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ZA2009 Archive October 2009
Last Day of Teaching
Today was the last day of teaching for my refrigeration class. I give a test next week Wednesday for which I must still prepare. But, today was the end of teaching in South Africa. Wednesdays became very long days when I was in class all evening. I won't miss that part of South Africa.
--Matt
John and Judy Are Here
On this Tuesday, our next set of guests from the U.S. arrived. John and Judy (friends from church) have been touring southern Africa for several weeks, and we're one of their stops.
We also had a really bad storm last night. It appears that our wireless internet has been zapped. I need to investigate.
--Matt
2009-10-26
We lost power last night, sometime after midnight. It was restored at 15h30. Our wireless router has lost functionality, i.e. no power and no blinky lights whatsoever. I had to manually open the security gate today, which made us a bit late for school.
But that is nothing compared to the problems others had. A 5-year-old girl died when a tree fell on her house while she was sleeping. And, 8-m swells are hampering a rescue operation for two missing fishermen. Four bodies have already been found.
I went to Lynedoch, Cape Town, and Bellville today. Tracy worked on her research. Mark did some story writing at school. And, Catherine had a shortened Playball session at day care due to high winds.
--Matt
Bye Jim and Hen
We took our guests to the open air market near Die Braak in Stellenbosch this morning, so they could by souvenirs. They took the walking tour of Stellenbosch that Aunt Cindy and Grandma and Grandpa had enjoyed earlier this year. Jim and Hen also enjoyed it.
After a quick lunch, they were off to the airport. We enjoyed their visit, and we'll miss them. But, it will be good to have our house to ourselves for a couple days before John and Judy arrive on Tuesday.
This afternoon, Tracy searched in vain for a new wristwatch while I took care of the kids at home. We all went for Subway sandwiches and a lousy kids movie this evening.
--Matt
2009-10-13
I bought the new Mango Groove album the other day, the first time I saw it in a store. It is very good stuff, very much like their first two albums with lots of references to other South African music genres and artists.
I had several meetings today. For breakfast, I met with Louis to discuss pyrolysis. For lunch, I met Martin, and we settled on a numerical model to be used for the economics paper that we're working on. Then, I had a telecon with my Calvin research student.
I wanted to pick up our laundry at Washington Cleaners, but it wasn't available as late as 16h30. I'll go tomorrow morning to get it.
I had a consulting teleconference in the evening.
Tracy worked on her research paper: she's writing a section on South Africa's democratization which uses a framework as our friend Bob developed for a paper he wrote a couple years ago. Tracy is essentially updating Bob's work for a part of her paper.
Mark had cricket practice this afternoon. They worked on fielding today.
Catherine went to daycare. She told me that the kids took a walk today.
--Matt
2009-10-12
Nothing much interesting happened today. We all went our own ways. Catherine had Playball, Mark had school and swimming afterward (nearly froze), Tracy worked on her paper, and I had research meetings. The weather was rainy and cold all day long.
We're beginning to think of the transition back to the USA. One shock today: Rhenish ends all extramurals on 10 November and school lets out at 13h00 for the last few weeks (from 20 November to the end). This is not good, because Tracy and I thought we had more time available to finish work projects. Hmmmm. We'll have to think hard about this.
--Matt
2009-10-07
I went to CPUT-Bellville today where I worked on lecture preparation and developing a makeup test on thermodynamic properties. I also began preparing a laboratory exercise for my students. We'll start the multi-week laboratory process next week. I taught my refrigeration class in the evening.
--Matt
Fourth Term
Yesterday was the start of Mark's fourth term at Rhenish Primary School. He has a very full after-school schedule:
Monday: swimming
Tuesday: cricket
Wednesday: swimming
Thursday: cricket
Friday: nothing
I had a very full day with meetings about exergy, wind farms, and Bonhoeffer.
--Matt
It's October!
We've reached October: summer is on the way!
A quick report today. Catherine was at daycare as usual. Mark went to friend Giuliano's house this afternoon. Tracy did some research. And, I worked at Stellenbosch today.
Tomorrow, we leave for a holiday in Montagu. It is unlikely that we'll have internet access from there. So, watch for an update on Sunday when we return.
--Matt