The Journey Inward

I had PYP, Primary Years Program, training in Johannesburg all day both Friday and Saturday. Almost all of our preschool through fifth grade teachers attended. This is part of our accreditation to be an IB school through all grade levels. Our high school is already accredited and we are next.

The PYP program is inquiry based and follows six transdisciplinary frameworks that foster whole child development. It is concept based and encourages student agency, curiosity, and critical thinking through real world, theme based learning. The units are Who we are, Where we are in place in time, How we express ourselves, How the world works, How we organize ourselves, and Sharing the planet.

They were long days and we had to drive down to our main campus. Unfortunately, despite waking up all throughout the night to be sure I hadn’t overslept, I overslept. I had set my alarm for p.m. rather than a.m. and ended up with 11 minutes to get out the door. Which I succeeded in doing, mostly because I had packed and prepped everything the night before. I met Avishkar at school, but he was 15 minutes late (15 minutes I could have used at home, by the way)! Between our late start and the traffic, we were 20 minutes tardy.

The day was fun, and I met a lot of teachers from our sister campus, which was nice. They were from all over the world with all different types of experiences. The training allowed for some moving and different partnerings.

In the afternoon, we had to come up with a plan to explore a place on campus and then come back and plan a presentation. Eunine, Franco and I decided we would do a compare/contrast of the two campuses regarding facilities. We visited their indoor pool, their two theaters, and their gym, where we played pickle ball for half an hour! Eunine had never played and now she’s hooked! We’re going to add it to our Wednesday sport club activities, but first we have to find a court!

The traffic was again bad on the ride home and Avishkar and I grabbed a beer when we got back to Pretoria. Yuri came and brought dinner from Nando’s and we planned to watch a movie, but we talked so much that we never got to it! I needed an early night.

Avishkar picked me up at home the next morning and was only a little bit late, but with no traffic we were 20 minutes early, which he felt balanced everything out! I get nervous whenever Avi gets a phone call because his wife is expecting their second baby any day!

It was another productive day and we all enjoyed time spent in the amazing library. I so badly wanted to go down the slide. The sneaky Johannesburg campus people told me to be sure to pick up my feet if I did. Not nice! I sent my bag down the slide to Eunine, who wanted to video for my kids, which I forbade. Instead, she took pictures of what was the least graceful descent one could imagine! That slide was so fast and so disorienting! I scraped my elbow, banged my feet against the wall, and came out head first!

I walked to the gym after I got home and then had a chill night. I got about nine hours of sleep, which I desperately needed.

I was supposed to meet my friend and colleague, Sheena at a local café this morning. I was more than halfway through my walk there when she texted to say she felt she needed to go to church instead. She has had a rough go as of late. I carried on and went to breakfast by myself. I’ve been wanting to go to this café, and it did not disappoint!

I picked up my prescription at the pharmacy and walked home. My landlord had scheduled the handyman for me for the day, so he was waiting when I returned. Having to spend the day at home while he worked was actually such a gift. I got so much done inside and out, and spent a good chunk of time writing. I even signed up for a 30 day guided writing experience in April.

Sue has been so sweet to check on me daily and see how my brother is doing. She has had a lot going on lately, too, so she came over for tea and we chatted and chatted. I’ve missed my buddy!

I had dinner and a quick walk before logging onto my two hour Pod Squad zoom call that filled my heart! I love these gals and on National Women’s Day, there were no better people to spend it with!

After a week of rainy weather, yesterday and today were absolutely gorgeous! Sunshine, low to mid 70s and breezy.

My tax guy sent me my results. Apparently, I have to pay for my federal taxes, but apply for an extension to get further documentation of my overseas living.

There were definitely rough points to this week, not knowing how my brother was. Then my daughters were put on alert since they work at military bases on the West Coast. My work is not mindless, so I was able to engage deeply every day, and I kept up with my activities and workouts, but the body knows when you were carrying stress and anxiety, and I had frequent reminders.

And now for the pictures…