Busy weekend: Exhibition, Big Birding Day, Little Meru, and a quick escape

Exhibition!
Ashlyn is officially ready for Middle School.  Thursday she successfully completed her Exhibition: the IB/PYP program's end of primary school rite of passage.  For the last eight weeks Ashlyn worked with her group researching, interviewing, creating, and stretching herself before she got to show off some of her hard work with a song (artistic) and presentation with her group at the big official "Exhibition".  I have to give special kudos to her teacher, Ms. Stacy, who somehow knew exactly how to push Ashlyn right up to her limit without pushing her over the edge.  She was supportive and answered chats and emails no matter the time, yet also expected (and received) so much from all of the students.  She's a really special teacher (you should see the poem she wrote to them over the weekend).

Transdisciplinary theme:  Sharing the Planet
Central Idea:  Inequity can motivate people to act
Ashlyn's Inquiry:  Discrimination:  Why people discriminate; Impacts of Discrimination; Taking Responsibility to Stop Discrimination
Her group:  Ashlyn, Rehema (Tanzanian/Canadian), Salima (Nigerian/Rwandan), Mutinta (Zambian), and Rigon (Kosovan)

Artistic and oral presentations (here if embedded video not working).  Song is a bit hard to hear...lyrics are below

A Thousand Years Of Discrimination (Our Words)

Verse 1

People being different from the planet,

Wanting to change from the disasters in the world,

They think that we should all be the same,

Treating people in a mean way with stronger words.

Dis-cri-mi-na-tion

(Chorus)

Sadness, hurt creeping up on our minds,

All of those filthy words,

Breaking our souls into tiny pieces; into a tiny more.

Verse 2

School, job, home family and our friends,

I need to learn,

I need my job to keep me moving on.

When you don’t respect me every tear, every time you ignore me.

Dis-cri-mi-na-tion

(Chorus)

Sadness, hurt creeping up on our minds,

All of those filthy words,

Breaking our souls into tiny pieces, into a tiny more.

Real version by Christina Perri

More pics:  here (click on "i" in upper right corner for captions)

Big Birding Day

Matt invited Anderson to join the TNC Team for Arusha's Big Birding Day:  "a fun birding event where teams of 3-6 people attempt to identify as many bird species as possible during a 24hr period" all within 100k of Arusha. The TNC Team ended up with identifying 160 species of birds from noon Saturday until noon Sunday.  Pretty Amazing!

Cool roadside chameleon also spotted

Team TNC

photo credit to Petra Meyr

210 birders
Photo credit to Ethan Kinsey

Little Meru

Over the weekend Tierney had her Level 2 OP (Outdoor Pursuits) trip to the summit of Little Meru @ 3,820 m / 12,533 ft. While we climbed this as a family last Christmas, this was her first time having to carry her own gear. Backpacking is a much harder way to climb this already challenging mountain.  

View of Kili from Saddle Hut
photo credit to Chloe Woodley

They made it!

Group photo
photo credit to Chloe Woodley

A fuzzy Tierney and Flora

Added bonus that they saw a giant rock python on the drive out
...safely from their seats on the bus
photo credit Magnus Fischer

Maramboi

So while the boys were birding and Tierney was climbing, Ashlyn and I decided that she deserved a special night away to celebrate the successful completion of Exhibition.  We went away to Maramboi:  a tented camp about an hour from here near Tarangire National Park.  It was a great escape for a night.  Lots of animals around:  zebra, wildebeest, warthogs, impala, giraffe...

Where we spent most of our time

No Bombing.  Got it.  

Sundowners

I'd say we had a successful/enjoyable weekend even though we couldn't all be together for it.  

ISM Happenings: Mwanza Swim Competition and the International Festival

Last weekend the kids and I got on a plane with 16 other swim teammates and headed to Mwanza (on the shores of Lake Victoria) for a swim meet.  A new destination for us and Anderson’s first big swim meet.  We had so much fun even though we dealt with rain, very long days, and very little sleep. All kids ended up getting new personal best times (PBs) in almost every race, and ISM ended up 3rd out of 14 teams!  Not too shabby considering we had to leave the meet early on Sunday to catch our plane and missed the point heavy relays.

Traveling with friends is fun 

The pouring rain was not quite as much fun

Me and my girl

T and Coach Spike very happy after
she smashed her PB in the 100M Freestyle

And then the sun came out!

T looking fierce in breast

Ash going strong

Still smiling after being here for over 12 hours already

So proud of all of these girls

Then on Friday ISM had it's annual International Festival.  It started with a parade that had the kids grouped by home country.  Was amazing to see each of the 36 countries that we have represented at ISM.  Anderson's class did a little performance that represented a snapshot of some of them (they talked about what food, building, and holiday their countries are known for).  One of the many things that I love about this place!

(They were pretty cute doing their line dance, too)

And Ashlyn's Exhibition Group took the opportunity to set up a table to STOP discrimination.  They sold bracelets and necklaces that they had made to raise money for a school for children with HIV. They also had people put their fingerprint on a sign saying that they pledge to STOP discrimination. 

Ashlyn, Rehema, and Salima

(Yes, Ashlyn did a wardrobe change after the parade)

Overall a very busy couple of weeks with no signs of it slowing down anytime soon.