Settling into this place.

So starting off my third week here now tomorrow. We're really starting to get pretty serious into the project now. We've spent a lot of time talking to residents of the Park about how they use electricity and other things to cook and heat their homes and to watch tv. Its been really surprising, a lot of them actually have fridges in their shacks that are bigger than the one in my apartment. But they get electricity by either pre-paying for it like a pay as you go cellphone or by running little cords from someone who does have a box and just paying them. So it is all really inconsistent and goes down a lot. But everyone says that the most important change they would want is just to have their own box and have more reliable electricity, which was also pretty interesting. But having good electricity does make a lot of things simpler and safer in their homes.

We've also been working on building some little cheap and simple solar water heaters and solar ovens. There are a lot of designs out there, so we've found a few and are going to build them and then do some sort of a workshop with the community to show how they work. I think this is a really cool way to help solve their energy problems by just using simple devices that don't cost anything to run to cook and heat water. They might not be able to work for all of their needs, but they could go a long way in saving how much they have to spend on grid electricity and other fuels.

So now that we've done that initial work here, we have to start now analyzing all of it and to start developing a plan for improvement and redevelopment of their energy uses. This part is the most confusing, because none of us have any experience in this and it is really something that people are struggling with all around the world. But as our advisors say, it gives us a chance to really come up with whatever we want and make it something creative. And our sponsors and advisors are really pushing us to do just that, think creatively about this and come up with something new. So that part is exciting, but of course also quite a bit confusing and a big unknown. Hopefully we will bring together something good for the area and make a difference in the place, and also of course something that will get me a good grade on this project since this is a big part of my degree at school. That is an interesting balance I've been thinking about lately, but it seems that our advisors are gonna pre pretty flexible with the grading, and as long as we work hard toward making improvements and putting a lot of effort into our work in the park, we will get a good grade.

On a lighter note, I got to take a really great tour around a lot of Cape Town with on of the sponsors. The picture here is from that trip, when stopped on the coastal road along the Atlantic. That was really cool, just touring around the countryside and seeing everything from the road. Well thats all for now. Hopefully I get some good work done this week and I can update you all later on.