Morning comes early in South Africa. Just after five am the outside sensor lights go out because the sun has lit the entire sky. One of the window of my flat faces the clothes lines for the complex (even though there are washers and dryers, the clothes lines are always full) and someone inevitably comes to get their clothes shortly after five. So the day begins.

I finally have internet connectivity in my flat, so the day this morning began with research for my dissertation. Then I went to the gym. It’s just a block away, beautiful and fully equipped—probably for the Olympic athletes who train here. I saw some of them on the athletic field several days ago when I went with neighbors to the University swimming pool. The field is lush and green and seemed somewhat magical as I saw it from up high looking down. Runners and high jumpers lined the tracks.

At the gym, I decided to take strength training and yoga classes; didn’t think about the fact that they were taught in Afrikaans. At a break during the first class I thanked the instructor who said, “why didn’t you tell me you were American”, then she taught the class in English.

The people I talk with are fully bilingual. Afrikaans and English. If they don't know me, they begin sentences in Afrikaans, see my bewildered look and switch to English. At the Theological College (pictured) everyone knows that I speak English and conversations convert when I am around so that I can understand. I’ve met with several of the professors, many of whom have impressive CVs. One NT professor wanted me to read one of his recent papers, so I did and we’ll talk about it tomorrow. Today I found some really helpful information for my topic for which I’m so grateful.

Tomorrow I will have been in South Africa for two weeks. My first week was packed with adventure. Stay tuned and I’ll catch up on what’s happened so far …