Jade's Story - September 2011

A neon  brown  puppy and a grey kitten:

They were best, best friends. The brown puppy's name was Woof and the grey kitten's name was Stormie. They did everything together and they had a friend the horse.  The horse's name was Trot.  The horse was a golden horse and sometimes the horse bent down to make the kitten and the puppy get on his back and go for a ride.

They did everything together but they were so different. When the cat was just lying there under the tree the puppy was jumping up and down chasing a ball, and the horse was always being groomed and washed.  Every now and then the owner takes the dog for a walk while the cat jumps through the gate and follows them and the horse trots right behind them.  When they get back they always have a little chat. The dog says to the kitten "why do you only like lying under a tree resting?". The kitten said she could not understand why he always jumps up and down after a ball.  And the horse said to them both please stop arguing it is getting very old.

Why don't you just leave each other's lives alone and get on with your own lives. And finally the puppy and the kitten learned their lesson. They said thank you to Trot. We should leave each other's lives alone.  Trot said thank you for listening. Now Woof, shouldn't you go inside and get your food and Stormie, shouldn't you get inside and get into bed? Well, Trot was trotting along to his little house.  And the next morning Woof and Stormie were fighting and fighting.  Trot came out of his house and said what is going on here, I thought we had a deal?  And Woof said Stormie is saying the world is going to come to an end, but I know it is not true.  I thought we had a deal that you will stay out of each others lives. For once will you listen to me and do it. And Stormie said that Woof's owner said the world is coming to an end.  Well why do listen to him? Why don't you go on with your own life and care about your own life? And they said maybe you should just stay away from Woof and you just stay away from Stormie for the whole day and see how you go.

Woof said, thank you, it is night now. I am so happy. And they went to bed happy. The next morning Stormie said - sorry, I've been such a selfish cat, and Woof cried - I've been such a selfish puppy and they hugged each other happily and they were best friend since.  And Trot said I am so happy that you learnt your lesson. And Woof and Stormie said thank you for helping us through our lives and thank you for helping us not to fight. And they lived happily ever after.

The end.

Author - Jade Angela Rethman

Kaylee's Story - "Moving to Australia"

I've had a severe case of "writer's block" for the last couple of weeks which has been incredibly frustrating. 

So - I decided to raid some of my old stories / letters, and I also asked Kaylee's permission to share her work.  She had to write an "autobiographical recount rubric" and this is what she came up with.  I think it is brilliant.  She had me in tears.  I hope you enjoy it too.

This is it:-

"I was sad, it was the day I was moving to Australia, and the date was the 12th of July 2011.  We were moving there because my dad wanted to work at the AIS and because we wanted to see how it feels to live somewhere different.  It was a big move from South Africa half way across the world to Australia.

It was early in the morning we had to go to the dentist and the doctor before the flight.  We arrived at the dentist we had to wait a while before we could go in.  We got our teeth checked and the dentist said that I might have to get braces!  We said goodbye to our dentist and went to the doctor (who by the way was in the same building as the dentist so that made it easier) to get me and my sister and my mom checked up.  My sister and I had a bit of a cough so he gave us some strepsils.  Then we said goodbye to my favourite doctor ever! (Dr Gerard).

Then we went back to my grannies house (because we had moved out of our house a month ago and went to live with my granny) to get our hand luggage packed, but we still had three hours to go.  My best friend (Shazia who I had to say goodbye to two days ago) and I were talking on the phone and we were crying, it was so sad to say goodbye to her.  Then when we were done talking my uncle came to come and say his goodbyes to us, he gave me a book called Mr Stink because I had lost my other book at his house.  He said goodbye to me for my cousin because she could not come with him, she was with her mom in Bronkelspruit which was two hours away.  My friend and his dad (my godfather) came because they were the ones who were going to drop us off at the airport.  It was time to leave my granny’s house, said goodbye to my granny (which was one of the hardest things to do).  My grandpa had died in 2010 and now my granny would be a bit lonely.

We came to the airport (O.R Tambo) where my auntie and uncle had come to say goodbye to us.  We were having dinner at a South African restaurant called “wimpy” (I still miss that restaurant very much!!!) we finished dinner.

We got our Visas checked and said a very sad goodbye to my auntie and uncle (nicki and sipho).  As the aeroplane started lifting I looked down and saw the light of Johannesburg under us I started bawling my eyes out as I knew that were leaving our country and family and friends, we are the first Rethmans in Australia.

