To my baskeball ballehs :)

SHIPPENSBURG LADY HOUNDS

BASKEYBALL JV SQUAD

WENT UNDEFEATED FOR THE 3RD YEAR IN A ROW

2009 18-0

The members of my basketball team are some of the most amazing people that I know. They are so dedicated and hardworking. Their love of the game truly shows when they get out on the court and play their heart out. All of this perserverance has paid off every year, as you can see by their record. In the future, we plan to continue this amazing streak as we work our way up in High School. We all have ambitious goals to go farther in play-offs than any other team from Shippensburg. We are also willing to put in all the work involved in that. I am so glad to be able to spend so much time with my fellow team members and the coaches. Everyone is so great and I miss them like crazy. Congratulations on finishing another impressive season. See you next year!!

-Hailey

News from the University of Pretoria

I was recently given a roster for one of the classes I am helping to teach during this “module” (South African for “class”).

I was fascinated by the names and my tongue is tired after re-reading them to my kids. It’s one of those clear signs that I really am living and teaching in Africa. So, I’ve included the names here- just the first names so that I am not breaching any privacy- so that all of you can get a taste of South African culture.

Mieke Marsulizé Caitlin Michelle Zanele Goodness Chanelle Anschel Kedibone Francinah Julia Kagiso Antoinette Patricia Sophi Phumla Yandisa Tshepang Fundzile Nhlanhla Philisiwe Zibuyile Qebo Nthule Kefentse Donna Megan Deborah Zama Sibongile

Also, (and this is for the social work profs out there) the following are topics which I have been consulted on, in spite of the fact that I am certainly not an expert on any of them:

1. How to incorporate program objectives into course outlines- (they are just starting to accredit programs here).
2. How to write a field manual- (they don’t have one yet).
3. How to manage 63 field students with two faculty assigned to field.
4. How to incorporate family social work into a play therapy masters program.

These are things that I have sought additional information on that they are actual experts on here:

1. Writing rubrics to grade papers, class participation, class presentations, and any other assignment. They use rubrics consistently in all of their courses.
2. Sophisticated gatekeeping procedures to ensure that students that enter the major at the end of their first year are prepared for and interested in a career in social work. (Includes psychometric testing, passing first year classes, and a ½ hour interview with 3 faculty with all 120 first year students- whew!)
3. Electing class representatives for each class and holding a meeting with all of the student reps once per semester and the department chair as a means of getting feedback on courses from the students’ perspective. The class representative is also the spokesperson for the class who takes concerns to the chair in the event that there are concerns.

I am sure there is more that we have exchanged and I will add it later.

We fidgured out who cat is [nathanael]

thanks it was bonnie creager so bonnie this is like a shout-out

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO CAT IS? {nathanael}

We had a post by someone named cat so we dont know who he is and we are really confused so tell us

BY NATHANAEL PERSONAL SHOUT OUT THE SITE MIGHT CRASH CAUSE OF THE PARTICECIPATERS

I think that you dont really care about madonna and some old guy but whoever figures it out i will personally shout out



Here's a South African research project/trivia question = What musician wrote a song about a South African freedom fighter. Who was the freedom fighter, and who is the musician? (Hint - this musician dated an actress whose name is the title of a popular 80's song. She was in a movie with Madonna.)

Nathanael. i havent posted in forever. (although it deosnt seem like anyone cares)

i think that you dont really care about madonna and some old guy but whoever figures it out i will personally shout out

Hello all my school friends and church friends. I ate a snail last night and it tasted like shrimp but it was green :-(. I was doing fine until i thought about it and i almost gagged. yumm!!! okay too all my school friends if you want to see in my free time go to youtube and type in sgt pink trailer this might change how all of you think of me. and to my church friends the last scene with Logan on the rock!? gory!! home school is cool i am doing good working on algebra 1 monomials and polynomials. what are you guys doing shapes?.... im just kidding it is very confusing but i get it. it already been a month since ive left. it went by fast. See you Logan and Conner and Johnathan (did spell that right?) and nick and yvonne and joey and brandi. stay well (a Zulu thing) and for my church friends ur going down sgt pink (like my picture)

Uncle Matt's Trivia Question

Our Uncle Matt sent us the following trivia question:

Here's a South African research project/trivia question = What musician wrote a song about a South African freedom fighter. Who was the freedom fighter, and who is the musician? (Hint - this musician dated an actress whose name is the title of a popular 80's song. She was in a movie with Madonna.)

