This Blog Entry was imported via email so it has lost punctuation and some of the Graphics are missing and all of them are at the bottom of the page, not where they were originally.  Thanks, – Joe Jeter

Sorry for the delay in getting out what will probably be the last Journal entry from this trip. It’s been hectic and I got a nasty cold shortly after arriving in Africa. I’m getting better fast but just wasn’t in the mood to sit down and concentrate but I am now so here goes: Mission accomplished. My main purpose for stopping in Dubai was a fascination I have for 100% silk rugs. As most of you know, I have several Persian rugs and when I have a big enough house, they are all out. Right now, due to space constraints there are only a few unwrapped but my passion for these incredibly labor intensive pieces of art has continued on. Over the years I had seen many mind blowing silk rugs but the timing was always bad. I figured that it might be now or never so I hired a Guide and we took off to Abu Dhabi to find the perfect Rug. Just for edification, the “perfect silk rug” is manufactured in Qom Iran and has anywhere from 800 to 1,200 knots per square inch. My rug is probably in the 800 range which means it took a weaver 9 months, or more, to complete. I will have to have it authenticated but it met all of the criteria that I had studied. Even if it’s not a Qom, I believe it to be a Silk rug which is ultimately what I wanted. Previously I had mentioned the unimaginable wealth in the United Arab Emirates. In Abu Dhabi they are spending a trillion dollars building a Cultural area out in the middle of the Desert. There will be a Gugenheim Museum and several other large edifices, each one an architectural marvel and all of it will sit on the side of a lonely highway literally in the middle of nowhere. Abu Dhabi relies on oil for about 70% of their economy and it would appear that the Royal Family running that Emirate has not thought about the day when there is no more oil. Below is their main Mosque. The cost was in the Billions because everything that you see that is white is a rare white marble, everything that you see that is Gold is either real Gold or Gold plate, and inside is the largest persian rug in the world. It’s the size of a football field and took several 747’s to fly it in where it could be stitched together. I believe that when you include the courtyard, which they air condition when they use it, the Mosque will accommodate around 50,000 people. Dubai on the other hand only relies on oil for about 6% of their economy and they continue to diversify. Still, for a small country with very few resources except oil, they are living the good life. The following collage of pictures are from the Breakfast spread at my hotel. I only show this to point out what they import into the Emirate. NONE of this came from Dubai or, if it did, very, very little. It’s a sandy barren wasteland as soon as you drive out of the City and 90% of their water comes from desalination plants pulling fresh water out of the ocean. Being in the UAE was eerie. I took the Subway into the far reaches of the Dubai suburbs and it was really seedy. I was so dumbfounded by what I saw that I didn’t even photograph it but the following picture pretty much explains why I was ready to head out when my stay was over. After a relatively short flight (9 hours), I reached Johannesburg. If I was going to associate this city with a body part I would call it the asshole of Africa. You can’t just hail a taxi because there’s a good chance he will drive you to a point where he has friends waiting to rob you. Nobody goes into downtown which is owned by Nigerian criminal gangs, and except for some of the suburbs, you are best advised to stay inside. We were in a 5 star hotel in a cute little neighborhood but just knowing that you couldn’t wander past the boundaries of where we were staying without putting your life at risk made it oppressive. Oddly enough however the South African people, even the ones that live in Johannesburg, are incredibly kind and nice. I don’t mean to be prejudiced, but it is the poor, uneducated black majority that still have not adopted to Democracy. The ANC (African National Congress) rules this part of South Africa and they are obviously a bunch of clowns. Fortunately another party rules Cape Town and the southern provinces and the difference is beyond striking. Hopefully some day the rest of the country will wake up and drop a small nuclear bomb on Johannesburg. But here’s where I get to make a pleasant diversion. I’ve seen Tim work many times. In fact, I have worked alongside him or at the same event with with him so I know his work ethic. Often times in the past I have had to peel him away when it was obvious he was no longer needed. In Africa, for reasons that still evade me, he felt the need to be at the venue with the first group in the morning (5:30am) and stay until the last group left (8:30pm). He was waking up at 3:30am to start his day and when I got there he was too tired to even eat dinner. Someone had not made it to the event so I had my own room. As much as I wanted to be with Tim after 4 days in Islam, with his hectic schedule it just didn’t happen. But I have to say this; I have never been more proud of anyone. He rules with a smile and leaves behind a trail of goodwill but when he has to he can put his foot down and make things happen. Nobody intimidates him and the respect and admiration that I saw showered onto him was beyond impressive. He has truly flowered in this role and even though I threatened to leave him in Johannesburg if he didn’t take 15 minutes to spend with me, we worked it out and the short stay I had there was bearable…….barely. These events have become massive. In 2009 there were 2,500 people at the CrossFit Games. Now there are generally more people than that at each Regional and there are 17 of them around the world. The Games sell out almost immediately when the tickets go online and I believe they capacity limit the venue to 35,000 people. This year it will be on ESPN (the main channel) and the viewer statistics from the online webcast viewing is staggering. Tim is in for a wild ride and I am fortunate to be able to join him from time to time. We flew to Cape Town on Monday afternoon. There is a Group from CrossFit Headquarters called “The CrossFit Tour”. They travel around the world and meet with the Gym owners, take them to dinner and host events for them. When we booked this trip we did not know they would be in Johannesburg and here in Cape Town but, as a result, we’ve been wined and dined along with the Box owners. Yesterday we were supposed to go down in cages and watch the Great White Sharks feed. CrossFit had charted a boat for 35 people and Tim and I were on the invitation list. Sadly the weather would not allow it so the head of the Tour, Paula, booked a plan B. We took a van out into the Wine Country to a venue called “Spice