Home

We arrived home on Hans's 15th birthday - Dec 16th after something like 32 hours of travel. We are still dealing with jet lag and although we were not completely ready to come home, it is great to see Mark and Maja!

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our travels. Our goal is to put together a slide show to share with family and friends. We'll let you know when that is ready.

Deb

Snorkeling

A turtle tour was fascinating. From 9PM to 1AM we travelled the beach in a big safari vehicle. We saw two loggerhead turtles making nests, laying eggs and return to the Indian Ocean. We learned that the turtles return to the same beach where they were born (15-20 years earlier) to lay their own eggs. Although the picture doesn't show it well, the turtles were about 4 feet long. One turtle laid nearly 65 eggs and only 1 of those will survive to adulthood.

We also took the kids on a snorkeling tour one morning. Six of the eight of us got seasick and asked to return early! The waves were high and shortly after our boat returned they canceled all other outgoing trips that day. Thankfully after a few hours on land, we felt better. We had a blast examining the tidepools and renting snorkeling gear the next day to explore underwater (near shore). We were rewarded with a huge school of sardines, many colorful fish and corals, a squid, eels and an octopus. It is the 2nd most popular diving area in the world - they say. I was pleased at how comfortable the water temperature was - about 26 C.

Deb

St Lucia

With much of our volunteer work wrapping up, we decided to head to the east coast for a week of exploring. Michele and I and the 6 kids camped in the St. Lucia Estuary and Sodwana Bay areas. We saw rhino, crocodile, hippos, many birds and monkeys. The kids enjoyed exploring the beaches for snails, crabs and shells. We had a guide for a hike through the grasslands and enjoyed his local knowledge and Zulu lore.

Deb

g33k$ perform well

The g33k$ participated in the South African FLL tournament and met two of their big goals. They achieved a perfect 400 on the board. They asked for a copy of the score sheet so they could frame it (shown in the photo)! They also got first place at the event and were given the opportunity of attending the FLL World Festival in St. Louis in April 2011. They are all so excited to have some more time to work and play together this spring. They will continue to do outreach and mentoring in their respective communities and meet with each other over Skype every week. It was a fun event and a great way to wrap up our season together.

Deb

Camping

We went camping with friends for the weekend. The kids were introduced to a game called Claylot which looked to me like " gather clay from the river and throw it at someone." They all seemed to have a good time even though they were filthy! The frogs sang to us at night and it was deafening. It sounded like a million frogs and my eardrums were actually sore. The kids also baked "stick bread" over the fire and had a watermelon seed spitting contest. We feel lucky to have friends to spend time with.

Deb