We've moved to Africa, so we might as well blog about it. We also thought this would be a good way to keep the grandparents from worrying. ("OK, they posted today. Didn't get eaten by hyenas." -Grandma Judy)
Noah and I have been going to an expat playgroup since we first arrived. I've met some great folks from all over the place. But I hadn't yet hosted because for so long we didn't have any of our things, and I thought the kids would get bored of (or break) the six toys we brought on the plane with us. Our boat shipment still hasn't come (three months and counting... supposedly it's landed in Durban, on the coast, and should be cleared to leave in the next week or so!), but we did get our air shipment at the end of February. It was a small set of boxes they shipped by air -- apparently by way of Antarctica because it took almost 2 months. With new toys in hand, I decided it was time to step up and host. I can't deny that I felt a bit like a housewife in Mad Men, but like a good Frankel/Rashman/Berger, I rolled up my sleeves and called Wegmans. I mean I set to work. I made scones (ok, from a mix) and served fruit and coffee, yada yada. About 10 parents came with 1-3 kids each.
The highlight reel...
Here's to the ladies who lunch.
(There are 3 dads who regularly come too. Dalius, from Seattle, is at far left.)
I convince Mien (Netherlands) to try out Lucy's jump rope. (Yes, it really was quite a rockin' party!)
Coffee Klatch - Mien, Penney (US) and Carron (UK )*
Apparently kids like animals. On March 5th, we met Lucy's friend Ami and her dad, Peter Vranken (from Belgium, Jan!), at the Pretoria Zoo. The kids had been begging to go. Our friend, Heather Menzies, was in town from Atlanta and joined us. Heather also did residency with Adam in Seattle, so we've known her for a good while [thinking about Seattle right now... is it raining? Oh, but the mountains and the coffee, and our good friends in perennial Polar Fleece!], and she currently lives in our old 'hood, Lake Claire, AND she's from South Africa, to boot! She also introduced us to the wonder that is bobotie... a delicious South African dish that Adam's gotten quite good at making. But I digress. Zoo time...
Animals, shmanimals! First, we hit the kiddie rides. (What self-respecting zoo doesn't have a slightly rusty Ferris Wheel?)
Ami and Lucy consider the extinction of the white rhino population while cruising in their MG.
Future union airline pilots.
Noah does a test drive of the new VW "Rabbit".
Meanwhile, Lucy and Ami enjoy a private train ride through the veld...
... where they ran into Simba, taking a cat nap.
A quick break. Noah enjoys a Marie biscuit. (Yes, Dad, they sell them here!)
The rides never stop. Now we take the cable car (What? Your zoo doesn't have one?) up to the top of the zoo and then wander back down.
Heather, Noey, Ad and Peter talk office politics.
Wild Animals
(Yes, someone needs a haircut... foreshadowing alert!)
Hi gang! Lucy was off from school last week for "fall break" (still sounds funny, but it is getting cooler here), so I skipped out on blogging.
A few random shots from late Feb, early March....
Lucy and Pops play this 6 foot Richard Scarry game that L received from her g'parents for her birthday. It's a team game where the humans work together to beat the pigs. Fun stuff. (Shot taken looking down from our 2nd floor balcony.)
Later that day, a CDC friend from Atlanta, Thu-Ha, was visiting from the States and threw a big "pho" party (Vietnamese noodles... something we have yet to find here) at our friend Peter's house. Peter's daughter, Ami, and Lucy are the same age and are becoming fast friends.
Noah enjoyed the noodles and proved to be excellent with chopsticks (putting them in his mouth, at least). Here he is with our friend Kimberly.
Noodled-out (but ready to be hungry again in an hour), Noah ventured over to the trampoline to see what the big kids were up to. He quickly showed his SoCal roots and did some surfing moves.
Noah chillaxes with Tammy and Jeff Klausner's kids (Pretoria via San Francisco).
Spaghetti Dinner
Seeing how much he liked noodles, we had a spaghetti dinner on our back porch a few nights later...
(Sorry, Lucy... somehow I was focused on Noah that night. I think because he reminded me of when you sat in that same chair, eating the same thing and making the exact same [happy] mess that was so fun to clean up.)
"I've go the whole bowl in my hands..."
Perhaps next time we could try a puttanesca?
A very short, unplanned video from dinner.
(Click to view video in YouTube. I think I set the permissions right this time. -Editor)
After dinner, Noah enjoyed a little spa treatment in the tub. Then a quick chase to avoid getting dressed.
Frogger
Shabbat Dinner
The next Friday, we were invited over to the house of some new friends, Elliot and Paul, for a shabbat dinner. Elliott is a native South African and Paul is from Australia. They have a crazy dinning room table that seats 14 (!) and it was a lively meal with real (!!) chopped liver. Lucy and Noah were the only kids, but Noah was a trooper and fell asleep in his pack-n-play at 7:30 and Lucy warmed up quickly to Paul and "helped" serve the ice cream for dessert.
Elliot and friend
Time to say the prayers? Just let me finish this pretzel.
Bedtime for Bonzo (and his big sis, too).
[Yes, G'mas... we took them right home to bed!]
