Why You Should Let Your Kids Pick Their Paint

Wow, has it been a crazy month or what. My laptop screen broke, I got back into the states (currently working on the blog posts to share my great experiences) and now I am in the process of completely cleaning out my room and getting rid of anything that I possibly can.
Now, maybe I am writing this blog to prove a point to my parents, but maybe I am just curious as to see what other people out there think.
I am trying to redo my room for my little brother who turns 7 in 2 weeks. I wanted to do it as a birthday present, but also as a bribe to get him to get rid of some of his toys and start keeping his room clean. (Yeah, right. A 7 year old boy keep his room clean, I know. I am crazy.)

If you have never met him then you wouldn’t know that he has lived and breathed John Deere and tractors since he was learning to talk. He actually learned his colors by the brands of tractors (John Deere Green, Allis Chalmers Orange, Case IH Red… So on..) It was adorable.
       I want to paint his room Green, With a yellow and a Black stripe. Like the picture to the side, without the yellow ceiling. I am hoping to get creative enough to put a little red barn and a dirt path on the wall, but first I have to get past my parents.

Here comes the bad news…

So today was pretty fun! We had class, went to the archives and went to a cool holocaust museum..
We had a good supper and then came back to the hostel to play some 10 point pitch.

I would love to tell you all more about my great day.. but unfortunately.. there are some other things that haven’t made my day so great.

I can’t say that I will be blogging for the rest of my trip, but I will definitely be keeping a journal to tell you everything that happens.
Tonight, while we were playing pitch, my laptop was sitting on the floor on the deck and it apparently got stepped on.. My LED screen has cracked.

I am going to attempt to use someone elses laptop to keep up my blog, but there is no promises that someone will let me use their laptop every night for it… I am hoping, but there is no promises. I will still be posting on Facebook when I have internet, but that’s probably it.

Tomorrow is the safari. Pictures will be posted to facebook. I promised to get a picture with a lion (;

See you in a 2 weeks if I don’t see you before then!

The Amy Biehl Foundation and Nyanga

The Amy Biehl foundation is set up for a girl who was living in South Africa in the early 1990’s. She was a college student at Stanford University majoring in African studies. She came to South Africa to help fight the injustice and segregation. She was here up until the first free elections, but then she was driving home from a township and was killed by a mob that thought she was there to fight against freedom, instead of fighting for freedom.

Day Three In Beautiful South Africa!

          Orientation started today, at 9 am, meaning 2 am our time. It was an extremely long day, but it was fun and worth it.

          We walked from our hostel down to a little café. We had these great things called Chocochinos. It is a mixture of Whip Cream, espresso, and chocolate. YES! It was the perfect thing for the morning after having no sleep.

          After that we all jammed into the back of our ISA representatives car and drove to campus.

UP, UP and AWAY!

When someone suggests that you go on a 24 hour flight. Think about it deeply before you jump on the idea.

   We flew from:

            Omaha to Detroit: 1 hr 23 minute flight

            Detroit to Amsterdam: 7 hour and 35 minute flight

            Amsterdam to Cape Town: 11 hour and 10 minute flight.

Big Thanks Goes tooo..

UNL: For setting up the trip, making sure everything went okay, and giving me a $750 scholarship!
Dr. Curry: For putting up with all of us crazy college kids for 3 weeks!
Robin Anderson: Who printed the letters for me to send out informing everyone about my trip and requesting a little help.
Gage County M.A.P.S. coalition for donating envelopes and labels for the letters.

Some of the Money Donors:
Kiwanis                                                     Verla Light
Grandma Jan and Grandpa Roger                Grandpa Earl and Grandma Vera
Grandma Cindy                                         Grandma Judy and Grandpa Gene
Roger and Dianne Aveyard                         Dawn Kendall
Roger and Jane Aden                                  Ernie and Jan
Bette and Marvin                                       Janice Waltke
Diane and Doug Swanson                           Troy Kendall
Mom and Dad                                            Pat May

Here is the South African Plan

Think back to early elementary school. Probably your social studies class very very early in Social Studies when you learned about the equator, the different hemispheres, and the different climates of these hemispheres.

Remember that moment when your teacher said that opposite hemispheres have opposite seasons. I don’t. Well. I had a flashback during my South Africa Itinerary meeting today. It was like on an episode of That’s So Raven from when I was young, when she has a “vision” and all time stops.