The Cohen-Frankel Safari: New School & Fat Cakes

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).