Christmas is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.

So Christmas came and went, and while I was saying grace to 8 pound, 6 ounce baby Jesus I realized that my Christmas this year had gone as well as it could have gone. Here I was, halfway around the world from any family or friends that I have. Halfway around the world from the traditions and food and weather and people that I always celebrated Christmas with, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. This was done in two large parts. First, I had fun here with friends doing non-traditional Christmas activities like braiing and tanning and midnight swims in the pool. Secondly, I was able to Skype many people that are important to me throughout the day. So here are some pictures of those that I was able to share this Christmas with, and thanks for everything. It really meant a lot to be able to spend some part of Christmas with you.

Hi other family

I had my Santa hat on, she went Rudolf

Commander Mendoza with his sweet headset

Bro's just braiing

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.

It's that time of year folks, that time of year where it is better to give than receive (Although I got a kick ass present so it is pretty awesome to receive!). However, in a grander and more selfless vein I am asking all of my friends that visit this blog (and there are quite a lot of you, i'm looking at you Karlos Wysom!) to donate one dollar to my organization Education without Borders. You don't need me to reiterate the work I do, you have all heard it enough, but I will reiterate the importance of any help. Let me put it in easier terms. If each of my 651 Facebook friends donate one dollar each, we can run one program (dance, photography, my sports program) for one year. Ballin right? So donate here! No matter if you want to write it off on your taxes, get some good karma on your side, impress a girl, impress a guy for that matter, or just are a genuinely nice person, give a little back if you could.


Anyways, I have big, sunny plans for my very first African Christmas but here is a quick little message from me and my roomate Colleen to all of our friends and family:

We ruined an installation at the SA National Gallery to do this, so enjoy it!

I am sure that no man can derive more pleasure from money or power than I do from seeing a pair of basketball goals in some out of the way place.

This is what songs and poems and epic stories are written about. This is what men tell their sons in hushed, reverent whispers and women swoon over. This is one of those rare moments, where the world stops and takes notice, if only for that one second. Let me tell you the legend that is now only mentioned as "The Game".

Courtney "Born Ready" Lemm of the United States and Lennart "1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing" Rehm of Germany had dreamed of this since boyhood. They had spent countless hours sweating, bleeding and winning various battles against other foes. All leading up to this one day, this one game, this one moment for glory.

Courtney "Born Ready" Lemm

Lennart "1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing" Rehm

It started as any other day in Cape Town would. The sun was out, people went about their business on the streets, and the traffic bustled. Yet something was different on this day. There was an energy that was palpable. People seemed tense, as if they sensed the importance of the occasion. The birds seemed to sing a battle cry instead of their usual warbling. All of a sudden, everything stopped.

First stepping out of his castle was the man they called 1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing. He looked resplendent in his shorts and Moses Malone Nike t-shirt. Crowds parted when he walked by with his faithful steward Niels "I do music, not sports" Poensgen of Germany. He less walked and more floated to the court. He looked the way a hero should. Young, athletic, impeccable hair, he was the people's champion.

Following slowly behind was his opponent, the world renowned Born Ready. As he walked by men shook his hand, women gave him kisses of good luck and children grabbed at him, all in the one chance to be near greatness. He was a champion slayer. He had destroyed the famed Uncle Neds Kids of Chesapeake in the year of our lord 2004. He had taken down the mighty Alex "My neck is to big for my body" Wilbanks of Virginia in one fell swoop. He faced champions and overcame them time and time again, and he swaggered to the court knowing this.

The air was thick with tension. The crowds were closing in around the two, sensing the blood that would spill that day. In the background played:

The battle started quickly and without warning. The earth rumbled with each drop step. The heavens quaked with every rim rattling dunk. The crowds intake of breath was the only sound you heard with every jumpshot, with the roar after every made shot being the only thing more jarring then the silence that preceded it. The combatants feigned and twisted, pushed and shoved, fought and battled for every point. The strain on their bodies was easily seen, but neither would back down. How could they with so much on the line?

Before anyone could breathe, game point had come. Sweat dripped from each combatants brows as they fought for glory, pride, but most of all, the ability to mercilessly make fun of the other. The man they call 1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing had the ball, dribbled left, spun right, elevated for the shot and.......

It seemed like forever, and it seemed like no time at all. To the crowd it was just a mild inconvenience to wait. Yet for the men who had fought and bled, it was agonizing. It was one second, and it was their entire lives. Awkward first kisses. Learning to slow dance with their mothers. Floating hands out the window on long road trips. HER. The happiness. The sadness. The hope. The dreams. The past and future. Everything and nothing at all. All of it flashed before their eyes in that moment.

