More Midgleys by the minute

I'm sitting in Pretoria, South Africa at a coffee shop with a cappuccino in front of me blogging - about Tana, and about the Midgley boys in particular. My good friends Kim and Sue and their five boys recently moved to a new home, mostly so that their boys, who are homeschooled, would have more friends to play with. 

And now their home is like a train station, with the "Dutch boys", who live five houses down from them coming in and going out as if they're part of family. At any given time one can find 3 Midgley boys and two Dutch kids at the Midgley home, with the remaining Dutch boy and two youngest Midgleys at the Dutch family's home. (And, in fact, in any combination one can think of...)

I was amused to hear Sue asking her 4-year-old at supper recently if he had eaten during the day... She hadn't seen him for the whole afternoon, and just assumed that he would have snacked at his friends' house... And the two families have a good understanding that when it's time for the children to go home then a simple command will restore the balance.

A lounge filled with boys. One Midgley, one de Waal, one Midgley, one de Waal... Best of friends.

The three eldest Midgley boys. No, hold on, that's two Midgleys on the left and a de Waal on the right.

The eldest de Waal boy in the Midgley lounge with some funky glasses left over from the World Cup in South Africa

A mom and her boys

I took these pics of little moments of interaction between Sue and three of her boys. It's a beautiful thing to see a mom interacting lovingly with her boys, just as it's completely different, but equally as special, to see how a dad interacts with his kids...

After the youngest's bath-time

An intimate moment with the second-youngest

Contemplating the new home with the second-eldest

Story-time with the two youngest

School by any other name

Our second term at Vision Valley School ended last Thursday, and the powers that be decided, in all their wisdom, to give us a two-day break to recover from the previous term and prepare for the new one. I, in all my wisdom, ended up spending the second of those two days at the Midgley home where the boys were busy with their homeschooling. Take a break from school to hang out at a different school ... Very clever!

But it was considerably less stressful than my typical school day. Evan and I drank tea and ate rusks, did some informal mathematics on the couch, and before we knew it the other boys had finished their schoolwork, and we could all get down to some serious play...

Andy learning about carrots. Hold on, that's the world made to look like orange veggies.

Justin - head down and learn as much as possible so I can get outta here!

All work and no play makes Jem a dull boy

Grade 1 is SO much fun! Reece get writing

And lets not forget Evan... He learns through osmosis, absorbing from his bright brothers...

Evan says

Evan's take on Moses' famous statement to Pharaoh in the Old Testament: "LET MY PEOPLE GLOW." Sounds like a funky revivalist meeting in Chernobyl.

Then from the boys' bedroom sometime this week: 

“Ow! Evan! Watch. Where. You. Stand.!”

 “Ow Jem! Watch. Where. You. Hit!”

And finally, any regular reader knows Evan has been saying for a while now that he is going to be a pineapple when he grows up: He walked into his parents' room a few mornings ago and matter-of-factly announced that he actually wouldn't be a pineapple when he gets older. His mom thought it was probably because he had finally realised that little boys just become men. 

But no. His first reason? "Because there isn't enough orange paint to make me the right colour." 

The second reason? "Because I'm not juicy enough on the inside."

Because Mondays aren't meant to be blue ...

... I've filled this post with bright, life-filled pics from my town, my life...
I hope they bring a bit of extra colour to your day.

The only way to start a day - the little cup that packs a punch: espresso Tana-style

One of my little neighbours in Talatamaty, Tana. Always ready with a smile

A house painted with the "La vache quit rit" cheese logo. Their lives are never blue!

Evan, living life large and in full colour!

Just two little feet on the road...

One of my favourite little Canadians, all of whom brought colour into my life ...

HEED!
"Look at the size of that boy's heed.
I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick.
Well, that's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid.
It's gargantuan!"
(From "So I married an axe murderer")

And then I realised that I hadn't posted this on a Monday, but rather on Tuesday because we had a long weekend, and I got my days all mxed up! Hold on. Where are we now?

Bologna Boy

Bologna Boy

Sitting at the dinner table two nights ago, four-year-old Evan looked across at his mother and asked, "Mommy, when we move to our new house next month, please can I change my name?"

"Sure," she said, "What do you want to be called?"

"Bologna!"

