South African Journeys: Time flies but your the pilot....

April 29, 2011

Time flies but you are the pilot…

All week I have been pondering what I am going to write a blog about. I even considered not writing at all this week. So for those of you who were looking for a break from my scarily regular blog posts, my apologies. However, you only have to put up with my rambling on about my life in South Africa through this post and one more. That is right, two posts left before I will be back in the comfort of the Colorado Mountains. Back to my post this week. Nothing happened this week thus my contemplation of not writing. All I did was work on my project, had a wonderful Easter, and worked on my project. Obviously I decided against not writing and am taking the advice of my wonderful mom. She suggested that I write not necessarily about what I did but take a more introspective approach and speak a little to what I am learning. So here goes it.

For good or for bad, I have already reflecting a little bit on my trip to South Africa. I think this is due to the very real thought of going home. I have learned so much in this trip. I have learned a lot about South Africa, about myself and I have already taken a turn for the corny and cliché. It is even more unreal to think of myself back in September before I left for Ireland. I am getting carried away. This trip has taught me a lot and the rest of this post will consist of my sharing some of the small lessons I have learned in big ways.

Cherish where you are in life and make the most of it. The first weeks here were very hard for me. More than anything I wanted to be back in Colorado with my family. I questioned my decision to study abroad twice all the time and worse I questioned my ability to make it through the program. What a miserable way to spend time. Regardless of how green the grass may seem on the other side, you are not on the other side. My mind was set on summer, I had to face the fact that I was going to be in South Africa for four months and I was not about to be miserable. Then I wanted to slap myself silly when I realized, I AM LIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA! What and incredible opportunity! And arguably one of the coolest experiences ever. I have not visited South Africa I have lived in a township, a rural village, wine country, in Bo Kaap, and in downtown Cape Town. That is unreal. Now I can see that going abroad twice was one of the best decisions of my life. Not that this has changed my looking forward to summer at home, but more in the past two and a half months I have cherished my time and taken advantage of every opportunity. For some reason I think this is a lesson I will use again in my life.

You do not always have to have the answers to everything. As a group of Americans on the program we have spent literally hours discussing the issues and realities of South Africa. We have studied race, poverty, politics, culture, religion, on and on. We debate (I hate debating), discuss and rarely come to a clear answer. I do believe that many of the issues we discussed do not have easy answers or they would not be issues any more. All of these discussions that went in circles and other experiences in my life led me to the idea that maybe we do not always have to have the answers. Maybe it is more about living the best life you can. I have now come to the conclusion that I do not want to know too much and I definitely do not want to think I have all the answers; cause I don’t and I never will.

It is helpful to learn to go with the flow. They say that when you study abroad you learn more about America than you do about the country you are living in. I am not sure how valid that is but I have learned a lot about America. One thing is how time oriented we are. Everyone in our program, including me, was ALWAYS asking for the schedule for the next week or trying to figure out what we were doing, where we were going to be and what time we would be doing it. Not that this is terrible, it is how our society works. However, after a few weeks I learned that it is better to go with the flow. Let things happen. I am not saying sit back and let life happen to you, but I am saying in most if not all situations I have encountered it is better to be low maintenance. High maintenance people piss everyone off. J

Live simply and love well and laugh often. Okay besides being a really corny saying that belongs on a picture frame or ugly sign, the latter statement holds a lot of truth. I have found that the simpler I live the more I get out of life. I think we try to complicate everything and I don’t think that is good. Love well. To quote the marvelous Beatles “All you need is love”. Love makes the world go round. It turns out all of that is true. I also think the people I know who love well, live well. Love is at the core of all of our being and there is no sense keeping it inside. Laugh often. I remember in seventh grade English class Mrs. Mac (here is your shout out Mrs. Mac!) shared a quote that said something to the effect of laughter bringing people closer together. That all sounded way better in my head. Moving on. The best memories often include laughter. I really think laughter heals and some of my favorite memories of this past month have been the times when the five of us flat mates have just laughed together. There is just something so wonderful about sharing in that pure joy with friends.

Relationships matter. Which brings me to relationships. If I know anything that matters in life it is the relationships you have with people. Friendships, marriages, dating, siblings are things to invest time into. To prove this theory I can tell you of my friends from Ireland and from South Africa. I have spent three months with each yet have developed what I consider deep and meaningful friendships with them. I can attribute this to cool people and the fact that we have spent and intense amount of time together. Also in a good way been forced to invest in one another. I know that these friendships will last for far longer than the program or the souvenirs.

God is good and He is everywhere. This sounds like something you learn in Sunday school but here I am 20 (21 next week!) years old and still learning. In doing my project on religion in South Africa I have read a lot of sad things about what has happened but also still can see God’s goodness prevailed. There have also been so many times in everyday life where I find myself thinking “God is so good”. He has proven to carry me through challenges I never knew I would face. I am surrounded by people here who do not believe the same things that I do but have seen God’s greatness in them in ways they will never know. It is a beautiful thing. I have also traveled the world and have not found a place where God is not, so until further notice God is everywhere….how freeing and comforting.

So maybe these “little lessons” of mine are common knowledge but I have learned them in a new way since being here. I am sorry if I just bored you or was far too cheesy but just some thoughts to leave with you this week. My project is coming along. I will finish early next week. We also move out Thursday. I have a big week coming up but am glad I was able to take a little to reflect on what I have learned. Not to worry you teachers out there, I have learned a lot academically as well. What a wonderful opportunity I have been given here.

Alright this has gone on long enough. I hope summer’s approach is coming with excitement for you all, I know it is for me. Have a wonderful week and sala kakuhle.

Miss and love you all.

Until next week (my birthday),

Keely

My flat mates and I..yep I am the dummy who can't jump on time