Day 10 - Fiery Drinks...

First of all, today is my big brother’s birthday! Don’t worry Sean, I won’t tell ‘em how old you’re getting – that is, if you can even read this without your bifocals anyway ;)

This morning was our community group’s WOW morning- Now, I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I’m guessing it’s just a reason to get people up in front of the group and professors and speakers and have us make fools of ourselves. Or maybe just to pump everyone up? Have a good morning laugh to start the day out right? Get us out of our comfort zones? I dunno. Doesn’t matter, really- it was fun! We made up a Global L.E.A.D. rap (yes, rap- real gangsta) to Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” And it went a little somethin’ like this:

Soooooommmeebody once told me Cape Town was gonna own me,

But now we’re here and seizing the day

We had that tourist look with our camera and our blue book

And the letters “USA” on our forehead

Well, the days start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’

Climbed Table Mountain and we hit the trail runnin’

Didn’t make sense not to Sunset Cruise

The friends were great and the waves were smooth

So much to do, so much to see so we gotta take Ish’s taxi

You never know so just don’t go, LEAD!

You never shine if you don’t glow

Hey now, we’re in Cape Town, get your game on, go, LEAD

Hey now, we’re in Cape Town, bungee, skydive, safari

And seeing the smiles of those kids,

If only we could dance just they did

**Disclaimer: please do not judge me for all these cheesy lines.**

Today we had the honor of having Vince and Barbara Dooley visit with us and speak in class. Lucky for us, they waited to start our WOW thing until they got there- ergh. Maybe I should find them and personally apologize… Anywho, they were absolutely fantastic speakers – charming, engaging, witty, genuine, and just all around enjoyable to listen to. I didn’t see one person nodding off! …as that tends to be an issue in some classes, unfortunately. Think about trying to keep the full attention of 101 college kids at 9 o’clock in the morning. It’s no easy feat, I assure you. The Dooley’s managed to do it with flying colors!

my sprinbok steak

Mr. Vince Dooley started us out talking about some of the things he’s learned about leadership through the years as UGA’s football coach among other things (and lesser schools…GO DAWGS!). His main points included the acronym P.R.I.D.E. and he was sure to specify not the kind of pride that crosses the line into arrogance. P is for preparation. As one team member put it- “proper preparation prevents poor performance,” the 5 P’s. He stressed that anyone has the will to win a football game, but not everyone has the will to put in the time in preparation for that game. R is for risk. His example of risk was UGA hiring him at age 31 to come be the athletic director. He said he and Barbara realized years later that they were the only two people who thought that was a “good hire.” I is for integrity. Mrs. Barbara went into more detail on this subject; integrity is the most important thing to have and it just takes one small move to ruin it and you may never be able to get it back. D is for drive and determination. Mr. Dooley taught us that drive and determination are more important than talent. He used Herschel Walker as an example. Herschel was a good player and fast, but two other boys on his highschool team were just as fast, and “that made him mad.” And his older sister was faster than he was! “And that made him mad.” He decided that he needed to do anything he could to get faster. He worked on starts and all sorts of other things to give him an edge. And finally he could beat those other two players on his team. But his sister was still faster! Also, Mr. Dooley noted that amongst some of the most successful people in the arts, sciences, sports, etc., usually were not the most talented in their family. It was their drive that set them apart and allowed them to be great. E is for everybody. This is where working together and truly being a team comes into play. It really was such an inspiring lecture (if you want to call it that). Mr. Dooley colored his speaking with splashes of funny stories about football, life in general, and his wife- his inspiration he says. How sweet is that?

Moving on to Mrs. Barbara Dooley - my heavens, she is something. She seemed to be such a witty, wise, positive, strong, and well-grounded sweetheart of a lady. And this is only after maybe 30 minutes of hearing her speak? I only hope that I can have her great attitude and outlook on life. She spoke mainly about overcoming obstacles- both the kind you can control and the kind you can’t do anything about. And her philosophy is that it all depends on one thing- your attitude. Attitude is really the only thing we can control. For example, she had breast cancer and remained positive throughout the chemo and radiation. She said once she saw the look of terror on her kids’ faces, she knew she would have to be strong and positive through the whole process. When she decided to shave her head, she bought wigs of all different kinds- blonde, red, long black with red streaks, and a spiked one.

A couple pieces of her advice include:

• The woman is the ‘thermostat’ of the household- if you’re crabby, your kids will be crabby and your husband will be crabby. If you’ve got a good attitude, your kids and husband will likely have positive attitudes too.
• Everything you do has a ripple effect on your family- making them proud, shamed, etc.
• Hit any obstacles you meet head-on. You’ll be able to handle them best when you have the determination to be strong and have a positive attitude.
• Never stop working on relationships. You have the power to make them happy and good or the power to ruin it.

live entertainment at Mama Africa

For the rest of the day we’re free to do whatever. As for my roomies and I, we will be resting, grocery shopping, doing yoga, and going to dinner at Mama Africa. A group of about 15 of us along with two other groups with about 50 people total all chose to go to Mama Africa. On the menu were items such as kudu, ostrich, alligator, springbok, warthog and other random items. I chose the springbok steak, and it was fabulous. It really did taste just like normal beef steak! I tried the others except for warthog- no one ordered it! I don’t blame ‘em. Sounds weird. After dinner we all headed over to Dubliner’s again, then to Fiction to end the night.

not lookin too happy about this traditional fire deal... but hey- when in Rome, right?