Yoon

 

g'day mate

 

we encountered our first racist book in Walkabout - but was that because it was written in the 50's, or was the author trying to make a point? either way, it was a good jump-off to discuss prejudices.
we watched the first part of Crocidile Dundee (skipping the NY part), and an IMAX film about Australia. i watched Gallipoli alone and decided to shield the kids this tale from WW1, where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) fought, as a nation, for the first time.
we found out that 65% of australians are overweight, with the obese population at over 20%, and their cases of diabetes are skyrocketing. it sure doesn't seem to fit the healthy, rugged, outback sterotype anymore.
we had a recipe for damper, but i couldn't seem to get the kids interested in making a bush bread. and nobody was game for vegemite after reading this description: dark, salty, yeasty paste best suited as roach bait. instead, the kids made ANZAC cookies (fierce noticed the lack of eggs - that's cause they were hard to come by in the war) and their fame as durable is well earned. i accidently dropped one, and not a crumb came off!
 
 
 
and the kids sure did enjoy the book-on-CD. it starts like this:
“Uncle Bart,” said Limpy. “Why do humans hate us?” Uncle Bart looked down at Limpy and smiled fondly.
“Stack me, Limpy,” he chuckled, “you are an idiot.”

so it is any wonder that it was such a hit? :)

we feel Polynesian

 

Starkey Hill

we hike every thursday afternoon now. this week pepper 'carefully' placed her water bottle at the head of the trail but forgot where, causing her to wander through bushes and bushes of burrs - so everyone had to pitch in to remove them before they velcro-ed to the car's upholstery.

 
 

that said, this was a good week - last week, at starkey hill for the first time since the kids were maybe 4 & 5 (and non-existent where little bosco is concerned!), we found ourselves in a darkening wood with no food, very little water, no flashlight or matches, no compass or even a thought to take note of the sun's position when we entered the trail, and no clue as to how far we still had to go or even if we were heading in the right direction. panic. yes, panic is the word i'd use when i realized i hadn't even left a note for rob telling him where our cold,hungry bodies were. you can tell i never was a boy scout.

a date with fierce

 
with bosco in school, and pepper at shady grove, fierce and i decide to have a lunch date at swiss chalet -
 
he is not what you'd call an ideal dinner companion -


maybe we'll give public eating a miss for the next little while
 

maps

we've been talking a lot about maps, and obviously the difference between the most-commonly used Mercator map, and the lesser-known Peters map, has come up.

 

but it was interesting to google this map that Australians prefer.
and why not?
it totally illustrates the bias that can show up in supposedly neutral things -like maps. ME in the center; ME on top.

 

a cuz' is a cuz'

 
it's been a pleasure listening to The Whale Rider, with the Maori language beautifully coming to life through the narrator's effortless pronunciations, and the rich music interspersed among the chapters.
we watched a Maori stick performance & warrior practice, made pavlova with raspberries for desert (slightly unsuccessfully - the outer part was good; the inner part was undercooked), and watched the movie Whale Rider - of course. we liked it before, but it meant so much more with the novel's full background. we love-love-loved it all over again.

Hui e
haunmi e
taiki e

Let it be done.

did we change the law?

yesterday, bosco got 'lost'
i waited for him at the bus stop, but he didn't get off. so maybe he was asleep on the bus? no....
well, i don't panic. i walk home and call the school figuring bosco and i had our wires crossed and he's there and i'll just go get him. no answer at the school, but no big deal, i'll just drive over and get him.
in the office, he's not there.
and it is startling news that bosco is missing
because they have a checklist saying he DID get on the bus! so was it the wrong bus?
well, the secretary is calling his teacher, and the bus, and the person who sent bosco on the bus, and the energy level is rising higher and higher -
as an afterthought, we are asked if we checked the courtyard, so we check.
and there he is:
~ happy as a clam ~
playing with some other girls, not the least bit concerned that is it 40 minutes since school let out and STILL no mommy to pick him up.

and then the Tribune arrives today:
 
what's this?
a new policy that children in grade 1 as well as kindergarden need someone to supervise them getting on and off the bus...
did we do that?

ontario science centre

the massive marble run is always a hit -
 
 
 
this chamber slowly closes in on you as the voiceover describes the conditions in a slave ship...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
pepper build a shoe, and bosco finds his sweet spot, tucked up in front of a screen
 

inspired by the traditional clothing & costumes of Oceania - the kids go 'tribal'
 
 
 

reading our way thru the world

 
Following Zac Sutherland's blog as he quests to be the youngest solo circumnavigator of the world (and homeschooled to boot), we 'leave' the port in LA and pass thru the Pacific Islands....
The fiction all seems to have the theme of survival in this (still) least westernized part of the world, but the non-fiction books, like Families of the World, show survival tales too: from tribal warfare - as ancient as their culture - to the more recent fight of keeping your identity in the face of christianity and westernization.

We eat Chamorro chicken, search in vain for breadfruit, go to the ROM to see real clothing (and penis gourds) from Papua New Guinea, and watch Robinson Crusoe.

Highlights of our journey:
* men not being allowed to enter the women's huts
* sleeping with the pigs
* crawling inside the hut when your father is home as a sign of respect