It took about 8 hours to drive from Arizona into San Diego, CA. We arrived at Balboa Park for our host pickup where I was greated by my two host dads, Jim and Gavin. Jim works at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, and Gavin is an interior designer who works with historical home restoration. They have been together for the last 7 years. Jerod Shelsta was my roommate for the week along with former roomate, Pierre from Germany. Tuesday we took a trip to the US/Mexico border. 
Our group got a special experience at the border because we were escorted to the southwestern most point of the United States where the border extends into the ocean. It was an amazing perspective to see Mexicans on the beach at one side of the fence, and then our group on the other. 
We interacted with some of the Mexican’s and I even bought a popsicle from a man who after trying to squeeze it through the fence, decided to throw it over the top to me. While I understand our reasoning for tight border patrol, there was still an eerie feeling of separation between the US and Mexico. It was as if this simple fence line had the power to decide what your identity was. Even the look in the Mexican’s eyes staring back at us gave me the feeling that it was a jail they couldn’t escape. 
I’m not inferring that every Mexican has wishes to come to the US, but my particular experience posessed a great feeling of the haves, and the have-nots. We spoke with a border patrol agent who explained to us the every day activity at the border as well as the staggering number of illegal “aliens” attempting to cross, and those successful. I also learned of the new wall that is supposedly being constructed in the border proximity that we visited. Wednesday morning we heard from two special speakers. One from the International Torture Relief Foundation, an amnesty group that helps aid victims of torture who have taken refuge in the US. The other was from an organization that helps protect the proper treatment of Mexican immigrants coming over the border. That afternoon was our first CI activity in San Diego. My group of 9 student went to the Downtown Senior Center, a place for the elderly in the area, some homeless, to spend time out and also get a free meal. I played dominoes for an hour with 3 men who took the game pretty seriously. I realized for the first time that dominoes aren’t just for setting up and knocking down. Basically, I got my butt kicked! We then performed a 3 song BTS set at lunch for a group of around 80 seniors. Although most of them were clapping horribly off beat, it was an awesome afternoon. That night we had a huge bonfire/hangout at Mission beach where we got to finally relax and enjoy being in California.
Thursday, my group did CI at "Hostel International." It’s a low cost temporary housing unit downtown for young adults traveling in San Diego. We ripped apart one of the rooms and did some sanding and lots of painting. The rest of the afternoon was mostly internal education and promotions.
Friday morning I got to be apart of a group that went to the FOX news affiliate in San Diego and performed on their morning show. We had about a 3 min. spot and performed the song and dance “Keep the Beat.” Saturday was our show day at the California Center for the Performing Arts in Escondido. It was a beautiful venue with four levels that looked like an opera house.
We worked during the day polishing up dance lines and other showpieces. We had two special performances in the show that night…a break dance group from one of the organizations we partnered with that week, as well as a girls dance company who performed a piece midway through the show. I want to give a shout out to Greg Luebke who drove all the way down from Hollywood to watch me perform. 
He sat in the second row and made me a bit nervous, but even more so he psyched me up to to do a great show. My dads Aunt from La Jolla, Aunt Jean also attended the show, which was great to see her.Sunday was FINALLY our free day. My amazing host dads set up surf instruction for Pierre and I with a friend originally from Australia who was a pro surfer for 15 years.
were in the water for about 3 hours and the surf actually held up pretty well, so we had a blast. The rest of the day was spent napping the week off and getting ready to take off on Monday. We did get to eat In-N-Out for dinner, which was a must while in California. Host family stories of the week:
My host dads Jim and Gavin were so cool. They has an immaculate spread every morning for breakfast where we were waken with a, “good morning sunshine”…Gavin knew he was being annoying! They’re 9-month-old black lab “Cole” did decide to tear up half my Bible one day while I was gone and use it as a chew toy.
only got the old testaments though, so I was able to save a chunk. We had 5 men in one small house sharing a single bathroom, but it was an experience that I wont soon forget. They pretty much spoiled us rotten…Thanks again guys!Were now on the road to Corcoran, California…the agricultural capital of California. Talk to you all soon…thanks for reading and remember to leave some comments…
