It was a crazy day in Cape Town

So you may be sitting there wondering "Nathan, why haven't you added any pictures to the blog yet?"  The short answer is the internet here isn't perfect, and I don't want to rack up a huge bill uploading pictures (they charge by the megabyte).  I will instead posts some picture blogs after we get back into the states and collage all of the pictures into an awesome picture blog.

So on to the last to days.  Today was incredible, we started in the morning at our school (St. Paul's) by teaching the lesson that we did yesterday, which was the Water Bottle Rockets MindSET Module.  We taught grade 5 and 6 about energy, Newton's laws, and force.  We split the learners into small groups where they worked with another EGL to complete a worksheet and build a rocket.  We then (thanks to some amazing engineering by Akshay Desai and Daniel Kiefer) launched the rockets into the air.  They went everywhere from 1 meter to 13 meters.  It was absolutely amazing.  It gave the kids a chance to learn by doing experiments, which, according to some of the teachers is very rare.  All of the kids went crazy over the rocket launches, and I even saw some of the volunteers crack a smile.  I really enjoyed the chance to introduce the kids to a different kind of learning and do something that I've been doing for a couple years back in the United States.  I'm not sure if the lesson will stick, but I hope the kids come running back to their parents or friends and say "GUESS WHAT I GOT TO DO TODAY!?!?!?  I got to shoot rockets in school!".  I would count that as an awesome day at school.

And now, another guest blogger (I swear I could write these blogs, but people are chomping at the bit to blog too [sarcasm]).  Here is Melissa Boelstler to tell you about her experience so far (but really today):

I have fallen in love with South Africa since the day I arrived.  Every day reveals more beautiful wonders than the last. Between the beautiful scenery and attractions, the adorable children at the school, and the amazing people I've gotten to know and spend my time with here, having a bad time would've been impossible.

Today we were able to explore one of the seven new wonders of the natural world (according to some random sign), Table Mountain. It's a beautiful mountain that sits right in Cape Town, and if we went to Cape Town without visiting it, it would just be disappointing [editors note: it was on my bucket list]. All 15 of us met up after volunteering at the base of the mountain to start our hike to the top. We got a later start than we wanted, so to avoid hiking down in the dark we had to be quick. We ended up splitting up into three groups and I was in the middle group (we had a fast group and a slow group, based on hiking abilities), and this is what happened.

So out of all the trails up to pick, we decided on the one called Skeletons Gorge. Yes, I know it sounds like not the best one to pick, but we heard it was easy. We were wrong, it happens sometimes. After about 15 minutes up [editors note: it was 15 minutes of climbing steps, which as the least physically fit member of the group was rather difficult], we came across some ladders. We climbed up about 6 sets of ladders and once we got to the top the trail disappeared. We were in a gorge with a waterfall coming down, trying to climb up the rocks with really no other option.  We literally had to climb up a waterfall for 100 m or so. After some very careful decisions and some awesome climbing, we managed to make it up safely and all of the sudden the path reappeared! There was even a sign that suggests you don't climb that part of the mountain, because it could be dangerous in the winter and rainy months [editors note: the current months in South Africa]. As helpful as it was to see that AFTER the trail, we were relieved to see some stable ground. After a couple hours on much better terrain, we made it up to the first peak, and we spotted the first group in the distance. To make sure it was them we decided to yell out GO and were thrilled when the response BLUE was returned [editors note: this was really me yelling "GO", even while out of breath.  My voice carries a ways]. After a few of those, we finally caught up to them, only to have them start their hike back down to beat the sunset (hiking in the dark is very dangerous). We decided to keep on going to the top to see the full view and take the cable car down. It was about 5:00, and we still had an hour to the cable car, which closed at 6:00. Needless to say we were walking quickly; no one wanted to get stuck on top of that mountain. After losing the path a couple of times, walking through some marsh and strange plants, and, after stopping for a couple pictures, we made it to the cable car with 3 minutes to spare. Plenty of time! We were exhausted, but every second was worth it. From the top, we could see the sun set over the ocean with the mountains range running straight into the coast. Even the cable car ride down was an amazing sight.  Definitely something that you can't see anywhere else [editors note: unless you check the blog after we get back, when I will be posting videos].