Jared's Eyes

GR Timelapse

2011-04-16T05:18:00.000-04:00

I recently started experimenting with timelapse. Here's a first go at it. Enjoy.

Grand Rapids Press Article

2010-04-09T20:43:00.000-04:00

The Grand Rapids Press recently allowed me to write a short piece about my most recent visit to Haiti. It can be seen here.

From Haiti BW

Before and After

2010-04-08T18:51:00.000-04:00

Day 5

2010-03-11T00:16:00.001-05:00

Day 4

2010-03-09T19:39:00.001-05:00

My friend Oswald stands with his family next to what remains of his house. Behind him is the upstairs which completely collapsed on the downstairs - just after his wife and children managed to get out. They pointed out to me under the foundation where their bed is buried, where their TV was, their computer. Oswald looks up with a smile and says nonchalantly "It's very crashed but if that's the price of change (claps and shrugs) Ok. OK. We want to pay We pay. Now it be good to wreck for this change. The change will come to (pointing) with my son."

I prodded him, "So everything you owned was destroyed?"

"Yeah, but if that's the price. Ok. When someone looses a house he says 'I feel very very bad', but me not because I have got - I'm alive, my family too. And when all pass, God is with us. We can - can... (to me) re-begin?"

"Begin again?"

"Begin again! Now we go to make a new country!"

For now the family lives with a total of about 12 people in this temporary house. They insist that this is just for a short time - like when you are driving in the mountains and go very fast down into the valley, only to then cruise up to the top of an even bigger mountain - that's their current situation, Oswald said. Even when I tried to pry a little and see if he had any complaints, he would just smile and shake his head and tell me how good God is. "Giving up is not an option."

The interviews that I got to shoot today with this man and others like him are a truly beautiful and astounding thing.

There are heroes in the world.

Click here for more pictures

Day 3 - Faces

2010-03-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

From 2010-03-08

Day 2

2010-03-07T20:40:00.000-05:00

Due to where some of my previous images where stored it was easier to create this post in Facebook. Here's the link: Before and After

My baggage did arrive yesterday. But much better, I got to worship with some of the most incredible people I've ever met. Their faith astounds and humbles me. It doesn't get much better than when a man you hardly know rushes up to you during the churches greeting time, wrapping you in a hug and with a huge smile saying "I love you!"

From 2010-03-07

Carrefour, Haiti - Day 1

2010-03-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

Truth be told, I'm tired. Last night was spent in Miami airport and all told I probably got little more than an hour of sleep. The few winks that I caught were actually right on the floor in the middle of the busy gate area, so I think that counts for double, or something...

Before leaving the US I told a friend about how I have a favorite travel shirt that is always my choice when I fly. It's comfortable, ventilated, and has the perfect pocket for passport and travel documents. I also have the pair of "happy" socks that my little sister gave me. Turns out that it's a very good thing that I chose well in my traveling clothes - I'll be seeing a bit of them. You see, yesterday Air France missed a whole lot of their baggage for P au P, so today much of the luggage space was taken up with yesterday's luggage, leaving today's luggage for tomorrow. Sound a little confusing? Well, it was, and is until... hopefully tomorrow. :) But enough of that. One of the best feelings in the world is the one you get when you emerge from a busy terminal where your language is not the common one and where things have not gone as you would like - when you emerge into a jostling pressing sea of humanity and see a paper held up with big block letters, and your name is written on it! I like that.

And I love my Haitian friends. Even though I was far from the best conversationalist and have wavered between waking and sleeping much of the day, it was SO good to see and hear from these dear people.

The young man who picked me up at the airport struggles with how fast I speak English, but he makes things perfectly clear when he talks about the event of January 12th. "Many things are bad with Haiti, but God has a plan". Just last week the congregation that I'll be worshiping with tomorrow moved back into their building. Overcoming the latent fear of being indoors, they go to worship. You should have heard them practicing tonight.

As pastor Jean says "a worshiper loves every opportunity that they have to give something to God". Met a fantastically cool couple who took a break from their own work in Guatamala to volunteer here in Haiti.

And I got to see my friend Robinson. I just love being around that man. The presence of God just seems to be with him and he projects wisdom and peace in a way that makes me feel better about the world.

Yes. There are tent cities. There is devastation and buildings shattered and crumbled. The roads are lined with the tents and shacks that now house countless familes, and you get to see literal "Save the Children" camps in person instead of on some late night TV spot. But there are also people who are rebuilding. Walls, lives, hopes, dreams, cities.

Note: Click on any of the pictures for a link to my whole album.

-jared

Atlanta Airport - The world's busiest

2010-03-05T20:54:00.001-05:00

I love people watching and if there's one thing that airports are good for it's this. You just pick up a plate of southern fried chicken and a sweet tea and find a seat that faces out toward the river of humanity. There's little hippster couples in their matching cut off jean shorts. Older gentlemen in berets and bowties. Hippy holdover ladies in linen pants and Chocos with tall striped socks. Sanctimonious older sisters patrolling their siblings' eating practices. Massive Indianapolis Colts fans and whole families sprinting against the clock with backpacks swinging. Women with tall poofy hair and old husbands asleep with their heads on their wives' laps. Girls in leggings and tall boots whose days were just ruined when their iPhone failed and people hugging tennis rackets like Teddy bears.
I love the gift of seeing. The way that opens and enlivens your world. For me leaving home hightens and intensifies these senses. Take me away from the world I know and I find myself pinching myself to see if I'm really witnessing all the things that jump out. It's the beauty of watching a highway merge lane from miles up or the gorgeous red and white serpentine ribbons of Atlanta traffic - the ones that would tempt you to curse if you were stuck in them, but make you almost gasp in admiration when you view them from the air.
I'm so grateful to be alive and to have a heart beating in my chest. I'm lucky beyond words to be on my way to Haiti and to have a chance to share a part of my heart with the eternally brave people of that nation. To get to see and be a part of telling their stories.

Return to Haiti

2010-03-05T11:10:00.000-05:00

In just a few hours I'll be boarding a plane to start the first leg of my journey to Haiti. A short stop in Atlanta, a night in Miami, and then tomorrow morning - Port au Prince. A full week of photo and video shooting with Shabach Ministries lies ahead. I'm hoping to occassionally post updates here as my week progresses, so please check back.

-jared

Miami

Picture Links

2009-09-10T17:23:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to take a moment to post links to a few more albums of pictures from Haiti.

