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.

In 6 months time...

Today it is a bitter wintry day in Michigan and I cannot wait to be in the African heat in just a few months. These next few months are going to be quite exciting for me...It's my last semester of college and I graduate in May, then at the end of May Lyndsay and I are off to Africa for our big adventure. We have been looking into different safari and travel options for when we are done volunteering. I figure, I don't know if/when I'll be able to make it back to Africa so I want to all that I can while I am there. I am sure that I will be homesick since I will be gone about a month or so, but home isn't going anywhere and I can look forward to many more years with Steve so I might as well float around and experience what I can of South Africa.

Right now there isn't a whole lot of preparation I can do except to find out about immunizations and when I need to take them. For Cape Town I just need HepA and Typhoid but if we are doing some traveling, especially a safari I will need Malaria and possibly a few others. I've been checking flights routinely, keeping an eye out for patterns. It's been staying in the $1600-$2000 range. Since it's essentially a 24hr flight total, it might be nice to have a layover somewhere interesting. There is one flight with a 7hr layover in London--I think I can handle that :) Some others land in northern Africa which would also be cool so we could see a little bit of north and south Africa.

For now, I am just enjoying my winter break and studying for my certification tests...but I am trying to read as much about Cape Town and South Africa as I can. I already have quite a bit of background on apartheid but I'd like to learn more cultural aspects as well. Maybe I'll even practice some Afrikaans :)

Not much else to say I suppose. Fundraising is going fairly well; I appreciate all of the support from family and friends. This is something I feel so strongly about and it's great to feel that others support you in that belief and are willing to help make it happen. Thanks everyone :)
Happy Holidays!

First Post!

I am officially enrolled for my volunteer trip to South Africa! My roommate Lyndsay and I begin our program May 30, 2009 and will be in Cape Town for three weeks. We are volunteering through an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. It's a great program, very reputable and fitting to what I envision this trip to be. When searching for programs, I wanted to ensure that I would have the kind of experience which will be most beneficial to me, but also fitting to my purposes in going abroad. I want to experience new things, learn and grow on a personal level, gain valuable teaching experience in a different country and culture, and as cheesy as it may sound...make an impact. I feel that with this program, I can do all of these things. This has been a very conscious and reflective process for me. I have looked at myself and what I believe in, and I am taking a very large leap but one that I think will be well worth it. I truly believe that education is a right for ALL human beings, and that peace will come through giving everyone a good and equal education ( not just the "opportunity" ). I hope that I can be an agent and an advocate for all learners to ensure that they get that education. Of course, I have all of these grandiose ideas and whatnot, I just hope that I can put my words and beliefs into action during this trip and throughout my teaching career.

So, I'm incredibly excited for this trip but there's just one draw back: money. It's costing my $3219 to pay for the program itself- not including airfare, passport, immunizations, communication to the US while I am there(phone and internet service), etc... Essentially, the money I put into the program goes directly to my living there; it covers food and safe housing for the entire time I am there. It also provides money to the local organizations with which CCS is partners to help them sustain their work. With some carefully budgeted student loan money I get for this year, I should be able to pay for about 2/3 of my total cost of the program. I am hoping to fundraise $2000 to cover the rest of it because there is no "money back". The money I have already raised would just be put on file as "credit" towards another trip. Thus, I am doing some aggressive fundraising! I am including files of my general letter to potential contributors (with which I also include a personal letter as well) with the hopes that my readers might pass it along to people they think may be interested. *hint hint!* I certainly am not begging for money, but I feel so passionate about this cause and not only do I need financial assistance, but I really just want to spread the word about what I am doing and what others can do to help. The great thing about the contributions is that it is all tax deductible and you can pay with credit card very easily on MyCrossCulturalSolutions by looking up my username "SarahMenger" in the "sponsor" section and providing my email address: mengersa@msu.edu.

I will continue to update this blog with my thoughts and concerns, current news about my trip, and more importantly during my trip so that not only can I keep reflective notes on my experience, but so that you all can find out what I have been up to! Please do not hesitate to contact me about ANYTHING, whether it is how to get involved and volunteer or how to make a contribution!

For my letter see:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7974617/For-SCRIBD-AdaptedCCSLettersarahMenger