A Book for Christina

We had a great summer holiday in the USA and I was going to hit the ground running in Belgium and start blogging about our trip to California. But when we walked in to the Bomma and Bompa's house, my phone *dinged* with a message about the passing of my friend, former  colleague, and Xavier's 3rd grade teacher, Christina Hutterer.

Between cleaning up the kids vomit (they caught Roman and Katya's tummy bug and it reared it's ugly head at 37,000 feet) and drugging away their headaches and fever, I tried to console my grief. I added every one of my Indonesian friends to a big group list where I asked people to share their favorite memories of her. This "work" began to quench the despair I was feeling.

When I woke up on Day 2 in Belgium, I thought... I have to do something with these beautiful memories. I have got to share this with her parents. So I grabbed my Mac and consolidated the messages and photos in to a book.

What you see below is a slideshow video of that book. Before I print the book for her family, please look through the pages (I had to embed it as a video, so you might have to pause to read your comments). I had to make some changes for spelling and space but I think that your thoughts have been captured appropriately. If not, please contact me.

Can’t Write a Poem About Hamburgers

We had a rough weekend in the Langlands house. We had to learn some important lessons and now it's time to move forward. But the end of the year is always stressful and busy. So how do we move on? We get the following email from our son. Here is Xavier's poem to cheer up your day!

Can’t Write a Poem About Hamburgers

Noon,

Photo Credit: Pamela Graham via Compfight cc

I look at the hovering sun,

Straight above me.

I see my parents,

As they slowly park,

Coming to retrieve me for lunch.

I peered out the window,

Like a mouse would with a hole.

The lights,

Shining like las Vegas,

So many choices.

Thai,

Not enough junk food flavour.

Pizza,

Hot as the sun,

Burn’s your skin.

BBQ,

Takes so long I got arthritis!

Italia,

As many choices as a teenage girl’s wardrobe.

Then, the hot,

Juicy flavoured air catches my attention.

Hamburgers.

We pull over,

The smell mouth-watering.

I shuffle up,

Thinking that this is to good,

That this must be a dream.

Hot,

Grease expelling,

Sauce dripping,

Sky scraper high,

Heavenly delicious.

I place my order,

And sit at my table.

The waiter comes,

Holding the burger,

He places it on my plate.

I hold it up,

Sauce dripping onto my hands.

I bite it,

Tasting the sauce,

Tasting the lettuce,

Tasting the tomato,

Tasting the cheese,

Tasting the patty,

Tasting the bun,

Tasting the angles blessing.

Mmm,

Hamburgers.

Parental Pressure

By Xavier

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My parents are so enraging! All I wanted to do was to have a lazy Sunday before school began again, and now I’m stuck here, sitting down and doing homework! I already did it! I just have to practice! Uggggggghhhhhhhh! I am writing this blog to get all my anger out! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! UGGHH!!!!!  My friend is gonna come a’ knockin’ and I might not be able to play with him. And hungry shark! He’s gonna be so disappointed. I haven’t had a good Sunday in forever, because I know there’s always school tomorrow. Also, there is Festival Of Races at my school. I stink at running! And I have to run 5k! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Everything is enraging when your mad. Except my dog. I could just cuddle with her for a long time, and let all my worries melt away. I based this on my dog. Get a dog. Or adopt one. Dogs. Man’s best friend (coming to stores near you). I think I just made the best advertisement ever!

One Direction

...by Anouk

I got to celebrate my birthday early this year. My dad worked hard to get tickets to the 1D concert here in Johannesburg. He got four tickets. Since he and Xavier didn't want to go, I got to pick 2 friends to go with me and celebrate my birthday.

It was an outstanding concert!!

We started out by getting on the "party" bus and playing "Heads Up" on my mom's phone. We were SUPER goofy because we were so excited about our first concert. Though we had seen a video about 1D and how girls cry at the concert, I didn't think girls would already be doing it. But they were! On the bus. There were women crying before we even got to the stadium.

Once there, my vegetarian friends and I had no trouble dashing past the braai (South African word for BBQ) and hamburgers. The line to get inside was very, very, very long, but it felt quick because Cliana, Chloe, and I danced, sang, and goofed off 'til we got to security. 

