8/22

Landed in Atlanta this morning. Blog over, maybe.

8/16

So on Saturday morning I got to go out with a wildlife vet, he was moving Black Impala from one farm to another. The whole process of what happened would take a while to explain, but I'll give a brief recap. The vet is up in a helicopter and they find the impala, he shoots them from the air with a tranquilizer dart and then there are about ten of us on the ground who follow him to the impala. Once the impala is drugged we chase it on foot, which gets easier the longer the drugs are in, once we get there we tackle it so it can't run away. We then use an injection to wake it up right away because it might die if we don't. We then carry it while it's awake to the pickup truck, which drives it to a transport truck where we give it some antibiotics and then put it in the truck. I was involved in the chasing the impala on the ground and injecting the antibiotics. I also got to ride back to Grahamstown in the helicopter, so for about 45 min. The whole experience was incredible.

And now I have an eye infection that has gone through the Eksteen family, so I guess I'll be stuck in the house for the last few days of my trip.

8/10

Not a whole lot going on for the last two weeks I'm here. All three of Walter's kids have had eye infections the past couple days, so hopefully I won't get sick as well. It's cold and rainy out right now, hopefully it will warm up again before I leave.

The teachers across South Africa were on strike today, they apparently want higher wages, more housing allowence, and better medical help. That made things at Good Shepherd today pretty slow. Only two teachers at Good Shepherd weren't there today, but only about 30 of the 250 kids were there. It would be nice if things were resolved today and school could start up again tomorrow.

This Saturday St. Andrews plays against thier rivals, Kingswood, in rugby. That's going to be an exciting game to watch. The boys all cheer really loudly during the games, it's fun to watch them cheer too.

7/28

It's starting to warm up as spring comes here. I've been trying to get out most days and play either tennis or soccer. This past Sunday I went on a hike a few miles outside Grahamstown, the hill gave a really nice view of the surrounding area. Today I got to go with the some of the 9th graders at St. Andrew's on a game drive. I saw elephant, giraffe, rhino, and a bunch of different types of bucks. I also saw some leopards in captivity. They were originally in a zoo or something, so they don't hunt for themselves. They were kind of fat. Lazy cats are stupid to see compared to the ones who hunt for themselves. Also I saw a male elephant pee. It was ridiculous, I think he pees 30 to 40 liters at a time, and his penis is basically a 5th leg.

Anyway, I'm here for about 3 and a half more weeks.

7/22

Well I'm into a rutine here in Grahamstown. The weather has been nice the past few days, into the mid 70's during the day. I don't really have anything else planned for the time I'm here other than the stuff I've been doing throughout the week. I may try and go hiking on some trails around here, and if there's time go hiking on a trail that would be an overnight trip where we would stay in a cabin along the trail. Other than that I'll be playing some tennis and that's about it.

I was going to try and go to Jeffery's Bay this weekend cause they have the Billabong Classic which is a professional surfing tournament. They set apart 10 days for the tournament in case the weather is bad and for things like that, so the last day would be this weekend on the 25th, but the weather was good, so they finished in 4 days. So I won't go, oh well.

7/13

First of all I'd like to address something. A friend of mine said to me that I was bad at blogging, and I agree with him, in fact I take pride in the fact that my thoughts are so deep and complex that they cannot be expressed within a few short paragraphs. So if my blog writing gets poorer and poorer then you can tell I'm really having a good experience here.

School started back today, this term lasts for about five weeks, and I leave for home the day after this term ends. I'll be going to the Good Shepherd school in the mornings to help out there with whatever they need. I'm also going to try and spend some time with a missionary here in Grahamstown and going around with him to whatever ministries he may be doing in the afternoons.

Also I've been listening to this song a few times and the lyrics have been encouraging to me, so I thought I'd share it. The song is called "Light" by The Rocket Summer

All I needed was a light
In the darkest place
I've ever been in all my life
As I try to find my way,
And the changing seasons of my life
And my eyes don't see
The things I love have run their course,
Are they done?
Are they just beginning?

And I'm old enough to know
That time doesn't move slow,
And I'm young enough to know
That I can't ever be too "old enough" to trust you.
Higher and higher
I wanna go away with you,
Some say your fire, your fire
Is through,
And I don't wanna think that way.

