Final Reflections

Hello Everyone

Well after some hellish flights, I am home safe and sound. It feels so good to sleep in my own bed and spend time relaxing with family. I've still got South Africa on my mind, of course. I am going through this blog and adding photos to entries where I talk about different events, moments, etc..that I have photos of. If you're interested, just browse through my previous entries to see the images attached to the descriptions. I added some highlights here just to entice you to go back and check them out!

Thank you to all of you who've read this blog. I came home to find my family telling me that people I don't even know have been keeping up with my experience. I appreciate all of your support! I hope you've enjoyed reading some of the crazy things I've experienced but more importantly, I hope that you think about the children and the people living in post-apartheid South Africa. There is work to be done. I imagine some of you may feeling like you want to help or do something for the people who are living in those shacks and shanties and I can understand. I've gone through a lot of emotional turmoil trying to cope with those realities and I'm still doing a lot of reflecting on ways that I can make that trip more meaningful. How can I reconcile my own lifestyle and everything I have, with what those children face everyday? For me, I think that it is about 1) being grateful for what I have and rethinking some of the things that I might complain about or stress over 2) using this experience in my teaching 3)making people aware and spreading information to others in hopes that people will take action.

There is one thing that I hope you'll all keep in mind, if you choose to donate time or money to a cause in South Africa and really all over the world. I've learned that though people have good intentions in giving money or items to people in poverty, it often has negative consequences. Change needs to be sustainable. CCS has taught me that the best way to help people is by using local resources and really helping people help themselves. Instead of throwing money at the situation, educate people on how to provide for themselves or get access to local resources. Donate to organizations that are working in communities hand in hand with community members, give to causes that you know exactly how your money is being spent and decide whether or not that aid has long term benefits to the recipients, and volunteer your time doing work that is needed as determined by the people who you are working for or with. I certainly am not pressuring anyone to do these things, I just know that I was incredibly moved by what I experienced and I imagine some of you might be as well. If you can't or are unable to donate time or aid abroad, then you can definitely stay informed, spread awareness, and take small steps to spread peace and equality in your own community.

Again, thanks for reading. I had the most amazing experience of which I am still feeling the effects. I know that those kids will be in my heart forever and I feel like I've grown and learned alot. I can pretty much guarantee that I'll do something like this again. And, even more certain, I'll donate more time in my own community doing work locally. It was an unforgettable experience and I hope that you all get to do something like that, see a new perspective & culture, at some point in your life.


Some highlights...

Table Mountain



Cape of Good Hope



Cage Diving with Great White Sharks


Class One Grade 3B



Class Two Grade 3A


Love,
Sarah

Home safe and sound!! We had a ton of flight issues but I'll definitely update more later. Just relaxing and taking care of my jetlag!

Stuck in London, yet again.

Did I mention that I hate flying? Well, I do. We had rough flights on the way to Cape Town and our bad luck stuck around on the way home. We left Cape Town in the middle of a storm, an hour and a half later than scheduled. Thus, we arrived in London later than anticipated and after running all over this stupid airport (which is HUGE I might add, we had to take trains to get from terminals and whatnot) we missed it. Finally someone helped get us on a new flight through US Airways. We are now going London to Philly, Philly to Detroit and we should arrive in Detroit by 7:30pm. As if the storm and turbulence weren't enough to raise my anxiety level...
Anyway, its all worked out now and we should be home soon, just much later than anticipated. Talk about MAJOR jet lag..I slept like an hour on the flight to London so technically, by the time I get home I will have been awake for like 30 hours. UGH!
Lyndsay and I are both fine though, just a little frazzled. Looking forward to being home soon!!!

Hoya Nag. Good night South Africa!

Blog Update June 23, 2009

Sorry for the lack of updating—it’s been hectic. I’m staying at a hostel in Cape Town and the internet here is really sketchy and doesn’t like to let me sign into my blog. Thus, I’m writing this in MS Word with the hope that I can copy and paste it into my blog soon.

So, Friday was my last day of placement. I did the haiku and snowflake activity and it was really great. I feel so proud of the kids when they write their little poem and paste it onto a cute snowflake that they’ve made. I then hung them around the room and my teacher was so happy with it she said that she will probably keep them up all year, which makes me feel great. I got lots of hugs and lovely little notes. Those kids are just so affectionate and writing things like “to the one I trust” or “I will keep you in my heart forever” and “may God bless you and watch over you and your family”. Such sweet and thoughtful kids. I nearly cried on my last day but I held it together because I thought that would be awkward, haha.