Arrival in Haiti

Church in Haiti

More Impressions of Haiti

jared

Haiti Photo Book

2009-08-31T23:36:00.000-04:00

I recently completed a photo book project of images from my July visit to Haiti. Here are images of a few of the page layouts from that book. Enjoy!

jared

Haiti was just a handful of hours ago

2009-07-16T20:50:00.000-04:00

I already miss potholed roads and the press of a hundred dark, muscular people. Jostling in the back of a pickup through rain scoured gulches doesn’t bother me at all, and even though I wouldn’t exactly say that I like it, the constant blare of car horns and the smell of burning trash doesn’t mess with me too badly. But then why was it that I almost screamed inside when I saw a couple walking peacefully hand-in-hand beneath the quiet street lights on Front Street America?

Traffic has died and it’s only a few odd cars and pedestrians who are making their way past the assorted store fronts. On the art-house theater’s marquee words remain unfinished as the man who was, a moment ago, placing the letters is now engaged in conversation with a middle-aged intellectual couple. A few of us check out the upcoming schedule of foreign dramas and incendiary documentaries as the couple detachedly discusses their feelings on adult scenes and the f-word. It’s not the absolute sense of peace, stillness and safety that bothers me – it’s the absolute disconnect that seems to exist.

Just yesterday when we drove past the Doctors Without Borders (maybe that was Medecins Sans Frontieres…) office, I again took note of the signs boldly painted across the front of their compound gates. Businesses here in the US often have a little red circle with an imposing line over a cigarette. I now saw something much different. A whole series of circles lined the front of the gate. They contained items like a machete, a menacing automatic rifle, and a pistol. The people hanging out at the front door seem peaceful enough and it doesn’t seem that any are carrying items more threatening than a crutch. It might all seem a little overboard if it weren’t for the fact that the gas station and grocery store just down the road have guards posted with thick shotguns.

They convey a message. So do the UN troops whom you routinely see on their bored cruises through the streets – bristling with gun barrels. It’s also in the manned machine gun tower not so very far away. Sure, the biggest commotion that I saw was when the Haitian national team scored two quick consecutive goals against the US soccer squad, but there’s a nagging fact that remains. People may be walking down the street with a sense of confidence, familiarity, and even love – but it’s not in sleepy safety.

Mile after mile of silky smooth road stretches ahead of me. It stands in starkest of contrast with the world that most Haitians have come to expect. If you want to go somewhere you’re going to have to work for it. Maybe you’ll just walk. At the mountain school that I visited some of the students travel by foot four hours each way. If you are in a less rural area maybe you’ll be lucky enough to catch a ride on a motor bike. These little overworked creatures only carry one passenger on the rarest of occasions. Two riders is standard, three common, and four and even five not unheard of. Or maybe you get a ride in one of the tap-taps (pickups outfitted with side benches and a roof), cramming yourself in with at least eight or ten other passengers or hanging on to the back rail as the truck dodges puddles and weaves through the discord of traffic. Nothing comes easily – even coming and going.

My host is one of those admirable men who has embraced difficult things. The doctorate degree hanging over the desk in his office speaks of his commitment to study and education. That office is nestled deep in a corner of the ministry complex that he is slowly building in Carrefour on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince. He possesses a green card and could be living and working in about a hundred places other than where he is, but here’s the thing – Jean loves Haiti. His mind is constantly brimming over with new ideas of how to help his people and share the power of the gospel with them; power that he believes can do immensely more than just save souls on some distant day. The moderate size lot where he works in Carrefour is now brimming with buildings. There are offices, a water purification company, a large cement structure serving as a temporary church, a kindergarten, a school complete with extensive library and science labs,

the beginnings of a radio studio. The list goes on. And all of this on one medium plot of ground in a neighborhood where the streets flow with mud and trash when the rain falls. But this is just the tip of his iceberg. Two hours up the mountain there’s another school. Right now it only offers education through sixth grade, but I saw as parents came to beg for more grades to be added.

Almost 400 students used to cram into this small cement block structure. Attendance is still strong, but declined sharply when the funds failed for providing a mid-day meal for the students. These meals were crucial for many of the students since they were walking so many miles over mountain roads just to be in class. Still, Jean has faith. He’s already envisioning how he can add classrooms. With just a few more dollars an elaborate system will be completed that will allow the school to have potable drinking water – piped and pumped from far across a mountain valley. And he wants to start a church at the location as well.

Pastor Jean casting his vision for the future additions to this school.
People are already lined up – just waiting for the services to start. Far to the north he’s already overseeing another small church. There, over 100 Christian believers pack into a colorfully painted building with leaning mud walls.

It’s the only evangelical Christian church in the area. The people are excited for the changes they’ve already seen in their lives and their community is taking note of the healing power of their God. But Jean wants more. He wants to build a larger building on their tiny parcel of land. Something that would not be a safety hazard and that could stand against any rain storm. He feverishly measures the land and discusses possibilities and costs for this new structure. He’s believing that God is going to provide. For the new country church, for the mountain water system, for a 12hr per day radio station, for more classrooms and grades, for adult education and entrepreneurial classes, for marriage retreats, for the completion of his home church that currently meets in the building intended as a parking garage. As he drives down streets filled with pigs and garbage, he sees his country with eyes of love and speaks of how different the sights will one day be. One of Haiti's most famous statues is called the Neg Maron.

A dark man has just burst his chains and holds a machete as he blows on a Queen conch – calling his countrymen to freedom. It’s a tribute to slaves who shook of their shackles and after years of fighting defeated the fighting machine of Napoleon. I had admired a small stone replica of that statue that Jean had on an office shelf, and before I left he gave it to me. Years ago someone gifted me with a tile inscribed with the word FAITH. Now the Neg Maron sits on that tile – sounding his conch and reminding me of the man who gave him to me: calling his country to freedom.

