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.