Swish

One had lost, the other won. 1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing had slew the man they call Born Ready, and was getting a hero's cheer. But for one second, as the moment fell over both men, they looked at each other and gave each other a nod. A nod of acknowledgement, a nod of ability, but most of all a nod of respect. Their will be a day when these two giants of men face off again. Yet until that time, men will speak in hushed and reverent whispers to their sons and women will swoon about this day. That day will go down in history.

The sun is gone, but I have a light.

So I want to become a little bit more lighthearted and fun within this post, especially after the emotional roller coaster of the last one. Question is....how do we do that? Well lets start off with a little bit of South African comedy shall we?

So now that we have all enjoyed a good laugh, lets take a step back and talk. How have you been? Oh you don't say? She did what? That bitch! How dare she, if I was you I would........Whoa whoa whoa that conversation we just had got really out of hand quickly. How about I just let you know whats been going on here in beautiful Cape Town and shoot you some pics.

So funny thing about Cape Town, it doesn't really seem like they celebrate Christmas to much here. I can walk into any store at any moment and not be bombarded with this, this or especially scenes like this. I go back and forth if I like this or not. On one hand I have some pretty good friends to hang out with, with a pretty open mind on doing whatever I feel like doing that day. If I want to go to the beach and tan, I can do that (Did i mention its hot, because if I didn't then this man certainly did).

If I want to lay out by my pool and eat copious amounts of Chinese and pizza, well sir pass the chicken fried rice. Cage Shark diving, Garden Route Trip, Surf lessons, Ostrich riding, Big Game Safari, all of it open to me. The only thing that isn't though might be what I miss most right now, tradition. I miss lights on Christmas Eve, or "All I want for Christmas is you" on the radio. I miss movie marathons showing "Elf", "A Christmas Story", "Love Actually" or my favorite "Die Hard". While its cool to have all these different options open to you, sometimes you just want what you already have every so often. Weird huh?

Now this isn't to say I'm not going to have fun and enjoy myself. On the contrary, it is going to be....wait for it....LEGENDARY! Anyways, here are some pictures from the last few weeks of activities, including my day at Clifton Beach today. While you guys are all slaving away in the cold, snow, sleet and rain.....its prime tanning time to me. I even do my tanning like my friends from the waterfront now.....

My boy Niels ripping it up

Hey cool background Lennart

Who would do such a thing?

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

Some of you do not like the self reflective Courtney. That's understandable, he tends to be overly sappy and likes the sound of his voice. If you do not like him, look away. Close out this tab as fast as possible. You will not enjoy reading this. You will want to ask for the five minutes of your life back that it takes to read this, and that is just something that I cannot do.


Still here? Oh well you were warned.


I do not take risks. At least without calculating them within an inch of their life and deciding that might not be such a risk at all. This is evident in my poker playing style (well, until I get bored anyways). Even while i'm big stack I don't try to bully, I patiently wait until I KNOW that I will win. Or at least come very close. This is never more evident as in my social interactions with the outside world. As one of my best friends Mattie so eloquently put it, "Fucking christ Courtney, you are the most evident turtle I have ever seen". An apt description if you ask me. I wait in my comfortable shell, poking my head out every so often. If I see what I like I stick around for a little and come out of my shell (YAY FOR PUNS!), and if not I go right back in. I like my space, I like going to my man cave and having time to myself, I don't mind being in a room full of people and not talking, I like observing my surroundings and making a decision about if it is worth being outgoing. I'm more comfortable that way.

So you may be asking yourself, "Well duh I know that Courtney, the only people that read your stupid blog are your closest friends and family". So why this seeming psychological breakdown of my own psyche? It has a little bit to do with Cape Town and the neighborhood I live in, it doesn't allow you to dawdle your thumbs. Nobody sits around for long. Yet mostly it has to do with her.

She is not like me. She has tattoo's. She smokes like a chimney sometimes. She could drink me under the table (not really hard though). She's Canadian, which is as different to my American patriotism as communism to capitalism. I mean, come on, they love hockey and Alan Thicke, its almost a sickness. She has an intense fear of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) about everything. She's outgoing, genuinely likes the human race, can stay in an art museum for more than one hour, and is considerate to everyone to a fault. She's beautiful, smart, has important things to say, and likes my roomate Colleen.

