in Paris

It's nice to see the brighter side of colonialism, to see some Global North after all this Global South stuff. In all seriousness, Paris, in a word, is pleasant. As David (my roommate from India) put it, Europe is just so "tastefully done." I'm not snapping as many pictures as I did in South Africa or India, and I don't want to include any pictures of the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower, but hopefully some will appear at some point.

Done with the program, now onto the unknown

Well, I've actually just come back from a week long road-trip along the coast of South Africa. A couple of us bungee-jumped off the highest/longest bungee-jump in the world, which I think was 216 m. I didn't-- I never even considered it because I couldn't afford it. We stopped at a couple places along the way, including this awesome castle that this German guy built a couple years ago in the countryside.

Eventually, we made it to near Port Saint Johns, on the "Wild Coast" (a region along the Eastern coast of South Africa that is relatively undeveloped). We stayed at a guesthouse on the Indian Ocean without electricity or running water-- "off the grid." The owner caught his own rainwater for drinking, used gray water for everything else, and dug dry toilets. For three long lazy days, we hiked to a shipwreck, sat around with cows on a deserted beach, played around in tidal pools, had candlelight dinners, and all that other good stuff. The owner trained as a chef in Europe and made delicious seafood pizza, too.

I haven't said too much recently about the program I was on, "Health and Community," which ended exactly a week ago. I'm not going to say much now either, because summarizing is boring and I want to reflect before I say much more. Hopefully, when I get my act together, I'll show some pictures and add a few words.