Rainy Season (Jan-Feb)

Rainy season!

Tracy and Zavion left us in mid January to travel around Kenya and Ethiopia. We continued with life as usual. Miles and Eliza had their after school guitar and dance lessons, respectively.

Miles was studying the rainforests of the world in his unit. He'd gone on a field trip to the botanical garden near our house. He wanted to show us his favorite trees, so we went as a family one Sunday, and of course we had to hurry home because of the torrential downpour that hit us in the afternoon.

Small Baobab (pronounced bayo-bab..."a" like in like tab)

Fig Tree - roots grow out of the branches, hanging until they hit the earth and latch on, spreading the width of the tree

Our garden was productive in the rainy season - we had lots to harvest: corn, eggplant, tomatoes, etc.

Tomato pie with tomatoes and basil from the garden

More rainy season - our lush garden 

Mambo - King of the Garden surveying his territory

The PTO helped with the annual campaign to raise money for children in Zimbabwe with cancer. Miles's class, having completed a unit on heroes and learning that heroes help people in need, took charge of the bandana sales. Wearing orange raises awareness about the issue. They earned $200 after two days of sales around campus! Well done, Grade 2!

Miles is hiding here behind the girl in the white cap, but this is his class - Grade 2 A&B.

One of the school's many peacocks resting on an art table.

Adding to the family...

Pet Love

Although Mambo is enough pet to fill the hearts of the whole family. Eliza had bigger dreams. For years she had been asking for a puppy. We started off with our first hamster. She named him Furry.

Little did we know that in February a puppy was being born who we would later adopt...

In the meantime, we had Furry. And Eliza finally got a pink room.

Continuing this trip down memory lane...

December was really a family month...(aren't they all?)... Tracy and Zavion were with us, and Jack and Anne visited. Big events like Christmas and the trip to Imire were covered in other blogs. To ensure we are being as comprehensive as possible to interested grandmothers (etc)... here are some other highlights from December 2011.

There were the end of school year performances. As hard as he worked on it, Miles's concert was less photogenic than Eliza and Zavion's adorable performance on their "Living Things" unit.

Eliza and Zavion's precious EC2 performance on living things

Eliza was a bee. Zavion was a frog.

Sometimes one is lucky enough to be included in another family's traditions. My theory is that we expats all make an extra effort when abroad to bring holiday cheer to a not-like-home environment. My first xmas away from home in the Peace Corps - so pitiful yet so powerful. Well, now we're all grown up, and Sheryl has introduced cookie decorating! Who knew that 40-something-year-olds (and kids) could have so much fun with edible writing and glitter.

And what's a long Christmas holiday in Africa without lying in the sun and playing in the pool?

Fun at the pool - David throwing all the kids. 

If you can't see the slide show below, click here for the full album.

Color House Day 2012

Competition. Some people think it's healthy. Others think it's destructive and unfair. There's nothing like parenting to work through one's own views.

Who hasn't felt the pain of losing, and of being left out? Whose joy of a thing hasn't been marred if not outright killed by rejection and criticism?

Perhaps all those younger folks? The ones who received trophies for participating and everyone's a winner?

Even with the last twenty or so years of sensitivity to the least of us, the U.S. is still competitive. It is still loud and proud, and it's in my veins. The elation I feel at winning - it's in the gut and shamefully hard to suppress. When I score in ultimate, I prance. When I win at cards, I work to suppress my smirk.

When I see my son taking the lead in a race? I'm hysterical inside. There appear to be no other parents at HIS elementary (other than my husband) who care half as much as we do. For example, I am the only one cheering. Or maybe I'm so loud I don't hear the others? No. The others are having conversations and not even paying attention. The race is on, people!

I'm torn, though. Live and let live? To each his own? We should not judge ourselves against others. We should celebrate effort. It's a beautiful thing to see everyone try to be their best. Is it then competition with self that's healthy? Be all that you can be. Or be a failure?

Miles is funny. The way I understand it: he's so competitive he won't compete. He can't stand not being the best, so he won't even participate in a sport. We have been trying to talk him out of these irrational expectations and get him to just enjoy play. But his anxiety is so intense that we are only pushing him slightly. I'm afraid if we push too hard now (age 7), he will permanently place himself in the "not-a-jock" camp, which would be a loss.

