The games we play

One of the things I love about NieuCommunities is the creative way our curriculum seeks to engage different learning styles. This leads to doing some interesting things for "work." I led a conversation on Monday that began with a water balloon toss, and last week, Doug led the group in a game of Mao to illustrate rather tangibly what culture shock can feel like. Here are some photos from both activities, just a small taste of our learning conversations...

A peek at what's in Busi's hand

Wait, what?

I think Melanie received a penalty here for not saying "Have a nice day"

Nice catch, Busi

Tony shows off his throwing technique

Colletta and Johannes keep their tosses pretty close

Melanie takes a hit

Judging from the expression on my face, I think this one was taken just before I hit Chris with one of the leftover water balloons:

Cricket

Last night, we introduced this year's apprentices to the game of cricket. We went to a local Pro20 match (Pro20 games are only about 3 hours long, as opposed to up to 5 days). Many Americans find the rules of cricket incomprehensible and therefore interminably boring (the length of the game no doubt has something to do with this as well). This was the second cricket match I've attended, the first being 2 years ago during orientation when I was an apprentice. So I'm not really one to comment on my extensive knowledge of the rules of cricket. (I'm not really one to comment on my extensive knowledge of the rules of any sport, to be perfectly honest.) But, I will say that I really don't mind an evening of cricket attended with friends. Last night, for example, I sat on the grass and enjoyed a picnic dinner, chatted with friends, ate cookies, wandered around in search of coffee and tea... and watched the exciting parts of the game. Like the end. =)

Here are some pictures from our outing:


Colletta in her free hat, enjoying a cookie


Mairin, wearing her "First Visit to Disneyland" pin


Enthusiastic fans

Apprenticeship 2009

We officially began the 2009 apprenticeship on Sunday afternoon with a braai at Pangani. Sadly, I did not take any pictures on that day. But today I did! Dayna and I took the 8 apprentices (and our local friend Lizzy) on a tour around Pretoria city center. Here are a few pictures taken at the Union Buildings.


L to R: Me, Busi, Chris, Adrienne, Colletta, Dayna
Melanie, Johannes, Tony, Curtis


Our 2009 Apprentices!

And so we begin a new apprenticeship year. I'm looking forward to getting to know the new apprentices over the next ten months and seeing what God has in store during this time. It's good to be here from the beginning this time around, since I came about 1/3 through the year in 2008... somehow it's weird all over again to be staff and not an apprentice! I'm really excited about this year's group. We have three Africans and five Americans, and a huge diversity of background and experiences among them all. It's been fun to see the beginnings of everyone getting to know each other, and I'm excited for what's to come.