Like I've said before, I don't know where he comes from!

And then yesterday he called me over to ask if I would take a photo of him as a pineapple. The picture below is exactly that - Evan the Pineapple. Apparently a pineapple sticks its tongue out - probably to scare people into not cutting it up and eating it ...

Pineapple boy with attitude

The brothers pretending to be Evan, pretending to be a pineapple: Oldest Pineapple, Duck Pineapple, Pineapple-gone-bad, Model Pineapple and Sleepy Pineapple

The things children say...

Evan and Reece at the dining room table

It was a typical supper setting – Andy, the eldest, was jabbering away about something as usual, Sue was cutting Evan’s food and listening to something he was saying, Kim and I were chatting about something mundane, when Andy stopped abruptly and said, “Mommy, you weren’t listening to my story!”

“Yes, I was,” she said. “I can do more than one thing at a time.”

“Yes, she’s got three ears!” responded Reece in his matter-of-fact way.

And apparently Sue, like any archetypal mom, has more of these bizarre anatomical features. She used to tell Andy when he was little, and being naughty, that she had eyes in the back of her head. One day he was playing and shouted out excitedly, “Look at me, mommy, look at me.” At the last minute she looked away. “You weren’t looking! ... or were you using your back eyes?” he asked innocently.

Apparently the boys have got into their heads that all girls wear glasses:  “Auntie Anri wears glasses, and mommy has some too...” Reece once again had his two-cents worth: “And uncle Rob ... He likes to wear women’s clothes, so he should have just been a girl...”

Well, thanks for that observation, Reece, but I'm quite happy as a man...

Lazy Lego Days

When a job needs doing at the Midgleys, like a car that needs
to be moved,  one can always count on the Lego to get stuck in ...

This post has very little to do with the title (apart from the pictures). I've been teaching the Grade 10s about stream of consciousness, and so, on arriving back from church, I found myself wallowing in one of my own: 

After being back in Tana for around a week now I've been mulling over life here - and how different it is to life in South Africa and, I imagine, anywhere in the first-world  ...

... about the madness of the political system and all the recent political decisions and revelations - like the military man who admitted to being paid $10,000 by "national politicians and foreign contributors"  to help carry out the coup d'etat in 2009, which brought the current president into power and plunged the country into crisis 

... about trying to survive (sometimes unsuccessfully) on around $500 a month 

... of the various hilarious methods and modes of transport, and the fact that everything seems to be held together, as cheaply as possible, with a piece of wire and a prayer.  (I even heard a story about someone making his own fuses for his car because he wanted to save the few cents it would cost to buy them!)

... about the lack of rain, how the whole population is linked so closely to the land that the rainlessness hurts, and how the topic now seems to open every conversation 

... of the beauty of the people and the paysage (landscape) 

... about the fact that my old motorbike is now smoking more than a retired, chain-smoking Frenchman in a Malagasy restaurant, and that it could kick the bucket at any time 

... of the juicy steaks, and relative safety and lack of crime 

... about the litter and mud clogging the streets and the cranky electricity supply and not having running water in my house most days 

... of the amazing litchis with their huge pips, and the mangoes and speckled, flawed, real bananas 

... about the thumb-sized cockroaches that refuse to go quietly into the night 

... of the absolute need for good friends

... about frustrations with school and students and the sluggish Internet from the middle ages

But most of all, of the fact that I know why I'm here ...

One of the little Lego men offered to help with the car, but it was pretty tough for him alone ...

... and so he called in some friends, one of which wasn't quite up to the task!

Lego creators creatures, Midgley boys # 1 and 2

Five boys and an old fogie with a camera

My sister asked me if I get the boys to pose for all of my pictures. Well, to tell the truth, no. I just hang around with my camera and wait for them to do something. And somehow, every time, I manage to capture something typical of each of them. It's handy when your subjects are comfortable with you just being there. Like a piece of furniture ... until you stub your toe against it. But I digress.

I've been in South Africa for what is approaching three weeks already, and, even though I've been royally entertained by my youngest niece, I'm missing the boys' antics and that mad Midgley household. Yes, even the tripping over Lego pieces and Andy asking incessantly (every time) if he can play whenever the adults get down to shooting each other in Call of Duty. The answer is always the same, but I suppose he deserves a medal for perseverance. 