That said, I was not going to let him get away with not participating in the big run on Color House Day this year. He insisted all week, he wasn't going to do it.

When do you, as a parent, sit back and not say anything, and when do you use an opportunity to teach an important lesson? If I preached, he argued back. If I let the day sneak up on us, he likely would have gotten on with it without much fuss. But of course, I couldn't say nothing.

It was the last event of the day, and he literally tried to sneak away. I silently (by that point) walked him back and told him he had to stay with his class, and between the teacher saying everybody had to do it and David saying, just run, even if it's not your fastest run, Miles managed to pull it together. He made a point of not trying at first, but then he couldn't help himself, and he finished strong in third place.

I was extremely proud of him for not giving up before he even tried, and he was proud of himself. Whew.

The Sound of Zimbabwe

When we went to Cape Town last weekend, there were two bands playing on the water front, one of which were a group of marimba players. After listening, I told the guy selling CDs that my son was taking marimba lessons. Another listener then introduced himself - he's Zimbabwean, living in South Africa and just listening and missing home. The marimba is a Zimbabwean instrument. There's something about Zimbabweans - even with the craziness of what comes with elections and such, the people are just typically laid back and friendly. I had a wave of homesickness for my home in Harare.

At a fundraiser for an orphanage before Christmas, we were happy to find that Miles's teacher's marimba band was performing. They even let Miles join them for a couple of songs. It was really cool.

Grammy & Grandpa Come to Zimbabwe, Part 1: Around Harare

David's surprise birthday gift for me (a trip to Muscat) had us arriving in Harare just a few hours before his mom and Mike, but all went well. Tracy and Zavion arrived two days later - just in time for Tarisai Day at the school. While HIS upper grades went on week-long trips for Explore Zimbabwe, Early Childhood up to Grade 4 spent the day at school on a circuit of presentations, learning about important issues, places and cultures of Zim.

Signing a pledge (on a smart board) to protect rhinos 

Sheryl and M's classmates Vaughn, Bukhosi and Deeksha at the Tarisai Day family picnic

We had planned on going to Lake Kariba immediately since the kids had a long weekend, but we ended rescheduling for the next weekend due to a conflict at the resort where we wanted to stay. That allowed us to enjoy a jam packed weekend: the Hoggerty Hill Fair, Eliza's friend Emma's birthday party and ultimate frisbee on Saturday, a picnic at the nearby Lake Chivero National Park on Sunday, and a morning hike to Domboshawa (ancient rock paintings & granite dome) on Monday.

the dads of the British Embassy vs. dads of kids at the Greek Orthodox school

I was really pleased with the Lake Chivero picnic. Some families in Harare buy a boat and go up to the lake just about every weekend. We had only been out there a few times - it's where the Lion & Cheetah Park and Snake World are located, just 45 minutes or so away from home. But there's another entrance that takes you into the game park that is fenced off and allows you to drive your own car through the forest and grasses along the lake. From our minivan, we saw wildebeest, antelope, giraffe, zebra, ostriches, guinea fowl, baboons and a mother rhino and her baby. We set up a picnic in near total isolation...a boat came by once and some people drove by once...but other than that, it was just us and the baboons, zebra and ostriches - just hanging out, having some wine and lunch.

great picnic spot

 It was great for bird watching, too, which Grammy and Grandpa were up to most days, whether in our garden or out on excursion.

Cecilia and Eliza

Bird-watcher Gayle Weiss

Caroline - she and Domonik, as always giving us the insider information on all the best places to go.
You don't have to spend a gazillion dollars on a safari resort to enjoy the natural beauty of Zim.

fish eagle - the national symbol

Miles was at the end of his first unit, so his second grade class did a presentation at the end of week school assembly: Fabulous Friday. Their unit was on  the School Community. They did interviews with various people at the school, made maps of the campus and surveys. They visited a local school and came up with a project to help the students there. They learned about HIS's history and made recommendations for improving the school. For the presentation, Miles and a few other students were news anchors, reporting on the class's accomplishments. Highlights: when the teacher explained that the reason for a pregnant pause in the performance was that we were waiting for the music to cue up since Miles insisted that he have a news jingle intro. Also, his handing over to "roving report Vaughn Stumbras" - his best friend. Miles did very well. He was well prepared by his teachers to expect for things not to go perfectly and to just roll with it...which he did. We were very proud of him, and he was proud of himself. And the special audience of all his visiting relatives made it all the more exciting.

