Yes, we’re still alive

The view of Muizenberg Beach from the top of Silvermine Mountain; Chezzy taming the fire at our first Braai at Jan and Bonny's house.

Sorry it's taken so long to update my blog - we've had intermittent access to the internet so it's been really hard to keep updated. So let's start from the beginning...On Saturday 13 January, we finally arrived in Capetown and broke out the singlets and shorts we’d been lugging around for weeks. Despite the British thinking that 10 degree weather was their ‘mildest’ winter yet, strangely enough, we never got much opportunity to use our summer clothes until now.

As we arrived a couple of weeks before class started, we’ve already done a 3 hour hike up Silvermine Mountain, had a few braai’s (ie BBQ on charcoal) and taken many strolls on the beach. Cape Town is absolutely beautiful! On one side you have the beachfront, and then on the other 3 other sides you’re surrounded by mountains.

The college we will be at, George Whitefield College (GWC) recently purchased a block of land with 6 small cottages on it. We went to see it and it was absolutely fantastic, with 2 small bedrooms, a new kitchen and bathroom and some lovely neighbours (also GWC students). Unfortunately, it still isn't ready yet but Jan & Bonny have done an extraordinary thing and offered for us to stay with them until we can move in. This has meant that we don’t have to move into the college’s alternate accommodation which I have told some people about...

It's actually been an extreme blessing to be living with Jan and Bonny as they have really taken us under their wing and been like surrogate parents to us. We joke around and call them Mum and Dad and they call us their kids (the ones that won't move out!) They are the sweetest couple you can meet. Jan has this infectious laugh and Bonny is such a kind thoughtful person - you can’t help but fall in love with both of them. Through them, we’ve already made friends with a number of people. It’s also been amazing how other people - complete strangers - have been so gracious to us and really gone out of their way to make us feel at home. We've already been invited to a few dinners with some fellow college students and everyone has offered to take us places or lend us their car as they know we dont have transport.

Our new home is in Muizenberg and is a 2 min walk from the college, although Im sure we’ll still be late to class. It’s also only a few hundred metres from the beachfront. It’s a tough life isn’t it! The weather here is fantastic – about 28 degrees every day but not too hot as there is always a cool breeze from the ocean.

Summer school started at GWC on Tuesday 24 Jan, so we got to meet all the 1^st year students. Everyone was really friendly and very…young! Many of them were just out of high school and they were quite surprised to find out that we Chester and I were married. In fact, they just assumed that we were brother and sister! At Summer School, we’re studying a week-long course about the AIDS epidemic in Africa and Christian stance. I’ll write something about it later! We’ve got a 2 day commencement camp as well and then straight into classes.

We’ve been to our new church, St Luke’s, a few times already and have been plunged straight into ministry. Chester’s going to be running the Youth Group, chairing and Children’s Talk ministries as well as preaching and maybe even getting back on the congo drums. I’m going to be helping at the Sunday School, After-School care, church admin, bible reading, WIS and helping Chez with Youth Group and Kid’s talks. Pray that we wont burn out as we still need to squeeze in some study and making friends!

During our first week, we went to an evangelistic outreach at Trinity Church, a sister church to St Luke's. We hope to be able to do more Outreaches and Youth Events with Trinity; Enjoying the view at Kirstenbosch, the Botanical Gardens. The mountain backdrop is all around Cape Town. It's absolutely beautiful!

As suspected, there aren’t that many Asian’s in Muizenberg, so we tend to get a lot of blatant stares when we walk around. A lot of kids even run up to us and start yelling ‘Bruce Lee, Jet Li’ and start doing flying kicks. I like keeping up that stereotype though because hopefully it means they won’t mess with us! Wa-taaaaaa!

There’s so much other stuff to tell you guys and photos to share as well. I’ll make sure I keep updating my blog, so keep checking it! One day I’ll be on top of it all!