Sunday and Monday

Sunday

Sunday morning, I went to church with my friend Miriam and her children. Miriam and her husband Paul were members at the Brantford Church of Christ while he completed a PhD in church history, and he is the one who invited me to teach at ACC. Sadly, Paul is gone for the entirety of my visit, but Miriam decided to adopt me, and I have enjoyed many meals with her and her kids. They attend the Fairview Church of Christ in Manzini, one of eSwatini's largest cities. It is a church of perhaps 100, though it was hard to tell, as Miriam said that many were away. Service was in siSwati and English, with everything being translated. It was a very, very friendly and welcoming church. At the end, myself and the two other visitors were invited up, hugged by the preacher, and then a sort of receiving line formed where every member of the congregation came by and shook our hands. Even the very little ones did this – if you were old enough to walk, you were old enough to shake the visitors' hands.

Sunday afternoon Garry Bailey and one of his students, Hillary arrived. Hillary and I have been staying together, and it has truly been lovely. They are teaching a course on Conflict Resolution that is a requirement for all the second and third year students.

Monday

Some of my first day I've talked about previously, so forgive any overlap. Class started on Monday. Perhaps my biggest surprise was learning that teaching from 8:00-1:00 includes an hour for chapel and breakfast, making my five hours of daily instructional time actually four hours. And my students are serious talkers and question askers – which is lovely, but there are times I've had to cut them off, because we just have to keep moving. My first day I taught intertestamental history and social and cultural backgrounds of the Greco-Roman world.

One of my biggest concerns about such an extended period of teaching was how my lame foot would cope. I hate teaching sitting down. I had never considered myself an extremely expressive person, but I just don't like making presentations while sitting. I made it through Monday standing – carefully, being sure to keep the joint moving so it didn't seize up – and it went as well as I could (reasonably) imagine. If anything, the greater trouble came that afternoon, as Brad Carter, ACC's president, took Garry, Hillary, and myself on a tour of campus, during which we peppered him with all manner of questions about ACC, Swazi culture, and everything in between. That would have been OK, except we stopped and stood a lot, and standing is really murder on my foot. I seriously considered sitting for my class on Tuesday, but I didn't, and I didn't really feel too much worse for it. So while it has been physically strenuous (foot-wise), I have been adapting, and it's gone alright.