It’s people like Jean, his Jamaican wife Marcia (who has given her heart to the brave country), and Robinson who inspire me. Robinson is a lovely man. An attorney by trade he has deep eyes, a wide nose, and chiseled features that look like they could have been carved by the same artisan who crafted my Neg Maron. I first met Robinson when we picked him up on a dusty street. He was patiently waiting for us, looking as professional as any attorney I know, in a place that most attorneys I know would be hard pressed to look professional. Away from his profession he gives freely of his time to the church. He personally is responsible for oversight of a satellite church, and when Jean is absent it’s likely that he will take to the pulpit. On Sunday morning you’ll see him neatly dressed in his suit, listening attentively in the front row. When he sings in worship it’s easy to see that it’s flowing from the deepest places of his heart – as is the love that lights him up when one of his little children comes and takes hold of him. Though he’s a little nervous about his English ability, he actually speaks the language quite nicely. As a visitor I was given a brief opportunity to greet the congregation, and after the meeting was done Robinson paid me one of those deep compliments that goes in with the group that you can only count on one hand. He embraced me and struggling to find the right words said “I can tell that when you look at our country you don’t just see it with your eyes. You see it with the eyes – the eyes of your heart”.

People with faith inspire and humble me. My visit to Haiti makes me alternate between inspiration and the desire to go on a rant about economics, global power brokerage, and US foreign policy; grappling with the way that the tiny island has been punted like a football by various heartless powers. I think I’ll leave that for another time. Perhaps when I’ve done more thorough research, I’ll get back to it, but for now I’m going to think about beauty. More than I could ever be, the Haitians are aware of the challenges that they face. When I speak of beauty, they may shoot back with words about trash and dirt, but that’s not where they’re staying. They are weaving a vision for a new and better future. Haiti was once known as the Pearl of the Isles, and by grace, through faith, it can be so again.

Malmesbury, SA but London soon.

2009-01-10T04:21:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting at my friends' computer in Malmesbury, about an hour north of Cape Town. The family that I'm staying with graciously took me into their home for a few days shortly after I arrived in SA. Now, before I leave, they have invited me back for a short visit. They are dear people and have blessed me in so many ways! During my time here in Africa I have had to, like Paul describes, learn how to be abased and how to abound. The Viljoen family has certainly done their part to make me abound. I couldn't be more grateful to have such friends.

Just to fill everybody in on my latest travel plans: I'm not arriving back in the states at the originally stated time. That shouldn't be news as that date has already past, but still stating the obvious can be helpful sometimes. My friend Caleb predicted that instead of coming home when I said, that I would fly back a year later from Japan after trekking across the whole globe. I'm still a avid proponent of that plan, but at this point my plans are not quite that extreme. Instead of flying back directly from Cape Town to the US, I am instead going through London. I hope to spend nearly a week with a friend in London before finally arriving back in the US on the 19th of January. That's the plan. I'll let you know what happens.

When I look back of the past 12 months it truly boggles my mind. There was a time not so long ago when I felt like my life was over. Since that time God has swept me up and taken me on the best adventures of my life to date. He's enlarged my world and taken me to the most incredible places. Since January of last year I've had the opportunity to visit Los Angeles, New York, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and now London!

Thank you all for keeping track of my as i'm roaming the globe. I've been so blest by the prayers that I know many of you have said for me. My friends make me a wealthy man!

jared

Strand, SA again

2009-01-07T04:45:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone. It's Jared here from Strand, SA. Right where I started this whole African adventure. After a giant circle tour of southern Africa, I'm now finishing out my last week in the Dark Continent. There are so many memories that I now carry - moments that I'll try my best to share, but that sometimes just have to be lived. Watching the paintbox hues of the sunset in the Drakensburgs. The trumpeting of wild African elephants as they crash out of the bush. Sharing lunch in a mud walled Mozambican house. Dancing with ecstatic believers until sweat soaks my shirt and drips in large drops. Worshiping in Sesotho, Makua, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Zulu. New Years by the Indian Ocean. Jogging by the beaches of False Bay. So many stories that I'll love to tell for years to come. For now just a few more pictures.

These from Free State, QwaQwa, and the the Drakensburgs.

Africa VIII

And these from Lesotho

Africa IX

Southbroom, SA

2009-01-01T06:15:00.000-05:00

Wind and spitting rain are moving in off the Indian Ocean and the moisture is fogging the upper story windows at the beach house where I'm sitting. The leaves of a palm are waving in the salty breeze. I'm staying with my friend Caitlyn and her family at the house where they have been staying for the New Years holiday. Last night I greeted 2009 with hundreds of revelers who were dancing out the old year down by the beach. Some of the dance tunes are distinctly non-american: "You are my mate and I will stand by you". Still the omnipresence of American music is unavoidable. I couldn't help but note the slight irony as I was dancing in the middle of a throng of South Africans dancing and shouting along to "Sweet Home Alabama". I wondered if anyone else there had ever been to Alabama. The deafening bass of dance music was almost jarring after coming earlier in the day from the absolute and almost tangible quiet of Lesotho's mountains.

Christmas I spent in the Kruger National Park. On the 22nd I arrived in Nelspruit, the town that serves as primary gateway in the massive park that sprawls along the border between SA and Mozambique. The 23rd I spent kicking around at Nelspruit Backpackers and then on Christmas Eve I set out on my bush adventure. At the Backpackers I met Jimmy, a guide with 20 some years of experience in the African bush. Though he could be teaching college classes on the environments that he guides in, he spends his time at a ramshackle backpackers and does occasional freelance excursions with odd folks like me who want a less "touristy" visit to the big park. We spent Christmas Eve driving through Kruger and ended the day at the guest house of the Manyalete Reserve which borders the Kruger. On Christmas day the real adventure began. Setting off in the morning we parked the car and went on foot back into the bush. Way back. Through a drizzling rain we hiked 20km through some of the most untouched country I've ever seen. For hours we tracked wild rhinos and finally came upon the mother and child contentedly grazing on the new grass. We came close to the always skittish stenbok and saw the rare sidestripe jackel. Christmas dinner was steak on the grill back at our lodge.
During our last day in the park we drove to the eastern side of the park and saw the basalt flats. Hippos fighting for territorial dominance, a whole herd of elephants surrounding our car, and families of zebras - some of them scarred from their encounters with lions. We saw all of the big cats - lions, cheetahs, leopard, but only in the most remote of ways. They were there and I do have pictures to prove it, but I can see them better in my pictures than I could in real life.

