Congragulations to my cousin Arielle, who just got engaged last night!!!
TOPIC: CARRYING A DEAD GUY
OK, so, this isn’t a gimmick to get people to read my blog. I’ve tried pleanty of those. This is real, and this is the first time i’m telling anyone outside of Outward Bound. So, if you’re reading this, you’ll be the first to hear.
About a week ago, my training manager runs up to me, and says, “You interested in doing some search and rescuse” About 4 seconds later i was running to get some gear to head out into the mountains. About 8 of us went, piled into the back of one of these tiny, cramped, seatless S. Africa vehicles, called bakkies, that are much more funny to look at than fun to ride in.
After driving about 2 hours, not knowing exactly where we need to be, we start making our way along overgrown truck trails, needing to reverse several times, pushing the truck through the mud.
We arrive to where we see an ambulance. It’s about 8pm, and completely black out, so we have our headlamps on. There we find out, the hiker we’re looking for is already dead. We’re just here to help carry him out.
So, we walk 15min. where we find the body on the ground, already covered in a tin foil sort of bag. The medics give us a peak at his face, my first time seeing a dead person, and it looked like a wax figure.
We moved to body onto our stretcher, and he was heavy. We’re talking around 130kg, or 260lbs. The next hour and a half, 8 of us rotated and lugged the stretcher along the trail, occassionally stopping to re-adjust the massive body, requiring us to put our hands all over the dead man.
Surprisingly, all of this was fun. There was no adrenaline of a real search and rescue, and no wondering whether the guy would be saved. He was dead. And so we were just getting a rare opportunity to do something that would end up making it’s way onto my blog, or into someone’s telephone conversation. We never even got the guy’s name. Occassionally, we’d stop and eat snacks by the dead body, some lit cigerettes. Mostly, we laughed at the fact that we were actually carrying a dead guy. I mean, if it’s not funny, then it’s depressing, and who wants depressing.
Also, had just read Tuesday’s w/ Morrie a few days earlier. My life now seems to have patterns everywhere. Here’s a book about a guy who knows he’s gonna die, is ready for it, and is able to live out his last days on his own terms. This guy we picked up on the mountain, was in his mid-30′s, had no idea this would be his last day, and had no opportunity to have any closure on his life. Instead of being surrounded by loved ones, he was surronded by myself, and a few other foreigners working for Outward Bound, just looking for an opportunity to add “Carried a Dead Guy” to their resumes. Weird.
TOPIC: MY FRIEND’S BLOG
Anyone interested in reading a blog of a friend of mine, who is doing a master’s degree while in London, check this out. If i had the time, i’d love to read everything she writes, because it’s really fun stuff, and you’ll really get a feel for this girl just by reading. hope some of you check it out.
Daraiseurotrash
TOPIC: NEXT CHAPTER
So, I’m done w/ Outward Bound for a while. My 7-day course w/ Lovelife was amazing. My friend Gilby, who sounds smart as hell when he talks, describes S. Africa as Japan in the ’50′s, which I think means, nobody is paying any attention here now, but this place is gonna be huge soon. Anyways…Lovelife, is going to be a large part in the development. Basically, it’s a lifestyle that is being marketed all across the country. It’s becoming cool even, to be involved. People are beginning to wear Lovelife clothing like it’s Nike, and if you ask me, a country based on Lovelife’s mission, is much better off than one based on sneakers.
So….now i can travel again. New people, places, foods, stories, information. New focus for my head. I’m very excited.
Life plans:
3-weeks travel
3-week lead instructing a Chrysalis course at the new Cape Town site
Home for 10 days, hopefully relax and have some briies
Working at B’nai B’rith Perlman Camp for 2mos. as a ropes course specialist
End of Aug. till Thanksgiving – several options
1) Travel the US, hopefully have a published book, visit different universities, market and sell book, increase awareness about Dan’sjournal, which is simply a lifestyle.
2) Travel the US, doing a rock climbing tour of the country
3) Find work w/ Outward Bound in the States
4) Work to create new OB courses focussing on college aged students. Possibly create courses to bring students to S. Africa
Then again…i’m up for any other kind of adventure. Maybe be a pizza boy in Hawaii, just because i can. Anyone w/ a really cool suggestion, please share.
S. Africa is a very exciting place to live right now. One of my students said the best thing about apartheid was it put blacks in a position to prove themselves, to aim for better things. There’s momentum here. At home in the US, the equivalant of something like Lovelife might be Americore, which due to budget cuts, has no chance of achieving the popularity and the affect of Lovelife. There’s so many small movements going on, but your average American, and you can get your evidence right here on Xanga, is waiting for life to happen to them, instead of happening to life. Anyways…did i mention that i got to carry a dead guy the other week?
