Next stop Namibia

I haven't felt too busy or overwhelmed or too engrossed by pesky productivity here - At least I haven't felt those emotions, nor have I been obsessively occupied here the way I was at home. The United States has a different work ethic than the rest of the world, we have no restraint on our productivity - even if it's worthless and slow suicide. I have yet to feel that fussy, rushed feeling here that American society burdened on my life. Then again I know all that blame cannot be put on my country alone, but on myself as well. For that ridiculous unsettled irritation that lived within me, came out shouting whenever

I found an open slot in my schedule.

So here, in my new season, in my current home,

it has been very relaxing, very slow - yet productive.

And I look back over the last 112 days that I have spent here in South Africa's surf and a lot

has happened for me. I was able to participate in multiple learning environments from a variety of instructors - in order to gain knowledge and wisdom. I traveled the 681 kilometers from the eastern cape to the western cape. I have surfed in waters ranging in a temperature, from bearable to having my hands and feet blue and numb. Surfing in Strand I had the sun shining down on me, surrounded by locals with the wind whipping all of us across the face of those waves - gazing at the mountain range as it stood strong in it's beauty cradling the city along it's valleys.

I toured a winery and a township - seeing firsthand the extreme differences in cultures here in South Africa - between the whites and the blacks, between the conservatives and the radicals, between the rich and the poor, the old and the new... The harshness that separates the classes here is not a fine line, the extreme differences between personalities, world-views, and upbringings is acute and maximal. And yet it is the rainbow nation. And so different from every other country on our planet.

I have worked behind the stages, helping create structure and continue sustainability in the Aleph program as well as the National Conference;

One which has made me fall in love with 14 local boys, who's eyes are big and age is juvenile, who's tongues are sharp and experiences in abundance for their youth. Street boys, township boys, rude and respectful, scared and strong, full of fear, full of potential. My heart burns when I pray for them.

Being integrated in the infrastructure

here has made me fall in love with surfers, skaters and south africans.

I already loved surfing, skating and South Africa - but these days have attached me to the individuals behind the board.

I see individuals who love their sports, they find their identity on boards - individuals who are harsh and brash, who are too independent for their own good, individuals who know community, individuals who have souls that are being damaged by the world, who's flesh is being damaged by concrete waves. I see individuals who love - whether it's friends, their board, the Lord - they understand love and dedication.

And now After 112 days of living in South Africa's sun, I'm venturing out of South Africa. I leave Jeffreys Bay soon and then I depart from Cape Town Saturday morning headed towards Namibia. Swakopmond, Namibia that is. Driving up the entire West Coast of South Africa, 4 others and myself will go 2,114 kilometers from where I currently sit, outside of these border lines, placed on Africa's west coastline, placed in the middle of a massive desert. I am leaving Jbay, alone, to set out on this journey - because the experience was not just me leaving America, alone, the experience is life.

So while I'm on an adventure, I'm jumping on this vagabond wagon and and veering towards this new escapade. Because its the experience within the experience - and what you take from that, what you allow to shape and mold you from that experience - those are the exciting adventures, those are the escapades that color life!

See you in Namibia!