A Monthly Review

So I completely stole the idea for this blog from my dear friend Chrissy who’s in Lithuania for the semester. But seeing as today marks one full month in Cape Town, I figured that this list would be appropriate.

THINGS I’VE LEARNED
-Bitterness is one of the most destructive forces in the world
-God can work political miracles
-South Africans are not as thrilled about the World Cup as the tourists are
-Structural sin definitely exists
-There is no chocolate in the world as good as Cadbury’s
-God still thinks the world is good (isn’t that wonderful?!?)
-Bad American television is everywhere
-ubuntu is beautiful, but it’s not a cure-all
-It’s generally unwise to have doughnuts on a daily basis, even if you can get three for a US quarter
-“Ameriqua” is not part of the authentic South African accent; it’s just something Jill says to mess with your mind
-Being white is tricky
-Being American is tricky
-Minnesotans are used to swimming in cold water, too
-Afrikaans and Dutch are way different languages (read: don’t ask someone who’s coloured to translate a sign written in Dutch for you)
-If you hang shirts to dry upside down, they won’t get clothespin wrinkles on the shoulders
-Forgiving the church is hard.
-“Tarhu bawo, yiba nofefe kuthli” means “Mercy Father; have grace on us”
-Baboons are dangerous and attracted by food
-White people pretty much just can’t speak Xhosa (the clicks are harder than you think)
-It’s pretty unpleasant to have the flu when you’re 17,000 miles from home
-American academia is much more cynical about poverty than people who actually interact with it on a regular basis
-Bethel food > Gordon food
-The church is capable of enormous sin
-The church is capable of enormous good
-It would be incredibly difficult to be a vegetarian in South Africa.
-Taking a taxi isn’t as big a deal as everyone says it is
-Desmond Tutu is the man.
-Beyers Naudé was the man before Desmond Tutu
-It’s best to avoid the beach on windy days
-God works in creative ways
-People really can be capable of grace, forgiveness and healing
-If you live with Minnesotans long enough—even if you’re halfway around the world—you WILL pick up their accent


THINGS I HAVEN’T FIGURED OUT BUT SPEND ALL MY TIME CONTEMPLATING ANYWAY
-how to deal with white guilt without developing a white savior complex
-how to balance remembrance and forgiveness
-how the church and the state should interact
-if it’s worse to endorse something as awful as apartheid, or to be complicit to it
-how to say my host sister’s full name (the kh sound is even harder than the clicks)
-how the US would react if their president fathered a love child
-how you address something as urgent and overwhelming as land reform
-how I’m going to fit everything into a 44-lb suitcase in May