Saturday, July 23
Friday afternoon, the weather turned from being nice all week to cold, windy, and rainy. When I woke up this morning, the weather was dreary, so I stayed inside all day. I started reading Little Women for my children’s lit. class, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve never read it before because I thought it would be boring, but it is quite the opposite.
Tonight, there was the Te Puni Ball, which had a Willy Wonka theme. This struck me as ironic because last year’s gala at Bates was also Willy Wonka. Tickets were expensive and I didn’t have anything to wear, so I ended up not going. I went to the Christian Club again and had a fun time there. Unfortunately, the rain and wind picked up while I was there, and I got completely soaked on the walk back. I had to hang my coat and pants to dry when I got to my room. After that was taken care of, I went over to Esther’s room, and we watched a movie together.
Sunday, July 24
This morning I went to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church with my friend, Elisante. He was one of my Capital Safari tour guides. The service was interesting, a lot more standing and sitting and songs intermingled with speaking than I am used to. We also took communion, and it was my first experience having real wine in church. By rows, we made a ring near the front of the building, and the priest went around handing out the wafers. He was followed by a man holding a common cup and a woman carrying a tray of individual “cups” of wine (which looked the same as the ones we use at Sunnyslope). You could drink from the common cup, dip your wafer into the common cup, or take your own cup. I opted for the third choice. It turned out to be the priest’s last Sunday there, so there was a potluck lunch following the service, but Elisante and I didn’t stay for that.
It was still rainy, windy, and cold, so I spent the afternoon in the social space of TPV reading. In the evening, I went to St. John’s Presbyterian. I saw a few of the same people and also met a few new ones. The message tonight was a presentation by a missionary who is taking a group to Myanmar later this year. It was interesting to hear her story and see pictures. They said next week they are watching the movie “Prince of Peace,” and I got very excited at this news.
Tuesday, July 26
After three solid days of perfectly miserable weather, the clouds finally cleared, literally (not one in the sky today), and the sun came out. It was still a bit windy, but nothing compared to the previous days. At lunch, I ate with Cheng, and he invited me to go to the Botanic Gardens with him and a friend. We walked around there for about an hour and a half, and I got to see the rose garden (which is not very rosy at the moment) and the greenhouse (which is amazing). I’ve never been in a greenhouse before, and they did a great job varying the colours and kinds of plants. I even got to see tiny Venus fly traps!
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| The rose garden |
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| Tiny Venus flytrap |
Friday, July 29
Tonight, there was a dinner at Namastey India organized by the international buddy program. The dinner was scheduled for 7 p.m., but we didn’t order our food until about 8 p.m. My buddy and one of my international friends were supposed to come, but they never showed up. I met a couple people from New Zealand, a couple people from Sweden, and a guy from Malaysia. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere was nice and relaxed.
Saturday, July 30
Today was a pretty busy day for me. I did my reading for class in the morning. I started “Faces in the Water” by Janet Frame for New Zealand literature. It is about a woman who is continually committed to mental hospitals. It is very interesting, and I am excited to continue reading.
After lunch, I went to the tennis courts, which are a 15-minute walk from my hostel (hall of residence). I found out at the Wednesday Christian club meeting that Jeremy plays tennis. He invited me to come practice with him and some friends. When I got there, we had to wait for a court for about 20 minutes. Then we got to hit a little bit. It felt so good to hit a ball after a month! There was a group of players (who had the court before us) who started hitting with us, and when I had to go, they told me they come and hit every weekend. I am happy to find some people who play tennis. It amazes me how few people here (that I’ve talked to) play tennis.
In the afternoon, I went with a group of young people from the Christian club to Laserforce (laser tag). We met at the house for afternoon tea beforehand. We had around 17 people, so it was a good group. I did poorly in both games we played, but it was still lots of fun. Rayce was going to come with us, but he had a dorm meeting, so he may go with his group sometime in the future.
After dinner, I went with a friend from my hostel to a bar called Hotel Bristol to watch the All Blacks game. At first we couldn’t find a table, but then some people left and let us get the vacated table. It was in the perfect spot for watching the game, which was projected on a screen. A couple other friends joined us, and I had a really good time. The game was very entertaining; it was New Zealand against South Africa. The All Blacks won 40-7. Even though I understand very little of the rules of rugby, I still enjoy watching it.
