum about the monastery that it once was!

After many many pictures and some amazing translation done by Gisella Shadle we got some lunch. Before this trip I had heard a lot about the Chinese food in Peru, that it was supposed to be the best Chinese food ever. Well let me just tell you, it wasn't Lily Garden but it was real yummz. Also I was told that the place we went to, which was an all you can eat buffet, was not the Chinese that I had been told about even though it was Chinese food! Confusing I know. We also had some Chicha Morada, Purple Corn Drink, which I though was muy delicioso! After we finished eating the buffet food they brought out a special dessert which I did not think was delicioso. It was some kind of fried doughnut with honey to dip it in.

Then we went to the CAAAP to listen to a Priest from Boston who is an anthropologist and works with the indigenous people in the Andes. There was so much more to learn from him about the conversion of the indigenous people and what he had to say was very interesting but we had to leave after a few hours.

We went back to the retreat house where we are staying to have some class time where we discussed the trip thus far and get any questions answered on what is to come. Then it was time for supper. For supper we had Arros con Pollo, which is chicken and rice with a green sauce! Again muy muy delicioso, which I'm sure you can assume most of what we will eat will end in that phrase!

After supper we went to a park where there was a water/light show.
This is the tallest water fountain in the world!:

This is the water show, the screen that this dance of the Swan Lake is being projected onto a screen of water!!:

This is a picture of a couple doing a Highlands dance which is an indigenous culture in Peru!!:

This is a picture of a fountain called the Rainbow Fountain:

Well that's all for now! Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the Seminary so check back in!

Peace, Love, and Jesus
Leah Sedelle Chapman

Ecuador, We Hardly Knew Thee

I bet you are a little confused as to why the title says Ecuador!! Well our flight to Lima from Miami got re-reouted to Ecuador yesterday, Tuesday, due to bad weather in Lima. We chilled in the airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador for some time and then got back on the plane to Lima. About 20 minutes into the flight we started circling the Andes and ended up turning back around to Ecuador again due to heavy air traffic in Lima because the Lima airport was closed because of the bad weather earlier! So we were put up in a hotel by the airline and they also paid for a full day's worth of meals.

When we arrived to the airport we all ate lunch right away since it was 16:00 and none of us had eaten since breakfast around 9:00. Then it was pool time! Yeah that's right we went swimming at night in January, outside!! w00t w00t!

The next morning we had plans to go see a cathedral near the hotel but after receiving a call early this morning, Wednesday, we left earlier than anticipated for a flight scheduled to leave at 11:00. We got to the airport and through security and custom just wonderfully! Then after we boarded the plane we sat in the runway for about an hour, so the flight didn't actually take off until 12:00. But alas we arrived to Lima safe and sound and even went to a museum and church already!

For lunch we went to a place known for it's Chicharron Sandwichs, or pork sandwiches. Everyone ordered the Chicharron and Inca Cola. I had the chicken which was wonderful and some Sprite! What can I say I'm not a very good follower! =]

The museum was all about erotic pottery, well there was pottery from the pre-inca period. There was one entire building dedicated to pottery that had people having sex/pleasuring themselves which were for the gods asking for the ground to be fertilized and such! A little uncomfortable but it's history right!

The church we went to was called La Iglesia de las Nazarenas, or The Church of the Nazarene for those non-Spanish speaking readers.

It was a very beautiful church and just our luck there was mass going on so we got to go to mass today!! After mass we walked around to see all of the statues and such and there was a huge, I don't know if it should be called a nativity scene. It was the entire life, and even some scenes before His life, of Jesus Christ. The birth was definitely the main focus though.

We had Pollo a la Brasa for supper, or Rotissery Chicken. Again completely delicioso!!

Onward after that to a market to get snacks and anything that we may have forgotten at home. I got some fruit that I have never seen before and cannot remember the names but I will find out and let you know, as well as how they taste once I have some!

That's about it for today but tomorrow will be a full day of adventure so don't go far!!

Peace, Love, and Jesus
Sedelle

Were there Hippie’s in the 80’s?

