…hole in my recent postings…that is.

Typically I will write my blog posts in a word document or when I’m feeling contemplative and will then post them here. Today I’ve decided to just wing it, and let my thoughts pour out as they like. It may not be eloquent, it may not be grammatically correct, but it will be me.

As you can see by my previous posts I did a bit of travelling. Essentially I did the following over a span of a month and a half:

• Windhoek [many times…including a couple fantastic sundowners (where you drink and watch the sun go down…BEST IDEA EVER!), ate some amazing food…including oryx stroganoff!]
• Swakopmund (Climbed largest sand dune in the world, stalked flamingos in a lagoon, sundownersundownersundowner, ate amazing food)
• Climbed through Namibia’s largest mountain to a ‘cave’ with an ancient rock art painting called “The White Lady”.
• Witnessed some geological geometry at the organ pipes.
• Saw some of the most vast expanses of nothing I’ve ever seen.
• Braai’d some warthog and watched the sunrise well I showered outdoors at a fancy-shmancy lodge.
• Saw lions, rhinos, elephants, zebra, oryx, springbok, wildebeest, wild cats and wild dogs as well as a number of birds on a self-drive safari in Etosha…about 45 minutes from WHERE I CURRENTLY LIVE.
• Climbed the Waterberg Plateau and found the most ADORABLE creatures at every turn…the lovely rock dassie. (googleit)
• Did a boat and land safari in Botswana’s Chobe National Park (largest elephant park in…teh world). Saw hippo, crocodile, elephant, giraffe and a number of other creatures. Was feet from both giraffes, hippos, crocodiles and elephants.
• Whitewater rafted in the Zambezi gorge at Victoria Falls (TWICE!). Once doing the second set of rapids, then once doing all 25 rapids including a number of which were class 5. You seriously start at the bottom of Vic Falls…incredible.
• Marveled at the biggest waterfall in the world.
• Ate the most amazing steak (which just so happened to be Springbok) I have ever tasted in my entire life…and I don’t even like steak.
• Climbed Table Mountain and realized that Cape Town is right near the top of both favorite city in the world and most beautiful city in the world.
• Drove around the peninsula spending the day playing in tide pools (sea urchins, anemone’s and other sea life), tracking baboons, wading in the clear blue icy South Atlantic, getting real close to some ostrich, driving on the edge of a cliff, hanging with some adorable penguins and watching the sunset from the balcony of another swanky hotel as we drank fruity drinks.
• Had the most amazing seared tuna steak and vodka martini…truly a fantastic and classy dinner.
• Tried 30 different wines in Stellenbosch, which may or may no have led to some interesting situations at the end of our tour. Gorgeous wine estates, nonetheless.
• Drank a boot of beer.
• Pet cheetahs.

Oh…and how could I forget?

• HAD ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE TIMES OF MY LIFE!

In other news, I was recently thinking about the possibility of extending for a third year of service in Namibia. After some recent situations, phone conversations with my family and a whole lot of thinking on my part, I have decided not to extend. While I had (and continue to have) an amazing experience in Namibia that has changed me, made me grow, given me perspective and altered the rest of my life in innumerable ways; I feel that it is time that I move on from here and embark on the next part of my life. So, looking at my little ticker at the bottom of this site, I see that I have 176 days remaining (about 6 months, give or take), and I cannot believe how quickly these two years have gone.

I have a lot of work to finish up, some projects I am currently working on, and…of course…some traveling to do! I will be using up the last of my vacation days on a trip to Tanzania/Zanzibar in November as well a trip to Cape Town once again for NYE…which may include an accompaniment by Mr. Nate Trombley. Lord only knows the adventure we might have.

Then I will have my Close Of Service conference in January, along with VSN meetings…followed by my final three months at site. As far as I can tell, this will fly.

On the job front, I am looking into the possibility of doing a summer internship in Columbus and shacking up with my favorite boys who now all live together in one house. This could provide a number of things, such as 1 fun, 2 memories, 3 a resume boost, 4 web design experience, 5 shenanigans. I recently taught myself Dreamweaver and Flash and have been experimenting with web design, hopefully producing in the coming months a new portfolio website as well as the possibility of another website for a friend.

I am looking forward to a summer of small trips to visit friends I haven’t seen in awhile and catch up on their lives. Lollapalooza 2012, yes please! Vacation with my family in Charleston/Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Spending a LARGE amount of time at home in Niles just vegging with my parents and maybe getting a little mosaicey with my mom…who knows?!

My plan for the future involves world domination errr…getting a job as a graphic/web designer in San Francisco, possibly taking up kayaking or surfing, and starting a whole new phase in my life where I explore another new place and continue to hone and develop my interests.

So, now that you are all caught up on everything ME, I hope that I’ll find some time to edit/post some photos from my travels for you all to see. Until then, please feel free to search the archive for past photos and thoughts. For future reference, I plan on archiving this entire blog in another location so that it may be accessible as a remnant of my time in the Peace Corps.

Love,

Trevor