Friday afternoon we hiked Table Mountain! We were fortunate enough to have a perfectly clear, warm sunny day in the middle of Cape Town winter. It was a 2(ish) hour grueling hike. Literally, it is straight up. You are on a steep incline the whole way, and you’re walking on rocks and there are even parts where you have to be on all fours. It was super intense. At the top though, you feel such a sense of accomplishment. I felt accomplished for so many times here when I have completely stepped outside my comfort zone and character to do something challenging and difficult for myself. I did it! It was an amazing view from the top. You could see all of Cape Town and the ocean—it was just wonderful.


Later that night we went out with the rest of the CCS gang as a last hurrah. I was feeling really sick and just tired since I didn’t sleep much the night before so I didn’t stay out too late, but it was great seeing everyone and the others at Homebase1.

Saturday we packed our things and came to the hostel called Cape Town Backpackers. It’s nice and safe. There’s a little bar downstairs, and a kitchen, and lots of seating area. It’s great too because Dena, Lyndsay, Aly, and I have a private room with our own bathroom. I’m liking it a lot, the only downside is that it can get kind of loud. I think that I am just SO ready to sleep in my own bed, without 3 other people in the room haha.

We have just been moseying around town, killing time essentially. The weather has been crappy and I’m really low on money so, there isn’t much to do. We had a nice dinner at this place called Café Mojito with Glenna, Jen, Shanika, and Amanda who are all still in the middle of their volunteering program with CCS. Today we saw Sunshine Cleaning at the movie theater and it made me feel like I was at home, til I walked outside and saw Table Mountain covered in fog. Tonight we are seeing a South African play called Prison Codes, which Jen had found for us so that should be interesting.

Other than that, I’m all packed and ready to go. Faried, one of the awesome drivers who we got to know well, is taking Lyndsay and I to the airport for our flight home. It should be interesting, because I’m bringing home two bottles of wine so hopefully that doesn’t cause any issues. I know that I will have to claim it and all, but hopefully they don’t make me unpack everything and show them. It’s all packed in there pretty tight! Thank God I brought that extra duffle bag because even though I didn’t need it on the way here, I definitely need it for the way home…Hmmm I wonder why that is….:)

This will probably be my last update til I am home. My flight arrives in the states at 12:15pm Thursday. Hopefully I will get photos uploaded to facebook and probably onto a snapfish.com account where you all can view them (if you don’t have facebook).
Here’s my tentative plan for the rest of my summer:
Home June 25th. Spend time with family til mom and dad leave for their vacation on Sunday.
See Steve, hang out with Rachel.
Get up to East Lansing on/after the 4th of july to see friends (Hey TE folk-that means you too!)
Spend time in EL and home until Steve and I go to Costa Rica the end of July (Yep, I have TWO trips in one summer. I’m a lucky/broke girl!)
Pack up my life, then move to Chicago August 8th. So, now that you all know what I’ll be doing, find a way for our paths to cross (intentionally, preferably haha).

Update: I forgot to mention the safari!! Here's some photos to do the talking for me :)

Do you know Obama?

Wow, I only have two days left at my placement. I really wish I had more time with the kids. It’s so crazy because I have only had like 5 days with each class because there were two days off because of a holiday called Youth Day. Youth Day is like a memorial day to commemorate the violent uprising of children in Soweto in the 70s. The students were protesting and demonstrating for better education and police open fired on the crowed killing hundreds of young people. If you’re interested in reading more, check this out: http://africanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa060801a.htm

This weekend was long and relaxing. Saturday consisted of a trip out to Stellenbosch area to the many many South African winelands. We went to four different wineries and the first even produced its own cheese (which was SOOO good). I tried something like 20 different wines (sips mind you) and still have concluded that I HATE red wine. The only red-ish wine that I liked was the sparkling wine called Cape Jazz of which I bought a bottle of to bring home. It’s like a celebratory drink and I think it would be really cool to save for New Years or something. Needless to say, after that day we were all a little tipsy and tired. Came back for a little nap and some dinner and then relaxed for the evening. A lot of people in the homebase went out on the garden route for “adventure weekend” full of skydiving, caving, and bungee jumping. Obviously, that isn’t my thing. It was nice to have a quiet evening with just 5 or 6 of us in the house.