The safari team slept in a little bit the next day. xo,
Glenn
Lucy's school, the American International School of Johannesburg at Pretoria (or AISJ-P), is expanding up to 8th grade (it stops at 6th now) and is moving to a new campus starting next school year (this August). Everyone at the school is very excited because the old campus, while it has its charms, is a bit make-shift with some classrooms in trailers across a road. They initially considered building one from scratch, but due to the economic downtown in the real-estate market, they were able to buy (through foreclosure) a ready-made school campus. They're going to add on to it, but it has quite stately grounds and big trees.
They invited students and parents out for a tour on Sat, Feb 26. It's in a different part of town, "Fairie Glen" (!), but not much further from our house.
Outdoor cooridors. There's a separate wing for the pre-K and K, with their own playground and "trike track." (Sweet! But they wouldn't let me test it out.)
Nice big playground for the elementary school as a whole.
My favorite part.... A pavillion with traditional thatched roof, which they'll use as a multi-purpose room (cafeteria, performance space, dance hall for that 8th grade Saddie Hawkins dance [I'm making this up], etc.)
Lucy showed off her monkey-bar skills.
The current school has animals in a stable, which sadly will be removed (too much work and liability issues, I gather). But the good news is that they're using the land to put in a swimming pool.
Noah couldn't stop staring at these guys. (Note the tippytoe action.)
Irene Market
Earlier in the day, we checked out a crafts & food market near Pretoria called the Irene Market. It's on the grounds of the Jan Smuts Museum, which was built in 1908 as a summer home for South African Prime Minister... Jan Smuts! Apparently he was quite the botanist and planted hundreds of different kinds of trees on the property. The market takes place under the trees, so it's cool as you walk around and see the various stalls.
Lucy bought a small carved hippo and we ate a crazy Afrikaaners dish called "vetkoek". What we didn't know when we ordered it is how it's pronounced...
"fet cook",
which, in English, means... "fat cake."
Suddenly we were handed a deep-friend dough ball filled with curry minced meet. Yummy, but not necessarily something I have to try again (unless I start running ultra-marathons).
Lucy started taking the bus to school in late February. I had been driving her (the embassy doesn't pick up the tab until August when she starts Kindergarten), but decided I would rather use the time to work. (The traffic in the afternoon can be bad and it seemed like I was spending an hour in the car just fetching her and returning home.) Her school has a small fleet of buses and they pick her up at about 7:45 am right at the house. (It's quite lovely.) We made the change right after she turned five and let's just say that she was beyond excited to start riding to school with the other "big kids".
First day on the bus - with Mister Steve, the bus driver.
Up she goes.
Seat belt on!
She continues to think taking the bus is the coolest thing, and it's made getting ready in the morning much easier. She practically runs out of the house when she hears the guard buzz that the bus has arrived.
One Sunday (March 20th), we took a short hike around the Groenkloof Nature Reserve, which is about 10 minutes from our house. It has hiking and mountain biking trails, and even some zebra and giraffe wandering about (though we've only spotted the latter from the road while driving by). No animals today, but we had a nice hike.
I just learned that Groenkloof is the South Africa's oldest nature reserve, established by President Kruger in 1895. (Supposedly it's the second oldest protected nature sanctuary in the world. Well, I read it on the web, so who knows if it's true. But it's a beautiful place.)
Noah's favorite game was to throw his hat off while we walk.
(Yes, G'ma Judy, he was wearing the SPF 100 you sent us.)
The coolest thing to me (and definitely not to Adam) was that there were wild zinnias growing all along the path. Either people planted them, birds spread their seeds from flowers from a nearby house, or they're native. I'll have to do some research... Apparently zinnias are from South America & Mexico, but someone else spotted them and decided they're native. I doubt it. (See her blog for more.)
Noah supported me and looked on with great interest. (Or was he looking for elephants?)
The wandering gardener
A tired and hot Lucy...
but I thought I should post it, lest you thought we left her at home to fend for herself.
For the other garden geeks: that's wild lantana on the left. And Wikipedia says it's native to Africa and the Americas.
Lucy was happy to see they sold Popsicles by the parking lot. (I was too.) xo,
I'm trying to catch up to the present with the blog, so hope you're not getting tired of us! -Editor
A week after Noah hit one, Lucy turned five. We had a party for her at the US Embassy Community Center and invited her Pre-K and the neighboring Kindergarten classes from school, along with friends we've made around town. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but of course we wish our family and State-side friends could have been here.
A new friend, Carron Fox (UK, husband works for EU), who I met at a baby group, has become quite the cake baker. She made Lucy's cake.
We played the traditional Pin the Tail on the Hippo. (Ad did the drawing; I was in charge of the tails!)
(I think there might have been some peaking going on.)
Enough of that. Back in the pool.
Then, it was time for the "Ostrich Egg Run!"
(Yes, grandmas... they were hard-boiled.)
Asha
Senna
Adom
Sean
Lucy, "Let me show you how it's done."
Cake time!
(I found this crazy sparkler candle at an Afrikaans bakery in town. Would likely be banned in the U.S., except maybe in Texas or Tennessee.)
Sorry, Grandude. This is not a high fiber, prune-sweetened dessert.
Girl friends.
Party time.
Party, Part Deux (aka "The Monday After")
The next day was Lucy's actual birthday and she was off to school. In case the kids didn't have enough sugar, we had cupcakes at the end of the school day.
They sang happy birthday, too...
Click the video to watch a larger version in YouTube
My favorite part is when you can see Lucy singing along with the rest of the gang.
No more birthdays for a while for this safari crowd. (Happy 73rd, Grandma Marcie!! 3/12...) xo,
