From Cape Town to Durban

I left Cape Town last Thursday, to take a week long trip up the coast to Durban. It was a lot of ground to cover in 7 days, so I didn't stay too long at any one place. I used a backpackers bus called the Baz Bus, which goes door-to-door to tons of hostels along the coast. It was definitely a nicer way to travel than the typical African minibus. I stopped at Wilderness, Storms River, Jefferys Bay, Port Elizabeth, and Cintsa, before arriving in Durban late last night. I only stayed one night at each place, but that wasn't as hectic as it sounds. The Baz Bus runs on the same schedule everyday, and so I had a full 24 hours at each place. I won't bore you all with a description of each place, (especially since I can tell some of you about it in person in a couple days) but I typically spent my nights at backpacker bars, and days hanging out on beautiful beaches.

As you can see in the pictures, I did a little more than hang out at a beach when visiting Storms River. Yes, that's me on the end of that bungy cord, and in case you're wondering, it's 216 meters from the bridge to the bottom of the gorge (making it the world's highest commercial bungy jump). Unlike skydiving, I never had any intention of bungy jumping, it just kind of happened. It was definitely a little scarier than skydiving, but still more fun than scary. (Hey Mom, aren't you glad you're not hearing about this till after I did it?)

Right now I'm in Durban, and tomorrow I'll be flying back home. See you all soon.

Cape Town

I spent 5 nights in Cape Town, and was blown away by how beautiful and fun the city is. I stayed at a backpackers on Long St, surrounded by several bars, restaurants, and other backpackers. I was definitely impressed with the night life, and it was fun being back in a "western" like city (although sometimes a little overwhelming). During the days I was normally up early to hit up all the sights in my short time there. I climbed Table Mountain, visited Robben Island (where Mandela and others were imprisoned), went on a tour to see the Cape of Good Hope, African Penguins and a winery, and went cage diving with great white sharks. Unfortunately we only saw a few sharks on the cage diving trip, and none while I was in the cage!  But it was still fun. I think my favorite part of the city was that every car ride/boat ride was like going on a scenic drive. 

Pictures:  the Cape Town waterfront, shark cage diving, the coast near Gansbaai, me at the Cape of Good Hope, and African (or Jackass) Penguins at Boulders beach.

Namibia

I spent last week on an amazing 4 day safari in the Namib Desert. Our first day we drove from Windhoek (the capital of Namibia) out to Sessriem, and hiked up Elum's Dune to watch the sunset. Then it was up at 4:30 the next morning to drive into Sossusvlei where we hiked up another gigantic dune at sunrise. The scenery, was absolutely breathtaking: huge sand dunes, giant mudflats, and no roads or buildings in sight.  We also saw a surprising amount of wildlife, considering it was the desert. We spotted springbok, oryx, jackal, and ostrich.

After spending another night near Sossusvlei, we drove out to Swakopmund. The scenery in Swakopmund was equally impressive with giant dunes running right up to the ocean. A few of us went quad biking through the dunes in the evening. It was a great way to see the dunes and a lot easier than walking. It also marked the second time in Africa that I followed Branjolina's footsteps. Apparently they went quad biking a couple years ago with their kids.

The next morning I decided it would be fun to jump out of a fully functional plane at 10,000ft, so three of us went tandem skydiving. The 30 second free fall was definitely one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done. I was a little nervous on the way up, but the actual jumping out of the plane happened so fast there was no time to get scared. After skydiving we drove back to Windhoek, and I got a bus the next night to Cape Town. It was a 20 hour ride, but luckily it wasn't a real "African" bus. It's actually nicer than any bus I've been on in the States.

Right now I'm at an internet cafe in Cape Town. This morning I went with a couple of girls to see a huge colony of seals on Duiker island, and I think now I'm gonna head off to climb Table Mountain. I love Cape Town so far, and I have a feeling I'll stay longer here than I planned on, but don't worry, I'll still come home in less than 2 weeks!

So Long and Thanks for all the Nsima

I fly to Joburg in a couple of hours, so I thought I would write one final blog from Malawi. (Although, I'll still do a few more entries as I travel).