Sunday, I went to Kirstenbosch gardens with Lyndsay, Glenna, ShaNika, and Jen. It was absolutely beautiful! The gardens wind up along the mountain and there is just so much natural beauty all around. It was really nice to walk around there.
Monday we attempted to go to Robben Island. We got out to the waterfront and bought tickets just for it to be cancelled an hour later. Robben Island is like a 45min ferry ride off Cape Town so if the wind is too much, the swells out in the ocean get really big and then it isn’t a good idea to be boating out there. We’re hoping to get to the island this weekend or next week. Monday night we went out to a bar called The Dubliner for some live music and adult beverages with like 25 of us volunteers. It was a really nice, casual fun time.

Tuesday was Youth Day and we planned to go on safari but the weather was too bad so that got cancelled too. Unfortunately, weather in Cape Town is even more unpredictable than Michigan! For one thing, it’s in the middle of massive mountains and the ocean, and it is the rainy season. So it might rain all morning then be sunny and 75 in the afternoon. Or, it might be windy and cold all day. Or some combination of the above. Thus, it’s hard to plan for outdoor activities that require good weather. We’re hoping for this weekend but there are a few complications with that so we’ll see. If I don’t get to go on safari, I won’t be too disappointed. I feel like I’ve experienced a lot more to South Africa than animals on a private game reserve. Now, if I were in Kruger then hell yeah, I would be determined to go on safari. There, the animals are wild. Near Cape Town, they are wild-ish but on a private game reserve. So who knows!

Today I taught quite a bit and talked a lot about home and then the students wrote a few paragraphs about what they learned about me and the US. They wanted to know all kinds of things: what my mommy and daddys names were and when their birthdays were, what kind of animals are wild in Michigan, if I have met celebrities, do I know Obama, what my favorite season is, what my favorite color is, and if my flight was scary. It was really fun  I drew a poor version of the American flag and of Michigan and drew dots where I lived. I also read them a poem by Shel Silverstein called hug-o-war and talked about who he was and what his poems are like. I hope that they might be able to go out and find them around here (though I’m not sure how big he is in SA). Friday I am doing the haiku/snowflake activity as a good bye thing for this class. It went awesome with the other class, so I hope it’ll be just as great with them.

Snowflakes:

Next week Lyndsay and I are staying in a hostel with two other girls who are staying later than the program. We’re taking it easy for now, and I’m sure we’ll just do some more exploring in the city during that time (and robben island if we still haven’t done it by then).

I can’t believe it’s almost over. In exactly one week, I will be getting on a plane to come home. Let’s hope that plane ride is better than the last. Seriously, cross your fingers. My anxiety can’t take it!
As sad as I am to leave all of the wonderful kids, I’m definitely running out of money and I’m ready to sleep in my own bed. It’s definitely not easy living with 16 females and sharing a small room with another. I’m ready for my own space and privacy back! Plus, I need a damn hamburger and some chocolate cookies. (Got that, mom & dad? Hahaha) Love you!

PS: Happy Belated Birthday Rachel!!

Sunsets,Shopping, Snowflakes, Spicy food, and more…

I apologize for not updating sooner—I feel like this week has really just flown by so fast and I haven’t had much time to update. After shark diving, we went for a day drive around the peninsula to Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, all part of a national park reserve area. It was breathtaking. I have some amazing photos from the ocean and the scenery. We saw wild ostriches and penguins, and saw an amazing sunset. I can’t wait to print off photos and frame them. I seriously feel like even with my crappy camera and my lack of photography skills, every shot was like national geographic or something. It is just that beautiful.


The next day, we ventured into the city to Green Market Square. This is essentially a huge craft/artisan market where you can bargain and get things really cheap. I spent more money than anticipated but it only came out to be like $50 US. Not bad for all the things I got (I cant tell you here since some of the things I bought are gifts for my family!). I got pretty good at bargaining and I must say, I was impressed.

This week I left my first class of third graders and had to switch to a new one. I guess that the two third grade teachers like to share the volunteers, which is great. It was hard leaving the other children just as I was really getting to know them as individuals and build relationships with them. This class is a lot different than my other one. My previous teacher was warm and open, and so good with the kids. They were really well-behaved and she had high standards for them but there was always a positive environment in the classroom. The air in my new classroom is very heavy. It is always just so negative. The teacher has an abrasive personality and will often yell at the kids and even embarrass them by yelling at them if they don’t understand something or don’t do something right. I just don’t think learning happens when students are afraid to ask questions or make mistakes. You need to feel comfortable taking risks in the classroom and I don’t think these kids do.

