Last Blog...

I absolutely HATE writing this. I wrote the thing you'll see after this intro on the drive back from Kruger, because I was thinking about it... This blog was such a huge part of my trip and it just feels yucky ending it. I don't like the thought. I really do think I'll be writing another one, I just had so much fun with this! I could write what I thought was important and people actually read it and commented and stuff! Just an amazing feeling! But.. I guess everything ends eventually.

This is my last blog for this trip. I'm so proud. I made so many friends, I went out of my comfort zone and most importantly I had so much fun.

I've done things on this trip I thought I'd never do. First of all, being on a plane for 20 hours, and not having wifi most of the week. I talked to kids without fear and pushed myself not to be shy. I gave hugs and held hands and taught to the best of my ability and worked so so hard.

I've also done things on this trip that people I admire and love haven't done. I went to freakin South Africa! I got to teach the class of my dreams. I was a teacher! People literally called me teacher! And I got to play writer too. I made a difference. A real difference and people will remember me. It may just be 30 kids in a tiny poor town in Africa but they still will. I helped them and taught them and now they might even have a better faith in Jesus. That's just so amazing to me that I got to have the opportunity to help someone do that and learn that. 

They'll probably be still wearing my bracelets and maybe even still fist bumping and saying the bomb diggity. Like oh my gosh wow. 

My life really changed this trip and God was with me helping me to be strong and courageous the whole time. When I was homesick he blessed me, he helped me not to be shy, he gave me words to use to teach and most of all he loved me and was with me and gave me this amazing opportunity.

Thank you to all my loyal readers of this blog and all of you who commented and supported me through this entire trip. Thank you to Mr Rudi and Miss Stel and Hartmann and Jen for taking me with you and caring for me enough to give me and everyone else this amazing trip. Finally, thank you for the three awesome, superb, epic and lovely girls who came with me. I honestly think I can call each of you my best friends. We shared memories and experiences that no one else I know has had, and I know we're going to keep this bond going. I just can't bear the thought that we wouldn't. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you. 

A Week After The Plane...

Actually, it's more like a few weeks, honestly.. School started.. I just figure I'll update you all a bit more... This blog'll be finishing off pretty soon, but I think I'm gonna start another one to continue writing about this trip. I honestly can't stop thinking about it.

I guess some of you might want to know what I learned on this trip! You've heard all my stories by now I'm sure, as I've completely updated this blog. Pictures are up on facebook too! But I haven't really talked much about what I've learned! Here we go, then!

One thing I learned is that it's easier to make friends when you aren't scared of what people think about you. People generally like you better if you're just you, without being shy. Basically on this trip I just talked and goofed off and was honest and real and talked to the kids like I didn't care what they thought of me. It worked! They loved me and laughed at a lot of the things I said, and wanted to be around me! So, from now on, I'm just gonna try to be more me, without the barrier of shyness.

The more important thing I've learned, that I honestly just want to tell EVERYONE, is about the love there!

Love here, is maybe to your parents, or your husband or wife or maybe even a few close friends and relatives. That's pretty much it. If you go to a random stranger on the street, and someone asked you if you loved them, you wouldn't say yes. That'd be crazy and unthinkable and somewhat... Weird almost. But there, they love unconditionally. Their love just flows everywhere and it's amazing. We walked into that school as four strange people, who don't even look anything like any of those kids. When I told them about me and things that I think describe who I am, they didn't even know some of the things and people I was talking about. But even on that first day you could tell that they loved me. They loved Mr. Rudi. They loved Bridget and Jodie and Gracie. And they showed that. That's unthinkable. I really think that it's something that we need to learn here.

If I can give you once piece of advice from this whole trip. It's love. Love like you don't see flaws. Love like you can't tell if someone looks different or the same or like a walrus. Love like you don't care about past mistakes and failures. Love like you've never held a grudge. Just.. Love. These kids have little to nothing. But they love each other, and they love others who come there. That's what God is. God is love. The love that they show just represents God. And if you want to be more like him, and have a happier life and just live to the fullest. My advice from the ripe old age of thirteen, from the head that's been to Africa and back, is love. And that's the best I can say, and the most important lesson I've learned so far.   

Day 10- Leaving my Babies

Today was my last day in Africa. It was terrible, but beautiful at the same time. We went to the school, knowing it could be the last time the blue suit dude opened the gate for us, and we left it, thinking it could be the last time we ever turned our heads to see the now familiar green uniforms and rooftops. 