Yet at the same time we are alike. She can sit in a room full of people and understand the importance of observing and staying silent for that extra minute. An idea of a good afternoon to her is sitting out by the pool reading "Game of Thrones" (which if you have read "Game of Thrones" is incredibly hot). She finds things like this, this and this funny and worth watching. She is petrified of the heights of a Ferris Wheel, is scared of roller coasters, and finds the humor of the M-I-N-E game as much as me. She continuously travels, makes lists about everything, and actively tries not to do anything related to crying, being vulnerable and saying goodbye. She hates sleeping in the same bed with other people, and loves my continuous stream of pop culture references (Thanks Tony Morin and Mattie Kraatz, girls really do like that stuff!).

Now obviously none of you guys really care that I met another girl traveling, its old hat for me. Me saying things are different is also sort of old hat. Yet I will tell you that if she asked me to go someplace with her i'd be there yesterday. If she wanted me to lose every jousting match I would lose more than the 2003 Detroit Tigers (Two pop culture refs!). If she told me to jump, I would ask how high. Crazy right?

When my dad isn't saying something like "I'm going to put my shoe up your ass" or trying to show me Youtube videos about cute puppies (Complicated man, I know), he actually says some pretty enlightening things. One of the things that have stuck with me the most came from a convo we had on a really strange night. He told me, "Courtney, look here. Sometimes you come across people, on those very rare instances, where it just clicks. You realize that you missed them before you even met them." He's right, it is a rare occurrence, even though it has happened. I have more fingers than instances its happened however. This however, is not one of those instances.


Gotcha! I'm not going to write all this sappy stuff and then go all "500 Days of Summer" on you folks. She is one of those rare breeds.What will happen next? Well honestly, I don't know. I just don't know. I can honestly say i'm stumped about the future. I can't tell you what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. Yet what I do know, with a certain level of certainty, is that I will continue trying to figure it out. Be it tomorrow, next week, next month or next year I don't think I can stop trying to figure it out. At this point I will end this pity party, and just let you know what happens next.

A Finger. Two Dots. Then Me.

So the term is over. The students are all at home or on holiday. My "1st generation" friend group is slowly trickling away and going home, wherever that may be. I haven't slept more than 5 hours in a night for at least a week. By all rights I should be grumpy, sad, and generally a real Christmas scrooge. Yet, that general malaise that I thought would overtake me and send me running and crying back home has not hit. I don't think it ever really will. I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, and fall asleep every night having  had one of those moments that are HOLY (more on that later) at some point that day. Needless to say, my life is fairly charmed.

So what have I been up to lately? This past week has seen a lot more room for activities. Last week was the last couple of days for the program this term, and we decided to just kick back, relax and have some fun. They made me look rediculous while playing 5-a-side soccer and I introduced them to baseball and kickball, which they instantly took to. Some serious talent. One of the kids even did this. Serious talent.

Then this weekend some friends of mine rented a car and we decided to drive down to Hermanus Beach to catch some whale watching and check out the scene. The drive itself was pretty spectacular, driving through the mountains with the beach views as far as the eye could see on the other side. On the way we stopped off at one of the beaches to check out some penguins, which might have inadvertently been one of the funniest moments of our trip. Either that or having Joel try to make Miller eat salty licorice, which is both a Dutch delicacy and also one of the most disgusting things I have ever tasted. Instant revulsion. Anyways, this is what all the penguins looked like, or at least this is how I remember them.

After getting back we checked out Obs Fest. Basically a block party right outside my house here. There was food, girls, music and more girls....and Mike Gerudo was coming! Some of our friends live in an apartment complex on the main street of bars/restaurants/debaucherous zones and so we hung out on the balcony most of the time while one of them spun the ones and twos to get the party started. All in all a pretty awesome weekend.

So onto a new week, and new adventures. Waterfront, rooftop movie, all you can eat sushi contests, Long Street nights, beaching it up, Boys Night Out, Kirstenbausch Gardens concerts, Old Biscuit Mill, Mzoli's and so much more. To bring this little blog post to a close, let me leave you with a nice little video that I can't stop watching. Seriously, must have watched it at least 15 times already. Thanks Michelle Fenn for the shout.

You can watch it here

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Here is what I've been up to in the last few weeks.

Yay for Thanksgiving!

35 people from 10 countries hanging out. Yeah it happens.

Mzoli's grill station, smells so good.

Parliament trip for World AIDS Day...VIP Guests of Honor.

MEXICAN FOOD AND SOMBREROS!

Cheap and delicious Indian curry in Capital Gardens.

Right about to hike Table Mountain

Scaring my roomate haha

TABLE MOUNTAIN!

So much fun, so many things to do, so much time. Everyone must come to Cape Town, its only the best city in the world. Enjoy the song.