JOURNEY's END

BACK IN CAPE TOWN
Almost exactly 14 months later, I hit the tarmac in Cape Town after a 21 hour flight oddyssey from New York, only to promptly be collected by my sister and taken to buddy Charlene's birthday bash at a swanky Cape Town nightspot. I was immediately faced with the reality of being back home, as I was not allowed entry with my flipflops and shorts. Backpacker style I changed into my sexy duds in the car and went in, only to be hit with reality check no 2: The girls in Cape Town are HOT, but so are the guys. I can no longer rely on my South African accent to make me feel special, I definitely need to hit the gym to get back in shape and my wardrobe needs an upgrade. Also, I need to refine my sales pitch, as telling prospects that I am unemployed, I drive my dad's truck and I live with my sister is not gonna get me dates. Back to the drawing board...

In the meantime, I'm getting over the jetlag, I've had my first cycle this morning, my Dad is doing the drill sergeant thing trying to organize my life (let me catch my breath first please!) and my mom is very excited about me lugging all my clothes out of their cupboard. I'll start reconnecting with the mates tonight, as soon as I have my telephone list updated I can start calling people and arranging braais... but now, to reflect on the 14 month extravaganza that was my year check-out from reality...

GLOBAL VILLAGE 2006
I had an awesome time. As a guide and instructor, I learned a lot, made some amazing friends and was reminded why this program is something special. Fico, Nancy, Sherry and the rest of the team, an amazing group of interns and some real growth, both during and after. Maybe it was too much like being a Villager again, and I learned some hard lessons about what it means to be a mentor, but I sure had a blast...

THE REST OF 2006
Hanging with Amy in New York,Bermuda cruise with Quentin, hukas with Kevin in Phillie, Ricardo and Mexico City, Hippie Camp in Guatemala as Distant Mountain with my boy Blue, Susie, Pepe, Frank, Sarah, Nicola and Joel... Spanish classes in Mexico and Guatemala, scuba diving in Mexico and Honduras, hammock surfing with Susie in Nicaragua, volcano boarding, Blue finding Ingrid, Susie singing Long Way Home, getting stuck at the other part of the island on Isla de Omepete, rum with Blue and Karla (mas run!), Frank the bad influence of Leon, Super Sujin in Mexico, giving class to kids in Xela, spelonking in Semouc Champy, hitchiking across the boarder in the back of trucks, cooking veggie meals with Blue and reading the tarot...

EARLY 2007
I heralded the New Year in in a tent in the Andes in Peru at freezing temperatures, in fact I think I was already asleep when the New Year hit. Just what I was looking for... Hanging with my boy Fico in Lima, hitting high altitudes and salt flats with Emma in Bolivia, cute Aussies and entertaining Irishmen, more Spanish classes, Amazon adventures and cruises with Blue, Carnival madness in Brazil, good steaks and good red wine in Argentina, wobbly wine tours on bicycles in Mendoza, incredible chocolate and nature walks in Bariloche, sassy German lassies and gorgeous locals, Spanish School in Buenos and the Morena glacier in Patagonia... Barney the non-peanut-butter-sharing prick, freezing our nuts off among glaciers in Torres del Paine, completing the Circuit with Blue in cool biker gloves, going to Santiago (once last year), seeing Dror in Buenos, meeting Chrissie on the bus to Ecuador, dancing with Alison on the deck of our boat in the Galapagos, finally getting my Mexican visa, hiking with the German crew in Venezuela Mount Roirama, hanging with my boy Enrique in Caracas, fishing with my dad in Belize, and ziplining with the whole family in Tikal.

GLOBAL VILLAGE 2007
The Tree of Trust: Cat, Javier, Brenna, Lindsay... another great bunch of interns (96 from 43 countries), doing a Dan Band rendition of Total Eclipse, hanging with my boy Fico for another great summer... the Legend lives. Presenting my Effectiveness Workshop to great success, making a real difference to people's lives, and generally using some of the hard learned lessons to become an effective mentor. I really felt like I reached a lot of the interns this time, and that is a good feeling. We had a blast again, but a more balanced blast. Fico got the best Instructor award at the Governer's School, Lindsay mastered an Afrikaans drinking toast and Brenna tried to get me back to meditation. Noo!!! Am I growing up??? Say it isn't so...