Miles with classmates Doma (Bhutanese/Danish), Eleanor (British/American) and Bukhosi (Zimbabwean)

friends after the show: Bukhosi, Vaughn (Kenyan/American) and Miles + cousin Zavion

Yes, Miles's teacher asked that I get Miles's haircut for the show, as well as ensure he was dressed "smartly." I ended up going all boys-school-uniform on him, as it was the cheapest local option for tie, trousers and shoes.

Race Day

Finishing up the last quarter of the 300m.

I arrived just in time to see Miles at the starting line with the rest of the boys in the first grade. They were about to run around the soccer field - probably more like 300m than 400m.  It was their quarterly field day called "Color-house Day" since all the kids in the elementary school are split into 4 colors that compete against each other.

He was on the outside, but by the time they rounded the corner, he had sprinted in front of the whole pack, and I was seriously worried he wouldn't be able to keep that up and that things would end very badly (emotionally for him) with everyone passing him. But he stayed in the front and pulled ahead until the last quarter when Victor, the boy behind him here, started to catch up. Miles was slowing down. They crossed the finish line with Victor a half a step ahead. It was so exciting that I could hardly see - my tears were fogging up my sun glasses and I was crazily taking photos and cheering. Memories of the races I ran in school came rushing back to me- oh, the nausea and nerves!

He came in first in the sprints, as well. His time was the fastest in the first grade - obviously, he gets that from his dad.  I had a great photo of him crossing the finish line, but I lost that and a lot of other photos, unfortunately. At least I have it in my head... His class was very supportive and cheered him. It was all really special.

Eliza's field day was more like herding cats. Kids her age don't get simple things like running in a lane - all the kids ran straight to the teacher who was on the side line - or running a relay - oh, right, there's something in my hand. What's that for? I'm just so excited to be running!

Relays with 3- & 4-year-olds = pretty silly

5 Months Difference

This is Miles's first journal entry in Grade One:

 

This is his most recent entry:

How Life was Made, by Miles Brigham

A journal entry at school:  "This is earth five hundred and five billion years ago, a toxic world with no hope of life. Then everything changed. Another planet, Thea, smashed in to the Earth, creating a new world - our world. A smaller chunk of Thea became our moon, and slowly our oceans were formed until life on Earth was ready to begin." (facts remembered from BBC's "Walking with Monsters")

Recent Accomplishments

Miles graduated from Kindergarten last week. They had a little ceremony marking their move to the big school – the teachers told something that each kid had said he/she learned and was looking forward to learning next year. Mrs. Jambga, Miles’ teacher said: “We sure wish we’d had Miles all year. He brings such interesting topics to our discussion. He always brings it to a whole ‘nother level of learning.” They’re studying the body next year and Miles is looking forward to hearing about how bones are made. (Not sure if they’ll go into that much scientific depth, but we’ll find out!)

[Imagine adorable videos of Miles's graduation and his school performances...that cannot be uploaded due to technical difficulties. But here he is:]
Miles had a good semester. His reading and writing really took off, so that he is now starting to read the words in his books on his own. That has been the most exciting development for us to see. In math, he’s doing really well. He can add and subtract in his head and count to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s. The other day he was even doing multiplication in his head. It seems like he’s experiencing a rush of understanding and being able to compute on his own. This semester, he had two “units of inquiry” around which all their lessons focused: the first was “from field to table” so he has learned about the origins of food, food groups and healthy eating habits (enhanced by trips to farms, as well as our garden - this boy is an eater now! What an appetite!). The other unit was about birds, so he will have a lot to talk about with his bird-watching grandparents. He also completed the first level of karate and a course on chess.

Since Eliza has been going to a local school (she wasn’t old enough to start at HIS yet), she’s on a trimester system like all the schools here. They had off the whole month of April, during which time she had two main activities: swimming lessons and playing with Angie. Eliza’s swimming teacher, Heather, was great, and Eliza learned how to swim!

Angie was also a great friend, and they had a lot of fun girly time together. Angie’s mother Aminata is from Mauritania and her father is from Syracuse, NY (his father is a retired professor of psychology there!)…but very unfortunately for us, they are moving to Bangladesh this week. We will miss them!