the joy in jenna

I have spent a lot of time with my friend Jenna since we got to South Africa. I remember the first time we met. We were standing in line after getting off of the plane waiting to check in, and somehow someone knew my name. From behind me, someone called out to me and said she was told she had to meet me because her best friend from home was one of my pledge sisters from Michigan. From this first round of Jewish geography, my friendship with Jenna has only blossomed, and Jenna has become a really special person in my life.

Since arriving in Cape Town, I have come to really believe in the notion of everything happening for a reason, or as one of my closest friends at Barnard teaching me "gam zu l'tovah" (the Hebrew version, "this too for the good"). Jenna has helped me live out this message, and we have had some unbelievable times searching together for the good in every situation.

One of the more challenging of these situations was Jenna's grandmother dying a few weeks ago. Her grandmother, Beatrice (or Bea as I like to call her) sounds like she was an unbelievable woman, and Jenna has struggled in dealing with this while being so far away from home. But in keeping with our study abroad mantra of finding the good in things, Jenna has come to understand through the passing of Grandma Bea that there is true power in humanity.

Jenna and I have kept coming back to this idea over the past few weeks. She recognized that although she was so far from home, away from her typical support network, her new friends here have made a difference in shifting her focus from mourning her grandmother's death to celebrating Grandma Bea's life. She couldn't have done this alone -- she needed others (humanity) around her, hugging her, holding her hand, taking walks, discussing the past present and future, to get her to this point.

Today while driving back from Muizenberg with Jenna by my side, the mountains in front of us, and the sun beginning to set in the distance, her newest epiphany that the power of humanity is so strong became so clear. I'm only here for another few weeks, and while there are things I still want to do, I find my concentration is on the people I'm here with. While I had a great time adventuring this weekend to an amazing wine festival and market by the beach, what has become so clear is that who I'm with is what makes the experience. Yes, all of the wine we tasted was delicious and the setting was beautiful, but if I hadn't been with Meg and Loreal through this adventure, it would have been without all the laughs and special times we had. Similarly, the market today was indeed a great cultural experience, but Jenna's wit and commentary and the wonderful discussions we had were what made it so enjoyable.

In these next few weeks, I want to take these lessons Jenna has taught me by recognizing how special and individual each person I'm with is and extract the good out of every situation presented in order to make the most of this incredibly exceptional experience that seems to be slipping away too fast.