Road”. It’s a huge facility where they manufacture their own Chocolate and Craft Beers, have multiple restaurants, and there was even a glass artist blowing the most amazing glass art you have ever seen. Tim and I HAD to buy a few pieces but those pictures will have to wait; the art was wrapped in bubble wrap before I could think to photograph it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is what we saw when we stepped out of the van. We went to a Chocolate tasting where they explained where Chocolate came from, how it was made, and we got to taste 6 different varieties from the different regions where cocoa beans are harvested. Did you know that chocolate originates in a large oval shaped fruit the size of a foot ball that grows on the side of a tree? The beans are seeds that the natives spit out when they eat the apparently very tasty insides of these not very pretty lumps. The process to turn those beans into chocolate is too convoluted to explain here but it was fascinating. Yes, we bought samples to bring home for you to try. Afterwards we went over to where they make craft beers. This too was informative as I only had a vague idea of how the different kinds of beer were made and how strictly the content of a beer is regulated. Each type of beer can only have certain ingredients or it simply cannot be called beer. This beverage has been traced back 5,000 years and is speculated to be one of the gifts from God mentioned in the Bible. I knew there was a reason I liked beer. Here is some interesting facts about beer types. It’s a cold and blustery day here in Cape Town. Tim and I are staying in a Hilton right on the edge of the City Center. There’s a funny story attached to this. We arrived in the late afternoon so the first thing I did was start to snoop around the room to see what we had. The minibar was well stocked with juices and mixers but no beer, wine or alcohol. I took a shower and noticed that next to the toilet was a hose attached to a spray nozzle. The ONLY place I have ever seen that before is in the Middle East because, apparently, the Middle Eastern men are very self conscious about their hairy butts and want to keep them spotless. Tim loves the idea and I have to confess, I’ve given it a shot. Of course, I had to peel Tim off of the Butt Washing Toilet we had in Korea as well. Anyway, we were tired and decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant. We sat down and were flipping through the menu and quickly noticed that there was no alcohol on the menu. The waiter came over and explained that we were in the Muslim neighborhood and we could only get wine or alcohol with our meal in a special room that was almost hidden away in the hotel and curtained off. We went there and ate and had a drink but it was weird. But that explained the call to prayer we heard soon after arriving and we quickly noticed that we are next door to a mosque. The hotel is nice except for the dearth of booze but you can order it in you room or go to this escape room and have a drink so you aren’t completely dry here. Oh, one other shortage here. The “High Speed Internet” wins records for being the slowest hotel internet I’ve ever experienced. I called the Front Desk and they were quick to admit that the internet was slow. This is a 5 star hotel in a very modern city and I’m not sure how long it will take to send this email; it won’t be quick. Last night we were treated to a fantastic dinner by the Tour Group and again this morning we had breakfast with them before they departed. They have been on the road for a month as well and were anxious to get home. Tim and I are here until Saturday and praying that this weather will abate so that we can do something. We REALLY want to go see the Great White Sharks but increasingly it is looking like that will have to wait for another time. It’s a shame because the tip of Africa is a long way from anywhere so it will be a production to get back. Tim says this is on his Bucket List however so, if I can possibly pull it off, we will be back. We’ve had several invitations from the locals to be shown around and Tim is at a nearby Gym right now working out. He hasn’t been able to do that more than a few times since he hit the road a month ago and he was anxious to get back on track. Like I said earlier, he has worked superhuman hours, flown to 4 continents in 4 weeks, and had to put up with me most of that time. As our therapist would say” “4 Gold Stars for Tim Chan”. I’m not sure how much more I’m going to have to report. The trip is winding down and right now there are gale force winds and rain keeping us on a short leash. We are probably going to walk across the street to have dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel I stayed at when I was here 10 years ago. I remember the food to be fantastic and we walked in and checked it out today. They age their own meats and everything here is Grass Fed. Other than telling you how delicious our steaks were, this may be the end of what has been an unbelievable saga. When I met Tim almost 6 years ago he was a homebody. I had to pry him down to Puerto Vallarta and to Europe. Now we are looking at being in Los Angeles in July, Lake Tahoe in August, Montreal in October, then the holidays where we hope to just stay put and then it starts all over again next year. if next year is anything like this year it will be exponentially bigger so as I said earlier, Tim (and myself) are in for a wild ride. One last anecdote. I’ve had several people come up to me and enthusiastically introduce themselves because awareness of my work with Tim has spread through parts of the Company. I have also sent gifts of wine, champagne and even chocolate covered strawberries to Tim and the teams he’s working with and unbeknownst to me, had become sort of a shadow legend (perhaps slightly overstated). I also had several people ask me what my role was in CrossFit because they just assumed I worked for the Company. Tim and I had a quick pillow-talk conversation about that as we both realized that I have played a significant role in several of the events but virtually everything I do is confidential. I can’t even say on here what I do. All I can say is that Tim works for the highest ranking person at the Company and has earned the respect of this person and everyone I have seen him come in contact with. Because Tim and I trust each other so deeply, I am privy to the inner workings of one of the most dynamic Companies to spring out of nowhere in history. One man, the founder of CrossFit, has changed the face of Fitness around the world. It’s painfully obvious now that Functional Fitness, whether it’s taught in a CrossFit gym or at any other gym, has become universally recognized as the way to train. So now when people ask me what my role is at CrossFit I just smile and say “I can’t talk about it”. What I want to say is “Bond, James Bond”. LOL. Look forward to seeing everybody soon. Joe & Tim