Chicken Pasta

So I’m starting to settle in and meet people, which is nice. What’s even nicer is that I remember some of their names!!! And what’s even nicer than that is that a few of them remember mine! There is a guy who lives in House 15, which is really close to mine, I can see it from where I am sitting at my kitchen table right now, who is from Canada. It was nice to meet him because he was the first person that I met that didn’t have an accent! I also live with a girl from Oklahoma so it’s nice to talk to her and not have to listen very closely because she has an accent. Then earlier I met a guy from Wisconsin who goes to the same school as my roommate from Oklahoma and they even had a class together last semester. So that was really interesting! What a small world huh! That’s the first time that I have felt that feeling since I have been here.
Currently I am sitting in my kitchen cooking chicken to use for later meals and typing up this blog that I will later place on the internet because we don’t have wireless in our house, but we were talking today about possibly getting a stick that you put into your laptop and it has internet that you pay for a certain amount of minutes or something like that. I’m guessing it works kind of like a track phone but with the internet on your laptop! So our house was talking about possibly going in on one of those together but I’m not sure how it works completely yet so we are not sure. That would be nice though because then I wouldn’t have to work around the schedules of the internet cafés and when they are open and when I am awake and when everyone back home is awake and when it is safe to walk there on my own or when I can find someone to go with me! But so far it hasn’t been a problem.
As far as all of the difficulties with the classes and all have been going I have everything finished I’m just waiting to register which I was told I could not do until Saturday but I found out that two of my roommates have already registered so that cannot be right! So I think that I’m going to go to campus tomorrow morning and ask about that as well as try to find a practice room with a piano since I am taking second instrument as piano here this semester, first instrument being voice. Also I want to sign up for the two choirs that are here at UP. They have one regular formal one that does music from all over the world, much like concert choir at Loras or any other college really. And then they have one that is all African folk music. These are not classes but extra-curricular activities and you have to audition for them! That makes me a little nervous because I have not sung seriously since the middle of December. I hope I do not have to have a piece prepared because I do not have any of my music with me to even practice a piece that I already know to have prepared! But that’s what tomorrow is for, to find out everything like that.
Tonight I will be heading to the Square with some of my roommates. For those of you that do not know, the Square is literally a square of bars that all face in so you can go from one to the other and there’s music and tons of students from UP. It’s really close to campus so it’s always filled with students from here! It’s a little weird for me to be able to drink here legally. I don’t know how I’m going to react to that. But I’m still me and being able to drink legally doesn’t change the fact that getting drunk is still not very Leah like. The interesting thing is, is that I’m a little nervous to go to the Square, I wouldn’t know what to order. The only alcohol I have had is wine and the only thing that I know about that is that I like white wine, not red wine, and I don’t like it dry at all and I like it if it’s a little fruity or sweet [Mom if you are reading this, don’t worry your little girl isn’t growing up that fast, I’m still smart and in control and I will be a good girl! I promise!]
Tomorrow night there is a Braai which to America is a BBQ, that’s taking a little getting used to, all of the different words that they have for things here! This Braai is at the house parents of Tuks Dorp’s house. This will be a great chance to meet many of the other exchange students that live in Tuks Dorp with me. I am excited because I feel that the people that I meet tonight could very well become my closest friends here! But I also feel that I have already met some really great people. My roommates are so much fun. We are all very different and it is interesting how we fit together, but we do!
Just this morning [meaning the next morning compared to earlier when I was writing last night, but I’ll just keep adding to this blog until I upload it later today], I was sitting at the breakfast table with my two roommates from Sweden, Gladis and Nancy [or Glancy as they call themselves] and we talked about nothing and everything. We talked about religion, family, friends, a little bit of politics, and how our countries differ in many ways and also the many ways that they are similar. We are already turning into a make shift family and it’s wonderful.
Today I am going to campus with Pearl who wants to pick up her ID card because she somehow managed to register yesterday. And I am going to find a piano to play and what I need to do for choir auditions and pray that I can register because if I wait until tomorrow there will be long queues [lines for the Americans] that I will have to stand in and if there is anything wrong I will have to stand in more queues and that’s just not fun, especially in this heat!
Later today I may go to the pool or the gym, or both! Who knows! I have the world on a string and I’m sitting on a rainbow! Until next time.

Peace, Love and Jesus