Friday, April 19, 2013

Photo Phriday

 I'm only including this picture so you can see how long Gabriel's hair was - I had cut it in the back a few weeks ago, but not the sides.

 Looking at this photo I can believe she's almost 5!


After the haircut:

Reading with Tia Rosanne:


Happy sister and brother on Montserrate:
I just hope Gabriel and Valerie appreciate each other someday as much as these two do now!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Travel and More Travel

I spent the first half of this week traveling along the northern coast to Cartagena, with a student group from EMU who spent the semester in Guatemala and the last three weeks with us in Colombia. (Terry and I took a group through this same program in the spring of 2002; things look very different as hosts rather than group leaders...!). Fun detail from the trip: on my way to the airport this morning, the hotel owner picked a bunch of fresh oregano from her patio pot so I could take it home and make a healing soup for my coughing kids. It smells so good!

Next week the whole family is going to Guatemala for a week of MCC country representative meetings. I'm hoping we have a little time to walk around Antigua and shop a little!

The Jantzi Grands are leaving Saturday night after a month of cooking, cleaning, and child care. I'm sure they are looking forward to a little rest! It's been great having them here though.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Surprise!

Rosanne is here!
We pulled off a successful surprise visit, the first time the Jantzi 4 plus me and the kids have been under the same roof since right before we went to Albania, in September 2010. Gabriel was only 2 months old!

I'll post photos once I get them onto the computer.

Monday, April 08, 2013

Giant Foods and Social Development


 A couple months ago we took the kids to the Bogotá Children's Museum. The highlight of the visit was the Giant Foods room, with giant sculpted fruits and vegetable arranged as slides and little rooms (if you look closely you can see Valerie at the top under the papaya).



This room was so fun.
Overall, the Children's Museum here was really different from the ones we've been to in the US, and it made me reflect on different cultural patterns that teach and emphasize different priorities to children.

In the US, there are a plethora of "stations" or activity centers designed to be highly interactive and hands-on, with all kinds of different themes. Some emphasize careers, others arts, others nature and life sciences. Kids are supposed to have an adult around keeping track of them (you don't just drop them off and leave), but within the four walls of the museum they are free to explore, to choose the activities that most interest them, and to rotate from one activity to the next as the spirit moves them.


The one in Harrisonburg is fantastic, with loads of different things to do that fascinate the kids, and with a local focus that highlights Valley industries and interests.

The Children's Museum in Bogota seems to have a similar range of activities, but the structure was totally different. Children are sent through in groups, with a guide, on a schedule, to pre-determined activity sites. They are geared to specific age ranges and the guides do a lot of play-work with the kids. When we went, our group was "los Delfines" - the Dolphins. Adults accompanying the kids went along and participated as well.

We were a little late so we missed the first activity, but the second one was in a room shaped like a giant mouth and we learned about brushing and flossing teeth. This made a big impact on my kids and they still talk about the video they saw there in which a boy gets cavities and cries because his teeth hurt. (Last night Gabriel stuck a finger in his mouth, looked at me mischievously, and said "I touched the yucky germs!")

As we walked through the enormous building, the guide led the kids in little games, cheers, and fun activities. To get to the giant foods room, we went through a "space ship" with black light and everything.

 (Here you can see just the corner of the giant cheese block to the right of the milk, and the edge of the giant hollow fish that was another little room to run around in. That's Valerie on the slide.)

The guide had a pretty hard time in this room keeping the kids focused as he talked about good nutrition - it wasn't long until they were running around going down the slides and exploring the giant fish. But our kids led the charge, used as they are to a more independent style of playing. 

And that's what got me thinking. The Colombian approach is consistent with what I've seen throughout Latin America - placing higher value on being part of a group, participating in activities together that build a sense of group identity and cohesion, and using that as a platform for learning, in contrast to the US style of fostering independence and rewarding curious exploring. The Colombian approach also integrated generations together more closely, as parents and grandparents were recruited and included in the activities and conversations. 

It made me very curious to see how schooling in Colombia will shape my kids' social orientations and preferences. 

Friday, April 05, 2013

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Partner

So I decided to update the blog I made for Terry a long time ago, with a post about his trip to Afghanista.n last month. I took excerpts from one of his e-mails and a few iPod photos together. There's more where that came from so I will probably do another one at some point.

Enjoy!