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.