Endings and Beginnings

Cape Town - it's been a good time.

The time has come to pack up my bags, cut the tethers, and take this blog mobile. I would like to think that my geographic stagnancy has not affected the quality of this journal, but I know that living in one town for 7 weeks can be a recipe for dryness. I'm now going to mix it up. Add a couple countries in the mix, some long drives, and indescribable landscapes- maybe a couple unforeseen friendships. The Old School Adventure has been re-awoken and it is rearing to go - anywhere - soon. Let's unleash it and see where it takes us.

My final week in the Mother City has been a memorable one, unique in its quick pace and shrill tone. Now that our students have all arrived, Africa House is all abuzz with students and children, making for cramped desks and loud offices. Looking back on the past couple weeks, I think I seriously undervalued the tranquility of an empty property. Despite the downsides to this influx of life, there have been a bunch of upsides. The students are all really interesting to talk to, and I've enjoyed learning about their outreaches by sitting in on their reports. Each team, each member has had a wholly different but dependably impacting time out in the bush. After 3 months of classes, their desire to go out and work with the knowledge given to them translated into tireless volunteering.

One of the most interesting conversations I have had with a student was at lunch on Tuesday, when I sat next to Kyle, a member of the Zambia team. He's an American from Oregon who works during the fall at his uncle's pumpkin seed plant, which supplies more than 80% of the country's pumpkin seeds, so that he can save up enough money to travel for the rest of the year. After talking with him for a while, I quickly found out that he has spent a total of two years traveling out of the past four! Being that most Americans never pass the border and the few that do only travel for a month or less, I was interested in this outlier. He has done trips to central America, Europe (and he means Europe- I think 20+ countries), southeast Asia, and southern Africa. Reassuring me of my safety on my quest, he told me how he had hitchhiked from South Africa through Namibia to Victoria Falls and around Botswana, with no particularly negative experiences.

Beyond his travel record, Kyle talked also about the dangers of travel. I hadn't ever thought of traveling specifically like this, but Kyle spoke to me about travel being an addiction. Travel as addicting I have personally witnessed, but travel as an addiction in itself had not crossed my mind, but I agree with him entirely. Without any obligations or goals pulling one back to "real life," traveling can become the focus of their entire lives. These ubertravelers make it a primary goal to see the entirety of the world's offerings, at whatever cost to their finances, career, or relationships. Like anything that can become such an addiction, travel needs to be looked on with a touch of wariness, if only by people who are so attracted to its temptations. As I told Kyle, if I didn't have a set of other dreams and goals back at home, I would become a hopelessly addicted traveler in the blink of an eye. Thank God for those tethers back at home!

At work I've been working on an informational brochure for Floyd, the certificates of completion for the students, and the website, which has gone live! As my departure date draws closer and Aslan roars to get out on the open road, I have been rushing to finish off all my projects, or at least get them to a place that can be picked up easily by my successor. Couple this with countless mini errands and jobs and you have a very busy intern. I'm glad, though, that I am ending with a bang, so to speak. It would be quite depressing to mope around for the last week of such an interesting internship. As some of the tenants of Africa House say their goodbyes on their way to the airport, I am more and more reminded of the leave I will be taking from this recently established life in Cape Town.

Though I haven't started the actual traveling part of this summer, I have already had quite a powerful time with All Nations. I may never use the carpentry skills I learned with Ndaba or put my clothing drive sorting capabilities to the test ever again, but I can tell you that over the past seven weeks I have had to battle with internal conflicts, face challenges of physical, mental, and spiritual strength, choose to summon a positive attitude in the most trying of circumstances, carve a place for myself in the hectic world of a nonprofit, and cook a mean dinner at the end of a work day. Most of what I have learned and experienced here on this peninsula will never make it to a resume or an application essay. Much of it will never even be able to be verbalized or recorded. However, this summer so far has had an impact on me. I have come out from it an improved man with much more to learn and work on, but still having made some well-earned steps. Despite the troubles I have faced, I do not regret coming here at all- I wouldn't take it back for an internship with a consulting firm or a summer with my friends and family in Phoenix, because I could not have learned half as much.

I made it one step further towards a safe departure on Wednesday when I left work early and returned once again to the offices of Drive Africa, where Aslan got a comprehensive checkup, passing with flying colors. It's quite reassuring to know that the vehicle that will be taking me 9,000 km over the next 4 weeks is prepared to do so. While I was there, I got some more advice about routes and driving tips from the Drive Africa people. I know that if I have any questions, they are ready and willing to assist. Their service has been so good, in fact, that I plan on writing a raving testimonial about them. They deserve all the business they can get.

In addition to vehicular check ups, I've been steadily contacting hostels and campsites, making reservations and tweaking our travel plan. In an exciting turn of events, it turns out that we will be visiting Joel, Toukam's friend in the Peace Corp, in his village near Kruger National Park. If I haven't had a true "African" experience by then, it will definitely suffice. Other highlights in the trip include staying at a hostel in an abandoned train on the beach and camping in Kruger.

If you have been a loyal reader, you will know that my and Toukam's experiences with the American Embassy have been painless and pleasant. Unfortunately this trend came to a disappointing halt this morning. All that Toukam needed to do was get his student visa stamped in his passport, since he had already interviewed and filled the paperwork. What should have lasted less than an hour ended up taking two and a half, since the embassy workers didn't know the rules that applied to Toukam's situation and couldn't call the US, since it was nighttime. After almost three hours, they told Toukam to come back when they got an answer. Infuriated by such a show of incompetence, we drove away and I dropped Toukam at the train station. Since I'm leaving, he's now going to have a harder time getting to the embassy, which is unfortunate.

Tomorrow I will have a shortened day at work, attempt to make as much of a dent in my projects as possible, and say my tearful goodbyes to my new friends at Africa House. After that, I'll pick up my rental satellite phone, drop off my excess luggage at the McClungs', and get some final supplies. The day I have spent 5 months dreaming about is nigh. Celebrate!