The first person who sang was named Johnny Apple (He won "South Africa's Got Talent" in 2013). He was pretty good. But when he was over all we wanted was One Direction. 

But they were late. So the crowd sang and danced to "The Macarena," did "the wave," and clapped in unison hoping they would come on stage. When they did--it was worth it! We danced and sang and screamed until our voices wore out. The people on the ground threw hats, posters, teddy bears, and even a bra on stage! Harry Styles threw water at the audience and I think the girls probably fainted. (Just in case you don't know their names, they are Liam, Niall, Harry, and Louis. If you know the band well enough, you'd notice I missed one. That's because Zayn left the band.

I'm SO excited that excited my dad got tickets. Me and my buddies where giggling for hours. It was  a very fun night and the firework display was really good, like a 3 D movie! My first concert was worth tiredness on sundae.  

Here are the photos of her adventure!

the Karoo and the beach

"Tricia is coming! Tricia is coming!" Those were the words echoing through the house the week before Spring Break started for us. Not only was Tricia coming, but my friend and colleague, Bronny, had arranged for a trip out of the city--hoorah! With a night arrival, Tricia got here just in time to repack so we could head out to the airport to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.

Having read about the Owl House in a travel magazine, Bronny convinced me that this was a not-to-be-missed location, but with 5 of us, there wasn't space in the small town (read: village) of Nieu Bethesda for us to stay. So after a three hour drive inland past views that made us question whether or not we were in Arizona, we weary travellers arrived at Ganora Guest Farm.

This gorgeous sheep farm lies on the bottom of the Sneeuberg foothills where the owners have lived and sheered for the last 15 years. On the site, Hester has educated her children and sold real estate in Nieu Bethesda while her husband Jan ran the farm and fulfilled his paleontologist cravings by walking the riverbeds of his property. Jan took us on a tour of his small museum where the kids held skulls that pre-date dinosaurs by 50 million years. The skeletons of this area belong to a mammal-like creature called the Gorgonopsia. When we weren't oogling at the 7,000+ year old bushmen cave paintings or playing with the resident water mongoose, we were dining on amazing farm-to-table delights or lying on the grass and gazing at the constellations.

From Ganora Guest Farm, it was a quick jaunt to the "town" of Nieu Bethesda where we explored the Owl House, the home and art garden of the mentally afflicted, Helen Martins. Though she only lived until 1976, the amazing concrete, metal, and recycled glass creations in the garden were so cutting-edge and ahead of their time. Walking amongst the art gives one a sense of hope and excitement, while the inside of her house felt eerily hopeless despite the colorful crushed glass walls and painted glass.

The village of Nieu Bethesda was incredibly charming and abounding with artists known around South Africa and beyond. After shopping at Annette's The Cow Jumped Over the Moon shop, we heard that The Brewery and Two Goats Deli was owned and operated by her brother. So we headed over there enjoyed delicious hand-crafted brews with homemade beer breads and goat's cheese. The kids loved The Brewery because the seats were made out of old tires and the hammock was a double-wide bed hanging from the trees which entertained them for hours. From the archaeologist dig at the Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre to the pottery creations of  Charmaine Haines--Nieu Bethesda was a total African experience!

After our time in the Karoo, we drove another couple of hours to Port Alfred, a small town in the Eastern Cape. This being the regular vacation destination of my South African colleague, Jackie, we were sent with a list of a dozen places to go, people to see, and locations to dine at. The town is steeped in British colonialism with a contemporary mix of Xhosa artists. The area is home to the oldest pub in South Africa (the Pig and Whistle) and a dozen beautiful craft and artisan shops. The oddest peculiarity of the region is the Big Pineapple of Bathurst. The Big Pineapple honors the first crop that was successfully grown in the region--the pineapple. It was also home to the International Pineapple Symposium in 2005--who knew such a thing existed?!?!

The highlight of the kids' journey was the downtime spent at the coast in Hangklip-Kleinmond. From our stay at the Purfikt House, the kids were able to play in the cold ocean waters, explore the beach's tidepools, (attempt) to sand board down the dunes, and dip their feet in the (slightly warmer) East and West River that lie parallel to one another just a stone's through from the house.

