Update 4: "We have to hop a fence and we need to do it quickly"

Sorry (not really) I skipped a few days of blogging do to internet trouble and genral businees, but let's get to it!

Everyday blows my mind more and more. Time is accelerated. It's weird because the week has gone by so fast, and it feels like I just got here, and yet at the same time it feels like I've been here for months.

Today we had our first day off and it was SWEET! A bunch of us went to the beach and I felt so at home. Everyone skateboards here! I swear, it's amazing. I am a bit sad I didn't bring my board cause I'm having serious withdrawals but that's whatever. No time.

I swam in the Pacific today and the waves were boss but it was freezing. It legit took me like 4 hours to recover from that swim. My hands turned white, my ears hurt, I was shivering. No one would've been in that water in Savannah, but people were all up in it today. Maybe that's just cause the waves were rad. Idk, I've had my fill.

Tonight, I went to the gas station with some homies and this dude walks in and, get this, buys us all drinks because it's HIS birthday! What in the world?! We thought it was cause he knew we were from Invisible Children but he had no idea, he just said about it's more blessed to give than receive and bounced. How ruling is that?

So then we on our way back there's like 15 people rolling out in cars and so I jumped in one. Best decision ever. We get to this dude Dan's place and he has a tree in the middle of his house. Then we go hiking through the mountains. Dan's hilarious because he would just drop these bombs on us like "by the way, I need you turn your lights off because this might be illegal" or "By the way, we're gonna climb a fence and we need to do it quickly" or "just act normal, but don't say anything because we need to be quiet". That along with the shooting stars, tarantula and the fact that we climbed these rocks in the dark made this night ridiculous. Also, I'm pretty sure we may have snuck into Mexico.

Another thing that falls into the category with the gas station man is a comment from Hannah. Hannah's from England and has this awesome accent. I saw this immense shooting start fly all the way across the sky and she missed it, but instead of being bummed that she was looking away, she was stoked that I got to see it. I want to be stoked on others experiences more.

I wear my glasses here like 80% of the time. It's weird, I've never needed them so much. I've probably worn them 15% of the time since I first got them, maybe not even that much, but now my life would suck. I've gotten way too used to seeing things clearly. It's still odd though, I take them off for personal conversations and stuff like that.

Before coming we had to read an article called "To Hell with Good Intentions".
We've been discussing it lately and I've realized how much of the "service" things I've done have been way more about me than others. I can definitely look back and see that on all 4 mission trips I've been on, I definitely got a whole lot more out of going than I gave. In fact, some of the things from my life I used to be proud of, I now would be ashamed of. That's okay, because I'm super glad I know now.

I'm blogging more about experiences that are semi normal because what's actually going on at this place is so much more than I can explain. Some of the returning roadies we're telling me today that it's actually so hard to go back home because everyone wants you to explain thing but you literally can't. Like people not here just wont understand. Maybe some of you have at least been through things like that, things you just couldn't explain to anyone outside. It's kind of a bummer because I want everyone I know to experience or to know what's happening to me but I really can't put it to words in any way at all.

This is one of the few times in my life that it's honestly felt like this is not real. So cool.

My internet broke for a while. That was one of the most frustrating things ever. I finally fixed it today and it felt so good, plus I'm way more familiar with my computer.

I have a crush on every girl in this house. Bam. Secret's out.

Coffee all day. Everyday.

The atmosphere here is very anti typical American culture. Religion, politics and anything else controversial is conversation on the daily. We have a lot of agreement and a lot of different views on things but we also see the importance of them and so everyone's seems really willing to discuss and be open about what they believe. Be like that.

Last night, we had this uber trill jam sesh in the attic. We just passed around the guitar for like 2 hours and I have never met so many beautifully talented people. My man Spencer is this skinny white kid from Texas and he has this super soulful voice. Like a big ole black man from Savannah or something. Annie did this Lady Gaga cover better than, idk, Lady Gaga. Steve's got this unique kinda chill rock vibe and Haley just ruled my world with this song her mom used to sing to her when she was little. Everyone was so good. My goodness. Incredible.

Anyway, it's almost 3am and I got a lot to do tomorrow so I'm signing out.

I love you.
-Peace.

Stuy Lewis