Jessica Chuan, SAGE Team Member: Culture Shock: A phenomenon in which an individual encounters a surprising ritual, custom, or norm that is not familiar to them in their homeland. This is my definition for culture shock, because I had a few bolts here and there. That is one of the best parts about traveling, these electrifying differences! South Africa was phenomenal as a whole and I’m precisely grateful that the language barrier was paper thin. English is a common language and the only obstacle was some of the thicker accents.

Is it cliché that I’m going to say that this trip was a forever memorable one? Maybe so, but hey, I have proof!

1) I will never forget the security guard who asked for a strip of my plastic bag in order to use it as teeth floss.

2) I will never forget the charisma and the very human connection that the all the African SAGE teams gave me as we made friends. If there’s something I want to bring back to the states, it’s that ability be so attentive while chatting in an everyday conversation.

3) I will never forget Denis, our safari ranger who had a strikingly pleasant accent and a fantastic sense of humor. Apparently he was close enough to the rhinos that he felt comfortable eating their feces as he yelled out “Welcome to Africa!” It’s okay though, he reassured us rhinos diet consisted of only grass.

4) I will never forget all the business contacts, friends, and international students I have met; how we are all so different, yet we have all of these interesting parallels. I was talking to Shaquille Jele from South Africa and we automatically related to each other as we spoke about the urgent need for humanity to halt selfishness and consumption and become more altruistic and philanthropic.

5) I will remember the gorgeous sides of South Africa; it’s melodic beach tides and it’s astonishingly honest people.

6) I will also remember the sides of South Africa that still needs improvement; the sensitive parts that are tucked away carefully from the tourists, hHidden areas like the squatter’s camp where they had huts made of scraps of metal and the frozen mornings where the homeless would huddle outside an extravagant building.

7) I will remember yanking my shirt down when it accidently slid up a little in Dubai. When in Rome, …I mean Dubai; cover your knees and elbows!

8) And of course I will always remember that the team makes the star, and we are all like pieces of a remote. Some of us charge the others with energy, some of us connect us together and others, and well others push our buttons. But without each piece, we wouldn’t be able to steer us into the right direction. So I thank SAGE, South Africa, and all of our wonderful pieces for working together, even when we thought control was the last thing we had.

If I listed all the things that I remembered from this trip, then you would probably want me to keep it in my memory bank and off this blog, so I guess I will end it off with this: We need a climate change in human consciousness and a global warming of hearts. SAGE has shown me, us, and I think it’s safe to say everyone that we are all working for a common goal. So let’s give back, and make profits!