All in all, we had a great excursion and we look forward to continuing our exploration of the outskirts of South Africa!

to see our photos (though not as great as Rob's photos!): https://www.flickr.com/photos/129917005@N03/sets/72157651629973431/

travelling tales

 After 18 months of living in South Africa we hadn't travelled around much. Though we've explored the city's great restaurants, bars, and shops, we'd never explored the highlights outside of the city--safari, wineries, coastal regions, etc.

So... when Bomma said she was coming to visit us, we decided to get the heck out of town and explore the gorgeous Cape.

As school got out for the holiday, we raced to drop the dog off at the kennel, and zoomed to the airport. Arriving at 5 Camp Street late at night didn't give us a true picture of all the beauty that lay beyond. In the shadows of Table Mountain, we enjoyed Cape Town, a city quite reminiscent of San Francisco. Small winding streets weave in to one another as we explored the glorious ocean, tourist highlights, delicious restaurants, and amazing wine (my favorite being No. 8). We enjoyed it all! From the penguins at Boulder Beach to the Cape of Good Hope, from the brightly colored houses of the Muslim Quarter to the ocean views at the V&A Waterfront--it was all amazing! We've got a list of "must-sees" for next time (to the top of Table Mountain, swimming with sharks, and whale watching). But until then, we'll just keep looking through our favorite photos.

In December, our dear friends, the Carpenters, came to South Africa to visit us. We had a great time catching up over delicious meals (they live in Moscow and can sometimes struggle to have exciting cuisine) and fabulous wine! The highlight of our time together was our trip to Djuma Private Game Reserve near Kruger National Park. A 6-hour drive from Johannesburg, Djuma is an oasis with its own watering hole. Vastly different than Kenyan safaris, Djuma's landscape is hot and thick. Spotting wildlife can be tricky, but we didn't seem to have too many challenges.  We saw 3 of the big 5 in one beautiful photo (elephant, buffalo, and rhino) and came upon a pride of lions at night on our first game drive.

On our first morning game drive, we spent time following a female leopard in hopes that she would lead us to her baby (nobody had yet seen the baby she was pregnant with just weeks before). Though we didn't meet her baby, we got pretty up close and personal with her (see the video below).

Though the lions, zebra, elephants, and dung beetles were all amazing in their own right, our collective highlight had to be the 100+ vultures eating a dead buffalo. Having never seen the way vultures interact with one another made this experience so truly brilliant. But animals aside, our time celebrating Christmas with the Carpenters made us feel not so alone. It may not have been a "white" Christmas--but it was pretty damn amazing!

Check the gorgeous photos Rob took.

The Ups and Downs of Having MY Brother

by Anouk

Brothers can be two things great or annoying. Never anything in the middle. Big brothers and little brothers can be very different and luckily I've only got one. He's bigger than me. But he's in puberty. And that's tough! It's tough for me. It's tough for the entire family. But it's mostly tough for me. So I'm going to tell you about the pros and cons about having MY brother.

First, I'll tell a few cons about living with MY brother:

1. Mood Swings. During puberty, if you catch him at the wrong time you'll be yelled at for a long time. The mood swings are weird. One moment he's happy and the next moment he's grumpy. It's like he's a machine with a switch. If you flick the switch, his moods change instantly. I have the same thing... but not as often!

2. Pranks. His pranks have become more frequent. They are also MORE annoying! Whenever I pass a doorway I flinch, thinking that he'll jump out and scare the poop out of me. And when I get mad at him, I get in trouble for yelling at him and he gets away Scott-free. Another one of his regular pranks is that he's telling amazing stories from school. When he sees that I'm in awe he'll say, "Just kidding" and then he'll laugh and make fun of me for begin so gullible.

3. He's Older. So he thinks he gets to be in charge when our parents aren't at home. He gets control of the TV, sometimes he tries to boss me around to do chores, or he'll say, "Won't you be a sweet little lamb and get me a glass of water" and I'm easily persuaded by his niceness. I can't blame him entirely for this one, but sometimes I just wish I remembered to grab the TV remote before doing the dishes. Then I'd be in control!!!

But... there are also a few pros to living with MY brother.