We figured out the answer but thought we would let the rest of you struggle with this before we post the answer.

Thanks for the fun idea, Matt.

Sobering signs that we are indeed living in Africa…

A very kind colleague of mine invited our family to her home for a Saturday afternoon Braai (South African for barbeque- very popular events down here). I was quite honored and impressed. It is no small task to invite a family of 8 to your home for dinner. Because of previous engagements and planned travel, we scheduled the event for the 14th of March with one caveat. She said we couldn’t have the get-together if someone in her family died. She proceeded to explain that she has 12 or 13 siblings and so does her husband. That makes for lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles. This weekend (Feb 14th) she and her husband are traveling to their home in the province of Mpumulanga to attend a funeral of a family member. She then proceeded to explain that the cause of these deaths in her family is HIV/AIDS and that there have been so many lately that they are sort of out energy to grieve anymore. They are just tired of the time, money, and efforts that it takes to attend, help pay for, and participate in all the ceremony around these deaths.

It’s one thing to read about or see on TV the tragedies of foreign countries, but now we meet people who are directly experiencing those tragedies in their lives: families dying out due to AIDS, refugees from the Rwandan genocide, and immigrants from the chaos of Zimbabwe. For those of you in the USA these are news stories, for us they are flesh and blood people that we know.

Silly stories from Mike...

I’ve discovered a bus that takes me from the Groenkloof Campus where we live to the main campus of the University of Pretoria. It leaves every hour on the hour- I think. (I haven’t really figured out what times it picks up to take me back from the main campus yet.) Anyway, on Tuesday night we had one of those big African thunder storms that makes you start humming the Toto song “I Blessed the Rains Down in Africa”. Lots of lightning and thunder. It rained and rained and rained. So, on Wednesday morning, I got on the bus and sat down and thought “Wow, these seats are refreshingly cool this morning.” Turns out they were just soakingly wet. Because I had been enjoying what I thought was refreshing coolness for a bit too long, the seat of my pants got thoroughly soaked- somewhat resembling Lydia in her prouder potty training moments. The bus driver, seeing our plight and realizing that he had indeed forgotten to close the bus windows during the Rains Down in Africa storm the night before, came up with a thoroughly resourceful solution. Every seat has a vinyl cover for the top of the seat where the passengers head rests. The bus driver carefully instructed us to remove the cover, place it on the wet seat and thereby protect our bums from further wetness. So we all put the seat covers on our seats and rode to the main campus. Unfortunately, I still had a wet bum. So, I did my best to extend the straps of the bag I carry to campus so that as I walked the bag covered my wet bum. Then, when I got to my office, I simply sat in my chair and worked until my pants had sufficiently dried so that no one could see my embarrassing wet stain.

To make my adventures on the bus even better that day, my bus ride on the way home was as crowded as the bus has ever been. I had to stand on the bus rather than sit and comfortably read on the ride home. I’m not sure if my legs were tired, or if I am a klutz, but since I was one of those who had to stand, I was one of the first off of the bus. While exiting I proceeded to slip on the second step out of the bus, land squarely on my previously wet bum and unceremoniously slide on elbows and bum out the bus door while crowds of undergraduate students gasped and guffawed. And yet, somehow I still enjoy riding the bus.

SHOUT OUT FOR NATHAN GOATES!!!

Nathan has succesfully guessed who read which biography!!
Hailey-Princess Di
Nathanael- Napolean
Luke-Einstein
Sarah-Wright Brothers

Good Job!