We started the day by teaching a few lessons. We didn't end up doing gym class as we hoped, but it worked out. Then we had an assembly. Gosh, was it amazing. It was a bunch of kids singing for us and the teachers telling us things about how they missed us. All I can remember is that I was crying, Gracie was sobbing, Jodie was bawling, and everyone in between was at least tearing up. If you looked into the crowd of kids every single face was wet and their eyes were red. Even the big boys and grown ups. 

After we made a line and everyone came and hugged us. What made me break was that all the kindergarten and first graders were crying. All my friends were sobbing and everyone I'd become so close to was breathing heavy and shaking.

After we hugged everyone we could we went to the cafeteria to clean ourselves up a bit. It didn't work. The room that was usually filled with laughter and eating and chattering cuties was silent. Deadly, deadly silent. As we went in, crying started. Silent sobbing. It was the absolute worst. I quickly got myself out of there and went to the 5th grade. They were a tiny bit more composed and all wanted my email. I wrote it for what seemed like a million times and gave hugs and took pictures. 

After I finished with them I went to the younger ones again and gave hugs and wiped tears. It was so hard to beg them not to cry as I was sobbing my hardest. I can't count how many times I said it would be okay, and that I loved them and would try my hardest to come back.

Another thing really touched me today was this little girl. I've noticed her this whole trip because she's so sweet, and honestly reminds me of me in 1st grade. She raises her hand for every question and her teacher says she could run the whole class if she wanted. I'm regretting so much that I didn't tell her how special she was and how smart she is and how shell be able to do great, amazing, beautiful things if she focuses on school and continues to work hard. All I did was hold her as she cried and tried to calm her down. I feel so bad about that, and its my goal to find her again and let her know this. I mean, what if no ones told her that? And she really needs to know it. I love her.

So many touching things happened today. Teacher Marva was crying and she told me to keep being the sweet precious thing I was and I sobbed. She's an amazing woman and much sweeter then Ill ever be no matter what I do, and that just made me so happy. I love her too.

There's this little boy names Tsepo and he goes to aftercare and he's the sweetest little thing. He's in 4th grade and loved Gracie and me. I steal his scarf and he drew me one time. He's just hilarious, and gives the best facial expressions when I try to hug him. Today, he was sobbing and he came and hugged us first, even though he claims that we hug him too much and that he's not a baby. I held him for as long as he'd let me kissed his head and made him promise to text me. He promised and then hid his face so I couldn't see him cry any longer. I also love him.

I hated today. I don't know if I'll ever see any of these kids again. I can't handle that thought. I need this kids. I love them more then anyone I've ever known and I can't even promise that ill be able to see them again. That's just the worst feeling ever, you don't even know...

I saw God in the fact that these kids showed me so much love. If God is love then these children are God. All they do is love and love and love and you can tell that it's real love. They mean it when they say that they love us, and its not just like a 14 year old girl saying I love you to her best friend. It's serious, honest, true and most of all REAL love. It's love that makes you feel alright over using the word. And that's what God is. And that's what these kids show. And that's what I'll miss most.

Day 9- Church Cuties

Today we went to church. We got to sleep in which was nice. We say towards the front which was really cool. The girl actually came up to get us to let us sit there. She'd actually saved seats for us and even before that a few little kids came and just sorta sat on our laps. It was so cute and cool and just shows that were really here for a reason and making a real difference. We didn't even walk in for a few seconds. Anyway, once we got up there we had some face wars with the kids ahead of us, which was entertaining.

We ate some food and then played some games with the kids and fixed a swing. 

After that we came back and worked on thank you cards so the teachers would feel appreciated and cleaned up a bit. We made a playlist and packed and packed and packed. Finally we made some nice cards for 5th grade, which was quite fun.

I saw god at church while everyone was dancing and singing together and all those things and how nice they were being about sharing the food they had and just how kind everyone was. You could just really see his light shining through all these beautiful people. Also in how much his word through us made those kids get attached to us enough to find us at church and sit with us. Literally all we've done was teach some religion lessons and play games with them and that's all God needed to get them that excited to come near us. 

Although we spent most of the day at church. We did start to make a list of things we learned from South Africa. Here's some of the best.

1. Feed Bridget a whole chicken a day

2. It's probably a good idea to review the geography class because Gracie thought that Mexico was a continent and that Hawaii wasn't a state.

