South Africa is beautiful this time of year. The high elevation (roughly 5,000 ft) keeps the air clean and cool in the mornings and evenings, this afternoon the high will be 82° Fahrenheit. Many of the streets are brushed with color from big trees and beautiful flowers in full bloom. The chatter in the streets is either Afrikaans or one of the eleven official languages in South Africa.

This morning we visited an Anglican church where we were greeted outside by a group of school boys dressed in dark blue suits with jackets that have broad, thin orange stripes. They were wearing hats that reminded me of the old movie the Music Man. Remember the straw hats with the flat brim and flat top with a band around them? I’ll try to take a picture and post it here. These boys, and their young female counterparts, go to the boarding school supported by the church that helps black families in outlying areas by educating their children. It’s much like the British system where they don’t see their families for extended periods of time and become family to each other.

My flat is in a very cozy complex with international students and their families. Manya, from East Berlin, is a postdoc student working in nutrition--she lives next door. Uta and Sabastian, ironically also from East Berlin, live nearby with their three young children who pop by daily. Sabastian also finished his Ph.D. and is working at the Theological College. Madupe, a physicist, finishes her Ph.D. next January. She and her two small girls are from Nigeria where her husband lives and visits from as often as possible (two or three times a year). David is from Ivory Coast. Katharine, a classical pianist expecting her first child next month, is originally from Kakastan and is married to Ingo from West German where the couple lived before they came to the University. Ingo is an astrophysicist. I've briefly me a Bengali family who returned from holiday recently. Summer break has just come to a close. This close knit international group shares meals, cars, fellowship and fun.

Friday night we had a Shabbat dinner together. The children picked up the song “Shabbat Shalom” quickly and made up dance movements to go along. There were about 12 of us celebrating in all. When I told the children that we were doing what Jesus and his disciples did each Friday night, they assumed that meant that we’d be doing this every week. The adults later asked if we could. Perhaps a new tradition has started.