Penpals from South Africa

Last week we began writing the first letter to our penpals in South Africa. Our penpals go to Maidstone Primary School in Durban, South Africa. Many students were very excited after spending much time researching Africa in 3rd grade. In our letters we shared about ourselves, our community, and our school culture. We can't wait to get response letters. How long do you think the mail will take to get all the way to South Africa? Any guesses? Well, according to www.timeanddate.com, the distance from New York to South Africa is about 12,548 kilometers or 7797 miles or 6775 nautical miles (by sea). Wow!! That's a long way! That's about as far as traveling across the United States and back!