2009-11-30
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ZA2009 Archive November 2009
2009-11-29
We had a Thanksgiving service at church this morning. It coincided with our pastor's birthday and the 21st anniversary of his pastorate. It was a wonderful celebration of service.
We tried to spend our family fun day at Backsberg, but it didn't work. We had read that the estate has a 1-hectare maze. Unfortunately, the maze wasn't "ready," so we turned around and went home. On the good side, Catherine had a nice car-nap.
--Matt
Accents and Language
Today was a normal day for everyone. I went to CPUT-Bellville and gave my "sick test" to students who had been ill on a test or the exam day this semester. I also gave a "what I did on my sabbatical" presentation at CPUT-Cape Town.
Tracy worked on her paper. Mark went to school and had Maties swimming this afternoon. Catherine went to daycare.
Two interesting things have happened lately.
(1) This week, Mark's English spelling list contains the following homophone pairs:
* raw and roar
* sauce and source
* sort and sought
* stalk and stork
In Inland Northern American English, these word pairs have different sounds. But in a South African English accent (which is British-like), they are indistinguishable. So, we have learned that homophones are accent-specific. This is obvious in hindsight, but you don't think about it until you experience it.
(2) Catherine's language has changed slightly. When we first arrived, she was still saying "yeah," like an American. Then, after a few months, she switched to saying "yes," with a rather long "s" sound. Now, it is all "ja," all the time. Also, when I frustrated her by helping to screw a cap on a water bottle, she said "nie" (pronounced "knee-ah," which means "no" in Afrikaans. And, she sings Afikaans songs from the Lollos. Her favorite seems to be "Jan Klim Die Bear." I have no idea what that means.
--Matt
GTZ Wind Workshop
I went to an all-day wind energy workshop today. The German company GTZ sponsored the event. There were lots of good discussions of wind energy in the Western Cape province.
Tracy had interviews in Kayamandi late this afternoon and early evening. These were planned at the last minute, so she had to take Mark and Catherine with her, which was stressful.
--Matt
Maties Swimming
Mark has participated in the Maties swim program this year. Its purpose is instructional, and he enjoys it. I went to his practice today and snappend a couple photos which you can see below.
This evening, I finished marking (grading) my refrigeration class final exams, and I submitted the marks (grades) for the Wind and Hydro course I taught earlier this year. The Conventional Energy Systems course marks were completed a few days ago. This is all good, and a relief to get these things off my plate.
For Tracy and the kids, this was a normal day: Tracy worked on her paper, Mark went to school, and Catherine had Playball at daycare.
--Matt
Lunch with Friends
Sunday Lunch
From left: Danie, Jan, Elise, Tracy, Celenie, Hermine, and David (the pastor of our church).
We hosted some friends for lunch today after church. We had a great time chatting and laughing about some of the funny things that happen when you live in a different country from your home. One example, we made chicken salad. None of our guests knew to put it INSIDE the rolls that were on the buffet. All good fun. We also heard a funny joke: Theology was invented in Germany, perfected in Scotland, and corrupted in America.
--Matt
2009-11-20
Big Spider
We were greeted by an interesting visitor this morning. Mark was walking down the hall when he saw this beauty on the wall. We're not sure of the type, but everyone was happy that I killed it and dumped it outdoors.
This afternoon, we had another lock-out incident. Mark had decided to stay home while I went to pick up Catherine and Tracy ran a few short errands. To make him feel a little safer, he locked himself inside the master bedroom where he was playing with some of his toys. (This means that the key was in the bedroom with him. In fact, it was in the keyhole.)
At the last minute, he decided to come with me to fetch Catherine. To save time, he jumped out the window and closed it behind him. (This is not the preferred, or even allowed, way to exit the master bedroom, but that's what happened.) Next, to be "helpful," he closed the window behind him. Locked out! As soon as the window latched, we had no way of getting into the room. The hall door was locked, the bathroom window was latched, the porch window was latched, and the key was in the lock inside the room.
Hey, said Mark, Macguyver once faced this same problem. He slid some paper beneath the door and pushed the key through the lock until it dropped to the floor inside the room on the paper. Then, he slid the key beneath the door using the paper. We tried the same approach, but it didn't work. The key was partially turned in the keyhole, and we were unable to push it out.
I removed the faceplate from the door handle. That provided better access to the keyhole, but we didn't have anything that could latch on to the snub end of the key.
In the end, we called Roadrunner Locksmiths. What they had that we didn't was a very strong, 4-inch long needle-nose pliers. The locksmith grasped the snub-end of the key with the pliers and rotated it. It took several tries, but the lock finally opened. So, 3.5 hours later and R400 poorer, we had access to our room once again.
--Matt
2009-11-19
Family Photo
Well, we didn't lose power last night, which was good.
I noted that the field of teams is now complete for the 2010 world cup to be held in South Africa. It is a big shame that we won't be here for the tournament.
We had our photo taken last week for an upcoming exhibition about food security in Stellenbosch. The portfolio of images shows several families with their weekly groceries. Luke came to our house and shot the image in the sidebar.
--Matt
Final Exam
We all did typical things today. I gave the final exam for my refrigeration class this afternoon. Tracy worked on her paper. Mark went to school, but had no extramural activities (because they have stopped for the year). Catherine was at daycare.
I dropped a glass jar of raspberry jam onto the tile floor in the kitchen this evening. Of course, it shattered and sent glass and sticky, gooey stuff everywhere. Yuck.
I added another photo to the Best of the Best gallery.
Allan Boesak
Tracy had a research interview with Allan Boesak today. She said it went well and that he provided some good information for her second paper.