My new class:

I think it’s a personality thing (the teachers) but also a cultural thing as well. South African culture really values well-behaved children, almost a “seen and not heard” kind of belief. It is really important for students to respect adults and give them high respect and authority. They also really don’t pamper kids or sugarcoat things. They are very honest with them and have high expectations. I think this is good because often times, I find that in the US we are soo lax with students or we feel like they are so sensitive that we treat them with too much fragility. I believe there needs to be a good balance. I think I found that balance in my first classroom, but I’m on the other extreme right now. While it makes me uncomfortable to witness a lot of these interactions, I know that I’m bringing something different to the kids. I am able to teach lessons and manage the classroom ( for the most part, I mean..kids are kids lol so misbehavior definitely occurs) but I maintain a smile. I can be firm and command their attention but treat them with kindness and respect. From both perspectives that I have gotten here, I have learned a lot. I definitely have so much experience and perspective to bring home with me.

This week we visited District 6 in the city. Before apartheid, the area known as district six was a thriving, diverse community. Blacks, coloreds, whites, Indians, etc…lived together in harmony and created great art, food, and music. Unfortunately, under the group areas act in 196-(Don’t quote me, but I think it was 61?) apartheid ruled that these “races” could not intermix. Each respective group was forced to move out of district 6 into another part of town. District 6 was bulldozed and 60000 people were forced out of their homes. Apartheid created so many horrible things but I believe the worst thing it did was convince people that they didn’t belong together. After visiting Bo Kaap (a mostly Moslem section of town), we learned that people in one group were told how horrible the other group was and vice versa. Essentially, people who once lived amicably together were pitted against one another. While people are free to intermingle today since apartheid is gone, the effects are still strong. I sense strong underlying racial tensions and it just feels so separate. The disparity between cultures and communities is vast. It’s sad because although coloureds (anyone apartheid govt determined to be “mixed) and blacks are free to move wherever they like, because of years of degradation and forced poverty…many can’t afford to move out of the shacks and shanties they live in, in the townships.

The wounds from apartheid are so fresh that it’s hard to move forward. I see so much potential here though. There is a lot of rebuilding going on and there are a lot of good changes in the works. Knowing that communities like district 6 once existed, and that there are strong community organizations working toward integration and equality and financial stability, this can be an amazing and diverse country. Throughout history, countries don’t just bounce back after something like apartheid or any other oppressive regime. It takes time. I can see South Africa is on its way when every single person I meet is welcoming, open, and honest. I think we can expect many more great things from this country.

Today we visited Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. It’s acres and acres of beautiful fauna and flora (excuse the triteness of that expression lol) up along the side of the mountains. Seriously, this country has soooooooooo much natural beauty that it is unbelievable. You have Cape Town, this huge modern city and then all surrounding it you have natural reserves , mountains, coastline, and more. Make South Africa your next vacation spot. ;) Just 13 days left of this trip. Hopefully I’ll get another update in soon. We have a long weekend. It’s a holiday next week so we have Monday and Tuesday off placement so we are going to winelands tomorrow and then safari Tuesday, and hiking table mountain somewhere between. Hope you all are doing well. Love you!!

JAWS!

Thanks for the comments & emails! It’s so nice to come home after a long and usually overwhelming day, to find notes from home.

This’ll be a quick update but I just HAD to tell you all about shark diving!! We drove about two hours from Cape Town to the Gansbaai area where the great white sharks all seem to hang out. There is a place in the Atlantic between two islands that’s known as ‘shark alley’ because of the fact that there are so many sharks there. The reason for this is that on these islands are about 30-50,000 seals on a regular basis. Thus, good old great white has guaranteed dinner. Nifty fact about the great white shark: You can only find them here and in Australia and ONLY here are they known for breaching (Planet Earth anyone?? Yeah…). Exciting stuff! So about 12 from our group and some other people we didn’t know headed out to sea on a boat named ‘The Barracuda’ early this morning.

Sometimes it takes minutes to find sharks, sometimes it takes hours. They do NOT feed the shark; they just bait them with some chum (fish guts and heads of fish that already exist in their diet). Lucky for us, we were the first boat out there and found a shark right away. Four other girls and I jumped in the cage first because I was afraid that if I waited too long and actually saw the shark first, I would chicken out. So I went in blindly… The cage is a large one, attached to the boat with an open top. Essentially you sit up top and wait for the shark to swim by the cage while the crew is chumming and when they yell something like “go down, to your left” you take a deep breath and go under and wait for it coming from the left. I went in twice. The first time, the shark kept his distance but it was beautiful. I was terrified above water, but under the water it was absolutely serene. I was just completely in awe of its wonder. Then, the second time we had TWO sharks. They came VERY close to the cage and I even saw inside one’s mouth (yes, scary!). It was sooo amazing. I cannot even describe it in words. I feel different, like I did something totally new and way out of character for me. It’s awesome.



