This is the finished video from our work at Project Gateway. We also created an 81 page business plan. The first thing I do when I get back to the states is eat something mexican. The next thing I'm doing is going to a freaking kinkos and getting that thing printed and bound for myself.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Teaser.
I haven't posted in a solid amount of time. Oooooooppppssss.
Other than being an awful person and not informing any of you about my whereabouts, I have been quite busy.
For starters, about three weekends (actually I have no idea how many because everythings a blur now) ago me and a group of people stayed the weekend in Durban and it was awesome.
I was pretty over being at our campus all the time and the change of scenery was the ideal way to break up the cabin fever.
We also got to eat Mexican food for the first time since we were here. THANK GOD.
(A bunch of kids in my bio class formed this question on our last trip: Would you rather have carne asade burritos for a week or hang out with your friends/family for two hours? Yea, I think everyone reading this probs knows me well enough to know I'd pick El Rosal or Las Casuelas any day. Sorry guys.)
Other than that, we played at the beach, bargained at markets, and got caught in one of the best thunderstorms I've ever experienced. That weekend will still probably go in the books as the best weekend yet.
The next weekend (or one of the next) we had a tour of the battlefields. Don't worry, I wont bore you with the details. It's not even worth it for me to recollect my memory to retype it.
Since then, we have started service sites which I think I already elaborated on before. But just as a reminder, me and my group are doing a fatty research project on African crafting.
And I will definitely be posting more about that later. Once we're donezo.
Here's a little teaser:
Lazy Sunday:
Yesterday I watched the entire Bourne trilogy. And it was awesome. And it even deserves it's own picture.
I just realized this whole post was extremely jumpy. But this weekend we're going on safari and then we're off to Cape Town.
Oh one more thing, I FINISHED MY ONLINE THEOLOGY CLASS!!! Best day ever.
Stay classy everyone.
Other than being an awful person and not informing any of you about my whereabouts, I have been quite busy.
For starters, about three weekends (actually I have no idea how many because everythings a blur now) ago me and a group of people stayed the weekend in Durban and it was awesome.
I was pretty over being at our campus all the time and the change of scenery was the ideal way to break up the cabin fever.
We also got to eat Mexican food for the first time since we were here. THANK GOD.
(A bunch of kids in my bio class formed this question on our last trip: Would you rather have carne asade burritos for a week or hang out with your friends/family for two hours? Yea, I think everyone reading this probs knows me well enough to know I'd pick El Rosal or Las Casuelas any day. Sorry guys.)
Other than that, we played at the beach, bargained at markets, and got caught in one of the best thunderstorms I've ever experienced. That weekend will still probably go in the books as the best weekend yet.
The next weekend (or one of the next) we had a tour of the battlefields. Don't worry, I wont bore you with the details. It's not even worth it for me to recollect my memory to retype it.
Since then, we have started service sites which I think I already elaborated on before. But just as a reminder, me and my group are doing a fatty research project on African crafting.
And I will definitely be posting more about that later. Once we're donezo.
Here's a little teaser:
This will make sense soon. Hopefully.
Lazy Sunday:
Yesterday I watched the entire Bourne trilogy. And it was awesome. And it even deserves it's own picture.
I just realized this whole post was extremely jumpy. But this weekend we're going on safari and then we're off to Cape Town.
Oh one more thing, I FINISHED MY ONLINE THEOLOGY CLASS!!! Best day ever.
Stay classy everyone.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A Tribute To Bio
Our final bio excursion.
Hanging out in the boot of the bucky.
Super sicky riiiiight?
(And a special thanks to PJ for this lovely photo!)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Project Gateway: Operation Jailbird
We started our service sites this week. My group wasn't really sure what we're getting into but now that we know we couldn't be more excited even though it is quite a mental undertaking.
Basically, by the end of this four weeks we need to complete an 80-page business proposal for local crafters to improve their marketing strategies and overall livelihoods.
The site that we're working at is called Project Gateway.
(Project Gateway is based out of an old prison, rumored to be the one that Gandhi was held in solidarity.)