I had a research meeting in Cape Town and then met my refrigeration students in Bellville.
Mark swam after school today, and Catherine went to daycare.
It is now feeling like summer has returned. The Jacarandas are almost finished blooming, we've had two sunny days in a row, the Southeaster is blowing, and midday is becoming warmer (26 °C today).
--Matt
2009-11-14
Tracy and I went out for dinner with Ed and Viv tonight. Mark and Catherine stayed at Catherine's daycare while we were away. Dinner was at the Grand West Casino near Cape Town. We chose it because it was halfway between them and us. No gambling, just a good time spent with friends and without children.
Well, we did make one little wager. Tracy and I placed a 15-year bet against Ed for South Africa's future. If, in 15 years, South Africa resembles Zimbabwe, as Ed claims it will, he wins. But, if South Africa improves or is not much worse off than today, we win. Ed wanted to put $1000 on it, but we made it friendly bet instead.
Although we didn't need it, we now have an important reason to meet them for dinner in November 2024.
--Matt
2009-11-11
I split the day between Stellenbosch and CPUT today. At Stellenbosch, I did some marking (grading) and led a meeting about a group paper we're writing about sustainability, electricity, and South Africa. I'll present the paper next year in Phoenix. At CPUT, I met students and set (wrote) the final exam for my refrigeration class.
The rest of the family had more-or-less normal days.
--Matt
2009-11-10
The weather has turned really foul, with rain continuing this evening. Interestingly, the Cape Times weather website says that the high temperature will be 9 °C on Thursday, while AccuWeather.com predicts high temperatures of 18 °C. We'll see which is correct.
I had an interesting meeting about campus sustainability on the Tygerberg medical campus today. Topics were sustainability scorecards and sustainability funds.
--Matt
2009-11-09
This was a pretty normal Monday. Catherine had Playball at daycare. Mark went to Rhenish and had swimming after school. The kids froze due to the cold temperatures and the class ended early. Tracy worked on her paper. She's writing a section of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). And, I participated in a meeting regarding concentrated solar power (CSP) at Stellenbosch.
--Matt
2009-11-06
Mark's friend Kamva is here for a sleepover. Kamva's cricket tournament has been cancelled for tomorrow on account of anticipated rains tomorrow, so we don't have to bring him back immediately in the morning.
Catherine went to daycare, but they didn't do baking day (no explanation why).
Tracy worked (slowly) on her paper. And I went to Stellenbosch where I did some grading and had a meeting about my economics modeling project.
There were two interesting upheavals in South African politics today. First, the CEO of Eskom resigned. It appears to have been quite a tumultuous process. Second, the head of Athletics South Africa has been suspended for his handling of the Caster Semenya situation.
--Matt
2009-11-05
Today was a normal day for everyone. Catherine went to daycare. Mark did chess after school. Tracy worked on her paper. And, I worked at Stellenbosch and had another wind turbine meeting.
--Matt
2009-11-04
I gave a test to my Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning students tonight. This was my final class meeting prior to the final exam. No more night classes, either. Woo hoo!
I added another couple photos to the Best of the Best gallery.
--Matt
2009-11-03
It was a hot day today. At 17h00, it was 30 °C. But later this week it will cool down.
We all went our usual ways today. I had an interesting meeting with Eskom about wind turbines.
Riaan gave me a CD of additional photos taken by his uncle Mark during our India Venster hike. I've added the best ones to our Inda Venster page starting here.
--Matt
2009-11-02
On this Monday, we did our usual stuff. Tracy wrote another section of her paper. Catherine had Playball at daycare. Mark had swimming after school. And, I worked at CPUT-Bellville today.
--Matt
Vergelegen
Standard Bank is Lame
Our plans for today were completely scrambled, but in a good sort of way. We picked Mark from his sleepover at 09h00 and went to church. On the way in to the sanctuary, I met Louis who asked if Bob had reached me by cell phone (he hadn't). Louis told me that one of Bob and Liana's cats died overnight. The girls (Frankie and Julia) were in mourning about it, so they were canceling our lunch plans.
OK, so we decided to go for lunch by ourselves as a family. We drove half way to Somerset West to try for lunch at Eikendal, only to find that it was closed. At this point, we decided to go back home. But, we needed a few groceries, so Catherine and I dropped Mark and Tracy at the house and went to the store.
When I returned from the store, Tracy informed me that Bob had called and said that picnic baskets had been reserved at Vergelegen and that we needed to meet them in Somerset West. So, we retraced our steps toward Somerset West with Vergelegen as our new destination.
Vergelegen is one of the oldest wineries in the Western Cape. Current owners Anglo American (the huge multinational corporation) have restored it beautifully and are maintaining immaculate grounds. Our light picnic lunch under the canopy of trees stretched until 5 PM as the kids played and the adults enjoyed chatting in the cool shade.
My only regret is not bringing my camera. Things were so crazy that I didn't even think of packing it.
On another topic, Lydia, one of the people in the Sustainability Think Tank (STT) at the University of Stellenbosch won a sustainability award from Eskom yesterday. This is a great piece of recognition for her and a real publicity boost to the University of Stellenbosch. Congratulations to Lydia!
On yet another topic, the screen shot above is further evidence that Standard Bank is really lame. I received this email, presumably in response to the difficulties I'm having with purchasing cell phone air time via their website. Never mind that they have escalated the issue twice and still haven't resolved it. The first escalation was to the "wrong department." I was promised a call on Friday for the second escalation. Never happened. And, I still don't have my airtime.
--Matt