Tammy's Liaison Visit!

Tammy's visit was an absolute god send. Honestly, could not have timed or planned a better visit. I feel refreshed, reinvigorated, supported, compassionate, and confident moving forward into the last two thirds of my time here at Botshabelo.

Just laying eyes on Tammy when she first arrived Thursday before last was a huge relief. It was also nice to finally meet her daughter, Chandler, about whom I'd heard so much over the last year and a half. Since it was past dinner time and they'd been traveling all day, we immediately drove into town to have dinner at Wimpy, the burger joint where I have my study days each week. We caught up, talked about challenges and triumphs over the last week, and planned how we might spend our time together. I was so excited!

The next morning, we had coffee with Leigh and Nicole so that they could catch up with Tammy and also talk about the weekend ahead. It was so interesting to hear them talk about old times and past interns. Plus, it felt like I was finally seeing a more relaxed side to both of them. They know and trust Tammy and I hoped that they were beginning to know and trust me, too. I felt certain that the more social and relaxed vibe grounded in familiarity was at least a good step.

I spent much of the day performing a really interesting intake with a new family, so I didn't spend much other time with Tammy on her first full day at Botshabelo. It wasn't until dinner that we really got to spend quality time one-on-one. Chandler stayed behind and Tammy and I went out to dinner at a restaurant down the road, the owner of which I'd met after lunch with my friend Melody two weeks earlier at the mall in Krugersdorp. We were about the only customers in the place, so on top of a nice, private supervision session over a delicious dinner, we got to talk with the owners who were so friendly and interesting! The wife is apparently a big country star here in South Africa and Tammy ended up buying two of her CDs! She even yodeled for us! It was lovely. So nice to be out for a change and having a real talk with someone who knows this place, students' experiences of it, and me as a student and a person.

The next day we went a little ways a way to spend all afternoon at the Elephant and Monkey Sanctuary! We walked through the monkey sanctuary, learning about and interacting with all the different monkeys there. The biggest monkey in the place, Sarah, even got a little too comfortable with Chandler, riding on her shoulders for about 15 minutes toward the end of our tour! It was hilarious (especially after she got away unscathed and with her headband restored to her)!

Chandler with her new friend, Sarah.

In the Elephant Sanctuary, we had the chance to interact with, feed, and Chandler even went for a ride on one of these magnificent creatures! Elephants constantly amaze me and I always learn something new when I'm around them. Truly incredible. I even got a sloppy, wet kiss from one of them!

*muah!*

Elephant hickey. (Thanks for the photos, Tammy!)

At the end of such a fun day, I was treated again to a lovely dinner out with Tammy, Chandler, the Cloete family, and Gift at a resort and restaurant just on the other side of Magaliesburg from Botshabelo. It was another great meal (buffet, holla!) and I had a great time. The ease, familiarity, and fun that I'd noticed when we had coffee with Leigh and Nicole the other day carried forward into that evening. It was nice to see all of them so relaxed. I know they don't have the opportunity to do nice dinners like that very often and I felt extremely honored to be a part of the party that night.

And just for a bonus, Tammy told me later that they had good things to say about me when I went back for seconds (or thirds?) at the buffet!

Our dinner party (from L to R): me, Con, Nicole, Marion, Tammy, Chandler, Leigh, & Gift! (photo cred: Tammy)

The next day was when our real adventure began! Tammy had said from the beginning that she would be taking me away somewhere during her liaison visit. Since I live and work here and have no car, it can get overwhelming sometimes and I was grateful to have a chance to see another part of this gorgeous country. She ended up choosing Sun City and Pilanesburg National Park as our overnight destination. Sun City is a massive resort next to the national park and provided us with a lovely room, fancy breakfast, and access to a water park (where Chandler and I spent all morning before we left on Monday, swimming in the wave pool and going down water slides. Sunday evening we went on a game drive in Pilanesburg and were lucky enough to see elephants, zebra, rhino, giraffe, and two lionesses and three cubs feeding! It was awesome and even the sunset was stunning. Such a great trip!

Lionesses & cubbies!

I was sad to have to say goodbye to Tammy and Chandler, but I knew the ripples from her visit would spread across the rest of my time here. I'm so grateful to have such an incredible mentor and liaison to visit me here! I'm the luckiest final fielder out there, y'all. For real.

Otherwise, the past week or so since Tammy left have been a lot of readjusting to being here by myself. It can get pretty lonely without any other visitors and working from my house so much as I do with all the stuff on my computer, but luckily I am a person who enjoys some alone time and I feel like I'm becoming more and more a member of the community here every day. I'm building relationships with the kids and getting to know their personalities, tendencies, and what they like or don't like. I'm also getting to know the folks my own age here. I'm closer and closer with my roommate, Dipuo, and another member of "upper management," as they are called, Sissy, who gave me my first tour here.

One way I've tried to weave myself deeper into the community this week was by attending church this morning! It was so fascinating! They have it in a corrugated tin shack in the village, so it was warm with all of those bodies in there, but the energy and singing was so  wonderful! Much of the service was conducted in Tswana, but I could sense the emotion and was just pleased to be welcomed into the congregation. The bishop is the same man from the documentary, if you've watched it. I've been told that he sometimes swears in his sermons and, although he didn't this morning, I would love to be there for that one Sunday before I leave!

I haven't seen any of the Cloete family since Tammy, Chandler, and I got back on Monday, except for a brief check in with Leigh when we first drove in that day. Con and Leigh's youngest child, Ethan, have been in the hospital this week, so they have had their hands full and have been required to be away most of the time. Ethan is back now, but Con is back in the hospital after coming home for just a few hours on Friday night. I'm told he's improving, so I hope that's the case! I'm hopeful that he'll be home by the end of this week.

At any rate, assuming that everyone gets well soon, I'll be very interested to see what my relationships with the family members are like now that Tammy has come and gone. Will they be the same? Different? Better? Worse? Stay tuned . . .