The next morning I left Nelspruit and drove south-west to QwaQwa. While in Johannesburg I made a friend who invited me back to visit him as he visited his family in how home town. QwaQwa (which is said with a click that I can't manage) was one of the "homelands" during the Apartheid era and to this day it is still an almost exclusively black area. As a white man i was a definite novelty. People would look up and take notice when I drove through the community. David made a point to introduce me to as many people as possible. Meeting a white from the US was an event of some note in the community. I tried to be obliging and friendly, but it was distinctly awkward to be such a novelty. Still, i had a wonderful time with the dear people who so warmly welcomed me with such open arms. I was asked numerous times about Barak Obama, had extended political discussions about Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki, and visited numerous churches. At one I was give a place at a table on the stage for after service lunch. The love that I was showered with was so undeserved and so special. I was showered with love, but not with water. :) A shower is a rare thing in this part of the country, and I had to become comfortable with bathing from a basin - in water heated in an electric tea pot. David took me everywhere and wanted me to become familiar with all aspects of his community. He took me down to watch the holiday celebrants spinning their cars until their tires were literally gone. They were until the police showed up and put an end to the fun that is... He took me up to the Drakensburgs where we climbed Sentinel Peak. We went shopping all over town. I even got to be a tag along on a date. I guess you're the perfect third wheel when the conversation is in Sesotho and you only speak English.
Leaving QwaQwa I made my way to Lesotho. This had been one of my most looked forward to elements of my trip. For some reason that tiny country that most people don't even realize exists captured and fascinated me. It was beautiful. I hope i get a chance to write more about just that place - I think i fell in love. Beauty indescribable. Smiles like I have never seen. They light you up. Oh, and then there was the Sani Pass. From the moment I heard of it, there was something in my man's heart that wanted to take it on. This winding grueling mountain road is perhaps the most notorious mountain gateway between Lesotho and South Africa. I could probably go in to the halls of Imperial Rental Car's worst customers of all time. Amazed and bemused loads of South African men in their 4x4s gaped at me as I started down the hairpin road in my little white 2wd Hyundai Getz. Half way down I was thinking they might be right, but I was having the time of my life. I won. I made it all the way down and the car survived!! Just barely, but I made it! They say it can't be done but the little car made it. And I have the passport stamps to prove it. Ok - maybe I'm a little too excited about this, but I guy can have his fun, right?

Coming down from the mountains I made my way all the way to the South African coast where I brought in the new year with Caitlyn and her friends. Caitlyn was one of my companions while at Iris in Pemba. Her family is staying at the beach house that I mentioned earlier. Early tomorrow morning I'll leave from here and begin the drive back towards Cape town.

Here are pictures from Kruger.

Much love to all. Blessings on your 2009!

-jared

Nelspruit, SA

2008-12-23T03:34:00.000-05:00

I'm in Nelspruit - the gateway into Kruger National Park. I arrived last night and am staying at a backpackers' hostel. I've met some Kruger guides and am planning what could become one of the biggest adventures of my life to date. I'm pretty excited - what a great way to spend Christmas! I do miss my family and snow, but if I don't have that, this is about the best I can imagine! I'll fill in on details after the fact.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

jared

Joburg and Soweto

2008-12-21T22:04:00.000-05:00

Look here for pictures of Johannesburg and Soweto. I've had a great time here.

Out of Africa

2008-12-06T08:47:00.000-05:00

An echo is heard somewhere in the halls of internet purgatory. A scrap of an orphaned blog post is found and redeemed. Almost two weeks ago I was sitting at a struggling computer at the Pemba Nautilus Casino when the internet went out. This is what I had written

-----------------

Hello everyone. It's time for a post. It's different to actually be sitting in front of a computer again - with a working internet connection. Well... I'm using "working" in the generous sense. Every computer that I've encountered since entering the african continent has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. This particular machine has no ability to display pictures - or so it would seem. So I'm not too hopeful about it's ability to upload them. But so many stories!

Just a few hours ago I returned from a trip out into the African "bush". Just a few hours out from the base where I'm currently staying here in Pemba, and you are into Africa in much more the fashion that it's been stylized in the western imagination. Mud huts with thatched grass roofs. Insect mounds taller than a man. Reports of nearby elephants. Meals of sheep guts with rice and beans.

------------------

That was as far as i got before the internet crashed and my connectivity was a thing of the past. Now I'm in South Africa again. In a Johannesburg suburb to be precise. Yesterday I took the scenic flight from Pemba in the North of Mozambique down here to Jo-burg. I say scenic because we got to see some really seemingly unnecessary places. There was a stop at the Beira airport. This of course involved getting off the plane, getting little "transito" tags and waiting for perhaps 45 minutes before getting back on the same plane to continue the trip. Then in Maputo seemingly the same drill - but unless you were listening very closely to the broken English over the intercom you would have missed the fact that this time we were changing planes. So this time we got to dis board, walk across the runway to be greeted by some women with a "transito" sign. Then we were led into the airport where our boarding passes were studied. Numbers were checked on a list, and our passposrts were gravely considered. Then we exited the little loop out of a door just down from the one we entered and were told to stop. Oh, transito! Don't stop. Go get on that other plane. Only about two hours late we arrived in this the supposed crime capitol of the world. There is a very common saying in this continent. "TIA" people will say. This Is Africa. It's used as an excuse, a shoulder shrug, a joke, a truth. Africa just isn't the same as the Western world and you'll be frustrated until you accept the fact. People have much more time here. People are more willing to stop and talk. It doesn't seem that anybody REALLY is in a hurry and the whole world moves slowly once you're here. Trying to get something seeming simple accomplished can take a whole day - easily :).

All in all SA is quite a change after being in Mozambique for almost a month. When i was downtown today I kept noticing something about all the people passing - then i realized it was the fact that they were all so clean! I'm actually mostly clean again. In Mozi I wasn't always able to shower as often as would be best... Sometimes we had no electricity... sometimes no water. I adjust frighteningly quickly to such life. From the moment I arrived in Pemba I felt quite at home and at ease. I actually never had a bad night of sleep and didn't really mind the rice and beans THAT much. (Though I was spoiled since I could go to the store and buy other supplemental food) I think I can honestly say that my weeks in Pemba were few of the happiest yet in my life. I made some of the best friends that I've ever had.

