Sunday

Coming to South Africa, I expected to be immersed into the culture. I should have known—but didn’t expect—to be so moved at church. The opening song was enough to make me tear up. This weirds me out sorta because I never used to be an emotional person. I used to be able to seem emotionless during even the most moving events. Now, apparently, all it takes is a set of bongo drums and some gospel music to bring tears to my eyes. I think I was just thinking too hard. I can’t even imagine what these people live like and how they endure the hardships that they do. It is as if the strife they undergo on a daily basis is being released in that two hour church service though their song and worship. I think maybe I am associating the power of their music with my feelings. The words they spoke carried a strong message of hope and compassion for human kind, but it was the music in Xhosa—the music that I couldn’t understand the lyrics too or make sense of, was what got me going. I sat there next to my host mother (who is super sweet, by the way) tears welling up, and I have no idea why. Maybe I will understand later on. All I do know is that it was powerful.

The lighter side of the day included a shopping trip to the waterfront. A friend with whom I was shopping was looking for a dress for an upcoming wedding. After bypassing Louis Vuitton, Ed Hardy, Gucci and the like, she found a very elegant and unique dress in a small boutique. This $200 dress was stunning but after much hemming and hawing, my friend decided against making the purchase. Guessing what we were to experience in the up coming week, she just couldn’t justify spending the kind of money that a family can live on for a month on a dress intended for a single day. We haven’t even been out there yet, and already we are being affected by it.

Following the shopping, a group of us caught the 5:30 showing of the Sex and the City movie. For those of you who don’t follow the series, it is about a group of women who have extravagant material possessions. It was eye opening to see just how high maintenance they were and how excessively they lived. Although I enjoyed the movie and understand it was fictitious, my head couldn’t get away from comparing their lifestyle to those of the people I am soon to meet.