I'm a terrible blogger and I'm sorry.

We all should have known that I would be terrible about blogging regularly. Sorry everyone. So, to catch everyone up, the semester is quickly coming to a close. We are now in the horrid, dreaded MONTH of finals. Yes folks, we write exams for the entire month of June. It's going to be a long month.

There has been an election!
The week we got back from April Vac, South Africa went to the polls to elect a political party to run the government. South Africa doesn't necessarily vote on a candidate, it votes on a party. There has been some controversy within the presidential office since the last elected president was forced to step down amidst corruption charges and the expected winner of this year's election has been involved in all kinds of problems. The African National Congress, Nelson Mandela's party, won the election and appointed Jacob Zuma, who has been charged with rape and corruption because he allegedly accepted a bribe. He was never convicted though. Aaaaanyway, he's the new president and we got the day off so that people could go vote! It was really exciting to see the long lines. I get excited about voting regardless of the country!

Hogsback!
I went on a trip to Hogsback! Many people say that JRR Tolkein drew much of his inspiration for the Lord of the Rings trilogy from the landscape there. He lived in nearby Bloemfontein for a while and vacationed in Hogsback. It really was beautiful. I went with 4 friends, Linda, Allegra, Lindsey, and Kacey (she is Lindsey's friend who was visiting from her study abroad location in Greece). We did a lot of hiking and stargazing and avoiding topless 10:30pm. FYI, there are bars attatched to most hostels in South Africa. The bar at Away with the Faeries, the backpackers we stayed at, apparenlty celebrates topless 10:30pm on Friday nights. Much as the people in the bar tried to convince us to participate.. we didn't. We did have a really nice time though. It was so beautiful. We did have a HUGE spider in our cabin though. Oh my gosh this thing was seriously the size of my hand. We had to send for reinforcements to help us get it out. Yho, that was intense.

Anglican Retreat!
The Anglican Cathedral that I've been going to, really beautiful and the services remind me of home so much, held a college retreat at the Assegaai Trails. It was so much fun! There was a group of about 15 or so of us and we went to hang out and worship. First of all, I thought I saw a big spider in Hogsback but actually it was tiny compared to the ones at Assegaai. It was another beautiful location with hiking trails and one morning a group of us decided to go for an early morning hike. We saw MASSIVE, brightly colored, fat, man-eating (specifically Liz-eating) spiders. Some of you may think that I am exaggerating, I assure you, I am not. ;) We had some really nice Bible studies and I got to try potjie for the first time! It is a masterpiece of vegetables and meat cooked in a big iron pot, called a potjie, for a few hours over a fire. Delicious! We also had a really nice eucharist on Sunday morning. The sermon was not a preached sermon but an interactive one. We were given the option of doing 2 out of 3 reflections/meditations, a nature walk, playing with clay, or coloring. This type of sermon is something I have never experienced before and I really gained a lot from it. I really felt close to God that weekend and really felt myself opening up to him and his presence in my life.

uMariya uMama weThemba Monastery Retreat!
Linda, Corntey, and I decided that we needed a weekend of quiet reflection after the crazyness of school and work and whatnot. So, the weekend after lectures ended, we went to the Episcopal/Anglican Monastery outside of Gtown. It was so nice and we got to really chill out.. literally. This was the weekend that the wind began to blow and cold really set in. We froze out there but we had each other to snuggle with and we discovered the amazing and wonderful invention of hot water bottles. Thank goodness for those and tea because without them, I don't know how I would survive a South African winter or even an East Tennesse winter now that I've discovered them! The brothers were wonderful and so very hospitable. I even discovered that one of them graduated from Maryville College! It is such a small world! To be honest, when I heard 'whereever you go in the world, you'll find a Maryville College graduate" I scoffed and said yeah sure. Come on, the school is really small... Well, I was proven wrong. Brother Andrew graduated from MC in 1958. It really thrilled me to find him and talk to him about Maryville. It really made me miss it. One bad thing about the weekend, I got sick. :( A head cold hit me hard and I was stuffy and in a daze for a few days. Thank goodness for Linda, she is training to be a nurse and had had the same cold a week or so before me, so she gave me her pharmacy. We were only able to stay at the monastery for one night, so Sunday night we went to Cortney's house and made dinner and watched a bunch of episodes of 30 Rock, it's such an amazing show.. Tina Fey is a genius. We made Mrs. M's amazing chocolate cake and peach cobbler, thanks mom for the recipe. We also had pasta and homemade gluhwein, a warmed spiced wine that is soooooo good. It was a perfect girls' night and we got to introduce Sarah to peach cobbler! She is going to be studying abroad at Bellarmine U in KY next semester! Yay, road trips to Louisville and another excuse to go to KY! Not that I needed another one.... ;)

Trip to PE!
Linda and I had to go to Port Elizabeth to extend our study visas so we could stay for the Arts Fest in July. Both of our study permits expired on June 27th, our original departure dates. A really super awesome woman that Linda knows drove us to PE because she was going to visit her daughter. We got their early because we anticipated running into a bunch of problems.. South Africa is not necessarily known for its efficiency.... Luckily, we didn't have that much of a problem though. The Home Affairs official wanted us to explain to him the significance of the Bald Eagle in our passports and didn't like my answer so he said it was our homework to figure it out. I said it was 'fierce' and I even included hand motions, so I don't know what else he wanted in an explanation. He also gave us a hard time telling us that because we didn't bring proof of sufficient funds that our request would probably not be approved. I tried explaining that we had already submitted proof of that with our original visa application, but he didn't like that explanation either. I could not win with this guy. The visa gods smiled down on us and we were approved, thank goodness! My visa was extended until July 11th, the day my flight leaves, so let's all hope that my flight isn't late or delayed... We were able to spend the rest of the day at the Greenacres mall before heading back to Gtown. We saw 'Ghosts of Girlfriends Past' and it was awful, to be quite honest. It was a funny reminder of how incredibly cheesy Hollywood can be.

Last week was SWOT week which is essentially a dead week for students to chill out and begin studying for the horrid finals to come. The finals here are a lot more intense than at home. They often count for 60 - 70% of your overall mark, as opposed to home where they only count for 15 - 20%, so intense studying is necessary. I just got so bored. We spent a lot of time at Mad Hatter's, one of the most awesome cafes/ coffee shops ever, and at Home Ground, my favorite coffee place. We spend so much time at these places that we know the owners and the staff and have regular orders. It's so fun! I have my xhosa oral exam on Wednesday, June 10th, in the afternoon and my Xhosa written exam on Friday, June 12, in the morning. Say some prayers, cause I'm sure going to need them! I'd better get back to studying. Check out my slideshow for picture updates!