Port Elizabeth

Yesterday I had my twenty-third birthday in Port Elizabeth and, in true Raubenheimer fashion, I even had a vegan chocolate cake with icing and candles! Darrell and Evie are the parents of my good friend Andrew, someone who I've always been able to count on in Johannesburg. Now, spending some time with his parents, it's obvious to see that generosity and hospitality are a hereditary asset in the Raubenheimer family! One needs only to mention their name to a runner who has taken part in the Rhodes Trail Run, or the Baviaanskloof Trail Run (which they organise) to hear countless tales of their passion and compassion for people.

So, well fed and rested, I find myself in the last few weeks of my trip. I'm looking forward to finishing, but I'm not sure what it will be like going back to a "normal" life. That being said, I think my trip has been quite pedestrian (tom-tom-snare) compared to many journeys that one reads about. But for me the real life changing part of the trip has been the people that I've met and the thought processes that this trip, particularly the oscillations between comfort and varying hardships, has allowed me. Someone recently pointed out to me, that the qualities that we admire in people are seldom possessed by the people that we aspire to be. This eloquent summary had been on my mind for some time but it's articulation seemed to bring the issue to the fore. Suffice to say I've had a radical change in values.

Well, I've a touch of writer's block (I remember some funny quote about using writer's block as an excuse that made everyone who said they had writer's block look like an idiot... but I can't remember it so now it seems a valid excuse), but I'm around this computer after walking again tomorrow, so I'm making a written statement that I'm going to completely update the blog tomorrow!

If I haven't, please harass me.