Open post (brother Nathans idea)

OPEN POST say whatever you want

Mailing update [Amy]

If you are sending letters, the address we gave at the party should be fine. If you are sending packages, here is what you should do. Send the packages through DHL, they are the most reliable company for South Africa, and send it to this address. If there is something of real value in the package, you may want to consider insuring it.

Send to:
Dr. Michael Lyman
University of Pretoria
Dept. of Social Work and Criminology
Humanities Building Room 10-11
Lynwood Road
Pretoria
0002 South Africa

Still don't own our car yet!!! What a funny country. Pictures of recent events coming soon! Love you all.
Amy

Driving in South Africa [Amy]

Well besides the bank account being wiped out, our greatest excitement so far is driving here and the process of buying a car. As you know we settled for a 7 seater volkswagon that will require great patience on the part of all of us because it is tight quarters. 8 seaters and above especially "Kombi's" which are large Volkwagon vans are used as taxis here, so when you own one you are at risk for two behaviors when you stop at a stop light. First, someone you don't know may try to get in your car because they need a ride somwhere, or second, someone may ask you to get out of your car because now it is theirs because they have the gun. The first behaviour would be fine with us, the second one propelled us to buy a smaller car. Now to get the car registered in your name..... Well, someone you know calls someone they know to call someone they know, to have that someone meet you at your home. Which he did, just to chat etc. We finally asked him what he did for a living and would not have been at all suprised had he said the South African Mafia. But, apparently he's just a nice South African bloke who helps foreigners buy cars because the law here is odd and hard to maneuver. At least that's what they tell us. I really don't know, you really don't have a choice but to go with it. It is interesting because there used to be a lot of laws on the books that discrimminated against black Africans. So, the black Africans, not trusting the white Africans, found ways around them via a "black market." Now with aparteid lifted, you have both black and white Africans in positions of power, but the white Africans do not trust the black Africans, so they make ways around things. It's funny how what goes around comes around. All I know is that we pay a guy a certain amount of Rand and then we own the car-I hope, or something like that. This is a country for trusting the Spirit and going with the flow, Certainty is not a part of every day life. But a maid is!!! Just came home from grocery shopping to a perfect house. Mike is concerned about my spoiledness level, as housework was not a forte of mine to begin with.
I ventured out alone with the kids today to grocery shop. When you drive here, you are sitting on the right side of the car, with the stick shift, (all the cars here are standard), in your left hand, and you are driving on the left side of the road. It is nuts, but I am getting the hang of it. Thak you to everyone that has posted, hopefully more will, it is really fun for the kids. We are loving it, this week has felt like a month, but time will heal all wounds I'm sure. Take care.
Amy

MAILING THINGS TO AFRICA UPDATE!! [

We have been told by neighbors that the mail situation here is tricky. We are looking into other options like a PO Box or something, so for now, hold off on any mail to the address we handed out at the party.

Bird of Paradise Flowers on Univ. of Pretoria Campus

The Zimmermans from Bielefeld, Germany [Amy]

On their last day our neighbors played soccer with us on campus. We kept up fairly well, but Joshua, age 12, (far left) had moves that we could not stop. We are so sad they have left now, we would have enjoyed them so much and plan to keep in touch. The other two pictures are of us swimming in the pool that is a hop, skip, and a jump from our apartment, and a sampling of the beautiful flowers that we see on campus. Before the Zimmermans left, they brought us some homemade spetzel, (a yummy noodle that Bavaria is famous for). It was sooooo good. I would say, eat your heart out Lynn, but he is in Germany right now eating his heart out! We love you, more soon. Please remember our email also, mjlyma@ship.edu. Send us a note or respond to the blog. It is really helping us not feel too homesick.

Amy

Breakfast on the Patio [Amy]

We have a wonderful back yard with a patio so we ate breakfast out one morning. Hailey especially liked getting her picture taken first thing in the morning. The miracle is Nathanael's hair, it is so tame compared to his typical bed head.

New President!!! [Amy]

Congrats Barack Obama!!!!

