Late World AIDS Day

Once again, I meant to post before I was actually able to.

Yesterday (Monday) was one of the best days I have had since being here, even though Sunday was one of the hardest.  It’s funny home much more my emotions and moods change when I’m here as opposed to my usually relatively even keeled self.

Sunday marked the beginning of the end of this edition of the South Africa Service Learning Program.  Chris, Steve, and Kenisha went to the airport Sunday night and are now back in the United States.  I don’t think I fully realized just how close the ten of us had become until they had to leave.  Things are just not the same here, especially because Chris and Steve’s room across the hall from is now just standing there clean and empty.  Caroline heads out tomorrow morning, I head to Pretoria for the choir trip on Thursday afternoon and by the time I return briefly to pick up my bags on Monday, Glenn, Maggie, and Steph will be gone as well.

Enough about the sadness.  As I mentioned, yesterday was just one of those days I wish I could have grabbed and held onto forever, able to pull it out whenever things aren’t going well.  To start out, I took the train to the nearby suburb of Rondebosch to rent a manual car.  That’s right, I am now terrorizing Cape Town while driving stick on the left of the road in my Conquest!  I then headed to Shonaquip to finish up my last few things there, go to a meeting where the people we were supposed to meet were actually in Johannesburg, and then say goodbye.  I feel like I just had my first day there last week . . . wow, just pulling out all the end of trip cliche sentiments here.

Afterwards, Glenn and I went downtown to St. Geoge’s Cathedral for the World AIDS Day mass.  It was such a powerful service, and I am ashamed that Marquette did not even have a prayer service to mark the day.  (Yeah, that might have to change next year.)  To be a part of a such a Christ-centered service which still addressed a contemporary problem as massive as the AIDS pandemic was amazing.  Afterwards, Glenn and I busted a move to the Green Market Square to show off our lousy haggling skills.

I then drove in the middle of rush hour traffic to the University of Western Cape for choir practice.  Over the course of the evening, we drove to a township to pick up the some people, I helped move a refridgerator, and we sang so beautifully.  I’m really getting excited for this trip.  We leave Thursday afternoon and return Monday afternoon.  Plus, we’re performing with a full orchestra in front of us . . . how awesome is that?  I need to get off the Internet now and head to today’s choir rehearsal.

God bless,

Andy