Sunday was an interesting experience at the cathedral. Therese and I decided it would be nice for our first Sunday there to attend all the services: 7:30 AM, 9:30 AM, and 7:00 PM. The 7:30 AM was out of "A Book of Common Prayer for South Africa (1954)" which is essentially the 1662 BCP with some minor alterations to things like the calendar. In many ways it makes Rite I seem "new" if you can believe it. The 9:30 was from "An Anglican Prayer Book 1989," the most recent Prayer Book for Southern Africa and is all modern language, though a bit more conservative a revision than say the 1979 in the Episcopal Church. The 7:00 PM was a Taize service which was quite lovely. The thing about the worship at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George that stuck out to me was that in the course of that day I prayed in 5 languages (6 if you count Elizabethan English): English, Spanish, Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, and IsiZulu. Oh, and that afternoon we had tea with a couple from the cathedral who lived in an English house built in the 1880s.
Monday was a rest day so we went to Kenton-on-Sea which is a town on the coast of the Indian Ocean. That visit meant that I have now been to three oceans! The drive there and back was also fantastic because en route we saw zebra, giraffe (including a calf), ostrich, kudu, springbok, wildebeest, and vervet monkeys.
Tuesday was my first time going to the cathedral staff meeting - not that exciting, but part of my work here and I got to meet some new people. I also spent some time that day looking for a book of birds of the region so we could identify and check off the birds we've seen. I spent about 2 hours looking for a decent one that had photographs AND was in English. My first find was Afrikaans only. Tuesday was a bit intense in other ways. I encountered a boy outside one of the grocery stores who could not be any older than Eamon Paton (he's at St. B's for those who don't know him). He was clearly on the verge of starving and had learned just enough English to say "sir" and "thank you" as he held out his hands. That day I also heard that elsewhere in South Africa, about 100 Somalis tried to kill themselves by throwing themselves into the sea since they could not go home, but conditions here (made worse by the xenophobia) made life unbearable.
Wednesday I went to the Ministers' Fraternal breakfast (weekly gathering of all the pastors in town) and met another Anglican priest, a Presbyterian pastor, and many others who I did not get as much time to talk with. Therese and I also made it to the botanical gardens mid-morning. That evening Therese and I went to Evening Prayer, to the young-adult/student Bible study, and met up with Fr. Walter's gang (who were new to town) at Nando's for dinner.
Thursday, Therese and I went to the Raphael Centre (for people with HIV/AIDS) and they took us out to the townships of Grahamstown. We visited a primary school and I got to meet dozens of children who were all thrilled to wave and shake my hand as a visiting white person who was friendly. Many of the children I met already have HIV and the piece of bread provided by the school a major part of their diet. We then went to the Jabez Health Centre, the sister organization of the Raphael Centre, and talked to the director who was very happy to talk with us about his work and the incredible challenges of working in the townships where the stigma against HIV/AIDS is still alive and well. This was all in the black townships so we then went to a coloured township where our guide stopped the van and said "this is where a lot of rape, assault, and other abuse takes place" quite matter of factly. While we were stopped, Therese and I watched a drug deal taking place across the street. On the drive back we passed a township church, St. Mary's Catholic Church. The statue of Mary in the garden was very powerful. She was not in familiar praying position or with her arms out. She stood with her head hanging low, as if overcome with sorrow, but her hands were held fingers together with her palms up as if in thanksgiving and hope.
That evening I attended a very long meeting getting ready for a festival and then wen to dinner with the Cathedral Guild of Men at the Albany Club. Jackets were required, we started in the pub, and then went to a lounge for dinner (lamb and roasted potatoes). It was a very high brow English function which was very jarring considering how I had spent the first half of my day. While there, I talked with a man named Andrew who is the countries top musicologist and one of the people who runs the International Library of African Music. He invited me to come by for a tour of their 400+ instruments, many of which are now "extinct."
Yesterday, Suzanne had me do the services at Brookshaw, one of the nursing homes, and we celebrated the 95th birthday of one of the ladies who is a member of the cathedral. I also found out that the Anglicans in the retirement home were the only ones who got weekly visits from the church. While I was pleased, being an Anglican, I was sad that so many other people were left disconnected from their church homes except for some who got visited once a month. In the afternoon, Therese and I ran with the youth of the cathedral in their Fun Run, a 3K run raising money for the youth and a part of Youth Weekend in South Africa (formerly Sowetho day). Then, last night we ate dinner with Fr. Walter and the pilgrims and some people from the local Anglican seminary, the College of the Transfiguration.
