6.19.2008

"The time has come," the walrus said...

The time has come to talk about something else.
But this is quite a bit not as fun to talk about as the living situation.
Victor, my teammate from Virginia, went back home to the States.  He's not going to be with us here anymore.  He had to go home and take care of some personal responsibilities, and that's the end of the story.
But here's what I say - I'm very, very proud of him.  It's a difficult situation, and he could have easily ignored what was happening.  He could have very easily decided not to deal with things, but he didn't.  He got on a plane and went back home, and I think he grew up a lot in that decision.  
I'm proud of him, but I miss him a lot.  He was the only person on the team that I really knew before they became my teammate.  It's going to be different without him, but I am absolutely positive that there is a reason for everything.  Nothing doesn't have a reason.
It's just a matter of having a good attitude until that part.  That's my problem.  Here's the way I picture it in my mind - it may be wrong, but I'm willing to change how I think about it, so there you have it.
It's like something happens, and God knows about it.  And then we react to whatever happens, and God knows about that.  I personally don't want to react in a way that isn't worthy of him seeing, you know?  What if he causes this thing to happen (or doesn't stop it from happening), knowing that something really wonderful is going to come from it, and then he sees me whining about it?  Or sees me throwing a fit and being angry with him when I have no right to be, because I can't even see the big picture?  I'm not okay with that.
Yes, that's definitely the hard part, keeping the attitude in proportion to the big picture.  Tough stuff.
Keep Vic in your prayers.  
Victor, I love you.

Home again, home again - jiggity jig?

I think the time has come to explain our living situation.
Ken and Judy and the "old" team (the team from the AIM class before us) lived together in a very nice 7-bedroom house in a nice part of Port Elizabeth, called Summerstrand.  The boys all had rooms of their own, and two of the girls did too, but the other two girls shared a room and Ken and Judy did as well (obviously).  There are 5 bathrooms, a nice kitchen, an office area, a three-car garage, and it has a security system and a gate.  It's very nice and very safe.
But Ken and Judy decided to move out a couple of months ago, so that they would have more room to house the printing stuff for the curriculum.  So they moved out, and we (the new team) moved in, and the lease on this house (I like to call it The Big House) is up at the end of this month.  So we're all moving out by then.  
The first week we were here, there were 12 AIMers living here - we were missing Mike (from our team, he was delayed a week because his visa was late) and Brittney (from their team, she went home to visit for a month).  Neysia, Sasha, Diana, and I were living in Ken and Judy's old room, on air mattresses - the only mattress that really held air was Sasha's, but it was okay because we had sleeping bags and blankets.  It was a lot of fun, because the four of us had never lived together since we had two different apartments in Lubbock.  I really enjoyed spending time with them in that way.  I've never had a sister, much less three, and they are as close as I'm probably ever going to get to having real, real life sisters that I'll live with and be with every day.  I love them, and I consider them a blessing and an answer to a prayer that I didn't know I was asking.
But after Carolyne and Lindsay (two girls from last year's team) moved out a couple of weeks ago, we split up and took their rooms so that we could have real beds.  Diana and I are now staying in Carolyne's room, and Sasha and Neysia are in Lindsay's room.  It's nice to have a real bed.  It's funny though, because they took their comforters with them, so we are using sleeping bags as comforters.  Whatever works, ya know?
As for the boys, they were staying with Joey, a guy on last year's team.  He stays in a room that's off the garage, kind of separated from the house.  There's a bathroom out there, too, so it's convenient and semi-private.  It's hard for anything to be private here, but it's okay because we all get along (most of the time) and we have a lot of fun together.
But now that we're out of Ken and Judy's room, Tyler and Mike are staying in there on the "air mattresses" and sleeping bags.  I think they are ready for their own beds, and we are too.
Here's the upcoming schedule for everybody moving out.

19 June - The "old boys" move out.  (I'm pretty sad about this, to be honest.  I really like these guys.  They are a lot of fun, and have been good friends to me so far, which is really important.  These first few weeks can be rough, because of transitioning and learning the ropes and the initial homesickness and all of that stuff.  Johnathan, Joey, and Logan have been very helpful and encouraging to me.  They're cool guys.  I appreciate them.)
23 June - We move out!  We're going to be living with Brittney and Liz, two of the "old girls."  We've seen the outside of our house (it's a great yellow color, with two trees in the front yard, and you can look to the left from our front porch and see the ocean!) and pictures of the inside.  It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms inside, and one outside bedroom with a bathroom.  We have a dining room, two fireplaces, a kitchen, and a two-car garage.  We'll also have a gate and a security system.  The house comes fully furnished, which means we have beds and a TV and two pink leather couches.  Oh yes.
1 July - The new boys move out.  I haven't seen their house, but from what I hear, it's a cottage that's on someone else's property.  They have their own driveway, and the rent is really good for the two of them.  They'll live about 20 minutes away from our new house.  (They'll live in a district called Lorraine, and we'll live in a district called Mount Croix.)  But since the lease is up on The Big House at the end of this month and we need to do a big clean on the place, they'll move out and live at Ken and Judy's the last week of June.  So basically, we'll all be out of this house during the last week of June.

You know, I haven't lived here very long.  It's only been about fifteen days, not nearly as long as the last team.  But it's sad to me, everybody moving out and getting their own places.  I've very much enjoyed living together with everybody.  It's been chaotic sometimes, and frustrating, and hectic, and sometimes there's no food, but it's been a lot of fun.  I have laughed so much, and I already have some really great memories that I'll remember when I don't want to remember other things.

So if you're from my old home, rest assured - I can feel at home here too, and it's not necessarily because of the house and how bouncy the bed is and how full the fridge is and how hot the shower can get.
It's because of my friends, my family-away-from-family.

PS: If you're concerned about the fact that twelve 18-23 year olds are living together without "adult supervision," please keep in mind that we are twelve 18-23 year olds who are here in South Africa doing mission work, and we each have the mindset that we are accountable to God, Ken and Judy, the AIM staff, and each other.