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.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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.
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.
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