Honestly It hasn't started to feel like Christmas to me. I can't believe that it's just a few days away! As I'm typing I'm sitting on an outside deck, wearing shorts. This is summer in Africa. None of the sights and sounds have been in anyway familiar enough to trigger Christmasesque thoughts. I guess the most reminiscent thing was my birthday. People heard that it was my birthday. That night was also the last night that one girl was going to be there at the base so she invited a group of people to a dinner party in honor of both occasions. It was a sort of put luck. This was the night that I decided to create the apple pie that I had been scheming for for some time. I bought apples from a store and from a street vendor. I bought spices from Osman's grocery. Cloves were clearly labeled in English. Cinnamon bore a picture of stick cinnamon that i recognized. Nutmeg proved the most difficult. I had to go through a whole pile of bagged spices smelling them until I found the one that struck me correct. Pastry was an adventure here. There was no wax paper so plastic bags cut open did duty. An empty glass bottle served as rolling pin. All butter instead of shortening. It was a chore, but that pie was delightful. When I opened the oven and smelled proper pie, it all paid off. It was cut into about 12 pieces and gladly received all around. When I was about to bring my pie to be eaten I was told that I couldn't but must sit down. My friend Ed attached several matches together and fashioned a birthday candle. Then they carried my pie in and sang to me. My Mozambican birthday was great.

My time in Mozambique was made particularly interesting by the fact that I was living in the guest accommodations where visitors from all over the world come to stay. Many came for less time than I or arrived late in my stay so the cast of characters who populated my experiences was consistently rotating. As I look back on the time each week had a completely different set of friends and experiences. Before I arrived I had been told that a group from Mississippi would be arriving on the same flight with me. In the Joburg airport i ran into them. I heard their accents and knew it had to be. It had been such a while at that point since I had heard Americans talking. I noticed right away. It was a family with their three children, two 20 yr old girls, and a mother with her two young children. Amy, mother of the larger family, was a strong matronly figure and told me quickly that they had adopted me and that I could be a part of their group. Over the next week that they were there I came to enjoy the group quite a bit. They would hold family devotions in the morning and I was always welcomed to be a part of these and any meals that they were preparing. When they went off base to restaurants there was a standing invitation for me to join them. When they're not on the other side of the world Amy and her husband Dave live with their family in inner city Jackson, Mississippi. God told them years ago to sell everything and move among the poor. This they did and God has given them an amazing dynamic impact with prostitutes, drug addicts, and people of all classes. Also there when I arrived was a team from Canada, constructing a playground. I attached myself to this group much of the time and worked most days that first week building a playground. I never would advertised myself as such, but I learned that I'm actually pretty handy with tools. :) At least by African standards. This team was made up of two older men, and two young people in their early 20s. Billy and Allie were companions for a number of adventure - including and abortive attempt at a boat trip. But that would take too much time to explain... Lyle, head of the team was a gracious, Godly man who I loved working with. He felt like a spiritual father figure and while working or at the end of the day I was able to pick his brain about a lot of things. He is a retired pastor and still clearly has a father's and pastor's heart. A man who seems to be finishing his life well rather than just starting strong.

Within a few days of each other all these friends left. I bonded deeply with several of them, and then watched them go. Ed arrived. He and I hit it off almost right away. There are few people that I can converse with as easily and freely as Ed. We stayed up late into the night talking about cameras, computers, web design, spiritual things... Hiking. All sorts of things. When I first arrived I met Andrea and Nicole, the hospitality coordinators for the base. They were the two responsible for getting everybody to and from the airport, answering questions, making sure people had bed sheets, taking people on bi-weekly grocery runs, etc. Well, as the other visitors were starting to thin out, Andrea and Nicole invited Ed and me over for dinner. Dinner was at Andrea's house, only problem was that the lock on Andrea's door was very broken and the door stuck shut. After Ed and I took the lock app art and tried our best lock picking skills, we just kicked the door down! A dramatic start to the evening... Nicole doesn't cook and Andrea was very tired, so I got to cook much of dinner. I had forgotten that I actually do enjoy cooking when I'm doing it for other people. It's a special adventure when you never know if you'll be able to acquire and ingredient or not... I made spaghetti sauce from scratch and it was a hit. That evening was the first of several such evenings over the next few weeks. The four of us just formed a little band. We all got along with each other so well. Ed is from California, Nicole from Utah, Andrea from London. And here we all were in Pemba, Mozambique. Caitlyn from South Africa joined us one night as well. We would cook together (well, Andrea and I would cook), pray together, listen to Christmas music, clean houses, look at pictures, and just talk about our lives and God. It's some of the best friendship I've ever known in my life. Everybody had such common passions and vision. All of us love traveling and we would sit and swap travel adventure stories. I was the youngest of group, so I suppose it felt kind of like being back growing up with the older four.

It was times like these that made my time in Mozambique some of the happiest weeks of my life. Bouncing around in a LandRover over horrendous roads I would pinch myself to see if this was really happening. I couldn't think of anything I'd rather be doing at that moment. Nicole had a LandRover at her disposal so a couple nights we went out and watched the stars. You can drive out into the Mozambican darkness and then lay on the roof and watch the beautiful African sky. My new friends were even patient enough to let me play with my night photography with them. They having to sit impossibly still for long periods of time as I did experimental photography.

During the afternoons Andrea did school classes with some of the village children who come around to the base. Ed and I started helping out with these classes. Nacimo, a 16 year old Mozambiquan helps translate for these classes. Sometimes things went well for a while, but some days it was absolute chaos. You'd look up and someone would be hanging from the rafters. Fights would break out. Cheating, mocking, you name it, it was there. But there was some learning that took place. One day I saw a boy patiently copying his name on to his hand with a pen so that he could remember later how to spell it. I think it was the first time he had learned to write his own name. These times were both difficult and sometimes rewarding.

My friends also included Jun from South Korea. She sings beautifully and has a ministry traveling and doing ministry through song. There was Ben and Anna, a young couple from Wales in the UK. Ella a black woman of Nigerian descent who now lives in London. Thorsten and Miriam a young couple from Germany who have been traveling the world for the past few months. Raylene from Canada brought her 16 year old daughter Terran for a trip to experience another part of the world and ministry. It's positively dangerous hanging out with so many vagabond souls. Hearing several languages and as many different accents of English before breakfast makes me happy. It can be challenging, and certainly exhausting, but generally happy. Sometimes someone that you consider a friend just doesn't understand you. And you can't make them understand. Cultural and language barriers fly up and you can't reach proper understanding. This is when you realize the curse of Babel. Then other times the differences are just fun.