I finished up by watching Meatloaf in concert with my colleague Beth (he is not a good looking man, I would do anything for love, but I certainly won't do that), having a magnificent last lunch and then hitting Atlantic City with Sherry and her husband Rick. I lost on the blackjack table, I lost on the roulette table, I even lost on the golf course. There is a reason they bring you those free Scotches, sanity goes out the window... but again, you know it>... I had a blast! Thanks Sherry!

Now I'm back home, and going to say hi to Grandma. Tonight me and sis are cooking for some of the mates, tomorrow I go peep into my old company office, on Wednesday I might play some golf with the old boy. Easing back into reality....

GLOBAL VILLAGE 2007 WRAPS UP!

Yep, it's all over... GV07 was a smashing success, and a combination of factors have elected that I am getting on a plane sooner rather than later. Let me give you the salient highlights of another amazing summer and a fitting conclusion to my 14 month hiatus from normalcy...

THE TEAM

The really really ridiculously good looking bunch of people pictures above would be Oksana (intern, but hey, if you can pull off wearing a dress like that, and she does, you get to pose with the staff...), Gina from Peru, yours truly, Cat from Sweden, Javier Colombiano...., the lovely Lindsay and my boy Fico! We laughed, we cried, we played hard and worked hard and we rocked this joint! The Tree of Trust....

MY REALLY RIDICULOUSLY GOOD LOOKING STUDENTS

A. THE GIRLS...

Yep, I think there is some kind of genetic screening to the program. Check out Maria from Chile (best smile of the Village) and Patricia from Spain (my project team, and the sweetest girl you could ever meet).... and down here, my girl Imane from Morocco, who headed up my project team and did not stop arguing with me until I put on a suit at the closing dinner. She got it!

B. BEING A GOOD MENTOR

I learned a lot from my boy Fico... ("God's busy, can I help you???") Here's me instructing my puppies on how to be even better looking... Hanyu from China, Maria Chile and my boy Ravshan from Uzbekistan. They are pulling it off...

C. CONNECTING WITH MY BOYS!

My Boy Tim from Germany (what a good looking dude, I see me at his age, without the good looks...) and Gonzalo from Spain, I had a blast with these guys, we had some awesome conversations, figured some stuff out and it was a privilige for me to work with them this summer...

FACILITATORS ROCK!

We always knew Fico and I were is with a fighting chance of making a difference teaching these guys this summer...

The surprise, though, is that MY BOY received the award for Top Dog Facilitator at the Governer's School, which is the Junior Program for the top kids of the region. His Creativity Course rocked their world... me, I had the rewarding experience of teaching my Effectiveness Workshop based on the 7 Habits to about 40 students, and a few had a significant experience from it... which is all I can hope for!

THE GROUPIES!

Check out the Youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnKR2nkj-WA for a stirring rendition of Total Eclipse by the boys at Alumni culture night... Javier, me, Victor led by Fico, we had a blast! The groupies failed to throw their underwear at us, we forgive you Lindsay and Cat... who can stay mad at such cuties!

Yep, Lindsay is really really ridiculously good looking, and is now well trained in the art of toasting in Afrikaans.... Omme den verderen...
THE FRIENDSHIPS

Enough said. It was awesome.

HOT RUSSIANS

People will be talking about that dress for years... Go Oksana!

THE COOL KIDS!

Let's face it... when I walked into the American crowd's dorm room and they had the wireless hooked up, no less than three gorgeous girls working on three gorgeous Macs and Chaz outside dicating his closure document... also known as the Breakfast Club, I felt like I was back in High School, but as the cool teacher. What a crowd! Pictured Tristan from Oz, Fico, Juan from Spain and Chaz, Whitney (head cheerleader), Courtney (winner of the cuteness prize) and Rachel (the hybrid drivin' heartstealing local lassie...)

CALL ME!

I think I will keep in touch with this crowd...

SHERRY BUSS ROCKS!

There's a lot of other cool stuff that I don't have time to blog about right now, such as other friends visited in DC, more stuff on the projects, the outcomes, the courses, my personal growth... etc etc...

But more importantly, here's me and Fico pictures with Sherry, who would be the Curriculum director, my Summer Lovin Kareoke partner and the last person form the program I will see before I head back home on Friday... I join her and her fam for gambling and golf in Atlantic City tomorrow, and then I head home. Who could ask for a better finish!!!

She not only is really really ridiculously good looking, but has a really ridiculously good looking husband, kids, house and car (Love those Star Wars movies in the back) - but more importantly, the integrity there is what rocks!