SA... so full of surprises.

my south african experience gets more interesting every.single.day.

lets start with the toilet. so, the non-communal-habit-friendly housemate has always been using the toilet near my end of the house. there's another one thats in the middle and very much nearer to her room, but for some reason, she prefers the one that 3 of us already share. maybe it smells nicer? heh. anyway, so i get home from Botswana on wednesday afternoon, and i am greeted with a sign on the toilet door, requesting a common courtesy - flush the toilet after use!! (i'll post a photo soon)... seriously.. just gotta love the ingenuity of my housemates sometimes. its so, in. your. face. but, its apparently not enough because, as i commended  the note's author, she told me to hold it because, it has not worked.
i always thought it was a china-thing(no offense, just that the china toilets left quite an impression). but looks like it extends beyond culture. and its getting on my nerrrrrvesss. and yes, food is still going faster than i eat them. just a few more weeks.

interesting development #2. zambia&malawi plans are out of the window for good. and whole new plan is in place. point to note is that it happened in a verry short window of time. more specifically, during a family conference call with 4 people in 3 countries on 2 continents and 1+ hour. so...  results = i get to stay another 8 dayz in this awesome country... side effect, but then.. i guess, God is still in control no matter what comes up. sighz. enter in the eternal and well, whats for sure is that its going to be an awesome month. (after these darned exams are done with!)

oh, and #3, i got a freaking 94% for a test that i barely studied for. HAHAHA. joke of the semester seriously. semester mark of 80%. yay. (: lesser stress for one more subject i guess!

BOTSWANA

in botswana now and back from the okavango delta where we camped for 3 days! its been an awesome ride thus far.
we drove for an entire day, spent 6hours at the Zimbabwean border and stayed the night in a tiny town, drove another full day and FINALLY, we got to the victoria falls town. the vic falls was ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING... and part 2 is coming to an end, camping in the okavango delta with hippos & elephants close by and a whole lot of other awesome stuffs.. and who knows what part 3 will bring in the Kalahari?
and the weird crazy amazing thing about technology is that i was ALWAYS contactable with my Singapore number.. even in the delta. ahwelll.... going to do some planning later. & committed it to God, so i know, either way, it WILL go well. :D

i love this place!

its already the end of wednesday. time flies!!!

quite an un-happening week i must say. but a plan is coming together for a weekend away. and i really hope it works out just fine. spring break is still undecided though ): i reaally want to go to the other african countries before it gets freaking hot!but no one else seems to have that plan.. its all cape town, blahblahblah. capetown is really awesome, yes, but how does it compare to Namibia and Botswana and Malawi!! (Malawi is where David Livingstone went, and he's like my childhood hero!.. or somewhere close at least) looks like madagascar & mauritius are not happening because flights here are FREAKING EXPENSIVE. and well, i have a self-imposed budget. one thing really great about my parents is that they're all for the experience, and money isnt a major concern because they're supportive of my travelling (well, the fact that they didnt bat an eyelid when i told them i chose South Africa for exchange shows something!) but, i'm going to travel as cheaply as possible, and do what the locals do! (which is cheap) only tourists come to south africa and spend a bomb on safaris. (: i'm not a tourist, i'm a student!

highlights this few days: skype with regina & sebastien again (: haha. SOOOO much miscommunication!!!! even though we were talking, no one really understood anything.

we ended up typing with the audio-call still on! so essentially, we were only listening to laughter and keyboard noises. but i loved it.

& again, i am so thankful for technology! first it was the doulos people, and now its those 2 in europe. and another was today, when we went to listen to shane (one of the cool american guys here) play live music at a pizzeria near our place. it was really nice to just chill & listen to good music. he's got some good stuff. (www.shanepalko.com) and after that, 3 of my housemates (i have 4, 1 german, mexican, chinese from china and american) and i had a good talk. and then jamie also said something that made my day. (: she said that she really respected me for my religion.

it was something that was really different from the entire house, and that specifically, "it is the way you live". well, she isnt at a point in her life where she realises how much we all need God, but that short 5minute conversation really encouraged me. i guess its so obvious partly because of the extremely secular lifestyle of everyone else. and even though it may not lead to any differences in anyone's life, i'm just happy that i was able to be a small testimony of the relevance that God has in each of our lives. because, she also commented about her friends who were "religious" and all, but lived lives that totally contradicted their values, and she saw congruence in mine. this is really not about me despite it being so encouraging. because there are so many things in my life that fall short of being a testimony, but i know God is changing me through this trip & this is just testament to how much He has changed me over the years. no one would have said anything like this when i was younger.

so i really cannot cannot wait to get travelling in september! (: first the long, self-declared weekend, and then, the awesome september spring break that lasts 12 (or more) days, depending if i self-declare a few more days before.. HEH. the travelling does mean i need to buck up and finish revision & assignments BEFORE i go, which is quite a bit of work. but cramming all that work into 2 weeks will just make me feel like i'm back at NUS for 2 weeks, and after that, HELLO TRAVEL! :D now i just need to find a travel buddy with the same idea of traipsing through the southern african countries.

but i'm loving every single day here! the crisp cold air, walking on dusty paths from university to home (while that darned bike remains unrepaired), enjoying my postgrad lectures & the readings that come with it, the people here, and even, to a certain extent, i'm enjoying the company of some of the exchange students. previously, we didnt really have that much things in common, and with everyone so party-minded, i was really doubting the building of friendships. but now, i'm starting to appreciate their quirks and i like my housemates. (:

oh, and a funny thing (that wont be so funny when i get back home), i'm REALLY getting used to african time, and i love my african schedule. i havent been to this 9.30am class in like.. 7 lessons or something, i didnt even know where it was today! but when i went, i wasnt lost in class & i could follow the syllabus just fine. awesome huh. i will really pay for it when i get back home. but I AM IN AFRICA NOW! still amazes me sometimes. but at random points in the day, i still get moments where i go, "omg, i'm really doing _____ in south africa!" like, in class, or walking, or whilst shopping...

september is coming!!!