The plane flight was really long and the big T.V with the movie on it was not for kids so I decided to go to sleep.  The plane landed in Perth the next morning so we got off had something to eat and wandered around the airport.  When it was time to board the plane to Canberra we got on and the plane lifted off once again.  This time the movie on the screen was a very nice kid’s movie called: Soul Surfer.  The plane landed in Canberra and we got off.  We had to rent a car to go to the guest house we were staying in.  We tried to get out of the parking lot but the gate wouldn’t open and there was no one left in the airport so finally after an hour of searching my dad found a security guard and we left.   While we were driving I took in my surroundings and I thought: WOW!!!  Canberra is beautiful; it was two o’clock in the morning when we got to our guest house in Kaleen so we went straight to sleep.  I drifted deeper and deeper to sleep and I dreamt about how much fun I am going to have in Canberra.

And now here I am in Australia, finishing off my recount."

Good friends and brave kids

We were lucky enough to have Charmaine visit us this weekend.

I met Charmaine and Belinda in 1998, 14 years ago... We grew really close over the years and I count their friendship as one of the biggest blessings in my life.

I was going to go visit Charmaine in Melbourne, where she is based for 3 months, involved in the startup of a new joint venture in Oz, but it seems as if no one wants to be in Canberra over a weekend!! The plane tickets from Melbourne to Canberra was quite a bit cheaper, and seeing as the rest of the family had various long lips because they would not see Charmaine, we decided she should rather come to Canberra.

We had a "barbie" on Friday evening and we had a long and really good catch up. There is just nothing better for the soul than spending time with the special people in your life!

Saturday morning we watched Jade play soccer in freezing weather, Saturday afternoon we watched Kaylee play soccer (in her new team) in freezing and wet weather, and in between we visited the Australian War Memorial. What an amazing and moving experience.

We got home in the dark, soaking wet and very, very cold!

Sunday we had some sunny, but cold, weather and spent time driving around Canberra visiting the Old Parliament buildings, the New Parliament buildings, had an ice cream next to Lake Burley Griffin and visited the Tent Embassy.

The time to go to the airport came much too soon, but saying good-bye this time was not as hard. The next visit is in sight! We are planning a short visit to Melbourne during the July holidays!

The girls participated in another cross country race today and they both ran like champions!! I could not make it (meetings!!) but Mike sent me very entertaining updates about the progress! Jade came in 13th out of about 50 participants and she was "poegaai"!!! She ran her little heart out!

Kaylee also did really well! They were almost taken out by two "runaway" Kangaroos, but Kaylee did not see or hear a thing!! Mike says he was just happy she finished, and she was not "lapped"!! The first thing she said when she saw me was "Mamma! Ek het nie laaste gekom nie!!". (Mommy! I was not last!!).

We love the way they participate in everything they can, and they really enjoy it! Their enthusiasm is contagous and I hope it lasts forever.

We went shopping this afternoon for the new little one on the way, and loved it!! We are sending it to Melbourne and Charmaine will carry it to Joburg!

Caloola Farm Weekend (May 2012)

We were invited to spend a weekend with friends and their friends on a farm very close to Canberra in an area called Tharwa. We could only leave late on the Saturday afternoon because we had a soccer game in the morning, and a soccer game in the afternoon, and we still had to do the shopping and packing before we left.  We arrived there in the dark, but at least there was a fireplace in the house / "barn" we stayed in and it was much warmer than we expected.

The awareness about the danger of bush-fires in Australia is pretty big, which means that the last time I saw a "real" fire was a couple of weeks after we got here and attended a bonfire with fire works evening in the area Sutton in NSW, near Canberra.

The girls ran around outside playing soccer by torch, adding logs to the bonfire and enjoying marshmallows on sticks.

I think we were about 30 people, kids included, and there must have been about 10 - 15 bedrooms, all with bunk beds, pillows and sheets, so we only had to take warm "doonas".  I would love to have all the family and friends there for a weekend.  We would have an absolute blast!

We did a lot of walking, cycling and resting on Sunday.  We stayed until just before dark, which means we helped clean up - because - there are no cleaners! :-)  At least all the tools were available and we could finish the job fairly quickly.

It was one of the best weekends we've had since we came here.  The absolute peace and tranquility of the area was really, really good for the soul.

The one very special thing that I did not get a picture of was a doggy kennel in the middle of the bush with an inscription reading - "RIP mate!!".  It looks out on a grassy area with the dog's blanket and ball still in the kennel.  It was a bit of an emotional moment!

I'll add a couple of photos to this post to see how it works - herewith the first one - A FIRE!!!!  Wow!!

Marshmallows on sticks and we smelled like wood smoke and LOVED it.

Mike and Kaylee at the fire.  Not sure for how much longer Kaylee would be able to get on Mike's back!

 Part of  fire place left from demolished house.

Very wild Kangaroos - in that they kept running away from me when I wanted to take a picture.  This was taken from quite a distance.

 Walk up the hill.

On the way back to the house.

 Ladder on fallen, cut tree.

Beautiful, beautiful tree.

And another old bathtub made into a water trough!

 Open gates between feeding camps.

 Fire wood.

 Pulley system.

Outside the place we stayed in and where the bonfire was made.