Last Thursday we had a little farewell party for me with the senior staff and teachers at MCV. Actually, I threw the party for myself, since no Malawian could afford it. Some of the staff made some nice speeches thanking me, and a good time was had by all.

Friday was my last day at MCV. We had a closing ceremony for the school year, and a few students made nice farewell speeches to me. While saying goodbye was a little sad, it didn't really get me down since I know I'll be back.

The last 5 days I spent on vacation in Nkhata Bay. I stayed at Mayoka Village again, and met many travelers and had a great time. I even met some Ithaca College grads who knew some Canandaiguans. (Their names were Will, Mary-Ellen and Brendan, for any Ithaca grads reading this.)

I also took the Ilala (the ferry) one last time to visit a very remote beach paradise up the lake at Usisya. There was virtually no one there (except for a British guy who was volunteering in Usisya), and after waking up in my little thatch chalet on the beach I was able to pluck a few mangoes off the trees for breakfast. After spending the night at Usisya I hoped back on the Ilala to Nkhata Bay.   (The pictures are both from Usisya, the first one is the view from my chalet, the second one is the lounge area.)

Right now I'm in Lilongwe at an internet cafe, and I'll be making my way to the airport soon. After a couple days in Joburg I'll be off to Namibia.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Fundraising

For anyone who reads the blog but isn't on my email list, I wanted to make a quick fundraising posting. (sorry for all of you who already got the email.) I'm trying to raise money for teacher salaries next year. We will need about $40,000 total, for 13 teachers. I am hoping to raise $15,000 by January, through small individual donations.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, please…
Make check payable to: Malawi Children’s Village and designate the check for teacher
salaries at Gracious Secondary School.

Mail to: Conor Brady
4140 West Lake Road
Canandaigua, NY 14424

Or donate online at www.malawichildrensvillage.com
When donating online, please designate for Gracious Secondary School, by putting Gracious Secondary School in the “in honor of section.” We hope to update the website soon to have a proper field for designating money when donating online. Also, if you donate online, it would be a big help if you could email me, to tell me, so I can make sure the donation was properly designated.

Zikomo!

Koche Hill Primary

The other day I went with Felix (our assistant director) to visit a couple primary schools. Koche Hill Primary School, just a few km from MCV, is typical of most primary schools in Malawi. It has about 150 kids in a typical class (with one teacher). As you can see in the picture, they are also short on classrooms. Three of the classes are held outside. Often during the rainy season, these children have to be sent home because there is nowhere to teach them. I hope to find a school in the U.S. that can "adopt" Koche Hill. (MCV has already helped numerous primary schools through this school-to-school strategy.)

On our way back, Felix was nice enough to give some of the students a ride home.

Ending Days

With only two more weeks until I fly out, I think it’s safe to say that this will be one of my last blog entries from Malawi.

We had our last football game of the year two weekends ago against Koche Hill. I am still confused as to whether the Koche team consisted of mainly students with a couple villagers thrown in, or simply all villagers. Some of our students insisted that they were all villagers. The Koche Hill headmaster and the villagers/students insisted that they were students. Accurate information is hard to come by here. Either way, we had fun, and won 2 to 1.

We had one last quiz competition Saturday. It was fun once again, though I can’t really think of anything interesting to report. 1B defeated 1A for the second time in a row. I’ve been busy reviewing the year’s work with my kids, getting them ready for the test next week.

Tomorrow is my last day of actual teaching. Next week students will be taking exams, and on Friday the 16th our school year ends. After that it’s vacation once again! I fly to Johannesburg on the 22nd, spend 2 days there, fly to Namibia for a 4 day desert safari (which should include sky diving), and then head down to Cape Town for two more weeks in South Africa. And then, on the 13th of December, I’ll be headed back to the States.

On a side note, it's been extremely hot lately. This is the hottest time of year in Malawi, right before the rains come. It rained a lot a couple weeks ago, and some people thought the rains were here, but now it's looking like that was just a tease. The rains normally come at the end of November. Everywhere you look you can see men, women, and children busy cultivating their fields, so that they will be ready to plant when the rains come.