Friends in ALL Places

The Braai was great fun. There are about 40 of us exchange students, which is a lot considering the only other time that they had this many was when the World Cup was here in South Africa last summer. There are about 16 guys and they all live in House 15, both the top and bottom floor. Then the girls are spread out throughout houses 6, 8, 21 and one other house, but I don’t know which one it is. There are people here from Holland, of course, America, obviously, Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, Germany, Canada and maybe a few other places as well that I cannot remember. At the Braai I spent the night just talking to people and it was great to just sit around and talk about our countries and their similarities and differences as well as other things. Mainly other things but when you are talking to someone from France you are bound to talk about France. Some people went to the Square after the Braai but I went to bed because it was already 1:30 and I was planning on getting up on Saturday to register.
On Saturday my alarm didn’t go off or I slept through it or something because I didn’t wake until much later than I wanted to. I decided that it was too late to go to campus to register. I got a text later in the day from Caitlin asking if I wanted to go to the Brooklyn mall, so we went. Then when we got back we went to Pick n Pay to get ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies for everyone, but they were closed. Dumisani, a student here that is like an RA for us in America, told us about another grocery store that would still be open. So he and a couple of his friends took Caitlin and me along with Le and Lora to Woolworth’s [the other store]. They had everything that we needed, except the baking soda. So we decided to get everything and see if Helen and Edwin, our house parents, might have some. They didn’t but Edwin went on his scooter to find a store that would have some. While he was out looking for the baking soda Caitlin and I started our dinner. The water was taking forever to boil but we had nothing better to do and nothing better to eat so we just waited, and waited. Finally Edwin came to the house. He had a full grocery bag full of things. He informed us that he didn’t buy anything but he got everything. Which confused me because we only needed one thing. But he explained that he went to his friends from the American Embassy to ask for supplies and they gave him a massive bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips that Caitlin began throwing in the air out of celebration. Some brown sugar, some vanilla, and vanilla extract and also the baking soda. We started to make the cookies at Caitlin’s but decided to move to my house after we ate because we had something to put into the oven. Well that something was a large metal bowl, like one you might use for a small mixing bowl. So we put about half of the cookie batter into one of the bowls as one big cookie. Then it took about three hours to bake. While we were letting the cookie bake we saw a large group of the guys from House 15 get home from dinner so we waved them over to our house. They all came over and it was soon a party, but let’s call it a gathering because we’re not allowed to have parties. This may have been the best night in South Africa so far because it was a spontaneous gathering of about 20 or more exchange students. It was in no way planned so there were no expectations to be met so everyone had a good time just hanging out and talking. We brought out some snacks to munch and when the cookie was done we out some out on a plate for everyone to try. Even though the cookies were a little over done everyone seemed to like them, enough to ask us to make them again sometime at least! I think that I will be fine with that since we have so many supplies now! Everyone left around 1:30 and a few of my roommates stayed up to help me clean up the mess. I got to bed around 3:00 after my shower!
Sunday was market day. Caitlin. Lora, Le, GJ and I went to the markets near Hatfield mall. There were a lot of great things and now I know where Drew bought all of the gifts that he got for us when he was here! I avoided those shops because I can’t give the same things that Drew gave, but Kyra I found a ring that I thought you would love, the I remembered that I’m pretty sure that you already have the same exact ring from someone or somewhere else. So I got you a bracelet that you’ll love instead. After the market Gladis and Nancy were laying around outside so I joined. Then Caitlin joined. Then Marie joined! I left to go to an internet café hoping that Neil would be on since it has been almost a week since I’ve talked to him last. He wasn’t. When I got home a few girls asked if I wanted to join them for dinner at the Ocean Basket down the street and to invite anyone I know. So I hung out with the guys outside their house until 19:00 and then a huge group of us, maybe like 30 of us went to the restaurant. I stayed back with three other girls to wait for a fourth. When we got to the restaurant a few minutes after the rest there was no room for us at the inn [in this case the inn is a huge table] so they made a different table for us five that was close but definitely not with the others. Which was fine. At one point we thought that it was going to rain so we were all moved inside, quite a big task.
Yesterday I went to campus to register for my 8 courses! I’m taking the most courses out of all of the exchange students and I’m a little scared! But I don’t have classes on Fridays so that’ll be my ketchup day! Fe and I went to the pool to swim a few laps and then laid out in the sun to dry off a bit before we left. When I got back I went to see if Caitlin got everything squared away at the Education campus, which she did and she registered as well. Then we were walking to my house and I ran into Ian, another RA person, we somehow started talking about movies and I found out that he has never seen Easy A! Actually no one here has that I know of so that is my new goal! To get everyone to see that movie here before I leave! Yes, it’s that good so if you haven’t seen it yet, or haven’t seen it in a while, or haven’t seen it today, you should watch it, RIGHT NOW! Well wait until you finish reading my blog.
I was making spaghetti for all of my roommates so that we could have a roommate dinner. Kaisa made the salad. Fe made the dessert. Pearl did the garlic bread. Marie provided the wine [she’s from France it’s expected]. Gladis helped with everything bopping around. Nancy provided music for a while, and Wendela couldn’t make it because it was her night to cook for her friends. But we had a wonderful meal. The dessert was delectable. It was homemade whipped cream, with papaya and peach bits as well as Amaretto cookie bits in it. MMmmmmmmMMMMmmmmm! Then after dinner Nancy showed us pictures from her trips last semester, which made me really excited for our trip to Durban that I am leaving for tomorrow, Wednesday, with about 23 other exchange students for a week. Some of the boys organized it! I’m stoked!
After the pictures I went to Ian’s to have some coffee and sit and talk. Caitlin was supposed to come but she was playing a game with her roommates. We got talking about movies again and how I like the ones that I cannot predict and Ian told me about one that he didn’t think I’d be able to predict, Meet Joe Black. So we watched it. This guy has a huge TV and tons of movies on his computer that you can watch on the TV! Awesome? I think so! The movie was good, and for the record I did predict the ending. Then I went home, well I went to the laundry room because I was finishing some laundry, but it wasn’t dry when I went to I put the dryer on for ten more minutes and waited. Then it still wasn’t dry. I was too tired to wait any longer so I put the clothes in my laundry bag and went to my room. “I’ll deal with it tomorrow”, was all I could think.
Today I have to pack for the trip tomorrow and I’m going to an internet café with Caitlin to post these blogs! Other than that I’m just chilling and having lasagna tonight for dinner with Caitlin and some of her roommates. Maybe another movie. We’ll have to see!

Peace, Love, and Jesus