So the show went pretty well. pretty well being an understatement. very well is closer to the mark. the day began at 8am when we headed down to the school to help preparations for the 10am opening. To be honest I was suprised at how organised they were. You see Africa might have the heart that the West has lost, but it's not yet got any vestage of organisation or efficiency sadly. It makes life frustrating at times. Anyways, the run up to the show had been scattered with comedy fits of disorganisation and last minute rabbits out of the hat, so it's fair to say I didn't know how it'd turn out. But, like I said, at 8am on Saturday morning things seemed in pretty good shape, and it actually continued that way throughout the day...mostly.
The show itself took place at 11am and the first show was fantastico. We had it all recorded onto DVD so I'll have a copy when I get home. It includes a comedy event where I nearly face planted into the stage because the makeshift step up to the stage elected to sneeze as I glided across it. However I did manage to both stay on my feet and grin and wave at Jenny and Izzy at the back, unfortunately I forgot there were 500 people sat between me and them so they all saw my stupid wave as well. Score. They loved it. Anyway, less about me, the kids were amazing. They sung songs including Jonah Man Jazz, Twinkle Twinkle and High School Musical (oh yes), did a prodigal son adapted play, and also did some traditional Zulu singing and dancing. For sure Izzy and Jenny were delighted at the results.
However in Africa not all goes to plan, so the second show didn't go quite so well because a number of the kids were taken home after the first show and so we couldn't do much but put on a semi-capacity second show!! Oops. But hey, the first show was amazing and had the biggest crowd.
In other news, work has been slow. I've found in increasingly hard to balance working in the office at DMPR and the school. DMPR work is requiring constant and regular work sessions however with PE lessons and other school show prep it just didn't happen. So I have two or three projects that are 90% done but I just can't find sufficient time to finish them off. Muchos frustrating.
It is also fair to say that the goodbye section of our time has begun. Last time I said that one of our friends had left, these last two days two of my best friends here have left. It's been pretty sad to be honest because they were great to have around and helped out our team a lot with their experience of living here and being on Oasis team two years ago. They've been a massive part of my time here and I will miss Naomi and Ru a lot.
The other way we know we're leaving (aside from looking at a calendar) is that we're having to organise and invite people to leaving dos (that's the plural of 'do' not the Spanish number). I think we have four planned so far and also a last church and more goodbyes here and there.
A lot of people ask us how we feel about leaving and its hard to say. There are a lot of emotions going on...excitement, sadness...ok so there's only two but still, they don't get on well. I think I know where I'm going next i.e. my MSc and I know why I'm doing my MSc i.e. because I want to become skilled in the effective organising and management of people in order to use those skills in the charity/church sector (you could argue that both those things fall under the title 'kingdom building). So I feel happy that this has been a splendid step towards that but I know where my next stop is...
However, again, it would be amiss of me to finish on a low so I shall finish by talking about the fact that I jumped out of a plane 9,500 feet last weekend. Oh yes. I was strapped to a man and he was strapped to a parachute. The common name for such a feat is a skydive. Abby on our team is a qualified skydiver and has been on about us doing it here, so amongst other conditions, I would do it if she organised it. She did. Originally me and Kat were due to go but after we came back down intact, Ru, Jonno, Hannah and Izzy all went up (and down).
Its very hard to explain how it feels to fall 4000ft at 127mph. It's impossible to take it in at the time. Someone said that it doesn't really feel like you're falling but rather just being suspended in the air with the air rushing past your face. I tend to agree. I think if you did it more and more you'd take more in but your head just doesn't come to terms with the whole experience quick enough. Well mine didn't anyway. It was however, if indescribable, amazing. I wasn't actually very scared, I think partly because I'd abseiled 107m down a waterfall two months ago and that Kat was a wee bit 'tentative' about it shall we say, and in fact that calmed me down lol. The only uncomfortable bit was the speed at which my guy said 'right we're going' and ushered me into position. They move you so fast that you really don't have time to be scared. One minute you're on the edge the next your falling.
Kat had a DVD made of her fall but because I went first I am on it as well and you see me fall away from the plane. It a scary thing to see trust me. Kat said after I went was the time when she was most scared.
After we got back down we watched the other guys and watching it adds to your own experience simply because you see what you actually did. I remember watching Jonno and Ru fall and thinking 'surely now they must open the chute' but they fell and fell and fell. We actually feel for 30-35seconds but for me anyway I lost any concept of time.
It was a phenomenal experience, not sure I'd ever had the free money to do it again but for sure I'd like to. The more I look back on it, the fuller the experience becomes and you realise more colourfully what actually happened to you. Interestingly the same can be said of my time here in South Africa.
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