3. Animal planet doesn't lie.

4. Eggs taste like eggs.

5. African boys give girls cows instead of engagement rings but in Kayleighs case she's alright with cheeseburgers

6. There always comes a time in the day when you have to change your hat to sunglasses

Day 8- Sounds of the Safari

Today we woke up at 4. Yuck. We drove about 45 minutes to Kruger. The ride was really cool because it was dark and all the houses on the mountains were lit up and it looked like in Tangled when they all lifted the lanterns. 

We rode through the park undisturbed as Miss Hartmann and Stel and Jen sang songs. We talked about NSync, David Bowie, Musicals, an Tswift. I think one direction was in there a few times. It was an alright ride. We saw a whole herd of elephants and 4 out of the big 5 at the park. We never got to see a leopard which made me sad because I was wearing leopard print pants so that I could join their pack. I was also planning on writing up a list of allergies to give them just to make sure the food they caught met my standards. Also, we were talking about how hippos probably have a mafia and all they do is train to kill 2.5 people every year. I'll attach some good quotes at the end. Oh and finally Pastor said that nature was awesome because we're breathing the same air as the animals. Everyone agreed. How come he can say that, and get agreed with, but when I say that it's so cool to breathe the same air as One Direction I get weird looks and discussions about therapists. Totes unfair.

After we left the park we want to a market with a bunch of homemade stuff. I felt so bad for them all, a bunch of the ladies couldn't even break a 20 and that's only 2 American dollars. I tried my best to buy something from every stand, and just take their prices as they were without haggling to get cheaper ones. I had plenty of money to spend and it's not like we'd have many other shopping opportunies. And the fact that a bunch of them had little kids with them and they're stuff was truly amazing. 

That's basically everything we did today and right now were driving back to the B&B aka home because wifi connects automatically.

I saw God today in the fact that he made all these animals for our enjoyment when we really don't need them all. Like, I mean they sorta needed them in the older days but no one really eats giraffes. I remember Mrs Carnehl teaching me something along those lines in 4th grade, and it just reminded me. And in the ladies at the market who really desperately wanted to sell you anything they could just to help their families. 

Here's the quotes I was talking about:

Jodie: *eating egg* Hm. Tastes like egg.

Gracie: Gee I wonder why.

Jodie: *eating yogurt*  Ooh it's like vanilla with a pear aftertaste... *checks wrapper* Huh, Vanilla Pear, who'd have guessed?

Gracie: Spells like animals..

KP: *turns off 1D*

B: "Ah.. Finally the sounds of nature."

*huge bus zooms by*

B: except for that...

K: you're like a bird who's too lazy to fly, Gracie! 

G: Animal planet doesn't lie

Day 7- Mission Ambassadors? More Like Mainstream Teenagers

Today was epic. We taught at the school almost the whole day. 

Fifth grade gave us these amazing cards that they made with 50 Rand in them. We plan to put all the money together and buy them something nice. 

We taught 1st grade and gave them sparkly crosses we mase earlier and they loved them very much. The teacher even asked for one for her. It was quite funny as the kids decided to wear them as necklaces. I thought that worked out better then the original purpose of just hanging them up.

The best part of the day was after school when we got to play with the older boys. They taught us this game with clapping and whoever it landed on had to find someone of the opposite sex to hug. I got A LOT of hugs because Jodie, Bridget, Gracie and I were the only girls playing. It really must be something in these people's genes because they give the best hugs you can imagine.

At the end of the day we worked on leading a chapel. It was really fun to do, and went amazingly. We didn't mess up that much and they knew most of the songs that we tried to lead. Everyone paid attention good and it seemed to go well. We also got to give them Gospel bracelets which looked so cute on their bracelet obsessed selves and had such a good meaning behind them.  

After that we drove to Kruger. We had fun on the ride there with Taylor Swift, which most of the others disliked. Oh well. We then ate dinner at the hotel. My favorite line was "Jodie's pudding jiggles!" And after that we went up to the hotel and acted like mainstream teenage girls. We danced to one direction with our hairbrushes in a neon green room and then battled over the shower. We figured that if we had them there'd be a pile of ugs by the front door. Oh and we all screamed when Jen tapped the window. It was quite fun. After that we talked about secret colonies and such. The Hunger Games is on at 12:30 on Tuesday on channel 121. Be there. 

I saw God in how excited that the kids were to hang out with us and give us cards and just how sweet everyone was. I also saw him in how he kept us busy in the car and didn't let us be bored and things like that. 

And that's  basically all we've done:)

Day 6- Chickennnn!

