I first tried the “Lee” helmet from Predator about two years ago when a friend of mine learned I was in the market for a helmet and let me try his out. I immediately fell in love with the fit of the helmet, sitting perfectly on my head and staying tightly in place with the added strap in the back, unlike my last helmet that tended to wobble around, providing less protection, and once giving me a good lump on my forehead after an unfortunate roll. The lightweight feel is perfect for comfortability on the river and is great for any type of playboating, whether your surfing Nile Special Wave in Uganda, or throwing down in a rodeo at the Reno Whitewater Center. Though lightweight, you still feel very protected, even when running steep creeks like the Garganta del Diablo section of the Rio Claro in Chile. The added sun visor also comes in handy on those long sunny days of summer. Overall, the Predator “Lee” is the top of the line helmet to have no matter what form of boating you enjoy.
As I arrive home from Uganda, I immediately fall back into habits of being a typical, “american,” teenager. I left the plane, walked through the terminal, and went straight to Wendy’s where I enjoyed a baconator and chicken nuggets. As I sat in the cold Washington Airport, eating my fast food, I began to remember all the things I just went through. The endless hours spent surfing special, running Itunda and Silverback, and endlessly hot days spent relaxing in the African sun. What I wasn’t thinking about was the culture change I had just experienced.
When you go from a life of easy living, no matter how “hard” you think your life may be, and experience a place like Africa where basically, everyone is stuck living a very hard life, you experience sympathy and pity, but also apathy. You know you want things to change but there isn’t much you can do. You are constantly bombarded by people asking for money, hungry children, and people you know will live out the remainder of their lives doing nothing but walking to the water pump. It makes coming home feel good, and bad. On one hand, your back in a society where your needs are met and you aren’t dealing with people of a different culture. On the other hand, you remember that as you eat you nuggets, there are children on the other side of the world sleeping in mud huts and working a tow rope all day to make a quarter for their family.
You start to notice the things you take for granted everyday like running water and a house. You watch the amount of garbage piling up in your trash can and realize that you go through more things in one day then those kids do in years. I walk through crowds of people spending their money on cigarettes and more food then they should ever need and I see the dark side of today’s first world country. The rich stay rich and the poor stay poor in this corrupt society, yet I stay here for the benefits of the corruption.
Could the world change and push Africa into success? I doubt I will be alive to see that day. The world will continue spinning and while people die in Africa, the buffets will continue to be stocked in America. It is this reason that my world has been changed by the culture shock given by my own country.
The last week of the first quarter has started! We are finishing up essay’s and studding for finals. Last weekend on Firday we drove up to the Upper Yaugh and had a great day there. There was lots of great boof practice and everyone got a lot better at boofing. One spot in particular, National Falls, was a place where we spent a lot of time. We got to see lots of people get great boofs (and one free-wheel) and also some sweet beat downs. On Saturday we ran the Gauley again and had a great suuny day. We have the rest of the week until Friday to do school and then SAT’s for some people on Saturday. Everyone is happy to be able to go home and rest for a while to get ready for Chile.
As a part of video class, we have decided to make a video series called “Gear Check with Alex and Stephen.” Stephen Forster and I are planning on making one of these videos every two weeks. This month we have already made our first video, the Jackson All-Star. I am very excited to continue to make this series and see where the series will go.
Saturday morning I arrived at the Ottawa airport and drove with everyone to Keenerville. It was raining really hard most of the way, but the paddling was great.
We ran the Main Channel on Sunday, everyone did really well. Some people ran the boof on the Lorn, while led a group down the main line. Garb was almost in, and I hope it comes in soon.
Today was my first day of school on the Ottawa with NRA. School is great and all the teachers are really cool and I’m really excited about this coming year. The level is at 2 and corner wave is really sweet! We are going to go out to Corner Wave today after school, everyone is really anxious.
