Big cats

We went on a safari to this place where they have a lot of big cats, like lions and cheetahs and leopards. To see the lions and leopard, we stood on a balcony and watched them eat meat that people put out for them.

For the cheetahs, we just sat in the truck and a guy put up food for them. They didn't come close to the truck while they ate, but one did come about one foot away from the truck. But it didn't attack us, because it was scared of us. We drove a little bit more and the cheetahs followed us. We stopped and the driver pulled out a big zebra leg and threw it to the cheetahs. We watched them eat it right to the bone. I looked at them with my binoculars the whole time, they were really close up! Then, we drove back to the lodge and had hot cocoa because it was rainy and cold.

The lions ate the bone with the meat, because they could crush it. The leopards and cheetahs just ate the meat and not the bone, because their jaws can't crush the bone.

4th and 5th days in Namibia

On our fourth day in Namibia, we went for a game drive, which is known in America as a wildlife drive. We saw a lot of cool animals there, and I picked up a lot of the rocks that looked cool. We saw warthogs (below), kudu, and oryx. The rocks I found were all quartz. One was very big, the others were kind of small.

On the fifth day, at 7:30 a.m., I went to my school to take a test to see where I was. Regular school starts at 7:20 and I will get out at 1:40. I was there today for 2 hours for the test. The classrooms are divided in the outdoors in different buildings. Instead of fifth grade, they call it 'year 6'.

The first few days have been very exciting. I have tried a lot of new food and met new kids. The things I ate that were kind of weird were: kudu, crocodile, and some new fruits (pears that tasted kind of weird). The Pepsi Light does not taste the same as Diet Pepsi. They have different kinds of chips. At night, there are barely any cars, so you can sleep pretty well at night. Windhoek is pretty quiet.

The London Eye

We rode London's ferris wheel today (New Years Day) and it is called the London Eye. It is the biggest ferris wheel in the world, and we rode inside glass capsules. It looks like a giant bicycle wheel, kind of, because it has spokes.

The capsules rotate in the holders, so you don't go upside down at the top, although that would be pretty cool! We had about 15 people in our capsule.

When you got off and on, it didn't stop--it was still moving. You had to make sure you stepped over the crack, or you might fall down.

It was fun to go on, because you were very high up. When you looked down, it was a long way down and you kind of freak out sometimes.

There was a long line to get into it, but the line moved quickly.

We also saw the New Years Parade and went inside a big church that had a lot of dead people buried in it. We listened to the church choir. Our feet got sore, because we walked everywhere. We also took the subway.

Japanese restaurant

There are a lot of cool restaurants in London.

On New Years Eve we went out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. One of dad's students was with us, and she is from Japan. I learned how to eat with chopsticks. They were very messy. I was suprised that I would eat Japanese food in London on the way to Africa.