So after two weekends in JoBurg, we have decided to spend one in Pretoria. But we can’t just do nothing on the weekend. We have to do something crazy. Something like going on a double decker open top party bus with 100 people that we don’t know! The theme is 80’s but really just look ridiculous and you’re in! We started the night laughing at how ridiculous all of us look in our 80’s/Hippy outfits.

We were picked up by friends of one of the guys in our group’s friend. The drivers took us to a restaurant/bar where we had dinner with 100 other people. Well when I say we had it with them I really mean that we had it after them because we were the last to get out meals and by the time our food finally came we were being told to get on the busses. Ok fine we finished as quickly as possible and loaded on the bus we were assigned to. Lucky us we got the bus with no music because they forgot the sound system. What is a party bus with no music you may ask? Well it’s just a bus, but there’s alcohol and people ready to have a good time. So we made our own music. Some may not call the singing that we did music, but it was fun none the less. We stopped at one point to go to a bar. The place wasn’t the big and once all 120 of us got in there it felt ever smaller. But it was a good time none the less. Then we loaded back on the busses, only this time we were on the music bus. Everyone was having a great time and we were meeting a lot of really fun people. They were all very entertained by the fact that we were all so ready to party and have a great time.

They were also intrigued as to who we were since they did not know us from the hockey club that they were all a part of. After another stop at another bar, and back onto the busses for some more partying, we finally arrived back to the restaurant/bar that we began our journey at. Everyone was up for some more dancing now that we had more space to do so. I sokkied with a few people and had a great time just hanging out and being sober while everyone else would be trying to remember what they had done the night before. Around 1:00 we left the bar and were all taken back to Tuks Dorp by people from the party bus who were not drunk beyond belief. I arrived in the first car but could not get into my room because Luc had my purse which had my keys to my house and room in it. So I chilled with Jeff in his room while I waited for Luc to return. When he finally got home so did Caitlin, Lora, Lay Kuen and our friend Giacomo from JoBurg. Some people needed some taking care of so I stuck around to help out. Then after some interesting conversations and situations I went to bed completely exhausted. But alas it was another successful night, and I have some great pictures to prove it!
Peace, Love, and Jesus

Painted Faces, Row Boats, and Costumes

Another weekend in JoBurg well spent. But again I must rewind a bit. At the Braai this Friday I left my room in a rush and forgot to grab my keys before I locked the padlock on my bedroom door. Bad mistake. It was Friday so the only person with a copy of my key wasn’t around and wouldn’t be around until Monday morning. A few friends tried to break into the room with a few bobby pins with no such luck. They all felt pretty bad for me and offered places for me to sleep that night but I had a room in Caitlin’s house where I could stay the night. I was more worried about getting clothes for the next day when we went to JoBurg. Tristan said he would break the lock open for me the next morning before we left so I said I’d get a replacement lock. Well the next morning Tristan didn’t show. I tried calling him, Abrie and Andy all with no luck. So, since everyone that I was going to JoBurg with was waiting for me so that we could leave, I called security to get them to open it for me. I was told it would cost R150 so I didn’t want to spend that but it was my only option. The guy came and opened my lock and it cost me R200. But there was no time to argue. I got my things together as quickly and humanly possibly. Changed clothes and got ready to leave.
The guys all rode in Jeff’s car with him, and the girls took mini busses. We females were dropped off at a gas station and picked up by Giacomo, another friend from JoBurg who we would be staying with this time. Before taking us to his house where the guys were all waiting for us, we stopped by a cricket field that was near a school on top of a hill that looked out over all of JoBurg. It was really amazing to see. Very green for such a large city. When we arrived at his house the guys had all already made themselves at home. After some time we went to a park, very family oriented with people having braais everywhere. We went to Moloko for lunch and after we finished eating we all got our faces painted [except Nathan he had enough face painting last weekend to last him a long while]. Then we went on row boats. We had two boats five people in one and six in the other. I was in the boat with six. Niels and Luc were rowing our boat and let’s just say they needed a bit more practice. At one point we got stuck under a large fountain in the middle of the lake and were all quiet wet, which was not at all fun because the sun was going down so we were getting a bit cold as well. We went to a bar in the park for a drink then headed back to Giacomo’s. Everyone played a drinking game called Kings, I of course had no desire to get drunk and refrained, but it was still very entertaining to watch everyone else. Then we went to a club called Town Hall. It was nice to get a break from the music that is played every night in every club or bar in Hatfield. It was also nice to get a break from the Akrikaana’s mullets that you see everywhere. We had a great time but were ready to leave earlier than we would have thought because the music was really loud and some people were really drunk. So we waited outside the club while a few of the guys tried to get cabs for all of us. We took three cabs to a McDonald’s and started walking back to Giacomo’s from there. Well the walk wasn’t really the shortest walk I’ve ever taken, and I would have preferred to have had a sweater on since it gets a bit chilly at night here now as the weather changes to winter. I would have also been fine if I had some comfortable shoes on for walking. But we finally arrived at Giacomo’s and everyone collapsed on whatever piece of furniture they could find. The sleeping arrangements we made and we all found somewhere to sleep.
Everyone woke at about the same time the next morning because the place was small enough that once one of us was up and started making noise, we were all up making noise. There was a lot of laughs as stories we shared of the night before and soon we were all getting up and moving around. I went into the living room and was reading a book on when Lora came in, not to my notice, with a Winnie the Pooh costume on. It took a while for me to realize she was there but when I looked up at her I busted out laughing. Evidentially Giacomo has a lot of costumes and everyone had put something on. I had to see this so I went into the room and sure enough everyone had some piece of a costume on. After some pictures and laughs we were all pretty hungry so Giacomo made scrambled eggs and toast. Then we rounded up our things to head out. But we were slightly postponed leaving by the hail that began falling from the sky along with the rain pouring down. Once the rain stopped all the girls got into Jeff’s car to ride back with him and the guys got into Giacomo’s car to catch a minibus home.
When the guys finally arrived home I was talking with Niels and he said that he has decided that no girl is every allowed in Hillbrow again. He thought it very dangerous and would not trust any of us going there again. I assured him that I had no desire to go there again and would do everything in my power to avoid it. All in all the weekend was yet another success. We all had a great time and other than the long walk would do it again any day, maybe even the walk if I had a sweater this time!
Peace, Love, and Jesus