So you lost your job and lost the girl
And it crushed your soul.
And now your standing out alone
with a fork in the road,
So you wet your finger
Hold it up,
But there's no wind there
Telling you where you where you should go,
So you try, try to trust
While you bear it

And I'm old enough to know
That time doesn't move slow,
And I'm young enough to know
That I can't ever be too "old enough" to trust you.
Higher and higher
I wanna go away with you,
Some say your fire, your fire
Is through, But I don't...

I am yours, do what you wish
I am yours, I am yours
And I know this.
Whatever happens next
Is in your hands, in your plans
Nothing less.
Every day there is a choice
And through the joy,
Through the pain
I will rejoice
I am yours, do what you wish
I am yours, I am yours
And I know this

Save me
'Cause I need it,
And I can't help but feel desperate.
My desires, they seem
Were coming to their endings,
But I will trust it's not the end
But a great beginning

7/8

Ok, I spent July 1-5 in Cape Town. It was an incredible place. One day I spent out in Stellenbosch, which is wine farm country. Beautiful landscape. I spent another day in the downtown area on the day Germany was playing Argentina in Cape Town. I have never been around that many people in my life. It was incredibly crowded, and everyone was excieted about the World Cup. The next day I went up Table Mountain and hiked around up there for a while then went down and took a tour of Robben Island. Over all it was a great trip. And of course if there was a soccer game on I was watching that.

6/25

ok, I'll try and recap some of the things I've done the past few days. Mostly vacation type stuff. We drove down to the coast, went on a few hikes. I saw the most dangerous natural harbor in the world. It's in Knysna, it was an amazing place.


I've been watching a lot of the World Cup. I've been to see Portugal vs. the Ivory Coast, which was a dissapointing game ending at 0-0. And I've seen Germany vs. Serbia, which ended with Serbia winning 1-0, the ref was absurd, he gave like 5 yellow cards in the first 30 min.
Also I saw a Baboon beside the road, one hand was missing fingers, looked like something out of a movie.



Also this break I stayed in Humansdorp, went swimming in the Idian Ocean, it was cold. We also saw a beached whale.

6/14

School has been on break for about a week now, and the World Cup has started, so the country is pretty busy. It was fun watching South Africa play with a bunch of South Africans. Tomorrow I am going to watch Portugal play Ivory Coast in Port Elizabeth. Hopefully it won't be too cold. Recently the weather has been pretty chilly, if the sun is shining then it's fine, but I miss summer weather a lot right now.

I've been working with some people here doing a soccer camp and trying to get the kids connected to some of the local churches. There is one more day of that.

Starting Friday the Eksteens and I will be traveling around a bit on vacation. Should be fun.

6/7

School is finishing up for the term, two more days until holiday. The world cup starts in four days. It's pretty exciting.

For the next few days I'll be going with a group of guys and doing a soccer camp with a bunch of kids in a township in Port Alfred, we'll do some soccer stuff with them and then share the Gospel with them. We are also trying to introduce them to a few of the local pastors, so that they know where churches are in the area.

5/29

Ok, here's what's happened this week. I've started helping at a local school called "Good Shepherd". They are kids from grades 1-7, and most of them are from the townships here in Grahamstown, which are the poorer government houses. The majority of the kids speak Xhosa at home, which is a language with clicks, so they get me to try and pronounce some of their words and then laugh at my poor efforts. The teachers have told me the kids said they were excited to see a real, live American because the only Americans they had ever seen were on TV.

Anyway, I'm just helping the principle and teachers with whatever odd jobs need to be done around the school. I'm working with another guy named Matt from England. We basically do whatever we can to help the school run smoothly, which can range from sorting paperwork, to cleaning out storage room, to going over worksheets with a class because their teacher wasn't at school that day.

Today I saw a zebra and an ostrich(which is really hard to spell) while driving down the highway. I have also seen giraffe, warthog, and some wild buck that are animals I've never seen outside a zoo.

I have also represented America well on the tennis court. I've beat a kid from Kenya, a lady from South Africa, and while playing Walter I caused a twisted ankle that eventually led to an overnight trip to the hospital.

So the first week here has been a lot of firsts. I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer.

5/22

I have arrived in South Africa. I spent the first day and a half learning about Grahamstown, rugby, field hockey, and celebrating Walter's son Divan's birthday. Weather is beautiful, probably up to 25 C. The next couple days I will just be meeting people and learning about the city and school here.

May 18

Two days before I leave for South Africa. I'll try to regularly post on this give updates on what's been going on.