On site, there are multiple projects going on and one of them is teaching craft clinics to people. The problem that they are facing is not the skill in making the craft, it is in marketing the product and making enough profit to take care of their families.
Four of us (all business majors, obviously) are going to be working together on market research, interacting with the crafters, coming up with successful marketing strategies and implementing them, and doing a bit of wealth management work.
There are many other dimensions and details to this project but I'm not going to bore you with details, just know that I'm excited about it and if this is successful it could indirectly help a bunch of people.
This is easily the coolest / hardest undergrad work any of us will ever do.
Even though I just realized this was all written extremely dry with no personality whatsoever (I'm still in a work mindset), I'm really excited about this.
AND IT'S GONNA BE SO GREAT :))))
Basically, by the end of this four weeks we need to complete an 80-page business proposal for local crafters to improve their marketing strategies and overall livelihoods.
The site that we're working at is called Project Gateway.
(Project Gateway is based out of an old prison, rumored to be the one that Gandhi was held in solidarity.)
On site, there are multiple projects going on and one of them is teaching craft clinics to people. The problem that they are facing is not the skill in making the craft, it is in marketing the product and making enough profit to take care of their families.
Four of us (all business majors, obviously) are going to be working together on market research, interacting with the crafters, coming up with successful marketing strategies and implementing them, and doing a bit of wealth management work.
There are many other dimensions and details to this project but I'm not going to bore you with details, just know that I'm excited about it and if this is successful it could indirectly help a bunch of people.
This is easily the coolest / hardest undergrad work any of us will ever do.
Even though I just realized this was all written extremely dry with no personality whatsoever (I'm still in a work mindset), I'm really excited about this.
AND IT'S GONNA BE SO GREAT :))))
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Bow-n-arrow(s).
Today at a sweet antique store I bought a bow with two arrows.
If anything tries to attack me I now have weaponry against all enemies.
Then I ate lunch picnic style on top of a freakin huge waterfall.
Upon arriving back to campus a small group of us hiked up to the third waterfall.
(The original waterfall leads back to three more, like a corn maze but better and not as creepy.)
After showering and getting all clean we had a chalet dinner at a cute little Italian place called Pesto's.
Next we had a bonfire with some nommy mallows and chocolate.
Finished the night on top of the roof of the training center (main place we have class.)
Earlier this week for bio I swam in a river and got a leech nestled in me.
Don't worry mom, my great friend Carmen scooped it out.
And for like two hours (well maybe not that long, but a significant amount) we rode around standing in the bed of a truck as we were driving through the bush literally ducking and dodging thorny trees and branches every two minutes. It was a rarity if you didn't bleed in that setting.
And I got a sweet lion and hippo shirt there.
The night was ended sleeping outside with friends and imagining different creatures in the clouds.
The past two days have been summed up by nature, obscure purchases, and great people.
In fact, I just realized there's still mud and blood on my legs that must've come about some time today.
Also, finals are over. The only thing in my way of ending my academic semester is two papers. Holler.
If anything tries to attack me I now have weaponry against all enemies.
Then I ate lunch picnic style on top of a freakin huge waterfall.
Upon arriving back to campus a small group of us hiked up to the third waterfall.
(The original waterfall leads back to three more, like a corn maze but better and not as creepy.)
After showering and getting all clean we had a chalet dinner at a cute little Italian place called Pesto's.
Next we had a bonfire with some nommy mallows and chocolate.
Finished the night on top of the roof of the training center (main place we have class.)Earlier this week for bio I swam in a river and got a leech nestled in me.
Don't worry mom, my great friend Carmen scooped it out.
And for like two hours (well maybe not that long, but a significant amount) we rode around standing in the bed of a truck as we were driving through the bush literally ducking and dodging thorny trees and branches every two minutes. It was a rarity if you didn't bleed in that setting.
And I got a sweet lion and hippo shirt there.
The night was ended sleeping outside with friends and imagining different creatures in the clouds.
The past two days have been summed up by nature, obscure purchases, and great people.
In fact, I just realized there's still mud and blood on my legs that must've come about some time today.
