Cape Town, Day 4: School

Hi Ruth!

I am really tired. Because, this morning, I went to check out the school that you'll be going to when you get here (we are almost sure), Pinelands North.

I talked a lot with Dr. Ann, who will be your principal. She told me all about the art that they do in the school - everyone has art class twice a week, and then there's an art club after school, too, that you can go to if you like. She seemed very nice, and happy to have you coming. She said that they love having students from other countries there, and that right now they have students from Korea, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Germany!

We also talked about how they teach classes, and how they teach teachers, and what you'll learn. Besides all the art, there's music, and drama (plays - I know you have stage fright some times, but every two years, the whole school does a play, with children and teachers and parents so maybe Mommy or I could be in it with you!). And you'll learn two new languages - Afrikaans and Xhosa (but you won't start Xhosa until you're in third grade). And she told me that their school works really hard to take in students who might have problems in other schools, like some students who don't have enough money to pay the fees, or have more trouble learning things than usual (everyone has trouble learning things some times). She gave me copies of the school magazine, that I can show you when I get home.

After talking with Dr. Ann, Ms. Avrell took me to see one of the first grade classrooms, Ms. Debbie's. Ms. Debbie was nice, and very welcoming, but I didn't talk to her much because she was starting to teach and I didn't want to interrupt her class too much.

I didn't know if all her students would like me taking pictures of them, but I took some other pictures of the inside of the school, and the art on the walls.

After that, she showed me the library. You can see the cage for the pet rats, but the rats themselves were hanging out on the shoulder of one of the women who works in the office when I was there.

After that, I had to go to work. I took one more photo of the outside of the school, and a couple more after work - Ms. Raygana, who is helping me find a place for us to live, drove me around the neighborhood a bit. The park in the picture isn't right near the school, but there are lots of parks and open spaces in Pinelands, so I hope we'll find a nice place to live.

I hope you'll like it here! I know I'll like it here a lot more when you and Mommy get here and we're all together to stay.

Love,

Dad

Cape Town, Day 3? My New Office

Hi Ruth,

(I'm not sure what day I should say this is. I left you and Mommy four days ago, but then I was on a plane for a whole day. So I've only been here for three days, I guess, but I miss you four days' worth.)

I'm here in Cape Town now, and I got to see my new office! It's smaller than my old one, but it's pretty nice. I didn't know that they were going to have an office ready for me already, so I didn't bring any pictures of you to put up. But fortunately, I always carry some pictures of you an Mommy in my wallet. I'm not sure if you can really see them, but I set them up near my computer monitor.

Yesterday, I think Mommy told you, I took some time to stop being so tired from the plane, and also walked around the neighborhood a little. It was pretty nice! And I saw some other people biking. I think Mommy showed you the picture of the street that I took. And of the big mountain from my window - when you get here, I hope we can go walking around on it some time.

Today was a work day. This morning, I got to meet a lot of people I'll be working with that I didn't meet when I was here before - Miss Jill, Miss Liliane, Miss Dawn (who I've been working on the book with). And I saw some people I'd met already. Mr. Paul gave me a big hug and asked if we'd found a school for you to go to, and said he'd heard nice things about the place I'm going to check out for you tomorrow (I'll send a picture, of course). Dr. Ade, Dr. Kudrat, and I, along with other people in the group I'm working with (it's sort of like centers - we're the book-writing center) talked about what books we might write when we're done with the ones that we're working on right now. We're going to talk to some of the people who give us money about what we want to write, but right now it looks like we're going to write four books. One about why some people in Africa believe that fighting is good. One on how people and countries in Africa can work together more. One on some of the good and bad things that have been happening near the Congo (where I went when you were little). And one about how African countries can work with some of the countries that used to be poor, but are now getting richer, like Brazil and China. And I might go give a talk with some of the people who work in a different center about how wars and diseases like Ebola (probably like Ebola, but not Ebola) are connected. I'm pretty excited about the work!

In the afternoon, things were a little more boring. The reason I have to be here is that a lot of the people who give the place I work money to pay me are coming to check up on what we're doing, so we were getting ready a big presentation for them. That meant a lot of making charts and stuff. I asked if I could just draw them on a chalkboard, but, nope.

Then I had dinner with Dr. Kudrat, and Miss Dawn, who are the people I'll be working the most with here. They're both pretty nice. Miss Dawn has four daughters (but they're all grown up now)! And now I'm missing you and Mommy, and writing to you. I hear you're reading Mathilda! I've never read it. Maybe we can read it again together some time. Please give Mommy a big hug from me.

Love, Dad.