What's new

It seems like the last few months have been flying by here, we are fast approaching our one year mark of living in Africa and before we know it we will be returning home for the holidays. I thought I'd take a moment and simply write about some of the fun things that have been going on in our lives the last couple of months.

In July Chase and I went to our first Rugby game. We went with several other couples to watch the Blue Bulls play. The whole idea of Rugby is confusing to me there are different leagues and they seem to play all the time, I can't keep track of when seasons end and begin. The Blue Bulls are part of the SA Rugby Union league and are based out of pretoria, so they are easy to go and watch. They play other South African teams around the country. In August Chase took the boys to a Springbok rugby game which is the National South African team, they play teams from other countries. The afternoon he took the boys they were playing Argentina. I was sick so I missed all the fun, but the boys had a blast and loved being at the game with dad.
At the end of July Chase and I went with a group of friends to watch a local soccer match. Soweto the largest township outside of Johannesburg has two soccer teams The Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs and when they play against each other it's a huge match. They held the match at the FNB soccer stadium where Mandela held his first speech, It was later increased for larger sporting events and the World Cup. The stadium holds roughly 90,000 people and the game was sold out! We took a shuttle to the game and as we were driving up we weren't sure what we had gotten ourselves in to. There were people every where and they were more then excited for the game. Before we went to the game we had been told by several local South African's that we would probably be some of the only white people at the game and they weren't joking. White South African's warned us about safety at the event, saying things like we would be targets for pick pockets and violence if the game became intense. But, once we walked into the stadium I think we all realized there wasn't any threat there. Most of the fans thought it was great that we came, and several asked to take pictures with us.  This is just one of the many examples of the racism and division so prominent in this country and the world; white people afraid of black people.. etc. Chase did have an encounter with a pick pocket, but the guy was unsuccessful, he dropped Chase's phone as he tried to run away. The game turned out to be so much fun and we were happy we went for the experience.
We have missed our American sports this year, but have found some good ones to fill the place of Football and Baseball. We haven't gotten into cricket as much, but I am sure we will try to attend a match before we leave here!

 In June we added a new member to the household and decided to get a cat. Friends of ours were moving back to America and were unable to take their cat with them. We decided to go ahead and take her and see how it goes. The boys changed her name to Tiger because of her Black and Gold coloring, but she doesn't really come to anything except "Kitty" and the rattle of her food dish. The first month in our house she was pretty timid and didn't want to interact much with us. However, now that she has gotten comfortable she is your standard house cat. She comes around when she wants attention and lets us know when her food bowl is empty. She tolerates the boys well and seems to be pretty easy going. We miss our Dottie terribly, but can't justify getting another dog while we are here. Though she's no dog, Tiger is a good substitute for now.

Other things happening these last few months, I finally got my own bike and we now can take regular family bike rides. We've had fun riding through the game reserve and before we know it we will all be out on the trails with Chase! I want to start Mountain Biking with Chase and am making it a goal for the next year. I need to over come my fears of falling and getting scraped up, but I figure I've overcome so many fears this last year why not keep going!

In other fitness news we I spent the month of August doing a Pilates Challenge at the studio I got to here in the neighborhood. The Challenge was that we attend 5 classes a week 2 - mat pilates classes, 2 - pilates rebound classes (which is a fun aerobic workout on trampolines), and 1 surprise fitness class. Everyone in the challenge took before and after pictures and there is one winner at the end of the month who can win 3 nights at a beach resort. It's been fun pushing myself to go to all these classes and even though I had a stomach bug in the middle of it all, I was able to make up the classes I missed and keep going. We don't find out the winner for another week, but either way I am happy with the results of the last month, and am going to keep up with it all as much as possible!


Spencer is enjoying being three and is more crazy then ever! He want's to do everything Mitchell does and scares us with his stunts sometimes. He had a musical concert at his school over the weekend in which he dressed up like a bear and danced around the stage with his class. It was pretty funny to see these kids dressed up in their costumes.. the teachers had their work cut out for them that's for sure!

Finally, the biggest news of the last couple of months, Mitchell started Kindergarten at the American school here in Pretoria! Mitchell has been so excited to start at the big school and thankfully is in love with his class. Like all the schools here in pretoria his school is an outdoor/ indoor campus. He walks across campus outside to his other classrooms through out the day. He enjoys having all he various specialties like art, music, and PE, and always has something exciting to share about his day. The campus holds both elementary and middle school children so there is a large mix of ages, but his classroom only has 13 children and every other day has a teaching assistant in the room. This makes for the kids getting a lot of one on one time with the teachers. The School does teach in the common core method, which is under a lot of debate right now, but Chase and I both like some of the principles behind it, so aren't too concerned right now.   I was impressed with his teacher's teaching plan for the year, and enjoy the fact that they have a no homework in Kindergarten rule! With being in an elementary school we have also found out how busy we all can be, there is always something to volunteer for at the school, and I signed up to be a room parent also. Mitchell does golf and swimming once a week after school and we are considering letting him choose a musical instrument in January (piano or guitar), just because we need more on our plate.. haha!

Mitchell with his new BFF Miles, All I hear about in the afternoons is what him and Miles did today

Mitchell at his back to school picnic

Mitchell brought home the class "pet" CoCo the cow for the weekend,
We decided CoCo needed to go for a bike ride with us!

That's the basic news here in the Hartz household we have a few more trips planned before we come home in November, but other wise we are just going about our new normal routines! We hope everyone back home is well and happy and we can't wait to see you all soon!
XOX