Today is the first beautiful day we’ve had in Cape Town. The sun is out and it is not raining—it’s even about 63 degrees out right now. It’s really nice. South Africa has such beauty and as we were driving to Gansbaai it was just full of green and mountains. Oh! I forgot to mention the baboons. There are a lot of wild baboons outside of Gansbaai and we were fortunate enough to see like 12 of them hanging out on the side of the road. I got some pictures but it was just so awesome that they were wild and we were seeing them in their habitat. I don’t have pictures of my own from the shark diving( I was too nervous to multitask!) but a lot of other people do so I will just steal some from them whenever they upload them. It’s hard to upload photos here because it eats up all of our bites and we pay for internet by the bite. That’s why I haven’t uploaded any yet—they’ll be up when I get home though!

This week: teaching the third graders about snow, making cut out snowflakes and pasting their photos on them as a craft. I want to talk to them about individuality and how people are all unique and different, yet beautiful (just like the snowflakes!) Plus since they don’t get snow here, it’ll be something new for them. It’s cheesy… but hey you can do that stuff with the little ones.

Love you all!
--Shark Bait

Hello! Hi LuAnn from Lyndsay!

It’s been an amazing week. I think I’ll start with describing a typical day and some of the activities we have planned. And of course, tell you all about the wonderful children I’m working with.

So there are two homebases here right now since there are SO many volunteers at this time. My homebase has 16 girls living in it and the other has about 21 (with a few boys). We get picked up at 745 to go to our placements. I am placed at Blossom Street Primary School with Lyndsay, Glenna, and a volunteer who was already here named Ran. I work in a 3rd grade classroom with about thirty students. The school is very well organized and structured and functions much like our schools at home. The students are different though, because they are so well-behaved and polite. Students here are very respectful of adults (and hey, I guess I’m considered an adult lol).

Everyday when I come in, I hear all of them say “ good morning teacher sarah” and when I leave they say “ good afternoon teacher sarah”. It’s adorable. I get to read them stories everyday at story time and I take small reading groups and work with them. I was pretty much free to do what I wanted with the reading groups so I’ve started doing reader’s theater. They LOVE it. We first start with comprehension, then we talk about actors and what it means to read with enthusiasm and animation. So then, they get their parts and read it as if they were acting. Then I let them stand up and create movements to do with the words. It’s great. They are really doing well with it and enjoying it quite a bit. Next week, I guess they are sending me to another teacher because they really want me in that classroom too lol. It’s sad because I’m getting to know these students, but I’ll get to meet new ones.


I get picked up from placement at 12:30 and then we have lunch at 1. Food has been very good. Lots of veggies and salad. We are definitely eating very healthy here! Then after lunch, we either have a free afternoon or some kind of cultural activity. Today we have an HIV/AIDS workshop, the other day we went on a township tour, and a city tour, and tonight we have a South African Movie. We also have language lessons on Tuesdays. I am learning a little bit of Afrikaans.Dinner is at 6pm and usually after there isn’t much to do. We all kind of just hang out and relax, or plan for the next days lessons. At that point, I am dead tired.

Images of the townships:


Children Playing in Langa
One room in the houses where 40 people would live. A family of ten lives in this room.
The shower.



I’ve already learned sooo much and I know that this is such a meaningful experience for me. We of course, also have our touristy activities as well. Friday we are visiting Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned), Saturday I am going CAGE DIVING WITH SHARKS! I know, totally out of character for me, right? I’m terrified…but it’s a once in a lifetime experience. Great Whites are only found in Cape Town and Australia so like, where else am I going to do this? Maybe it’ll make me braver…haha. Anyway, I’ll definitely let you all know how that goes. I’m sure my anxiety level will be quite high. Sunday we are driving down to the Cape of Good Hope and on the way we stop at Boulders Beach to see penguins (like, not in a zoo..just in their natural habitat). I have lots of photos but it uses too many of my bites to upload them.

It’s very intense. I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster! It’s emotional and just really unique. I’m so happy to be here but I know that I’ll be happy to be home when I do come back. Love you all. Leave comments, and send me emails!

I’ve arrived!

Well, we’ve finally made it to our home base after a loooooong two days of flying. I’ll start at the beginning. Our first flight to London was not so bad. It was fairly smooth but very uncomfortable. We had our own personal tvs which was great but I wasn’t able to sleep at all. Time change stole 5 hours from us and just as I was falling asleep, the lights came on and they started serving breakfast! Anyway, we landed in London safely.