Over the weekend we had scouted out a restaurant that we thought was safe and had a wide screen. We asked the staff if they would be broadcasting the inauguration which they enthusiastically said they would. So Tuesday night, we ventured out into the somewhat scary night and had dinner and watched the inauguration. It was so exciting, and we were so Amrerican. We tried not to be obnoxious about it. I would really like to have gotten into the brains of the people there. Many were watching, but it was hard to tell what they were thinking. It is fascinating to think about Obamas election from a country where desegregation has happened since I graduated from high school. You can still feel certain amounts of tension and intolerance, but we have met only wonderfully nice people of all colors and nationalities. I can only speak for what I read and see here, but South Africa is very excited about the potential changes that Obama can bring.

SHOUT-OUT TO BROTHER NATHAN :) [from hailey]

WOOT WOOT!! WHO IS THE BEST? NATHAN GOATES!
Even though you break your collarbone a lot you are an awesome biker!!
Also congragulations about your new baby boy! It must be really fun to have a boy close by to spend time with.
I hope you are enjoying your time in Ship and I am glad you will be there when we get back :)

JP

yeah jenna it would be way easier to email me. we could talk more and stuff like that. so you can email me on either of my accounts. and sorry its still january. :(

Boring Post from Michael about Work.

I spent my first real day in the office today getting an ID card, e-mail, internet, phone, etc. My office is on the 10th floor of the humanities building (pictured here) overlooking the campus of the University of Pretoria. I must admit it is a better view than the parking lot of Shippen Hall.

I am trying hard to just figure out the curriculum and how it is structured. From what I can tell thus far, the department here divides all content into year-long theory and practice courses. So, a student would take a theory course on something like Social Work Practice with Individuals at the same time they were taking a practice course on the same topic. So they would get lectures on the topic on, say Tuesday, in the theory class; and then on Thursday they would attend a practice class where some type of discussion, activity, or written assignment would be used to apply the content from the theory course. This semester I will be co-teaching a social work practice with groups theory course and next semester will be working on the same topic, but in the practice class. I am sure I will be assigned more work as time goes on, but that is what I know after one day.

In general, academic life is much more structured here as both a faculty member and a student. For example, according to the department policies manual (which I got to read this morning) all faculty are to report on campus at either 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. Those who do not are required to submit some kind of written report explaining their discretion. On the other hand, things are very much the same. Faculty members here complain quite heartily about the writing shortcomings of their students as well.

Let me just end with a story that illustrates how truly African things are here despite the efforts to make it appear to be a European country attached to the bottom of Africa... A faculty member told me a story today about a mother and daughter who showed up in her office the day before classes started with their "luggage", having clearly just arrived from a very rural part of the country. The daughter had successfully been admitted to the school and to the social work program. They entered the faculty members office and the mother said "My daughter is ready to study and become a social worker. Now where do we sleep." They had not known to apply for housing along with the university application and the daughter had no plans for housing, which fills up a year prior to classes starting, because the school cannot house the 50,000 students who attend here. The faculty member really had no idea what to do to help this student, but through some miracle at the housing office downstairs, something was arranged and this young woman is now in her third year in the program and doing quite well. There will clearly be a lot to experience here during the next ten months.

Update from Amy

The jet lag continues to be somewhat hard and major thunder and lightning storms at night sometimes wake you when you finally have fallen asleep. Time should work that out. We met some wonderful neighbors who unfortunately leave tomorrow. They are from Belifeld in Germany where Mike used to live. Four kids around our kid's ages and very nice. They had us over last night to tell us the ins and outs before they leave, it was very helpful. We have bought from them a bike, a car seat, and a car!!! The car hunt is over. We will be making due with a mini van sort of thing that only seats 7. We have figured out a way to make the seat belts work and legally the car is allowed up to 12 people so... Large families do not exist here, and large cars are driven by the make-shift taxi companies and are old, unreliable on the road and stolen easily. It has been a roller coaster, but we are loving it. We have had a small incident with our ATM, people here apparently can hack into your account without your card and they did, but a friend in the states at our bank will work to make things right. Never a dull moment here. We have a beautiful patio where we can eat breakfast in the mornings before it gets hot. A picture of that will be posted as soon as my kids show me how to do it. Take care, we love you all and will post more soon.
Amy

!~! HAILEY !~!