1. He's a Good Persuader. My brother has been around a few years longer than me so he has better persuading skills. He's good at negotiating a free dessert and he can almost always talk my dad in to a late night swim. He can convince me to play his stupid games with his stupid made-up rules. And he can almost always convince you to help do his chores.

2. He is a Laugh and a Half! When he's not in a bad mood, he'll laugh at anything. His favorite middle-schools words are: poop, tittle, and kaka. He has potty humor. He got it from my dad, but it usually makes us all laugh even if we shouldn't.

3.  He Teaches Life Lessons. Since he's older, he's in middle school first. And then he'll be in high school first. And then he'll be in college first. Since he has to do this stuff first, he tells me about it and then I'll have the upper hand when I go through it. I mean, I already know how much homework middle-schoolers get!

4. He Loves Me. Xavier cares about me a lot. One example of his love is when I was in a play last week. He didn't complain that he had to watch both nights! When we came home, he even sang the songs with me and gave me compliments on my make-up. Another way he shows he loves me is when our parents go out at night. Sometimes, I get scared and I get a pain in my stomach. But he gets me an ice-pack, makes me a toast or some tea, and tells me, "It's gonna be OK." He gives me the remote (though I usually turn on his channel).

As I said, brothers can be great or annoying. Nothing in the middle. But my brother is great about 51% of the time!

My Little Dog

by Xavier

My dog is the greatest gift I have ever received.

Here I am, on the couch upstairs, writing this blog with my Samsung slate in my lap, my dog staring up at me and my video games calling my name. My dog has moved up to the couch, laying next to me, staring at the wall. I wonder what she thinks about, day after day, week after week, month after month. She is very lazy.

I wonder what it feels like to be a dog. Is it good, or bad? Sure, she doesn't have to go to school, and she get's to slouch around the house. She doesn't have to hunt for food, she doesn't have to do chores, and she gets to sleep whenever. Wherever! But, she is skittish. She seems to worry about people coming into the house and this is because she was abused when she was just a pup. We got her when she was just 5 weeks old. So we saved her from a bad life.

Having a dog can be bittersweet.

It was Halloween, 2014. I came home on the school bus. But when I walked into the house, my dog wasn't there to greet me. I searched the house and garden. I ran outside and even looked around the whole complex, but I couldn't find her. When I called my parents, I was bursting with tears. Scared out of my mind. Worried for my dog. My parents got home and we started searching in the car. We drove around our housing complex and neighborhood. The next day, a Saturday, we printed out many lost dog signs. We passed them out to the guards, hammered them on to trees, in front of  housing complexes, hospitals, and we also alerted all the pounds.

Everyday, our family felt more hopeless of finding her. Though we secretly hoped she'd be on the couch when we walked in, she never was. We were sad. Lonely. Lost without her. Our family wasn't whole with her gone.

Four days later, in the middle of class, my dad came in and pulled me out. He said a man selling bananas near a hospital had seen our dog. My mom had rushed there to get her. She called my dad and said she was coming back to school. When she drove up at 11:24 on a school day, we saw our dog, poking her small, little black head out of the car. We all started to cry again. But this time, tears of joy.

Getting her as a puppy was a good gift. Getting her back was the greatest gift!

My Learning Safari

this post was written on 10.27.14 and never published... darn technology!


It’s been over a month since I returned from the Learning2 Africa conference. I have started writing this reflection a dozen or so times, but every time I begin, the pull of my “to-do” list calls me and I end up DOING something instead of writing about what I want to do. But with deadlines looming, I am pushing the to-do list to the back, getting my act together, and sharing (or writing, rather) my thoughts on one of the most motivational professional experiences I’ve ever been part of.

My coffee addiction

Learning 2Africa. Being married to someone whom I consider, a tech visionary means that words and names like “Learning2,” “Kim Cofino,” “PLNs,” “Jeff Utecht,” “COETAIL,” and “Genius Hours” have been part of my dialogue. While braving traffic, through grocery shopping trips, or in moments stolen while watching the kids flop around the in pool, my husband and I often “talk shop.” From unit plans to integration—we push one another to try something new. But, as an elementary classroom teacher who has been working in schools with pre-determined goals that rarely include technology integration and learning “outside the box”, I’ve spent my professional development time (and money) on work that aligned more directly to my job. So attending Learning2Africa was a way for me to put my learning focus first!