We spent the day in London yesterday, though neither Lyndsay nor I slept at all on the plane the night before. We had some issues at the airport because Northwest did NOT take care of our luggage and pass it on to the next carrier as we had been told. Instead, by some stroke of luck I see some woman strolling along with my suitcase. Apparently, she thought it was hers. Nope, sorry the one with the obnoxious huge gold luggage tag and colorful ribbon is certainly mine. So yeah, that’s how we figured out that NW did not pass along our luggage. Nice, right? We were sleep deprived and admittedly, I was crabby and not feeling emotionally up for all of this. After we found our luggage and figured out how to get to London, we set off for the city. We had a nice (but again, looong) walking tour of the city. We even got good use out of our one-day subway “tube” passes. I saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace at which by the way, we saw the changing of the guards, Kensington Palace (where Princess Di lived) and the Globe theatre. Overall, a pretty good day but after our 7 hour adventure in London, we were exhausted.



We had high hopes for sleeping on last night’s flight since we fit all of the qualifications for actually falling asleep on a plane(note: we were desperate!). To our dismay, we had turbulence for about the last 5 hours of our flight. It was nerve wrenching and stressful. I think I may have slept for an hour or two with the aid of AdvilPM but it was so uncomfortable and I was anxious most the night, so it wasn’t so grand. We landed in the rain/fog of Cape Town, and our driver Kimie got us safely to homebase 2. We got a brief look at the squatter camps and some of the housing developments where people are living in poverty. It’s sad because from afar, Cape Town is gorgeous with Table Mountain to top off its view. Yet, driving through the city, we get a good look at the way that people (note: mostly blacks and coloureds) are living. We’ll learn more tomorrow and Monday with orientation.
This all sounds pretty negative so far, but I promise I am excited to be here lol. I cannot wait to learn all that I can and experience everything, good and bad. I’m placed at Blossom Street Primary School with Lyndsay and two other girls I believe. We’ll be working with kids age 5-14 and could be doing anything from physical education, computers, or working on reading and literacy (obviously, the latter is what I’m hoping for!). I’ll definitely have more to say later, after our orientations and our placements. I smell lunch cooking right now, and it smells wonderful. It’s pretty chilly right now, since it is only like 50 degrees outside and it’s been rainy. We left Michigan summer for Cape Town’s winter—but it’s alright. I think I’ve packed plenty of cold weather clothes (SO glad I threw in my jacket at the last minute) and I’m sure our experience will be well worth a little bit of clouds and rain. Anyway, the internet situation is a little sticky and in fact, as I am writing this I am not even connected. I’m planning on copying and pasting to the blog once I get the connection worked out. I signed up for the service and everything, but it says that this is an inactive hotspot. Oh well, I’ll have to talk to Latifa ( the admin person) when she gets back later.

EDIT: Internet is all good. :)

Love you all. Expect more from me later!

Homebase:

I leave in exactly 12 days!! Lyndsay and I are so excited :) We got our flight info figured out, and I should know my placement within the next couple days. I'll post that here as soon as I get more info.

I'm really sick right now but I've got some strong antibiotics and I slept a lot (16 hours last night!) and I've been pumping myself with vitamin C and green tea so hopefully I will be 100% by the time I leave. Being sick on the plane would be just miserable! I'm thinking optimistically though, so I am sure that I will be just fine by then.

I just spent a week in Chicago to visit and get oriented to the city in which I'll be living next year. We found apartments in Hyde Park, very near to the University of Chicago. They are small, but nice and safe. Several people in my group will be living there as well so it'll be a nice little community. I will be student teaching at Kenwood Academy. It looks like a really great school that is really focused on college. 67% of students attend college and there are alot of really academically challenging courses. I'm excited to be in such a positive atmosphere! I'll know more about my mentor teacher and classes that I'll teach sometime in June or July.

Updates soon :)

Gap minder

I'm so excited! I don't really have a good reason to update this blog except to shout how excited I am. 12 days until I graduate and about a month until I am out of the country. I have so much to look forward to and there are so many exciting things going on in my life and in the world right now.