The hardest thing in Mozambique was to see the power of the devil. I believe that I saw a group of men attempting a rape one day in public at the public beach. This is a part of the Satan infused culture. At night i would sometimes here the witch doctors marching with their drums and flutes. You could sometimes see the bondage in the eyes of children. Especially in children who are clearly stunted and bound to a listless childhood that defies the years that pass. I saw a girl who you might have guess to be 5 or 6 who I learned was actually 20. In one village where I visited there was a mother who brought her daughter for prayer because she was 3 and still not trying to walk. In her eyes you could see a darkness that is heart breaking in a child so young. When we laid hands on her to pray she would suddenly because restless and cry squirming and trying to get us to stop. Her mother took the witch doctors bracelet off of her wrist, but sadly I didn't see her healed that day. There's many things I don't understand about the spirit realm. But much that God seems bent on teaching me as well...

The head of the ministry was often there during my stay. I got to sit and listen to her tell stories from her early ministry. She strikes me as being deeply genuine. It was such a treat to see her in her home surroundings and get to watch what it looks like for her to live out the things that she talks about and teaches. I got to be the official Christmas photographer when she gave out gifts to all the Iris orphans at the base. The energy that God gives that woman is truly miraculous. I followed her for almost 6 straight hours of unrelenting energy. She insisted in giving the gifts to each of the 170+ kids individually and gave the same attention to the very last girl as she had to the ones at the beginning. Truly and amazing thing to get to be a part of.

I'm not sure yet where I'll spend Christmas, but I'm sure it will be somewhere good and memorable. Considering possibly going to Kruger National Park...

Right now I'm staying with a delightful African-American couple who felt called by God to give up everything in the states and move here to minister in South Africa. They've been such wonderful resources of wisdom and Biblical council. Couldn't have asked for a better place to process all that God did in my heart in Mozambique. So much I'm trying to fathom about the Spiritual realm. Realizing that I'll never get my head around it, but wanting so desperately for it to enter my heart. I should go to bed because I believe that I have church early tomorrow morning. I could go on for so many more pages telling about the experiences I've had and the people I've met, but I'll have to wrap this up.

Check out more pictures here: Africa V

Also check out the blog of my friend Ed. Many of the pictures that you see posted there are mine. He had better computer access during our time in Pemba so I shot and he posted

Mozambique

2008-11-26T09:24:00.000-05:00

Hello friends. I'm now safely in Mozambique. I've been working at an orphanage and so far much of my time has been spent helping a team assemble a playground. It is certainly the other side of the world. Temperatures are generally very hot and the sun beats down - especially in the morning. The place where I'm staying is within sight distance of the Indian Ocean and I got to take a swim the other day. A far cry from the cold Atlantic that I visited in Yzerfontein, SA. It feels like bath water here.

As soon as my place first touched down in Maputo, MZ I could tell that I was really in Africa now. Confusion, language barriers, and capriciousness were the order of the day and the difference from that states could be noticed immediately in the details as small as the grass growing from cracks in the airport runway.

Finally i was issued a visa and herded back onto the plane for the short flight to Pemba where I'm now staying. In the Jo-burg airport i met some of the people who have become my frequent companions over these next days. A team from Mississippi was flying in on the same flight. Since being here they've all become good friends. And the Canadians. It's good to hear American accents again. I love Africans, but there's something that's just reassuring about talking to another American.

The Canadian team came to build the playground that I mentioned earlier. Some of the required hardware did not arrive so we have been using out God given brains to come up with so many different ways of accomplishing seemly straightforward tasks. There's Billy, Allie, Grant and Lyle from Canada. Laura, Betsy, Amy, David and family from Mississippi. June from South Korea. People from Pennsylvania and South Africa. And so many wonderful children from right here in Pemba! I wish I could show you some of their faces, but this computer is not allowing any posting of pictures.

Rice is pretty good. Especially when you eat it with your hands.

It's really different to go to the market and be locked in a full hug by a crippled man that you've never met. And then of course asked for food or money. It's different here. But I feel at home here anyway. I'm happy and content.

jared

Link to Pictures:
Africa IV

Colesberg, SA

2008-11-20T01:58:00.000-05:00

The kind matron of Die Kleipot (The Claypot) Guest House in Colesberg, SA let me use her computer and internet connection. My fist priority was to access my e-mail and do some printing. Communications in the Africa continent are not exactly what most of us are accustomed to in the US. For months I have been e-mailing with the staff at the Iris Ministries orphanage in Pemba, Mozambique. I sent them an email to let them know that I was in Africa, and would soon be coordinating my flight to their area. This week the time came right for me to make that jump so I decided to call the number that I had been provided for their center. No go. Tried the second number - again no go. At least this time I get a message in Portuguese and English telling me to try again later... At this point I had already gotten a quote on a ticket and was just awaiting their confirmation before making the final purchase - the ticket agents were cautionary as there was no backing out or refund once I said I wanted to purchase. Also I had reserved a rental car for 16hr drive to the Jo-burg airport where my flight would depart from. When the calls failed I sent an e-mail and expectantly waited all day for a reply. Nothing. Putting off my decision till the very last minute yesterday morning, I went to the internet cafe again and checked for a reply from Pemba. Nothing. I talked with God, and my host Shawn and tried to decide what to do. Finally we agreed the best course of action was to proceed and let God sort out the details as I moved forward. I phoned the travel agent and told her to go through with the ticket purchase. I went to AVIS and picked up my car. I packed my bags and with SA road map in hand I hit the road a little before noon. Shawn gave me advice for the best route and this mostly involved taking the N1 right through the heart of South Africa's Karroo. I pulled out of the Cape region and wound my way through the Stellenbosch wine country. Mountains towered on either side of the road and when you went around bends you could see miles of vineyard filled valleys bellow. Slowly the road crept higher and the climate began to become more and more arid. High on one mountain peak I saw a few tiny remains of my first Africa snow. The mountains began to level and I was soon driving across vast dry expanses of scrub brush and cactus. Sheep and goats foraged in the rough grasses, and occasionally I saw a wild buck feeding. If I hadn't known that I was in Africa, I would have believed without doubt that I was in the American West. Everywhere were sights that reminded me specifically of northern Arizona, southern Utah, or eastern Colorado. In the areas where the highway was cut through rock you can see the exact same veins of light green and purple rocks that fill the mountains in Utah. The three buttes that give the town of Three Sisters its name are what you'd expect to see in a cowboy film. The dry air had parched the ground leaving it in many places a maze of cracks. This is the Karroo. I left the Western Cape and drove into Northern Cape province. By now sitting on the right side of a vehicle and driving well over 100km/hr while passing all over the road feels almost completely natural.
As the sun set I saw ahead a few towering flat topped thunder heads. They were beautiful and majestic as they reflected the rosy evening light. Then the lighting began to flash. With night coming on more and more bolts began to dance between the clouds and down towards the ground. Central south Africa is extremely dark at night, but these flashes would momentarily illuminate the landscape. There is as sparse powerful beauty in the plains.
At around 9pm i checked into Die Kleipot. Shawn and Karien had recommended it highly. As soon as i got my key, my new host advised that I hurry if i wanted to get dinner. The Horse and Mill is a local pub with plenty of character and pretty decent lamp pie. The walls are covered with the signatures of visitors and the rafters with flags and the currencies of just about every nation imaginable.
This morning held good news. In my e-mail box was a response from Iris saying that my Friday arrival should be just fine! Also the e-tickets that I need for my flight had arrived and I was able to print them out. Praise God. Everything SHOULD now be in order. I drive the 700 odd kilometers to Johannesburg, drop my car at the AVIS airport return, check into to departing flights. Hopefully I'll be able to catch a little sleep in the terminal overnight. Then, at 8:40 am my flight is scheduled to depart for Pemba. There I plan to spend the next 2 1/2 weeks before returning to spend some time in Jo-berg area with a paster who works among the black communities of Soweto. What amazing opportunities and experiences I am living.
Love to all. Thanks for the picture comments and notes. It's always wonderful to hear from friends in the States!