 Old, but in working order, windpomp.

View from the house.

 The house / "barn" we stayed in.  The place is huge.  It sleeps about 40 people.  It has a double volume section in the middle with rooms right around with 3 bunk beds in each room.  Industrial sized kitchen with industrial sized fridges, freezer and dishwasher (thank goodness!!)

 Jade was a natural with the bow and arrow and became quite accurate in hitting the target.

 Kaylee also joined in for a little bit - but she spent more time playing soccer and basketball with the bigger kids.

 Mike on the bow and arrow!

And.... No cleaners - so all cleaning done by whoever is last out!  This is one of the best vacuum cleaners ever, and I definitely want one for the house!

The website address of Caloola Farm is www.caloola.org.au

New to another country and far from your own

Being new to a country comes with its own set of personal fears and insecurities.

I got to know another Saffrican on this side that worked with me on a project. Decent sort of fellow (really good, in fact) and both Mike and I really enjoy his company. I heard today that his work contract was not renewed. He was told on Monday, and given until Friday to finish off. They will pay out his contract period, which ends at the end of June.

No warning, no nothing. No feedback or reasons. Just a 'good bye' - 'see ya later'.

Scary stuff! You have no network / contacts to fall back on. You forge ahead with faith and hard work and hope and pray this never happens to you.

I am incredibly greatful for the job I have and will hang in there and do the best I can with what I have.

I also found out about Saffrican friends and family friends that have cancer and are undergoing chemo therapy and all sorts of procedures. These are the difficult moments we have to deal with. Not being there to have a chat and a glass of wine, and if need be, a good old cry!

I'm going to miss the homecoming of a long awaited little baby, and I miss sharing the experience of being pregnant and being a new mom with my really close friend and 'sister'.

I miss my family. I miss my friends.

The things I really love doing here are having bike rides and runs on well laid out and safe tracks, swimming in an amazing indoor heated pool, letting the girls walk to school and back home on their own, letting Jade run off to the park for a play on her own, having no fences or burglar bars or alarm systems linked to armed guards.

The things I miss that cannot be replaced are actual contact with family and friends. Skype, facebook, telephone calls and emails are good plasters, but not a patch to the real thing.

However, we still enjoy the adventure and love seeing the girls grow in confidence and expand their experiences. We love spending time together as a family and have grown even closer than we were.

I cannot believe our one year anniversary is around the corner! We will have to celebrate the first year with a couple of glasses of bubbly!

Ode to Can

Ode to Can.
There’s a four lettered word As offensive as any
It holds back the few
Puts a stop to the many.
You can’t climb that mountain
You can’t cross the sea
You can’t become anything you want to be.
He can’t hit a century
They can’t find a cure.
She can’t think about leaving or searching for more.
Because Can’t is a word with a habit of stopping
The ebb and the flow of ideas
It keeps dropping
itself where we know in our hearts it’s not needed And saying “don’t go” when we could have succeeded.
But those four little letters That end with a T
They can change in an instant When shortened to three.
We can take off the T
We can do it today
We can move forward not back We can find our own way.
We can build we can run We can follow the sun We can push we can pull We can say I’m someone Who refuses to believe That life can’t be better With the removal of one Insignificant letter.

The soccer saga

One of the most difficult things for a parent must be to face the intense and absolute disappointment of his / her child. It cuts to the bone and makes you feel utterly useless as a parent. I wish there were ways to protect their little hearts, or at least know the fool proof way of giving them a shield to protect them somewhat more.

We had a really unfortunate experience with a soccer club here in Canberra. The initial coach told them she did not actually want to coach them, then actually stopped coaching them, then to top it all, halfway through the season, they decide to disband the team that she plays for. 

She has four options available to her, ranging from playing in boy teams (not an option - she will be annihilated) to playing with girls 2 years older than her either in the same division or in a higher division than what she played for. Only 4 girls in the disbanded team got the opportunity to play in the same age group but a division higher.

How does this promote mass participation in sports? 

Of the 4 options available to the girls in the disbanded team not one was to have all the girls play in one team, with enough of them to have a full team with reserves, and give them all a turn to have a weekend "off" - which becomes option 5 (compliments of my clever husband)!

She was incredibly upset and sobbed her heart out when we told her. She is the kind of person that gives her absolute all in what she does, and she loves playing soccer!

She is going to give the "two years older than her" girls team a go, rather bravely we think. I really hope that ths will be good for her, and that she will get game time and not pitch up every Saturday without the opportunity to play.

Oh, and to add insult to the injury we can be refunded the club fees, but nothing is mentioned about the national registration fees or the money spent on club uniform and soccer boots!! This after we were told that the girls cannot come to one training session to see if they want to continue (seeing as they played hockey in SA but considered changing to soccer), we needed to pay the club fees in full before any participation. 

Lets hope this ends better than what it started.