Sunday, April 13, 2008
Updates
We have been working at Child Academy... 3 steps forward, 2 steps back.
Friday we went to Croc City, there weren't any big crocs to play with but we saw a bunch of cute little guys and other reptiles. Then we went to the lion park and played with more lion cubs (2 and 3 months old this time) and then we got to feed a giraffe and ostriches. It was awesome! (sorry for the lack of pictures, I am on the wrong laptop, may try to post some tomorrow before the flight) Then we went to St. Lucia (about 6hr drive) right on the coast and stayed one night there. Then we went to the beach, admired the crocodiles and hippos, then jumped in! (they were a little farther away- it's okay). Then we drove to an amazing game reserve in Swaziland and stayed there (after some technical difficulties finding it and driving around... more details later). We went to the street markets and to an old mine that was beautiful! We arrived back today and are in need of a little rest. Tomorrow all the kids will be at Child Academy and we will be there taking pictures! We fly out late tomorrow and will arrive in Seattle around 2:30 Tuesday.
I feel bad for our car, it has been 'loved'. We are currently missing 2 hub caps, it is coated in mud, it has been scratched by lions, bitten by lions, pecked at by birds, spun out on mud, and gone on 4-wheel drive only roads. Its a trooper... I don't think we are making any friends at the rental place.
There are incredibly cool storms here! Sudden lightning storms that are short but powerful! Rob got his first picture of lightning (with Greg's help) among the millions of attempts they both had.
We have tons of pictures and videos to share, more posting later (possibly)!
~anja
Friday we went to Croc City, there weren't any big crocs to play with but we saw a bunch of cute little guys and other reptiles. Then we went to the lion park and played with more lion cubs (2 and 3 months old this time) and then we got to feed a giraffe and ostriches. It was awesome! (sorry for the lack of pictures, I am on the wrong laptop, may try to post some tomorrow before the flight) Then we went to St. Lucia (about 6hr drive) right on the coast and stayed one night there. Then we went to the beach, admired the crocodiles and hippos, then jumped in! (they were a little farther away- it's okay). Then we drove to an amazing game reserve in Swaziland and stayed there (after some technical difficulties finding it and driving around... more details later). We went to the street markets and to an old mine that was beautiful! We arrived back today and are in need of a little rest. Tomorrow all the kids will be at Child Academy and we will be there taking pictures! We fly out late tomorrow and will arrive in Seattle around 2:30 Tuesday.
I feel bad for our car, it has been 'loved'. We are currently missing 2 hub caps, it is coated in mud, it has been scratched by lions, bitten by lions, pecked at by birds, spun out on mud, and gone on 4-wheel drive only roads. Its a trooper... I don't think we are making any friends at the rental place.
There are incredibly cool storms here! Sudden lightning storms that are short but powerful! Rob got his first picture of lightning (with Greg's help) among the millions of attempts they both had.
We have tons of pictures and videos to share, more posting later (possibly)!
~anja
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Child Academy
Like many things in South Africa progress is slow. When we arrived we realized that the Internet Cafe (Rob set up last year) already had central management (this was going to be Rob and Greg's main job here). So we have been waiting for other projects. Then we learned that their phones and internet are both down. We have been working on that all day. Greg (major tech geek) set up his computer to try and figure out what was happening but no luck. Telekom (internet providers) came by twice today and told us the phone needed a new filter (the tech guys know that this means, I don't) and that the internet should work. But before we basked in the success they set up again to try it out - internet is still not working. After running many many tests Greg concluded that it is their problem, everything in the school is okay.
On a brighter note the kids are adorable! There aren't too many (pre-school and kindergarten, only about half of each class) but they are amazing. They are incredibly energetic and LOVE getting their picture taken... so we take their pictures!
Our croc interaction may not be what we want it to be... they have changed the way they are doing this (at Croc City) so we may only get to play with the 3ft long crocs. Oh well. They are a few other places we may visit to get our croc fill! Rob is connecting with all his deaf friends and possibly going out to dinner tomorrow. DJ and K (Isaac's oldest son, 21) spent the day together hanging out and going to a BBQ. All of his kids are awesome, they make the nights at Isaacs house loads of fun. We all stay up late talking and watching movies. We are having tons of fun (and we always remember our malaria meds, mom)!
More later (hopefully with news of much progress),
~anja
On a brighter note the kids are adorable! There aren't too many (pre-school and kindergarten, only about half of each class) but they are amazing. They are incredibly energetic and LOVE getting their picture taken... so we take their pictures!
Our croc interaction may not be what we want it to be... they have changed the way they are doing this (at Croc City) so we may only get to play with the 3ft long crocs. Oh well. They are a few other places we may visit to get our croc fill! Rob is connecting with all his deaf friends and possibly going out to dinner tomorrow. DJ and K (Isaac's oldest son, 21) spent the day together hanging out and going to a BBQ. All of his kids are awesome, they make the nights at Isaacs house loads of fun. We all stay up late talking and watching movies. We are having tons of fun (and we always remember our malaria meds, mom)!
More later (hopefully with news of much progress),
~anja
Monday, April 7, 2008
Into The Wild
Sunday was an awesome day! We went to Krugersdorp (Game Reserve) and drove our car around to look at native SA animals. We had a little 'encounter' with the dominant male of the lion pride (Mufasa - DJ named him). We were driving around and he took an interest in our car, he began following us, then biting it... We now have a large gash in the bumper (don't tell the rent a car place). We watched the lion feeding (half a cow) and took many pictures and videos, of which a few are posted. It was amazing!!
The real highlight came when we visited Rhino and Lion Natural Sanctuary. After driving about for a bit we stopped into a visitor center that had tiger and lion cubs. We paid a small fee to get bit and scratched by them! It was awesome! We also have many many more pictures- they just can't all go on the blog!
We spent today at Child Academy, it was a rough first day trying to figure out what to do with our time. This week is the students holiday break so there were not as many as there will be next Monday. Still it was a blast!
More later,
~anja
The real highlight came when we visited Rhino and Lion Natural Sanctuary. After driving about for a bit we stopped into a visitor center that had tiger and lion cubs. We paid a small fee to get bit and scratched by them! It was awesome! We also have many many more pictures- they just can't all go on the blog!
We spent today at Child Academy, it was a rough first day trying to figure out what to do with our time. This week is the students holiday break so there were not as many as there will be next Monday. Still it was a blast!
More later,
~anja
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