Today we got our tickets to some of the events in the National Arts Festival starting at the end of the month and I've been trying to get ready for my first preaching occasion at the cathedral for which I only got 48 hours notice.
Monday was a rest day so we went to Kenton-on-Sea which is a town on the coast of the Indian Ocean. That visit meant that I have now been to three oceans! The drive there and back was also fantastic because en route we saw zebra, giraffe (including a calf), ostrich, kudu, springbok, wildebeest, and vervet monkeys.
Tuesday was my first time going to the cathedral staff meeting - not that exciting, but part of my work here and I got to meet some new people. I also spent some time that day looking for a book of birds of the region so we could identify and check off the birds we've seen. I spent about 2 hours looking for a decent one that had photographs AND was in English. My first find was Afrikaans only. Tuesday was a bit intense in other ways. I encountered a boy outside one of the grocery stores who could not be any older than Eamon Paton (he's at St. B's for those who don't know him). He was clearly on the verge of starving and had learned just enough English to say "sir" and "thank you" as he held out his hands. That day I also heard that elsewhere in South Africa, about 100 Somalis tried to kill themselves by throwing themselves into the sea since they could not go home, but conditions here (made worse by the xenophobia) made life unbearable.
Wednesday I went to the Ministers' Fraternal breakfast (weekly gathering of all the pastors in town) and met another Anglican priest, a Presbyterian pastor, and many others who I did not get as much time to talk with. Therese and I also made it to the botanical gardens mid-morning. That evening Therese and I went to Evening Prayer, to the young-adult/student Bible study, and met up with Fr. Walter's gang (who were new to town) at Nando's for dinner.
Thursday, Therese and I went to the Raphael Centre (for people with HIV/AIDS) and they took us out to the townships of Grahamstown. We visited a primary school and I got to meet dozens of children who were all thrilled to wave and shake my hand as a visiting white person who was friendly. Many of the children I met already have HIV and the piece of bread provided by the school a major part of their diet. We then went to the Jabez Health Centre, the sister organization of the Raphael Centre, and talked to the director who was very happy to talk with us about his work and the incredible challenges of working in the townships where the stigma against HIV/AIDS is still alive and well. This was all in the black townships so we then went to a coloured township where our guide stopped the van and said "this is where a lot of rape, assault, and other abuse takes place" quite matter of factly. While we were stopped, Therese and I watched a drug deal taking place across the street. On the drive back we passed a township church, St. Mary's Catholic Church. The statue of Mary in the garden was very powerful. She was not in familiar praying position or with her arms out. She stood with her head hanging low, as if overcome with sorrow, but her hands were held fingers together with her palms up as if in thanksgiving and hope.
That evening I attended a very long meeting getting ready for a festival and then wen to dinner with the Cathedral Guild of Men at the Albany Club. Jackets were required, we started in the pub, and then went to a lounge for dinner (lamb and roasted potatoes). It was a very high brow English function which was very jarring considering how I had spent the first half of my day. While there, I talked with a man named Andrew who is the countries top musicologist and one of the people who runs the International Library of African Music. He invited me to come by for a tour of their 400+ instruments, many of which are now "extinct."
Yesterday, Suzanne had me do the services at Brookshaw, one of the nursing homes, and we celebrated the 95th birthday of one of the ladies who is a member of the cathedral. I also found out that the Anglicans in the retirement home were the only ones who got weekly visits from the church. While I was pleased, being an Anglican, I was sad that so many other people were left disconnected from their church homes except for some who got visited once a month. In the afternoon, Therese and I ran with the youth of the cathedral in their Fun Run, a 3K run raising money for the youth and a part of Youth Weekend in South Africa (formerly Sowetho day). Then, last night we ate dinner with Fr. Walter and the pilgrims and some people from the local Anglican seminary, the College of the Transfiguration.
Today we got our tickets to some of the events in the National Arts Festival starting at the end of the month and I've been trying to get ready for my first preaching occasion at the cathedral for which I only got 48 hours notice.