Also, finals are over. The only thing in my way of ending my academic semester is two papers. Holler.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Timon & Pumba
Well, just Pumba. And baby Pumba.
And rhino.
And zebra of course.
And we road in an Indiana Jones car.
Just another day in biology class.
Dancing In The Clouds
we went zip lining on saturday.
we also danced in the trees.
it was all beautiful.
Girls Girls Girls.
we also danced in the trees.
it was all beautiful.
Girls Girls Girls.
And when you dont break when they tell you too you end up spinning around a ton.
koala bear.
Randoms.
shooooooot! so many photos comin in hot.
the girls at the Valentines dance..
(cat pawz just for you emma, and you too emily)
the girls at the Valentines dance..
(cat pawz just for you emma, and you too emily)
Playing / getting annihilated with splashes in a river in the Drakensburg Mountains..
Girl pile at uShaka.
Pre-gamin it for rugby.
A for Awesome.
There's beads in my hurrrrr.
So naturey.
Monday, February 21, 2011
A Few Things.
hello friends.
It's been awhile since I have posted anything and Im gonna go ahead and blame that on my lack of free time and not that I havent done anything blog-worthy lately.
A few fun things have happened these past couple days. Ill post pictures soon-ish but dont hold your breath.
On Saturday we went to Durban for the day.
We started out at uShaka, which is like marine world with water slides and whatnot. And this place was right on the beach so after we exhausted all the good slides we hit the beach up for the afternoon. The water was warm and the waves were strong and I left with that infamous beach feel.
We then headed over to a professional rugby game where I think every girl fell in love with the sport of rugby.
We also picked our service sites this week. I chose Project Gateway for a few different reasons. One of the main reasons was to be in a smaller group setting- there is only going to be four of us there and I couldn't be happier about that, being around such a large group of people all the time has its ups and downs. This one has a more business oriented feel to it because we will be helping people market themselves; basically after they learn some type of craft skill we're supposed to help them go out and be able to make a living off of it. Honestly I'm not really sure what this place is going to be like but it felt the most right for me and I'm sure good things are in store.
Oh, also, it's at an old prison... which is kinda cool.
It's been awhile since I have posted anything and Im gonna go ahead and blame that on my lack of free time and not that I havent done anything blog-worthy lately.
A few fun things have happened these past couple days. Ill post pictures soon-ish but dont hold your breath.
On Saturday we went to Durban for the day.
We started out at uShaka, which is like marine world with water slides and whatnot. And this place was right on the beach so after we exhausted all the good slides we hit the beach up for the afternoon. The water was warm and the waves were strong and I left with that infamous beach feel.
We then headed over to a professional rugby game where I think every girl fell in love with the sport of rugby.
We also picked our service sites this week. I chose Project Gateway for a few different reasons. One of the main reasons was to be in a smaller group setting- there is only going to be four of us there and I couldn't be happier about that, being around such a large group of people all the time has its ups and downs. This one has a more business oriented feel to it because we will be helping people market themselves; basically after they learn some type of craft skill we're supposed to help them go out and be able to make a living off of it. Honestly I'm not really sure what this place is going to be like but it felt the most right for me and I'm sure good things are in store.
Oh, also, it's at an old prison... which is kinda cool.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Bio Safari Take Two.
WE SAW GIRAFFES!!!!
Oh my word they were so insanely cool and beautiful in real life. On Thursday we had our second Biology safari / field trip / excursion. We went to five different river sights to view the polluted water and calculate some things and then we studied regular savannah land vs. savannah that had been burned recently. But that's not really important. What's important is that WE SAW GIRAFFES!!! And we got pretty darn close to them too!
Just as a little disclaimer: I understand that I put a ridiculous amount of giraffe pictures up here but I seriously could not leave any of them out. I just had to share everything :) So sorry if you get bored!
For starters, this is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen and would LOVE if my future home looked like this..
These little hanging guys are bird nests. And these birds have a fun little story. The males will work super hard to build one of these beautiful little nests to woo the female. And if the female likes the nest then she will accept him. But if she does not like the nest then she will snip the top of it with her beak causing it to fall to it's destruction. Apparently birds play hard to get too.
