Still taking deep breathes

Life still feels a bit chaotic. Another week of hectic times with work and without a car. My car should be ready tomorrow though, apparently a cylinder was loose and that started it all. So the cylinder will need to be replaced along with a piston that ended up being damaged and melting. Wondering where I went wrong with my little beetle. :(

Feel like I am in a cultural slump these days. Since life has gotten a little more messy, my resources for managing being in an unfamiliar place have stretched to become thin. It has certainly provoked me to a lot of reflection. Thinking through what makes it so difficult at times to life in another culture and how my sense of neediness and loneliness affects my interactions with people. I feel like I am in a transition point. I have met plenty of people, and now bridging over to having some deeper friendships. Thinking on how that process works for people, what makes people decide to form those bonds with someone else? Being to cerebral about it sometimes. :) Some people have said that Cape Town is difficult for getting to know people. One thing i have found is that people have stayed in the area they grew up in and so have known people for a long time. But because I am tired from life, I find little energy to seek out people, which compounds things...must forge on though, so I am finding a cell group to attend at church and getting set up with mentoring there as well.

Along these lines I have decided to put in a shameless request for care packages. My younger brother James is in Iraq with the military and his wife posts on their blog all the care packages she and his friends are sending him and I think, "I live overseas too." :) Of course I am not stuck on a base in a desert. On a side note, part of my identity has shifted at having a brother living in Iraq. There is a different connection in thinking of and talking about the war in Iraq.

What to send is the next question, ne? I had my parents mail me Kraft macaroni and cheese, NM pinon coffee and hopefully other things that will arrive next week. At the moment I can't say I am having any specific cravings, just for things from home.

And where do they go? Just have to send an email for that one. :)

Starting to think of the what next? aspect. Mom is longing to see me and so gonna book a ticket home soon, probably for the end of November into January. I still want to stay in South Africa despite my current longing for the comfort of familiarity.