To start off, we slept in today. I'm so happy. We didn't even really leave the hotel until 9. We went to the school for a tiny little bit and then had Pastor take us to a public school.

It was really interesting to go there and see all the differences. I actually thought it looked almost better there, just because they had better funding to have more supplies and textbooks, and they had pavement instead of dirt and it was really colorful. You could definitely tell that the kids there were poorer then the ones at St. Peter Middelburg though. Not all of them had shoes and they some of them really couldn't even bring food for lunch. They were all still extremely welcoming and sweet and polite. 

After that we went into the Squatter camps. It was terrible. The houses, if you could even call them that, were made of garbage. They only had one bathroom for about 10 families, and there was no sewage or running water. It made the houses in the township seem like mansions and it really put into perspective about what people here have. Basically, the deal with Squatter camps is that they're people waiting in an area for the government to build more houses for them to move into and own. Once they make a house, the family who was in the camp moves into it. The problem is, that once people move out of the camp more people move into it and it's just never ending. You can really tell that the government honestly is trying to help a lot, and many things they are trying are working. 

Something I found interesting was that they had street lights. Pastor Khumalo explained that it was because during Apartheid, they put them out so they could monitor the outdoors for any hiding blacks. The other thing they said was that the check in center they used to have to go to before entering the township, is now being used as a post office. I think I'd really hate having those reminders in a town, but on the other hand it might be a nice way to see how much improvement happened in such a short time after Nelson Mandela became president. 

After that, we went to a radio station and got to talk on the air. It was really really fun, although terrifying, and the lady was extremely nice and it seemed like actually a really really fun job just to have. 

After we left the radio station, we went back to the school. We got to hang out with all the kids, although I personally didn't teach any lessons. We watched them play some dancing games until school let out and then we hung out with them until their rides came or they decided to walk home. They kept asking us to say words in their language and names and stuff like that, and it was really fun and I'm actually getting better at pronouncing their names. They all think it's funny when we scrunch up our noses and kept trying to get us to do it. After that, they pulled our hair and kept asking if it was real or not. Then we had a breath holding contest and I was good for 82 seconds. I ended up winning! 

Then, we went to their aftercare and distracted them from homework again. We had fun passing notes and teaching them how to "rock on" and how to fistbump and what the bomb diggity meant. I'll try to attach videos. After that, we left the school and went home to hang out for a little bit before dinner which was actually really delicious. It was homemade by the hotel staff. They had giraffe napkin holders and we dressed up one like a bride and hosted a wedding and then made up a whole fake family for ourselves. I'm Ishmael, Jodie's Barbeshba/Barbara/Bar-Bara, Gracie's the mom and Bridget's the dad who just sits there and eats. We've had quite a lot of fun. 

I really saw God today in how welcoming the kids were at the other school, even though they didn't even all know Jesus. I was also feeling like God was watching over everything when he gave the public school a teacher who found it in her heart to come back from retirement and volunteer to take care of the troubled children class. Most of them were dealing with Aids, or losing their parents from Aids, or just having bad home lives. I thought that was really amazing that instead of trying to find another job she decided to come back and help kids who really needed someone to care for them much more then a normal teacher could. 

I'm excited for tomorrow because we're scheduled to go see preschool children, and talk to some people in the Squatter area again, since today we basically just drove through. I also really miss my One Direction bracelet friend, whose name I found out was Percy, and I can actually say it. I also learned he's almost 14, and I think it's really sweet that he's so nice to all the little kids and he helps them out a bunch. He's a really nice guy and he finds me and Gracie hilarious when we dance, scrunch our faces up, try to pronounce things, or get mobbed by kids. So basically he finds our whole lives hilarious and I quite like it. He also tied my shoe for me one time, so I mean, that's always a plus. 

BY THE WAY. I called this one Chicken because in the camp we were at there were tons and tons of them and we kept pointing them out and taking pictures. And then at school when one of the little kids was looking through a camera he was really confused as to why we were taking pictures of chickens, which confused me for a moment before I made the analogy that chickens there are about as common as squirrels or rabbits at home. 

But yeah, that was basically my day. We found out that somehow Jodie and Bridget got the room with the good wifi so I actually might be able to get pictures up, but I'm honestly not really sure and I probably shouldn't say I will in case I don't. Here's the other girls' blogs. 

Jodie's: JodieHermann10.blogspot.com

Bridget's: bridgetsafrica.blogspot.com

Gracie's: graciescannellsouthafrica.blogspot.com