What's the word?

Johannesburg!

Now we're back to the daily grind after being on holiday (vacation) in Joburg last week.  Many a mall was seen, we visited the SOuthWEsternTOwnship (Soweto, made famous in District 9), went on a tour of the Kruger National Park (i.e. SAFARI!), and generally tried to relax from the stresses of schoool/work.  I would be lying if I said I didn't miss Cape Town terribly --- the Big Apple of SA doesn't have the unbelievable backdrop of Table Mountain with the ocean so nearby.  Added to that was the gloomy weather we endured all week.  We were mostly indoors, though, or driving around in the van.  Probably the most memorable experiences were exploring the pan-African markets and the museums.  There was also one day in Tshwane (the place formerly known as Pretoria) during which the clouds moved aside and gave us Carolina blue skies.  It made the pictures of the Union Buildings (like the White House or Pentagon, I guess) especially stunning.  We also visited beautiful Freedom Park (which was not so free because security can detain you if you are not within a short distance of your guide), a heritage site honoring democracy and (of course) freedom.

To break up the monotony of photos, I will also be including videos (!!) in this post.  Hope you all enjoy them!

First, here is a video I made on a parent workshop by Trees 4 Schools that Christel House hosted a few weeks ago.  It's quite long, but I would recommend watching the first few minutes.


Second, I have this awesome video starring Sarah, Josiah, and Caroline as they demo the crazy digital Minority-Report-style directory at the Sandton City Mall.


Finally, here is a slideshow of the pictures I took.  I decided not to upload them through Blogger because there are about 100 of them, but if you want to see them individually I can provide the link to my Picasa Web Albums.


As you can see, we saw 4 of the Big 5 on our safari. Every time I saw an animal I would take 8934834 pictures of it, fearing it would be the only sighting. This was disproved with the elephants, zebra, and giraffes who made sure to bid us farewell near the road. Maybe if I come back one day I will be able to see more cats... namely the lion.

The day we got back from our excursion we celebrated one of the most popular Chapel Hillian (and American) holidays: HALLOWEEN! After a bajillion different theme ideas, we decided to dress up as each other. If I get a hold of some photos, I will post them here. It was hilarious beyond belief.

This is our last month in South Africa, and I'm already feeling depressed! I'll keep you all updated on the continued adventures.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAITLIN! WELCOME TO CAPE TOWN, ANDREW!