merry christmas from jenna and travis

from south africa

3 more months in cape town

The "dumb office drama" was a bit of foreshadowing that resulted in an early end to my job just a couple of weeks after Travis arrived. Remind me never to manage a non-profit out of the dining room of a couple's house in a developing country again. The expletives and yelling and emotional outbursts from my employers became part of my daily experience. The school year is over and I won't be continuing next year to get things started with the new coordinator. I am only the 3rd person to keep my position in 12 years. I'm working in a wellness center now and will fly back to Portland in mid March after the bulk of winter is over there. I am hoping to leave Cape Town in a positive light. I regret that I was so reluctant to join the Peace Corps or some other more established organization. I was so insistent on working for a small NGO with no resources that I found myself in the middle of that reality- really working on that level. Our school had a large refugee population. The xenophobic attacks impacted the number of learners in our program which impacted our funding which impacted my already very low pay, but I kept going and going until I finally reached a breaking point with the continued emotional abuse from my employers. It is still a significant daily challenge to live in this country. I am looking forward to coming home!

The Sun

The Sun

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed
or have you too
turned from this world

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

-Mary Oliver

Summer Finally

Penguins!

Boulders Beach

Check out this shark!
A hippie and a punk...

The Aquarium

Portland People!

Kalk Bay

Franschoek

Three months ago when it was still cold...

I Love Portland!

My Great American Hero!

All is well here. It's cold today, though slowly warming up. It might be Spring now. I'm not really sure...I'm waiting for my Great American Hero to arrive in a few short weeks...That's the most epic thing happening here at the moment...