P.S. Sorry there are no pictures from this weekend, My camera was dead! Sad Day!

Bafana Bafana

Bafana Bafana
Haven’t updated my blog in a while but I haven’t really done anything interesting in a while either and I don’t want to bore you all with my day to day life that bores even me and I’m the one living it! Well really it was just this week that was boring because classes took up all my time during the day and reading, studying and researching for classes took up all my time at night. But that it past me now and I have just returned from a crazy night in JoBurg, for those of you who are still not familiar with the lingo here JoBurg is Johannesburg! Well let’s back up a bit to Friday night. Every Friday we, the exchange students of Tuks Dorp have a Braai, after all it is Braaiday Friday! So at the Braai I was sitting with Luc, Niels, and Julian discussing the rest of the weekend. You see Lay Kuen, Caitlin, Nathan and I were all planning on going to the South Africa vs. Egypt soccer match in JoBurg the next night and I had mentioned it to Luc to see if he was interested in joining. Well he was neither here nor there about it so I of course continued to pester him about it [these are the ways of Sedelle]. He then decided that I could no longer play Plants vs. Zombies on his iPad if I mentioned the game or night in JoBurg to him, Niels, or Julian for the rest of the night. This was a big deal! I couldn’t ruin my chances of playing PvZ, the game is too awesome! So I made the deal with him. Well bad timing on my part, because Julian and Niels then decided to attack me in claiming that I am stealing Nathan away from them. You see Nathan and I have pancakes [American Style] every Sunday. I deal is he makes the pancakes and I provide the ingredients and clean their kitchen while he is making them [the cleaning part was added later because I don’t like just sitting around in the kitchen while he is making the pancakes, I need to do something as well]. Well Luc and Jeff have never made a peep about me being there on Sundays because they wake up early enough to get whatever leftover pancakes we make but cannot finish ourselves, and they get a clean kitchen. So I refrained from talking about the plans of the next night and don’t worry Alex Liebrecht I can still play PvZ!
*Random question about PvZ for anyone reading that may know, can your plants in your Zen garden die if you have been away from it too long and have not watered them?*
Then after the Braai we all went out because it was Cath’s last night in town before she left to go home. We went to Aandklas and Luc and I dominated the Foosball table going undefeated and having a great laugh about it! Then we moved to another bar, well everyone but four of us. Luc and I got stopped by some guy that Luc almost kicked in the face while trying to trip me but the guy didn’t want to fight in fact he wanted to buy us a drink, but we were heading the other way. When we got to the bar that all the others we waiting for us in, we couldn’t get in because the guard outside said it was closed. Julian came out of the bar and tried to talk to the guard saying that we weren’t going to order any drinks but that the rest of our group was in there and we just wanted to stay together. Well the guard was looking for a fight even though Julian wasn’t so we all left. Then we ended up in DropZone. Luc and I made a deal that we would leave at 3:00 because I had to get up very early the next morning. 3:00 came around and Luc had just ordered another drink, so it was now, after this drink we’ll leave. Well I really had to get up early and didn’t want to go to DropZone in the first place so I left with Caitlin and Lay Kuen [that is why you should never trust a Dutch Pinkie Swear!]
The next morning I woke up to Caitlin yelling in my window from the grass below my room. My alarm did not go off and I was going to be late for the bus to Mamelodi where we were putting on a camp for the children there. I threw on the first pair of shorts I saw and the first shirt and threw my hair up into a messy bun on top of my head. I grabbed my bag threw my cell phone and keys inside and ran to the bus. I got there in plenty of time; we actually sat around waiting for a while.