jared

Lots of Pictures!

2008-11-18T10:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, not much time for a post right now, but lots of new pictures! Africa III

Yzerfontein, SA

2008-11-15T16:17:00.000-05:00

When you're living on the road there's an enchanting game that you get to play that I call "hunt for the switch". Each new home that you're welcomed into has a totally different light switch arrangement. "And here's the bathroom that you can use", says your hospitable host. The first thing that usually comes to your mind isn't generally, "and where might i find the light switch?" The rules are ever changing and dynamic. Here in SA there's a new and fun twist thrown into the game. The standard switches in the country are much flatter and don't stick out as far from the wall (this making them more elusive to a preliminary hand sweep of a wall). Next, it is standard practice in SA to put a light switch outside of the room concerned. Occasionally far outside... And on a panel with multiple switches. The fun never ends!

Couldn't resist that small aside. SA continues to amaze and enthral. I've not started to bounce around the country. After getting my legs with Shawn and Karien, I've now gotten comfortable enough to take to the road and start really getting to know new people. In Strand I rented a car and began my education on driving in the rest of the world. Thankfully I was able to rent an automatic, because I would have been lost if I were on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, and shifting with the wrong hand all at once. Amazingly the transition has been rather quick, and appart from a few brief terrifying moments, it's all gone by rather smoothly. My little white VW has taken me to places like Malmesbury, Langebaan, Paternoster, and Yzerfontein. It has taken me into the lives of people like Carel & Litisha and their family. Awie, Benita and their boys Ruan and Abrie. Ricardo and his little band of brothers. It's taken me to a lot of joy - and to some sorrow. To the best of West Cape Boer hospitality and to the reality of boys less than 10 living and sleeping on the streets.

There are many things that I'm always noticing as different here in south Africa. Some of the things are as small as the fact that South Africans usually grate rather than slice their cheese into a sandwich rather than slicing it. Some are a little bigger like the fact that drivers here pull onto the shoulder of the road and drive there when a faster moving vehicle wants to pass - and then the grateful passer signals his thanks with a quick rotation of his four-way flashers. And then some are as big as the fact that some of my new friends would never think of dating a girl of a different color. My guide books taught me a lot of about this country, but there's so much more that I can only learn by walking in the shoes of the South Africans. The shoes of these people whom I have sofar found to be warm, hospitable, and giving irrespective of race, and class. As an outsider I've gotten the best though - I get to experience so many of the joys, without having to live so many of the pains. It boggles my mind as I begin to understand the challenges that this young country is grappling with. There are so many hundreds of years of undoing that must be done before the doing can really begin in earnest. Yet, it's like the old story about the school - where they decided to build the new school on the foundation of the old one - but couldn't afford to have a lapse in classes. It would be great to just have a time out - call everyone together and sort things out. But you can't. Everything has to keep going, and changing at the speed of history.
My friends have introduced me to Johnny Clegg. Back in the days when such things weren't done, white Johnny began making music with the black Zulu people. In a unique hybrid he create music that can be equally embraced across SA by people of many colors. He sings about the beauty of Southern Africa, about the sky, about common experience. It is the perfect soundtrack for a drive through Western Coast farm country. It's the kind of music that can feed a sort of euphoria when it's combined with the perfect and inimatable visuals that inspired it. But then as quickly as you can be brought from 120km/hr to a dead stop by a road construction zone - a face and story can bring you down from the soaring of "African Sky Blue". On the beaches of Paternoster I met some of the most delightful boys of my life. Down where the colorful fishing dories where camped on the sugar sand beach they were playing, running, and jumping with a careless vitality. We fell into conversation and soon we were taking pictures together. Finally I had met some people who possibly enjoying taking more than I do myself. They wanted to pose for one more and one more. When I started taking individual pictures they insisted that each one must get as many shots as the last. "Take three of me! Take three of me!" Finally we parted - each thanking the other for the pictures. As I walked away tears of joy came for the beauty of the moment. But then, something else happened. Over on the other side of the small town I ran into one of the boys again. He began excitedly pointing me out as the one who had taken the pictures. He was walking with an older woman and she explained to me what was happening. His father had been killed some time ago and his mother had found a new boyfriend. She was now pregnant with a new child and as pregnant mothers often are she had a craving for a drink. Her boyfriend had gone out to the store for her and was later found dead. This is the realities of the life of the small boy who so joyfully played with me just a few hours earlier. He and his friends had crowded around me so happy - so trusting. As we reviewed the pictures together they all pilled over me - putting their hands on my shoulders, and arms. Leaning on me and so recklessly entering my space. Oh, the joy and beauty that I have seen - and then the sorrow as numbing as the icy atlantic water that drives against the beaches here in Yzerfontein.
God has brought me down the most interesting of roads. I don't question for a minute that he brought me here and established this road in his imagination. There is so much to learn here - to feel, and see, and live.

More picture here:Africa II

Baboons and things...

