Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with a group of HIV positive orphans at St. John's. I am sure it will remain in my memory as my best Thanksgiving ever. I cannot explain the feeling I had when Annika, Zac and I were making apple pie with 5 of the children and one 12 year-old-boy (his name is Surprise) said to me, "Deb, I am so glad you are here with us today." And then his smile. Also when the girl named Pretty realized we did not have to measure our ingredients exactly....the smile and sparkle that came over her face as she shook and shook the cinnamon shaker! And when Nkosi noticed me snitching a little piece of apple, the smirk he had and then he copied me and laughed. The pureness of those moments are priceless. It was an amazing day. These children have really stolen my heart. Our schedule is busy but we plan to get back there at least 2 more times before we leave. I wish they lived down the street from me so I could see them often.

Deb

Mpumalanga FLL Tournament

The FLL tournament took place last weekend. It was a lot of fun for participants and spectators and really nice for this area to host their own tournament. By all accounts it was a success. Six teams from the area will be participating in the national tournament on Dec 4th. Hans and Annika's team happens to be one of them so we are excited about having another opportunity to earn a 400 on the board. Their scores were 350, 360 and 375. We took a lot of video but have little bandwidth so we cannot post anything for you to see. I have several favorite moments 1) When one of the first year teams we were mentoring (Robo Docs) achieved their highest score possible (275) - on their final board run and ended up taking the 2nd place robot performance award; 2) When my team so willingly coordinated the clean up while the judges were deliberating (and many other children then joined in) and then the look on the FLL coordinators face when he realized all his work was done for the day; and 3)the words of appreciation from so many teams for the work we have been doing with them over the course of our stay. I get a very hopeful feeling from people here about what they are planning and expecting for next year.

The kids here have all just finished their 2-3 week exam period and are off school until January 12th I think. This means my team will have some very focused time together finally! They have all been out at the farm with us for the last 36 hours. Games like kick-the-can and Ninja's along with watching Pink Panther 2 fill in their time together away from the robot and skit revamping. They enjoy each other and it is such a treat for them to be together. Although all teams have some struggles, this team has really been easy to work with. And it has been such a great thing to have both my kids on the same team. I really worried about that initially but overall is has been a very good decision. Annika has really learned a lot and grown into an important, contributing member of the team...not bad for a 12 year old with 14-16 year olds....one of whom is her brother!

This weekend we will camp with Liezel and Pieter's family as well as Marietjie's family. Then on Sunday we will join Liezel and Pieter's church for a potluck and short service. We realize we have a long list of things we still want to do before we leave......

Deb

Half marathon, bug and LEGO

Michele and I, and our new friend Marietjie (along with her friend Cora), walked a half marathon as part of the Kaapsehoop 3 in 1 event. We laugh at ourselves because once we decided to do this we only got one day of "training" in. If the weather had been less foggy and rainy we might have seen wild horses or giraffes. Although we made it, our bodies were not happy for a few days afterward! I learned that it is important to choose one's underwear carefully prior to undertaking an event like this. :) We were surprised by the number of people participating in the 10K,half and full marathons - over 1500. We were not surprised when we were passed by some of the fastest runners doing the full marathon. They were impressive athletes.

Hans and Michele seemed to have picked up an intestinal bug or gotten into some bad food/water. They are racing each other to the bathroom. We are hopeful it will not go through the rest of us especially with the tournament coming up on Saturday. Last night the team got their first perfect score on the board - 400 points. They are feeling hopeful for their big day. They have also learned that at the SA championship in December the top three finishers have other post season opportunities. The first place team will compete in a tournament in St. Louis in April, the second place team will go to a championship event in Europe and the third place team will go to Thailand. They are excited about these possibilities!

This morning we woke up to see 14 vervet monkeys hanging out in the trees just outside our front door. They were enjoying the fruit on the palm trees and the flower buds on another tree nearby. We are getting rain just about every day now so things are really turning green and in bloom.

Deb

Cave

We enjoyed exploring an old mining cave/tunnel in a nearby town called Barberton. It was about 800 m long and flashlights were definitely needed. It has been raining a lot so we had to navigate a few large puddles and also encountered a few disoriented bats.

Our LEGO tournament takes place in 6 days so we are gearing up for a busy week. There will be 16 teams from the area competing. Three other tournaments have been held across South Africa already. The high score is 225 (out of 400). The g33k$ think they have a good chance at getting 400 by next week....we'll see as they often feel confident going into the regional tournament and then something unexpected comes up.

In many ways our time is passing too quickly with just over 4 weeks remaining. Perhaps when the LEGO commitments scale back it will feel like it is time to come home. Michele and I plan to take the kids to the coast for the final week after the SA championship LEGO tournament takes place on Dec 4th. We have 2 nights booked at a hostel and 5 nights at a campsite. We hope to see turtles laying eggs on the beach and do some snorkeling and seeing the sights.

Deb

Swaziland and school visits

We camped at Molotja Nature Reserve in Swaziland last week and had a great time exploring a new country. The people are very friendly and the scenery is gorgeous. It is one mountain after another. When fully loaded our van does not have a lot of "get up and go", so we chug along at 40 km/h most of the time. As the roads are not all paved and endure one logging truck after another, our ride was quite bumpy. We enjoyed our visit to the glass factory where we observed artisans blowing into long tubes to form beautiful vases, wine glasses and bowls. The kids also spent time watching the crafters carve animals from wood and rock.

Homeschooling has gotten more and more hands-on as we have found two more schools to serve through literacy and robotics. We read stories at a government school last week and made a donation of some books. There were 257 children standing at attention while we read out loud. As the kids struggle with our accents, I read the page and then a boy from the school read the page out loud to the group. The youngest children (below grade 3) don't really have a lot of experience in English so now I understand all the blank looks while reading. It wasn't until I showed the pictures that the children's faces looked engaged and showed enjoyment.

The other school we have adopted is at an orphanage. The children are all HIV positive and live at the center run by two nuns from the states and one from somewhere in eastern Europe. We built lego fans and merry-go-rounds with the oldest 9 children one morning and then spent some time read to and with each of them. It is a neat experience when I look up from the Curious George book I am reading to see each of our 6 kids sitting with one or two children reading aloud from books friends and relatives donated to give to children here. The kids LOVE the books. We hope to spend significant time there over the coming weeks. There is a boy named Victor with whom I am especially enamored. He has a quick mind and an engaging smile with manners that are heartwarming. The kids sang the World Cup theme song for us and while they were singing, "when I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom just like a wavin' flag" I got a bit teary. It is hard to think of what kind of future these kids have.


Deb

Haircut

I got a much needed haircut today. The gentleman who cut my hair was a well-seasoned Afrikaaner who has lived a full life. It was fascinating to get the local scoop on the Pick-n-Pay (large grocery store chain) strike, hear about the bird that is stalking hummingbirds in his wife's flower pot, learn about the best beaches to visit on the Elephant Coast for our trip in December and get his recommendations on places to visit in Swaziland. He told me there is a bird that spears its prey onto the large thorns on a certain kind of tree to feast on later and that the crocodiles are very dangerous at night in a certain estuary having recently eaten several people. I enjoyed our conversation very much.

Perhaps the highlight of my day though was the experience I had while getting my hair washed at the shop. The woman scrubbed my head (not the quick dab on some shampoo, smear it around a little and then barely rinse it out treatment I am used to at my local hair salon back home) but really scrubbed it, then she combed in conditioner and then gave me a full head massage. This lasted a full 15 minutes. It was decadent and I left her a large tip...even more than I left the guy doing the cutting! I think I may need another hair cut next week.

Deb