Once we got to Mamelodi I found my classroom that I was going to be spending the day in. All of the other volunteers were assigned to groups of kids and went from station to station with the same group all day. But I was assigned to a station, the music station. I was to spend the entire day teaching all of the kids a song that was written for them by kids in England to raise money for Mamelodi. I was also to make up and teach them dance moves to go along with the song because we were going to record them singing it for a video that the organization was making back in England. The day went by quickly and the kids were wonderful. The song was a lot of fun to sing and dance to with them. I was pretty much horse by the end of the day but it was totally worth it to see the smiles on those kids’ faces.

When we got home from Mamelodi we were rushed to get ready for the soccer match and get to JoBurg. Caitlin and I had Iris paint the South African Flag on our faces, as we had seen a picture of a guy with his face painted this way the first day we arrived here and decided that day that we were going to do it too!

! The four of us that were going to the game rushed to get a minibus to Bosman Station. We got one and they dropped us off about four city blocks from the station. We walked through a tiny, smelly, nasty alley to get to the station and when we came around a bend in the alley we were faced with about twenty black men drinking and smoking goodness knows what. As soon as I came into view, for I was leading the group, they all turned toward me. They saw my painted face, as well as Caitlin’s as she came around the corner as well, and started talking to us. We both stopped dead in our tracks and turned toward Lay Kuen and Nathan. We both said “We’re scared” because we thought that we would have to walk past those guys to get to the station. Then I saw it, the exit. It was before the spot where the guys were standing. I went for it and the others followed. We found a guy directing traffic in the station and asked where we could get a minibus to JoBurg. He pointed to a man walking away and said to follow him.
The Minibus played Celine Dion as we drove to JoBurg [David Summers and Dana Disteldorf I thought of the two of you immediately]. We were dropped off in JoBurg two blocks away from Park Station where we were to meet up with Moosa, our friend who lives in JoBurg. We finally met up with him and started walking to the game because the trains were no longer running due to the hour of night. We walked through Hillbrow to get to the stadium, which we were later informed is the second most dangerous place in the world. There was never really a point in the night where I was scared I was going to get mugged or anything like that [I think the fact that Caitlin and I had our faces painted obviously for the game, and Caitlin had a South Africa soccer jersey on helped us even though it gave us more attention] except at one point I turned into Mother Hen because two guys who “helped” us get to the stadium were asking for money saying that they had worked and needed to be paid. Well Moosa had already paid them both and they were coming to the rest of us. They were getting really physical about it too. One tried to grab my water bottle and tried to get into my purse. Also since there were two of them they would sandwich you pushing you into the one on the other side. When they started grabbing Caitlin’s hands and pulling her back away from the group I turned into Mother Hen and yelled at them to leave her alone. I gave my best “I mean it” look and grabbed Caitlin away and started walking quickly away from them. We got to the stadium without much more hassle from them or anyone else.
The game itself was a bit boring because the teams were pretty evenly matched. There were no big goals or anything. It was “just a couple of goose eggs” [if you can comment on this blog with which movie this quote is from I will bring you something back from South Africa, but not a lion sorry they don’t sell those]. No one scored the entire game until 17 seconds after the three minutes of stoppage time had run out. South Africa scored a perfect shot. It was beautiful, looked like a masterpiece. Everyone erupted into cheers and dancing. The crowd went literally wild!
After the game we had to walk through Hillbrow again to get to our cars but there were more than twice as many of us now. Moosa’s friends had joined for the walk back. We went back to Moosa’s place and painted Nathan and Moosa’s faces with the flag as well.