2008-11-13T08:50:00.000-05:00

People in SA often refer to the rest of the continent as "Africa". "This is Jared and he's hoping to go up into Africa". It's spoken of here as a very different and far off place. There's almost an identity breech the separates this place from that. If geography doesn't something still can. Even though I can get on a bus and ride there... This sometimes seems very reasonable. Most Americans would likely be shocked by the completely urban nature of Cape Town. As much as it is beautiful, it is also metropolitan. The mall that I visited is probably one of the largest of my life - and I'm told it's the small one by comparison. But then there are reminders that this is indeed a part of the African continent. My new friend Adrian drove with me out to Cape Point where I got the chance to see the meeting of the oceans and the windswept point that demonized and defined so many mariners of past centuries. Along the road a troupe of baboons played on and by the road. It was so completely foreign from my experiences, while yet being on a road between towns that would probably fit more with our imaginations of Europe.

I left my camera behind when I came to the computer today, so no new pictures, but there will be a lot of good ones coming soon.

Stay well!

jared

Report from Strand, SA

2008-11-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Dear friends,

I'm here at PC08 at ComputerLand, the most affordable internet cafe in Strand. Right now the Rand (SA's currency) is hanging at right around 10 Rand to the US dollar. This is very good for me, and also good for the country my friends tell me. It makes tourism and travel like mine quite affordable. With the exchange so near 10, prices can easily be calculated in my head by just moving the decimal point one place. Some things here are are quite close in price to what I'd find in the states, but some things such as food, are quite a bit cheaper. Paying $3-5 for a full restaurant meal would not be uncommon. But I don't really care to dwell on economics.

From the moment I was picked up at Cape Town International Airport I have been whirled into another world. There is so much familiar, and yet so much that is absolutely mind boggling. Every time that I hook my GPS unit to my camera and see the coordinates load, I almost do a double-take. The coordinates have a south component rather than a north. Summer is just beginning rather than winter starting to creep its way in. In the airport restroom i was somewhat surprised to turn around from washing my hands and find a young man waiting with a paper towel ready torn for me. This was the opening salvo for the barrage of new racial and cultural experiences that has intensified in the ensuing days.

In the morning i'm getting used to a first meal consisting of tea with milk (the south African way), rusk (a dipping food that lives somewhere in the divide between biscotte and short bread), and Weet-bix or Tiger B-fast. So far I've enjoyed all the foods that I've been given. Biltong is a jerky like product very popular in the country, and for good reason. Boereworst is a lovely sausage served hotdog style in a bun with your choice of chutney, tomato sauce (ketchup), or mustard. Or maybe it will be served up with a gravy made of tomatoes (say it toe-ma-toe) and onion. Overall the food doesn't seem to venture often into the truly spicy side, but there is a nice assortment of flavors, and Indian curry or sweet chilly are probably the most common "spicy" flavors.

In the past few days I've met such an array of people. Andrew is a fighting coach who teaches jujitsu and would someday love to fight UFC. He is a passionate worshiper of God and only wants to fight if God wants it. Dean is a jolly round man of Afrikaner background who has an infectious smile and spirit. When he greats you he hugs you powerfully and says "blessings, blessings". Jean Baptiste is a Rwandan Tutsi with complexion so dark that even his eyes are dark colored. He escaped the killing as a boy when his mother hid him in a hot brick oven. Kate is a fair skinned English girl and Heinrich is a man with light brown complexion and a heart so very large. Mark is from the UK and moved here to be with his fiance, and Stefan, who is about to take his law exams is a true kindred spirit and in the course of an evening felt almost like a brother. This is the delightful cast of characters who are populating the my time here.

And Cape Town and it's environs are breathtaking! I've gotten to have a wonderful non-touristy tourist experience. Shawn, my host, was scheduled to speak in Hermanus a small town about an hour and a half south of Strand. He took me along for the ride, and what a ride! California's Highway 1 may still hold the place as the most beautiful drive of my life, but it is now facing stiff competition! A serpentine road writhes along the coast with light colored palisade cliffs rising on one side of the road and the deep blue ocean stretching away on the other. Large colorful Protea flowers jumble along the roadsides. Hermanus, our destination, is a quaint seaside town known for its excellent whale watching - known as some of the best land based views in the world. And I was in for a treat. Although the whale season is well advanced, i was able to see a whole handful of whales swimming, raising their tails, and breaching playfully from the cerulean and ultramarine waters. The powerful mammals sank back into thewater with a massive splash of white raging foam. It was one of the most beautiful sights of my life.

Shawn preached that night to a youth group. His message was mixed between English and Afrikaans. Though I can only understand a few works of this Dutch infused language, for some reason it doesn't really sound foreign to me. I feel so completely at home here, that it doesn't seem strange at all. I have been spending time with family members, really and truly. There is a bond that I'm always amazed at - instant and more complete than that which takes years to form much of the time. With brothers in sisters in Christ there is a connection that spans oceans, miles, cultures, and continents. Humorously I've found that Shawn has often told people the story of our unusual meeting in rural Arkansas. So now when I'm introduced, it's often as "remember the guy in the story that I told you?" Apparently there are some cultural things that I was unaware of upon that first meeting. When Shawn was told that there was a man who was "traveling between California and Florida" he immediately thought of the vagrants in South Africa. When a person truly has no place to stay and is on the road and looking for hand outs, it's common to say that you're "traveling between this place and that place". He thought that I was like this and almost refused to meet with me. There was something in his spirit that told him to do opposite of his first impulse... and the rest is history.

Shawn is back to pick me up so I'll be signing off. Many more stories to come. Love to all.

More pictures posted here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021316&l=e3236&id=83500385

I've arrived

2008-11-06T08:28:00.000-05:00

I'm here in and internet cafe in Strand, SA. I haven't yet been able to post pictures so that I can show them here, but here's a link to a facebook album:

Africa

I'm safe and sound and will be posting more later.

jared

Africa

2008-11-04T01:21:00.001-05:00

God willing I will depart for Africa in just a few hours. This is the site where I hope to post updates and occasional pictures from this trip. E-mail me at jared@jjkohler.com or just comments on my blog posts.

Much love,

jared

2008-11-01T11:16:00.000-04:00

Fall in the North

2008-11-01T11:10:00.001-04:00

Fall in the North, originally uploaded by JaredsEyes.

yes, blog this too.

Post

2008-11-01T10:52:00.001-04:00

A New Blog

2008-11-01T00:33:00.000-04:00

I'm considering migrating my blog to greener pastures, and thought this was worth a test.