Today we were let out of the college for a bit, though first we met up in our formational groups, which are groups to spend a bit more time with – the only college duty that we have to organise is chapel – the other college duty called ‘dishing’ is done on a different college roster (rota). I seem to have been volunteered for making sure our chapel rota is sorted out – I had no excuse to say no, though it will be a bit easier than the Cuddesdon worship rota I hope.

Our tour started at the Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery a beautiful monastery – an Anglican Benedictine house, the buildings used to be run by the Sisters of CR which are in the main part of Grahamstown. I shall be able to say more about the monastery and provide more pictures as I shall be on retreat there in a few weeks.

We then visited the 1820 Settlers Monument opened in the 1970s to commemorate the legacy of English in South Africa – some pictures will be coming soon… I was struck by the words around the fountain which were “That all may have life and live abundantly” which seemed to jar with the buildings that people in the townships are living in, we went to one of the townships to visit St Augustine the Parish Church, inside the church it is a bit surreal as it looks and feels like a 1960s English Parish Church yet is surrounded by razor wire. Pictures are coming to prove it

In the afternoon we were paired up with a returning student to go for a walk in Grahamstown, unfortunately my student was ill so I joined another pair. We went to the Cathedral, which in terms of size it is similar to Truro, but I could be wrong, but walking into it you would think you are back in England. It will be interesting to see how the space is used for worship.

I must dash as some of us a watching aptly Madagascar Escape 2 Africa

With a stinking head cold I set off for my travels, Pickles kindly gave a lift to Heathrow. The journey had begun, to be honest there was some trepidation as this was the first time I had travelled abroad by myself. things did not start out well with me nearly being defeated by the self check-in machines for Virgin, I swear the video showed the passport being put in one way, but it wanted it in the other. Bags weighed and checked in, cleared security quickly, went through duty free even quicker and got a snack and a drink and sat down. To save those who are squeamish I won’t go into details but I had a nose bleed after i had bought some Murray mints – I don’t believe the two are related. A very nice lady gave me some tissues and the flow was stemmed. Not much happened on the flight to SA – I watched Jonny English Reborn – if you haven’t seen it don’t bother – the food was good, but the excitement and the head cold meant that I didn’t really sleep, even though I had the blanket and face-mask on. The plane arrived at Jo’burg 10 and a bit hours after we had left Heathrow. the next challenge was immigrations, after what seemed an age I got the 90 days permit stamp and went to claim my luggage, the carousel was not correctly marked up, but fortunately the Virgin Atlantic Staff were standing near to one and looking at the tags I saw that it was for my flight. So bag in tow it was to recheck in, at this point I experienced SA hospitality, I was taken by a porter, who checked me in, took me to the correct desk to get my luggage sorted out and for me to get a boarding pass. The orange clothed porters were introduced when SA hosted the Football World Cup, I am lead to believe, I am just glad that they have kept them. Whilst waiting for my next flight, getting online defeated me and I discovered that my phone doesn’t have roaming turned on – apologies if you have sent me a text – I probably will get them in 2 months time I hoping to get a SA Sim card soon. after some food I went to see where the gate was and to find a loo – cue next nose bleed. That was stemmed in time for boarding the next flight to Port Elizabeth which was an uneventful flight, I was starting to get rather warm. I found the shuttle service that took me to Grahamstown – what I saw of the scenery, I kept dozzing off, was stunning. So I have safely arrived at the College of The Transfiguration (CoTT) met old friends and met some new faces, so many names to remember. the room I have is larger than my one at Cuddesdon and that is not because I didn’t bring all my books. Though I have acquired the six chapel books, once I start using them I blog about them. That is probably a random list that has come out, but it will have to do.

Just to note I don’t have full access to the Internet at the moment, am borrowing a 3G modem so won’t be uploading any pictures yet.