Then we went out to a bar, but no one was really in the mood to party or drink because Lay Kuen, Caitlin and I had all been up since early and were running on only a few hours of sleep. After one drink we went to a pizza place and chilled talking to random people for a while as we ate our pizza. Then back to Moosa’s and to bed. Caitlin, Lay Kuen and I all snuggled up together in one bedroom, while Moosa was in his and Nathan was on the futon/couch thing.
The next morning we all woke up around 10:00 [well Nathan woke up at 8:00 then dozed for a bit between then and 10:00, goofy kid]. Moosa was bringing us back to Pretoria but first we were all pretty hungry. So we decided to eat at Wimpy but couldn’t get a parking spot. So we went to the Wimpy in Hatfield and parted ways after lunch. All in all it was a great night and I can say that I survived the second most dangerous place in the world and am fine with never going back!
Coming soon: Another weekend in JoBurg!
Peace, Love, and Jesus

Lights Out, Goldfish, Old Records and Hummus

Well now that I’ve summed up my entire past week in the title of this blog, I’ll explain a little more. Last week I went to a cricket game on Wednesday night. I was invited by a few friends from South Africa who had a bunch of free tickets. So me, not understanding much of anything about cricket took them up on the offer immediately. It was a very different atmosphere from any other sporting event I have been to in the past, especially the rugby game I went to last weekendI was picked up by my friend Abrie, wait let’s rewind a little more. So this is on Ash Wednesday right. The night before was the night of Fat Tuesday right. So Caitlin and I made three batches of good old homemade from scratch American Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I am becoming very well known for since I have made them at least six or seven times since I have been here! But I saved a bunch of them for the guys who I was going to the game with as a thank you for inviting me. So Abrie picked me up and we went to Andy’s house, the guy whose mom got the tickets. Then we all loaded up into two cars, I was in Abrie’s with Abrie, Tristan and Monica. The rest were in Andy’s mom’s car [my apologies I cannot remember her name but she was wonderful, very motherly and very fun! I truly enjoyed her]. When we got to the game we all had lawn chairs. Yes there were stands to sit in but no one sits in them, they all bring chairs and blankets to sit in the grass. The game was fine, I mean I now understand it and it was kind of interesting for a while. It was a little difficult to be near the cookies though because I gave up all sweets including adding sugar to my cappuccinos, nutella, and sorry dad but I gave up peanut butter too!!! It’s been difficult, but I’m still alive. I was also not eating at all on this Ash Wednesday so it was difficult at a few points when everyone else was eating and I was dying for something, but I survived and am stronger because of it! The most exciting part of the cricket game, I hate to admit, was when the lights went out throughout the entire stadium. This was around 20:30 maybe, so it was dark out, so when the lights all went out it was dark. So the players all left the field while they got the backup generator warmed up. While we were waiting for that, people began to get their flashlights on their phones going, and taking pictures, and such. The game got going again when the lights were on again. And it ended up being a game to go down in history. Evidentially they broke some huge record for a high scoring game! I was there to witness it and didn’t even really realize how big of a deal it was. I mean I understood that it wasn’t that common, but to break a record!!! So that’s lights out obviously
So now, what you’ve all been waiting for [even though you have no idea what it is]…GOLDFISH!!! To many of you this means that I bought a goldfish [roommates of Club 305 I didn’t not get a Tres Cero Cinco! But I wish I did!] Goldfish is a very good, and very popular musical group in South Africa.