Overload. For three days my head was swimming (and not just in amazing Ethiopian coffee thanks to my dear near friend Bezuayehu and the traditional coffee ceremony). I was learning inspired at every turn. The stimulating conversatations shared with like-minded educators from around the globe revitalized my enthusiasm for a profession that I have, in recent years, become rather discontented by. From the TED-type Learning2 Talks to my extended session with Kim Cofino (Developing a Connected Learning Community) and Alex Lancia (Electronic Portfolios), I could feel gurgles of enthusiasm bubbling inside of me as questions were asked and ideas were fleshed out. Touring around the word with Marcello Mongardi by using Google Tour Builder helped me brainstorm some fascinating ways to use the program across curriculum areas in my own classroom. Workshopping with Jeff Fessler was both motivational and moving. Jeff walked me through the journey he and his students went on as they used Comic Life software produce a dual-language graphic novel during a service learning project for Malaria awareness in Bamako.

Conferring. Unconferencing. Reconferencing. Poster Sessions. And any other way in which people could be paired up to discuss and learn-- at every corner I was being inundated with ideas and discussions to challenge my own learning safari. Regularly regrouping with my cohort group helped me reconnect with my Elementary people. During these sessions, we brainstormed strategies to help one another tackle tough agendas with our administrators or dialogued about how we could share authentic learning with parents.

Planning. My plane ride home to South Africa resulted in a 6-page to-do list with next-steps, people to contact, plans, outlines, and scenarios—the contacts from my cohort group and Twitter leads all tripled my PLN within hours. The top three items on my list—convince my Principal and TIC to allow my students and I to create an online portfolio for (at least) one unit of study, build a Facebook presence for my elementary class; and set up voice-activated Google on our classroom desktops.

Final Thoughts. To say that the top three items on my list are all in place and working beautifully would be a massive overstatement.  I’m a teacher—life gets in the way. There are always planning meetings, parent emails, bulletin boards, assemblies, and every day student issues that get in the way of one’s good intentions. But I’m on my way. My 6-page to-do list has now grown to 13 or so pages with registering for and working towards my COETAIL in capital letters across the top. But teaching is not a race. It’s a journey. A safari, rather. One that includes exploration, innovation, and connection.

Anouk's 9th

Anouk celebrated her 9th birthday in SPA style. After deciding on a theme for her party, Anouk and Mama got busy creating eye mask invitations and a relaxing spa setting for the celebration. The first step was: the relaxation zone which was full of pillows, blankets, and all the pre-tween magazines we could get our hands on. 

Once that was all done, we organized a beauty zone so Mama and her two teacher buddies could make up each "client." Girls received two beauty treatments. They had an option of a dozen nail colors from which to get their manicure done. This was followed by a "facial" with eye make-up and lip glosses galore.

While girls waited for their spa treatments, they were asked to cut small spa-themed icons and glue them on to a blank BINGO board. Once all the boards were created, the girls played RELAX (as opposed to BINGO).

Mama's favorite event was hot nail polish. In this game, all the girls sat on a blanket in the garden, each with their own nail polish color in hand. While the music played, they were asked to pass the nail polish to the next person. When the music stopped, they were stuck with the color in their hand and had to paint one of their toes. The game continued in this manner until all 10 toes were pained a variety of colors. It's hilarious how unskilled these girls are at painting their own toenails.

Once everyone's nails dried, it was time to participate in Papa's annual Birthday Scavenger Hunt. This year's scavenger hunt took the girls upstairs, downstairs, outside, in the car, and ultimately, to the Master bedroom, where they found a basket full of terrific spa tools: nail polish, wash clothes, lip gloss, nail files, mints, nail stickers, and hair ties.

The party wrapped up with a heartwarming rendition of Happy Birthday that was sung with incredible enthusiasm! The girls devoured chocolate cupcakes or fruit and custard cake (though most girls tried BOTH!)

To see more pictures of this Spaaaaaaahhhh day, go to our Flickr page.