The Journey Inward

Our students shared the narratives they wrote, as well as their research on an inquiry question they had. We don’t do it often, but it is special to watch the kids work together.

We celebrated Avishkar’s 40th birthday at our 3rd to 5th grade bi-monthly team meeting. The knife broke in the denseness of that chocolate cake! Our principal invited us to choose a word of the year and make it into a bracelet. I was way ahead of him, as I had already chosen my word of the year as we headed into 2026. I finally broke down and bought a microwave. Being stubborn in a way that impacted no one but myself, I refused to buy one when I didn’t have a working stove or oven because I shouldn’t have had to! 🙄 Gigi was amazed that I’ve gone this long without a microwave. I guess I am, too!

I’ve been following the Australian Open, keeping live scores up all day on my phone, and listening to radio commentary on my lunch walk and breaks. It turns out Eunine is a tennis fan, as well, so we would put it up on the big screen in her room when we could. On Friday we watched the semis during lunch, and two of the art teachers joined us, though they’re not even tennis fans!

Thursday morning was coffee truck day, so I came in double fisted! The kids loved this activity where they had two minutes to run around the room and gather three different items… Something soft, something blue, and something they could balance on their finger.

Yuri and I had dinner at blos Thursday night, which is one of my favorite restaurants nearby. He was checking out these rooms for an upcoming workshop that he will be running. I got an amazing spiced mango egg dish.

Some views in and around campus… the buddy bench, some flowers, our gym, and these cactuses that look like something out of Stranger Things! But my favorite part was this… I watched these wooden pallets being lugged onto the field one day, and Eunine explained that they were for archery. When we were on lunch duty on Thursday, I saw the kids out on the field and assumed they would be shooting at targets on the wooden pallets, but I would have been wrong. It’s South Africa, so instead they were firing away at each other and shielding themselves with the wooden pallets!

Our school hosted a swimming gala (meet) on Friday afternoon. Two of my students were in it. Our PE teacher was the MC. I sat with the grandparents of two students at our school who are also retired teachers from England. We had such a lovely conversation and they were so complimentary about the school. Their kids will be moving to a new post for the next school year and they said they will miss coming to South Africa.

I went to Eunine’s estates Friday evening to hike the reserve there. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The views of Pretoria East from up on the hill were stunning. even at 5:30, the sun was so strong!

I started two new color by number paintings when I got home. I’m going to hang them in my bedroom, as they are of my current favorite flower, the Protea. I was thinking of getting a tattoo, but I think artwork on the wall may be more to my liking!

I FaceTimed with Gillian that night and had phone conversations with Jan and Sara before joining MJ’s Next Chapter party via FaceTime with my beloved colleagues! It was 11:30 p.m. my time, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!