"Declaring War on Fat and Laziness"

I have lived in Zimbabwe, Spain, the US and now here and I must say I believe that I am a respectful, "PC" type guy. I like America, I dont agree with everything America does, but, I am proud of many things that embody America. I am proud to be American, some days more than others, but, nonetheless, I like being a combination of Zimbabwe, Britain and the States. I also like people who are nice.

It's difficult traveling the world and finding people who HATE America, who think we are horrible instigators of everything that is evil. I understand many of the viewpoints they come from and many I would agree with, but, even in that, I would never present things the way some people present them. There are many things that I don't like about South Africa, but, choosing to focus on the positive, I am here and I enjoy it. Although many things that America does are wrong, many things that America does are right. The point of this post though is not to get serious about those issues, because I could "argue" and debate many of the different sides to that coin, living in both countries to the person that is yelling about it while sipping his McDonalds and wearing his Nike's. The point of this post is to truly dissect the image that America has given to this one man, sitting on the couch at my bible study.

For one of my best friends bachelor's here, about 8 of us guys hit up BOOT CAMP. We did huge mud rolls and drops, ran and swam through swamps, jumped hurdles, went through sand pit cargo net routines, over rope swings and got tons of pushups in - it was a ton of fun, with or without, Sargeant Viper. We all ended up mud ridden, tired, and laughing quite a lot.

The night before Ange and I went to dinner with very close friends, Casey and Gareth and I was telling about how easy its been over the past almost 3 years to make friends with South Africans, how the cultures collide and how I feel that I have transitioned. We then discussed the typical "we hate america" experiences I had when I first got here, sadly all with Christians. The first one, was the one that stuck out the most. My 2nd week here in SA, back in 2005, my first bible study I came to - the conversation went like this:

Me: Yes, Im from America.

Rogan: Wow, all Americans are fat and lazy.

Me : (looking at my self thinking, well, im not fat, and im here in Africa, so I really can't be lazy)

Fast forward to this weekend. After me recounting this to Gareth and Casey and their horror at someone being so rude, Gareth and I pull in to the BOOT CAMP parking lot. As we are getting out, I say "uuh, hahaha, uuh, Gareth, look at the sign!!!"

BOOT CAMP: DECLARING WAR ON FAT AND LAZINESS

Apparently, I was in the right place....