It was a good concert and they performed well but I haven’t been to a concert that large in a long time so it was a big weird for me to be around that many people

because I’m used to going to concerts at music festivals or smaller more intimate concerts. I’m not used to people being everywhere and having to try to look over the shoulders of freakishly tall guys. But the highlight of the night might have been when I convinced a few random guys that were standing near me that I was the female vocalist on one of the songs but I wasn’t on stage because I got sick recently and am on vocal rest. It was great! I love making people believe complete and ridiculous untruths! Look out world, HERE I COME! =]
The next morning I went to the square where the concert was held and stole a couple of posters from the concert, one for me and one for a friend. Then I went to the Sunday Market and spent almost an hour looking through some great old records. I ended up giving in and buying four albums. I got the Doobie Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and Alex you are going to be so jealous…Led Zepplin. I also bought a CD of Louis Armstrong and Guests [which I’m of course listening to right now!]. These guests include none other than Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Velma Middleton, Jack Teagarden, Louis Jordan, The Mills Brothers, Gary Crosby, and none other than my girl, the queen of jazz, Miss Ella Fitzgerald!!!
Then off to Pick n Pay for this week’s groceries. Luc and I got the bright idea to get Peta Bread and Hummus for lunch, well we couldn’t find the Hummus anywhere! We even asked multiple people that work there and they all looked at us like we were the ones who don’t speak English. But thankfully Havard was with us and is a Hufflepuff at heart because he’s great and FINDING things [If you know the musical you will understand; AJ, Darren, Kim]. He found the Hummus for us!!! W00t w00t! What would we do without him!
So that’s my past week in a nutshell! Can’t wait to hear what you all have to say about it!
LEAVE COMMENTS! I want to hear from you all back home I miss you! But not enough to come home!!! =] <3

Peace, Love, and Jesus

Our Blood is Blue

Evidentially this phrase means that we are of royal blood! I have never heard that before, but to me it means that we are true blooded Blue Bulls fans!! For those of you that are confused because the only Bulls that you know are black and red and were made world famous by Michael Jordan; the Blue Bulls are the professional rugby team of Pretoria and Dustin, a friend of one of my roommates, and now a friend of mine, plays for them! Last night I went to the game to watch him play, as well as the rest of the team!

Sadly we lost but it was still great fun to go. I may later regret admitting this to all of the Americans reading this, but I think I enjoy watching rugby more than American football! Here is my reasoning behind this. The players have so much respect for each other. For example: before each scrum [that’s where they go shoulder to shoulder and the ball is thrown into the pack of players] the front line taps the other team’s front line on the shoulder. Why do they do this? They do it out of respect for the other players, to make sure that they are ready for what is coming so that they do not get hurt from the crashing of shoulders against shoulders with no pads. This is only one example of the respect amongst the players. Another reason is that the players do not pretend to get hurt [like in premiere league soccer] so that they can get a free kick. They are tough and they may fall and get stepped on but they get up as soon as they are able and continue with the game. Another reason rugby is winning me over is that in a good game there is always game action going on. In American football there may be a good run every now and then. But there are constantly tackles here and there. Every few yards, and after a guy is tackled that’s the end of that down and it takes them forever to set up again. When a rugby player is tackled they keep playing they just scoot the ball back to another one of their teammates so that they can get it moving again. There are a lot of tackles but it doesn’t stop the game play. It just makes it go a different way.
So to you, American football, I say gain some respect in the game [but at least you are not as bad as hockey with fights every game], stop being babies and man up. Don’t pretend that you are hurt, you have pads on and you are still crying like babies! And lastly, keep the game moving, don’t take you sweet time to set up. I paid to watch a football game, not to watch football players stand around and talk! But yes I do understand that there are reasons that football is played one way and rugby another, otherwise it would be the same game! But to this is say, “I have every right to prefer one game over the other, and at this point in my life I say that I am increasingly enjoying rugby more than American football, so shoot me!” But please don’t I have made it this long in South Africa without any disasters and I would like to make it a while longer, maybe even until the end!
Peace, Love and Jesus