On Holiday.

by Chris Kamalski

Holiday (From dictionary.com):

–noun

1. a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.
2. any day of exemption from work (distinguished from working day ).
3. a time or period of exemption from any requirement, duty, assessment, etc.: New businesses may be granted a one-year tax holiday.
4. a religious feast day; holy day, esp. any of several usually commemorative holy days observed in Judaism.
5. Sometimes, holidays. Chiefly British. a period of cessation from work or one of recreation; vacation.
6. an unintentional gap left on a plated, coated, or painted surface.

–verb (used without object)

9. Chiefly British. to vacation: to holiday at the seaside.
Origin:
bef. 950; ME; OE hāligdæg. See holy, day
I am writing this post of brevity from the lovely confines of Big Blue Backpackers (Google them), a fine hostel in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Capetown, South Africa.  Busi, Colletta, and I flew down late this afternoon, chasing a breathtaking sunset to enjoy our first off-week holiday, as we have remarkably completed the Orientation, Listening, and Submerging Learning Postures (which means that we are almost 40% done with our Apprenticeship year!?!?).  Tomorrow, Adrienne and her boyfriend Ryan join us, as well as Curtis who comes in from a 26-hour(!) train ride.  We’ll spend the next 5 days here until early Thursday morning, in which case most Apprentices head home, and I take our rented Corsa for a road trip along the famous Garden Route of South Africa (specifically, the coastal Indian Ocean region between Mossel Bay and Storms River Mouth in Tsitsikamma National Park).  I’ll be less than 100KM from Jeffrey’s Bay, the world-famous right-point tube made famous by WCT surfers the world over.  I’ll spend 4 days by myself hiking, driving, meandering along the coast, and that’s right: BODYBOARDING!
I could not be more excited.
I desperately need a holiday.  From intensive coaching training this past week almost all day Monday-Thursday, to truly submerging into culture and ministry in the local township of Soshanguve and with my growing friendships at Third Place (a highly creative Afrikaner church in Pretoria East at which I am teaching monthly experiences in spiritual formation/disciplines), to offering spiritual direction in group settings to local hospice care workers out in the township, to a few other emerging opportunities to care for the souls of new friends here….
….I.AM.WORN.OUT.

I need: refreshment, solitude, fun, lightness, novels, bodyboarding, tube rides, nature, new environments, and simply REST.
Please pray for these next 9 days….I am eager to return refreshed, renewed, and ready to dive into the second third of our year submerging into live in Pretoria, South Africa!
Much to report and catch you up on regarding our first 1/3 of this year upon my return….some lovely goodies are coming your way!