And now for the good stuff...
Oh, there were zebra there also.
In Africa it's pronounced zeh-bra.
Aren't they just so precious and cuddly?!
Look at the little baby!!!
My lovely friend Lindsay..
Kim Dotts and a giraffe outta my head!
Giraffe outta Destiny's head!
And the beautiful savannah that our afternoon concluded in..
This counts as a lab? BEST BIOLOGY CLASS EVER.
Deciding to come to South Africa this semester has honestly been one of the best decisions of my life. I am seeing and experiencing so many things that most people only read about and see pictures of. I do miss all you people in the states but I would not give this up for a second.
In other news, this week slapped me with schoolwork. In one of my classes we had to write an exegetical paper (a fancy word for a long Bible paper) and I wrote it on the passage Matthew 7:24-29 and you should probably look it up and read it because I've spent countless hours researching and pondering it and have become quite fond of it as of late.
So long friends :)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Send Me Lovin'.
API Educational Foundation
PO Box #13870 Cascades 3202
Pietermaritzburg, Kzn, South Africa
PO Box #13870 Cascades 3202
Pietermaritzburg, Kzn, South Africa
LA PLAYA!!!
1st Indian Ocean Encounter:
On Saturday, we went to Durban and in the morning we went to a mosque and then walked around a little town type thing. I don't really know how to describe the town other than the fact that it was maybe the first time I really felt like I was in another country. We were literally the only white people there so we got lots of stares. It also kinda felt like we were living in a movie. Like I was half waiting for Julie Roberts to ride by on a bike while Florence + The Machine was playing.
This picture was taken on a rooftop by the lovely little fairy, Deborah!
On Saturday, we went to Durban and in the morning we went to a mosque and then walked around a little town type thing. I don't really know how to describe the town other than the fact that it was maybe the first time I really felt like I was in another country. We were literally the only white people there so we got lots of stares. It also kinda felt like we were living in a movie. Like I was half waiting for Julie Roberts to ride by on a bike while Florence + The Machine was playing.
This picture was taken on a rooftop by the lovely little fairy, Deborah!
After walking around for awhile we loaded up and headed to the beach.
The Indian Ocean was great and perfect temperature. It wasnt freezing like Santa Cruz (holler at my pieces for playing there so much this summer) but it wasn't freakishly hot like a bath like Galveston either.
The boys in all their glory.
If only they could stay like that. Kidding.
The beach was great as always. Gotta love driving back feeling all worn out from the sun with tangly hair and salty skin.
Brooke, Rachelle, and Alyssa, I miss those perfect santa cruz days with you all :)
Let's Spit Poop.
Bio Safari 1:
On Thursday, we had our first biology safari! Well, it wasn't really a safari... more like hanging out in one of the prettiest places I have EVER been to. (Sorry that there's so many landscape type pictures, this place was just way to great to not put them in. But I promise that doesn't mean I dont have friends.)
Look how freaking sicky this place was.
And this is where I had the best picnic of my life.
If you were wondering what "Let's Spit Poop." means, then you are in luck because I'm about to give you an explanation. So our biology prof, Karen (you can see like half of her in her kick-a safari attire below), has a very dry sense of humor and we can never really tell if she was joking or serious. But while we were here she asked us if we wanted to play a traditional South African game and obviously we all said yes. So she told us to go find the driest little pellet of poop we could and then stand in a line. And if you haven't figured it out yet, we then were told to put the poop in our mouths and see who could spit the furthest. Yes mom, I spit poop from my mouth. And lost. Oh and we ate dried worms two nights before this. [And for all of you on facebook, I'm tagged in a lovely video that shows the whole deal and im second from last.]
The lovely Kim Dotts with a smile on her back.
After exploring this place and eating some lunch, we were given our own spot to have a quiet time.
This was the view from my own little spot.
I can already tell this is going to be a great start to the upcoming weeks of Thursday safaris. I also love how Karen always tells us so nonchalantly to go climb a tree or find a piece of grass to rest on.
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