Hey everyone,

Our Sunday morning of leisure began with the group taking a trip to the beautiful Nature Valley beach in Tsitsikamma and sharing in a few hours of bathing and body-surfing. The afternoon's activities took a bit different of a turn. Today is our only official goof-off day of the entire trip. We are staying around Tsitsikamma National Park along the Garden Route of South Africa (the famous highway that goes from the Western cape to the Eastern). As such, we all had the opportunity to pick our adventure sport of the day. Five of the 22 chose to bungee jump.

We have been in Beijing now for 4 days. We have seen quite a bit, from the Forbidden City to the Opera. Beijing certainly has more people than Chengdu. However, Beijing doesn't seem to be as in a hurry. You don't here the honking horns constantly, you don't see the taxis weaving in and out of traffic as fast as they can just to get to the next destination, and we certainly aren't starred at as much. But what we do see is the the great desire to sell things, especially to the foriegners. As soon as you walk into a place, it's look here, buy this, etc.

First of all, thank you all for your wonderful comments and words of inspiration. It is the attention that you have all paid writing that keeps me coming back.

We have been on a bit of an internet hiatus as we spent the last three nights in an Anglican Monastary in Grahamstown (home of Rhodes U). We spent little time with the Monks(brothers) during our stay but fortunately had opportunity to sit out with them under the Southern Hemisphere stars and watch the comet (name escapes me).

We're almost done. I can't believe it. I've hardly "blogged" at all. It's hard to find a spare moment here. Everyone is going constantly. Maybe it's because there's so much to do; with such a wide range of options, why would anyone stay still for more than a moment? Or maybe it's because everyone feels just as lost as I do most of the time, and they're just trying to fill the minutes and hours with something in this crowded and solitary city. Maybe it's a little of both.

A few days ago we had the opportunity to visit a rural elementary school. I knew going into the school that the visit would tug at my heart strings, but I didn't really know what to expect. As we walked in, the entire school came out of their classrooms into the open courtyard. The principal was overjoyed to introduce us to the teachers and students and show us the school's facilities. He shook each of our hands and then invited us to integrate into the students to take a picture.

In general, when someone hears a person who is white complain about "the way black people are," they are quick to place a "RACIST" label on that person and tune out the rest of the conversation. We decide to keep their distance and to avoid the subject because it makes us uncomfortable or hurt or angry. When we do this, we are operating under the same prejudice that we are condemning the "racist" for.

Greetings one and all. We are settled into the Backpacker's Ritz our final hostel and accommodation for our trip. We in the northern suburb of Johannesburg called Hyde Park. Sounds a little British and snotty to me (and it's shows).

Well since I haven’t been bloged at all so far on this trip, I figured that I would on load all my thoughts and experiences thus far. What is there to say about South Africa other than amazing. There is beauty in every aspect of this country and it is nothing short of inspirational in its places, people, culture, and of course history. On our first day here in Cape Town our tour guide told us that South Africa is a country of contrast. Contrast in its culture, environment, and in its economy.

He welcomed us to his home. We sat at the edges of a crowded prison cell, with cold steel bunks and an unforgiving concrete floor, and the man called it is home.

Modise, a former inmate of Robben Island, thanked our group for visiting and learning about the sorted history of the island and its inhabitants. He smiled to us. He prodded and joked because our mood was sombre and depressed. His explanation being that coming to work each day can be challenging in and of itself and that our negative expressions would not ease that burden.