A Break from the Papers

The coolest thing happened today. I was coming out of a nap and felt as if I was back in Charlotte. Its a hard thing to try and explain but it was as if I was at home and just waking up after a far too long of a nap, as I did quite often last semester. I felt comfortable as if this area was mine. I guess its just reiterating last weeks blog about the world being my home. This week, especially today, makes me feel like I have made this place a little piece of me. It is one thing to be in an area and enjoy and learn what it has for you, but then to let it be a part of you....that is soo much more. The feelings and longings I have when I return home for this place has completely shifted to so much more now that that transformation has occurred.
I have finally broken free of a "group", and it feels quite great. I find myself alone a lot more than before, but in a liberating, not lonely, sort of way. I find myself walking down the street actually knowing people. It is also a great relief that those people are not international students....a good majority are South African.
This past weekend I actually went wine tasting. Realized for the most part I really still dont like wine....found 2 that I liked, but im pretty sure if I'm not going to fall in love with it here, Im not going to anywhere else in the world. The day and conversation were both very nice. The following day I actually went back to the same place to look at the cheetah and eagle/owl preserves. You could pay to hold/pet them, but I didnt have any cash so I will probably return sometime this semester to do it. The weekend coming up there is a penguin excursion so I will get my feel of animals for awhile,especially after break.
Nothing else really. I have been connecting with my roommates quite a lot lately, which I find great. They are all VERY Godly, and have something special about each one. Maybe through their teachings I will leave here knowing how to semi-cook.... Also one of my roommates are Xhosa...We have been having a lot of cultural conversations lately. Its great to learn traditions and reasoning behind certain actions, ect. I also find that the girls at the Kayamandi Primary School also want to teach us about their language and culture. I learned the words for hat and pot today, and also received a drawing that said love. Slowly I am starting to remember all of their names and they are starting to call out ours. I believe it to be signs of a beginning of a good, yet too short, relationship with the kids.
I do not believe learning enough here will be a problem. The classes are quite complex and writing the papers have turned into a bigger problem than I expected. Most of it because I find it hard to concentrate until its about 11pm and the sun is far away from my eye. By the end of the week I will (hopefully) be able to say I have finished 3 papers on complex issues (about 10 US pages each...)

So that I can actually accomplish that I am going to cut the blog short and update probably right before break.

Hopefully pictures will be coming soon.