I've been getting immunizations and getting all of my health stuff checked out before I leave. By the way, I'm sure you're all relieved to know that I do not have Tuberculosis. :) I came across a video that may be of interest to readers. We watched this in my TE Social Studies minor lab, and it is called a "Ted Talk". It's a short video, but very provocative and I've been thinking about it a lot. Essentially, it is this Swedish intellectual who is advocating for this new program called gapminder (check out www.gapminder.org) with which the public could have FREE access to world statistical data. Of course, many nations are hesitant to make their statistics public but the gapminder program right now has some widely accepted UN data compiled. You can pick what goes on the x and y axes to see statistical information about the world. For example, you can look at GDP and literacy rates or per capita income and health statistics. Here is a link to the video:
Check it out if you have time. I found it particularly interesting when he discussed the common image of African countries all being lumped together, yet have such vastly different economies and needs. He makes a great argument for specific aid plans in which individual countries are looked at more closely rather than as part of the continent as a whole. Very interesting video!

Nothing else to update for now.

In 28 days I'll graduate--In 30 I'll be in Chicago for orientation--In 47 I'll be on a plane to South Africa (well London, then Cape Town)! Pretty exciting stuff coming up and time is just flying by. I have been trying to get more acquainted with Cape Town and I just read Sea Mountain Fire City by Mike Nicol, a South African writer. It's been an interesting perspective on the city and gave me some idea about the culture there. I also began reading No Future without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu, South African activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner for his actions against apartheid. Surprisingly enough, he is the keynote speaker for the undergraduate convocation in May. I wasn't planning on attending that AND my college's graduation ceremony but once I found out that he would be there, I'll definitely go. How awesome that I get to listen to one of South Africa's most influential leaders speak and then travel there shortly after. :)

Preparations for the trip are progressing along just fine. I haven't received any more financial assistance but it's okay. I had anticipated using my credit card and though I didn't really WANT to, it's perfectly fine. I did receive a lot of of help from family and friends, and I am so thankful for that!! Every little bit honestly helps. I found out that I'm receiving a few scholarships for student teaching in Chicago next year, which is awesome. They will be a great help to me since I'm losing money this summer, not making it! I'm getting my vaccinations next Thursday and figuring out any other health precautions that I need to take before/while I'm in Cape Town.
While I'm there I will be updating this blog as often as possible and keeping a handwritten journal so that I can just make quick notes about things will I'm working or traveling without internet access right away. I guess there isn't much else to say--I'm just super excited!! :)


"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." Desmond Tutu

Business deal...;)

So I have a proposition for you all..

After experimenting with Windows MovieMaker in TE today I've come up with an idea.
The situation is this: I am a poor future educator. You are a resource--a person with connections (Trust me, you are) I'm going on this volunteer teaching trip and will be taking lots of photos, writing lots of reflections and ideas, and will want to spread the word. Let's say that I create [an awesome] movie including documents, photos, personal reflections, etc... from my trip. I then, present it to a group of people who might be interested (students? the guys at the VFW? Lions Club? Any group you are a member of) and in turn for my educational presentation complete with nifty video and all, said organization/group of people decides to contribute to my cause and throw me a few bucks. Eh? I'm liking it.

It would help me to achieve several aims in one experience
a) I synthesize what I learned from my experience by creating a meaningful presentation and then teaching it to others
b) I share with others the experiences that I had in South Africa and inspire them to get out and explore the world (and maybe do a little good along the way?)
c)I gain teaching/public speaking experience
d) I network, meet new people--never underestimate the value in this!
and finally most practically and economically...I make some much needed cash to pay for this $5000ish trip.

Contact me (mengersa@msu.edu by email) if you think you or someone you know would be interested in a proposition like this. You'll get to see my bright and shining face and as pictured below, my visible enthusiasm!

Flight is booked! $1954 has gotten me a flight to South Africa and home. :) We leave May 28th in the evening-- arrive in London for a fabulous 13 hour layover during which we plan to drink tea/booze and see all that we can see in a day--then in the evening we board the final flight and arrive in Cape Town by 10am the following morning. I think Cape Town is something like 8hours behind our time...of course I will know that for certain as it gets closer to May. I went to the library and checked out a few travel guides and "No Future without Forgiveness" by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which is all about apartheid and the Reconciliation Acts which ended it. Very interesting! I have also found a subleaser to take over my apartment for the summer which is GREAT so I can save some money.

For those of you who don't know, Jackie (best friend since age 3) is living in Costa Rica right now with her brother Joe. It sounds like she is having just an incredible time doing everything from visiting volcanoes, to hanging out with an actress, to eating delicious food, and now volunteering at a local school.(www.lapaz.org) Makes me want to get down there asap! Boy, do I have travel fever. It really makes me wonder where life will take me--you never know. Whatever I do, I know that I will be teaching and learning, and I will be with Steve. Aside from that, the location doesn't really matter (though, not going to lie...tropical Costa Rica is sounding pretty appealing right now!)