SHOUT OUT FOR GRANDPA EILERT!! [Amy]

A shout out for my dad. He called last night and correctly identified the yellow bird as a weaver bird, a masked weaver to be exact. Good Job! The red headed bird is still up for grabs as are the bios. See ya!
Amy

No Shout Out Winners Yet [Amy]

The shout outs are still up for grabs. Neither the birds nor the biographies have been properly guessed. If you care to read along, we will start the Cantebury Tales Prologue around Monday with some discussion by Wednesday. Love you all. Can someone please teach my mom how to blog!!! I don't think she has gotten on yet.
Amy

Not sure what animal this is!

Pretoria Zoo

Lessons learned thus far [Amy]

We are truly grateful to be here. We miss all of you, but are settling in nicely. I think one of the greatest things about visiting or moving out of your element, is that you are forced to see things from a different perspective. If something, or someone, or a certain type of person say scares you, or makes you uncomfortable, if you are suddenly plopped down in the middle of that environment all of the time, you learn to adjust. I don't feel particularly scared of anything specifically, but lack of control is uncomfortable. I am learning to be more comfortable with it. South Africa is really in the process of reinventing itself. There are still some big growing pains and you can see it in how people respond to one another. Even our church congregation is working through changes. Black and white South Africans here are learning to live together and not just get along, but to really love each other, it's exciting to watch. I attended a baptism today of a wonderfully humble man. The church is changing his life for good and it is a privilage to watch. I love the diversity here and all that it teaches both me and my family.
I have also noticed and learned some great things here already. These next two items are for my green friends. I have this wonderful daughter, Hailey, who is very environmentally aware, and I have learned to be more so because of her. Anyway, here in South Africa EVERYONE takes reusable bags to the grocery store. Why you ask? BECAUSE THEY CHARGE YOU EXTRA MONEY TO USE THEIR PLASTIC BAGS! What a great idea! Also, if American car makers say they can't make smaller cars, ballderdash as my Grandpa used to say. I have not seen a car larger than a mini van here unless it is public transport, and the cars that are mini van or larger are all diesels. There are all of these amazingly small cars on the roads by Chevy, Ford, etc., that I have never seen before. They are awesome. Everyone drives them which makes everyone safe. If you build them maybe they will come!
Enough of that. Enjoy a few more pics of our trip to the Pretoria Zoo! Amazing! Take care,
Amy

Name that Bird Contest!

The birds here are amazing!! We think of our friend Joan Duffield often who is an avid bird watcher. You really should try to come here Sister Duffield! Anyone, in honor of all of the wonderful birds, and in the spirit of homeschooling, we though we would give you a little quiz. Whoever can correctly identify the following two birds correctly will get a shout out all to themselves-that is the potential for two shout outs from this blog lately, WOW! No wonder you all follow it so closely.

Johannesburg Temple [Amy]

The previous three pictures were taken at the Johannesburg Temple about 45 minutes from our house. We were able to spend the day there last Saturday, and it is beautiful. The grounds are amazing with running streams and waterfalls and amazing flowers and trees. Mike also enjoyed making fun of the posing our kids were doing at various photo ops by posing with Lydia. He hasn't lost his strange sense of humor.

Interactive homeschool quiz and reading list [Amy]

Hello everyone!
Sorry it has been a while since I posted anything, and at Nathan’s request, here are some interactive posts. First, the kids are working on their first Language Arts assignment, which was to choose a biography of their choice from the library, read it, and write a 1-2, 2-3, or 3-5 page paper depending on age. Last week we had a “lecture” by me on the correct form of a paper, (introductory paragraph, thesis statement etc.). The kids were enthralled, HAH!! Anyway, here is a little contest. I will list the four biographies that the older four chose and the four kids, and the first person to correctly post which kid chose which will win a shout out! Now that’s exciting!
Biographies were:
Princess Diana
Albert Einstein
Napoleon
The Wright Brothers

Kids are:
Nathanael
Hailey
Sarah
Luke
Our reading selections for the year are as follows for those who care:
Chaucer’s Cantebury Tales
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
Stevenson’s Treasure Island
Kipling’s Just So Stories
Dickens’ Great Expectations
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath
Courtenay’s The Power of One
I’ll let you know when we are reading what if you want to read along.
The Happy Homeschooling starts officially tomorrow! Wish us luck!!!