Jenna and Kenna-

It was so awesome to hear from you guys. You guys are ballehs lol. I am so proud of how good you guys did but of course I knew you would win. Keep me updated on basketball stuff because it is very important to me. Just to let you know, all the pictures and cards everyone gave me are in my room so I see them everyday J
Even though it is hard to be away from the states, everything here we have encountered is way cool. The new cultures and things are so amazing. Also, the food is really yummy.
I hope you are enjoying school and all the drama involved lol. We haven’t started yet here and probably wont until the first of February. I cant wait to learn Afrikaans and tell you some when I get back. Woot. Well good luck with everything and tell everyone hi !!!
-HAILEY

Nathanael on sgt. pink 3

hey guys hope it goes well post it on youtube jonathan dont forget the grounhog miss u all dont forget to email me

An up date of Sarah

Hi my friends Zoey, Audrey, Miranda, Olivia, Alexis, Hailey, Goates, and all my other friends out there. I been having a fun and relaxing time here in Sonuth Africa. We have been shopping a lot for the past few days for home supplies. There is a lot of different foods and places to try and go. I can't wait to start to homeschool with all my brothers and sisters aswell as my mom. Our house is not air conditioned so you can probally imagine how hot it is here. When it's 2 degrees in America and 90 in South Africa. Yesterday we went swimmming at the pool on campus. It was the best feeling I had since we got here. In the pool there was a living crab in one of the corners. We thought it was dead at first but it started to move and thought it was probally alive. My dad took Luke's sandals and picked up the crab and threw it in the grass. After that we were pretty sure it was dead. It was both cool and gross at the same time. I miss all of you and will be home before you know it.

With lots of love,
Sarah

Sunday thoughts from Amy

Happy Sunday to all of you. Today was our first trip to church. We arrived early in order to secure one of the 7 parking spaces available and did fine except for the security gate closing on our van because we didn't know the code. Minimal damage. We are grateful for the "full coverage" we signed up for. We were very welcomed at church. People have a hard time pronouncing our name, they want to say, "Lehman," so it reminds us of Pennsylvania. Of course we can't pronounce any of their names either and don't remember any of them. The congregation is about 7/8 black African and 1/8 white African. We were 8 of the 11 Americans there. The other three were visiting. Lydia made herself at home and went and sat with several families who had little kids during Sacrament Meeting. Her nursery class is her and three adorable little black African boys. When you ask her about her class, she says she has class with, "her boys." She seems to be acclimating well. The church is very nice and the chapel is air conditioned!!! We will be fully active in church activities! I mean that as I sit here and sweat! The kids each have several kids their age, and we look forward to getting to know them better. Youth activities are on Wednesday nights, so we will venture out then. It is exciting for us to see the Restored Gospel alive and well halfway across the world. The saints here are enthused and genuine and have a wonderful spirit about them. The adult Sunday School teacher speaks English, Afrikaans, French, Greek, and Latin fluently. It was quite a lesson. My last thought for today is on a more secular note, and I couldn't resist. The grocery shopping here is quite different. No BB's, no WalMart and although prices are quite reasonable and the food is very fresh, organic, fancy etc., people don't have large families and so bulk items do not exist. Everything is "small, classy and a little bit sassy." Kind of like our friends the Goates!!
We love you, more soon.
Amy

Traveling to South Africa

Here we are with 16 suitcases and 14 carry- ons at the Johannesburg airport.

Nathanael

Wow I am in South Africa. it is about the coolest thing ever. It's not much different from the U.S. except a lot more cramped. There are also alot more people besides just white there the minority which is cool if you want to talk to me email me at N.lyman@live.com

WE HAVE ARRIVED

Greetings from South Africa! We arrived without trouble and are doing well. It is really hot here and our apartment is without air conditioning, but we are managing. We have done some shopping and gone swimming at the university. Tomorrow we will head to church. Animal sightings thus far include a gecko and a 2 inch cockroach, both in our apartment!!! We also saw some cool looking antelopes in a nature reserve today. It is beautiful here. We miss you all. Keep in touch.
-The Lymans

Getting ready to go to South Africa

This is the spot to get the latest information on the Lyman family's adventures in South Africa. We hope to keep this blog up do date with pictures and posts so that as many people as possible can follow our adventures in Africa.