Wednesday, September 29, 2010

African Red Tea, Gas Stations and Sem Wives pics

Guess what? I found Rooibos! Well, it is vanilla flavoured but it is still Rooibos! Here it is called Red bush... But looove the branding, it reminds me of Narnia...
Also, some of you have never seen how amazing the milk size is here! It is great and it has a long-life too which makes it really helpful. No more getting milk daily! Plus look at our great big bag of Californian raisins! :) Isn't that great when even raisins are a novelty!
Now, the other thing that is unusual is that we have to fill up our own cars with petrol. Now, the one amazing thing about this is that I have the most attractive petrol attendant and I don't feel that I need to tip him! hehe. (I do also intend to fill up from time to time...)

And that's the tank full of GAS! And we are on our way! 


Now, everyone keeps talking about how it never rains here! And one morning, when it had been so hot before, we had some rain on the way to TMS- check it out: (You will get to see some of our drive to school with rain drops on the windscreen...)
My first official sem wives with the groups being revealed was this last week Wednesday. When we initially arrived, we had to find our name on lists on the wall and figure out what group we belong to. (It was stipulated as table numbers, since we all sit at a table with our specific groups.)
Here is when we first arrived and everyone was figuring out where they belonged:

The blonde lady in the image above's name is Whitney and she works in Ventura which is about an hour away and apparently it is a 'surf town' and so we will hopefully get to go and see it eventually! (Her husband also surfs and she said that we should go and see it with them sometime...) 

Below, you get an idea of the room set-up for Sem wives, my table is to the front left.
In my previous blog post, I wrote that I missed butternut and guess what? A South African (also our group assistant leader) called Lynette Botes, read the post and then guess what she brought along for me?
How cool is this: (I felt so loved when she did this and it meant so much to me! How amazing is it that we can be so encouraging to others?)... She even wrote my name on it in case... other sneaky South Africans... Just kidding!
So the evening was coming to a start and a lady came to our table and sat next to me and I had no idea who she was! And she asked me where I was from... and I told her etc. Turns out she was Patricia MacArthur and I had no idea. I did fortunately eventually get it! (She mentioned to someone that her husband was going to share the message and I still didn't realise who she was!)

Our group leader is Mrs Cruygen, she is originally from South Africa and our group is full of international ladies.
Here are some group pics from the evening:
Here is me, Mrs MacArthur and Beatrix from Switzerland:


Here is a look at the table and the cupcakes that Lynette baked. Proper apples I tell ya! (They almost look convincing enough to be healthy!)
Then, MacArthur shared on how to support your husband in ministry and it was very encouraging, practical and helpful.
And finally, a group pic with Mrs Cruygen (on the left) and Mr & Mrs MacArthur...

Izak got his results back for the Hebrew exam and he did very well! We are so grateful to the Lord because it is only His provision with so little time on our hands. He also got his results for his assignment with Dr. Rosscup and he also did well on that paper. Once again, thank you for all your support, prayers and for all your encouragement. It means ALOT to us! Keep in touch!

5 comments:

  1. Great stuff Taryn, i love how you manage to make the most mundane stuff sound poetic! Also good how God teaches you to be grateful for something as ordinary as a butternut. We thank Him for our food every day, but in my case the thankfulness is often superficial, because we have plenty, or simply do not think about it. Through this humble butternut He reminded me about thankfulness this morning.
    We are also thankful that you are both adjusting well and EXCITED that Izak is doing well!
    Keep blogging and we love you xxxx hen3na

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  2. Taryn, you rocker you!
    going to ventura? that's ace!

    as always, it looks like you guys are having a jawl. give ninja a hug, but don't say it's from me.
    it's getting warmer here. soon we'll start surfing again every single flipping day. but i won't bore you with such details.

    God bless. keep it Jesus.

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  3. Hey!! I love your post ! (not just because I'm in one of the pictures...hehe) I was cracking up at the petrol attendant!! I have a handsome one too!! So I'm guessing in SA you have attendants that come out and do it for you?! Crazy! Oh, and you can find lots of different flavors of rooibos tea from a place called teavana. They are found at some malls out here! Its a lovely tea store!

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  4. Your blog is so much fun to read...I agree...I love how you make the ordinary events of life that pass so many by sound like such an adventure. Back home here I'm not sure the garage owner would be to happy about the attendant getting in the car and driving off with you ;p and I know I would take photos too if I got served by an attendant in a TIE!! :) (things I bet you never knew your multi-talented man could do before you married him) hehe...fun times!

    Wish I could join you in SEM Wives! I'm sure you're gonna LOVE it there.

    Keep depending on our Jesus and the fabulous blogs will keep on coming.
    Praise God for the blessing of a brilliant blogger :)

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  5. Hey you...or should I say you two..? Exactly how much input does Izak have on this exciting blog? Or does he only feature & give his approval? :) You're right, that tea makes me think of Narnia too. :) We are praying for you guys. X

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