Just about three months left until South Africa!! While I feel like I have so much going on right now, I don't think I have much to say at the moment. By the way, I'm not even sure if anyone reads this so..maybe, if you do you should comment! How about you comment with your top travel destination and why you want to go there. My travel photo : Me on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

empty pockets

So apparently, South Africa is much bigger than I thought. Maybe I just don't know enough about geography but there is like no way that Lyndsay and I can get to Kruger... We would have to fly to Jo'burg and that just is not going to happen with the cost of flights. Our round trip flight is going to total up to be around $2000 maybe even slightly more; a one way trip is like 2/3 of that cost..so two one way flights and then one little one in the middle from Cape town to Johannesburg is just a lot more money than I can afford. I am already really strapped for cash. Fundraising has sort of come to a dead end and I feel like I have exhausted all of my resources. At this point, I am most likely going to have to put about $3000 on my "back up" credit card that I never use--not a thrilling prospect, I must say. I will do it though because it is more important to me, to experience this and to learn regardless of the cost. I am a good $60,000 in the hole already so whats another $3000?? Good logic right?

Anyway, aside from the mini financial crisis rant, we ARE going to do some sightseeing and traveling, it just will have to be on the western side of the country where we can ensure that we'll be back to Cape Town for our flight back without needing an additional flight. We are looking at mini safaris and packaged travel deals because the other issue is transportation. If we plan our own adventure with different locations each day for a week, how are we going to GET to those places? Clearly, renting a car and gallivanting around a foreign country isn't going to be affordable, safe, or practical. With those package deals, transportation is already included in it so we can be sure that we will be able to get to the places we need to be. I'm planning on starting on some reading about South Africa. Cross Cultural Solutions offers some recommended reading (which I can't afford to buy...) so I am going to check out the library to see what MSU has to offer about South Africa and Cape Town, in particular.

On a non-African note: I'm going to be in Chicago next year!! Steve and I were both accepted to the internship placement there. We will be doing our student teaching at a high school in Hyde Park. I'm really looking forward to it. It seems like I have so much to look forward to right now and it's hard to focus on the here and now. At the same time, it's like I feel sort of frozen in the here and now. It doesn't feel like I am actually graduating in 3.5 months...it's crazy! I feel like I truly understand what people mean when they say that time flies. I never really bought into the cliche before but now, it's left me wondering, how did I get here so fast? I can't wait to see what both Africa and Chicago have to offer and what I can gain from each of these new experiences.

Prep.

And so it begins...
School has started again and I am actually feeling pretty rejuvenated after break...Though as I am getting up at 6:30am for my 8am class, it may not seem so. I have such energy and excitement in me right now. I feel like I am really thinking like a teacher; every movie I see, book/article/poem/comic strip/(insert text here) I am always thinking about how I might use that with my students, or how it might shape my teaching. South Africa is going to be a major life experience, and teaching experience for me and I can't wait to see what I can pull from that for the future, and what I can bring to that now.

Unfortunately, I've come to the realization that I don't have a whole lot of time for preparations for South Africa anymore. Lynds and I really need to figure out our plans for the week after we're done volunteering because the flight needs to be booked by the end of January/beginning of February.

Here's the travel situation: We really wanted to do a safari after we are done volunteering. I know for me, I'd love to see Kruger National Park in northern South Africa (near Johannesburg). Safaris there are very very expensive-out of my price range. There are several weekend safaris on the cape that we could do while we are in the Cape Town area on the weekends we are free and I am sure we could take advantage of that. We've also been told that it is cheaper to make arrangements IN South Africa since you can get a better deal in country. This makes it difficult to plan our after volunteer travel. Maybe we could just go to Johannesburg and to Kruger for a few days staying a hostel/hotel situation and do day tours of the reserve. To me, this seems most economical and most flexible so that we can book a flight to come home on 'x' day from the Johannesburg airport and have the time before to do what we want. Those day to day details can come much later, perhaps even while we are in South Africa. The other thing is that we need additional immunizations for Kruger. Yellow fever and malaria are present there so I'll need the yellow fever vaccine and the malaria meds (if that is what I choose to do.)

The malaria medication is another decision I have to make. It is NOT a vaccine, there fore it cannot prevent me from getting malaria. What it does do, is to lessen the severity of the symptoms IF I do get the disease. This is a good thing in theory. The problem however, is that if you do get malaria while on the malaria medication, it is much more difficult to treat than it would be if you did not take the medication. It's a tough choice..either way I don't want to get malaria during this experience bu t I just don't know which direction to take.

I will try and continue this update later, class is about to begin.