Just don't tell them that I miss them ...

Number 1 - Andrew when being scolded. Otherwise Andy will do.

Number 2 - Justin ... "Dubs" to his family, in the tree house we built in the front yard

Number 3 - Jeremy, or just plain Jem, doing what comes naturally

Number 4 - Reece, or as I refer to him, the Rooster

Number 5 - Evan, a.k.a. "Slinky Pants", contemplating my coffee mug

My kind of friends

An incident with an ice cream

Last night I didn't sleep much - firstly, the cockroaches were restless and I had images of them rising up against me to get the house all to themselves. They aren't called "Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches" for nothing - these are the noisiest bugs I've ever come across. Finally I figured out how to keep them at bay, and quiet: with insect spray and sleeping with a light on, because they are apparently averse to both. 

Then secondly, after being asleep for way too short a time, I was awakened by the most horrific nightmare. In it I was running through a library being chased by a fat clown with a hideous laugh. For some or other reason I had a handgun, which I used to shoot him, but it was as useful as a pop gun. Finally I pulled a shelf of books down on him. But he was rescued by a ringmaster-looking gentleman in a suit and top hat and the frantic escape continued, this time sans pea shooter. 

I tried to figure out what it meant but all I've come up with so far is that this place is a circus and is trying to kill me! Or maybe I've been playing too much Call of Duty and watching the wrong genre of movie before bedtime...

The compliments and quotes were flying thick and fast today from the Midgley boys in the pic below ... They may need lessons on encouragement:

"Uncle Rob, did you ever publish that really badly written comment on your blog - the one with the terrible spelling?"

"Yes"

"Aw, now everyone will know what kind of friends you have!"

______________

"Mommy, you look really ugly on Wii"

______________

Midgley # 5, starting to cry after being sent to his room for hitting his brother:

"Am I going to get a hiding?"

"Yes"

"But I'm already crying..."

______________

"Auntie Anri, we made you a wii girl. She's thiiiiis fat and has a pig-looking nose".

Have yourself a very alien Christmas

The Nativity is one of those stories we all know. We learnt it in Sunday School, and we know it off by heart - baby Jesus, meek and mild, born in a stable, laid down in a manger, with lowing cattle, shepherds, wise men and his doting parents gathered around. But it's not that obvious when the Lego-wielding Midgley boys get involved ... (Click on the photos to see better-quality versions)

Top: Joseph and Mary (heavy with child) arrive in Bethlehem on a very sturdy horse,
but there's no place at the angry-looking alien's inn. A stable it'll be then ...
Bottom: Wise "men", having travelled from far far (intergalactic) lands meet with King Herod ...
Little does Herod realise that he is to hear most disturbing news later in the day!

A clearly-terrified Jesus wakes up surrounded by an odd assortment of animals (including very angular, out-of-this-world sheep), aliens and scary-looking Oriental types. The Magi come bearing gifts: one, a golden duck; another, a Jedi light saber; and the third, a chocolate ice cream cone. Mary and Joseph look remarkably like they just stepped off the set of Saturday Night Fever. Cool hairstyle, Jo!

And hiding in the corner we discover that Santa is not at all happy with Herod, who has found his way onto the fat man's 'naughty list'. No presents for you, you nasty king ...

Friday the 26th

A beautiful, bizarre, hot, snotty day in the life of a teacher in Madagascar ...

Grade 9s - quite unpleasant last year; delightful now ... quite bizarre!

Ear-boy on the jungle gym in the preschool

McKenna and friends. Hilarious to hear how this little American girl speaks English in a Malagasy accent so that her friends can understand her! Heard by one of her little friends: "McKenna is a girl, even if she's wearing pants".
And the other little one next to her?

Neighbourhood kids just hanging out ...
As I've said before - the streets are their back yard, the older sister normally the babysitter and guardian.

I just call her "snot-nose" for short ...

More nextdoor neighbours - that's one big mug!

A shy kid at my wall

And then the day ended with supper, spilled Fanta and Midgleys # 1 & 4 not wanting to waste a drop!

On the other side of the Cypress

Either I'm at the onset of Alzeimer's, or I just don't remember ever playing with Lego. We played outside, we built tree houses, go-karts and a foofie slide (zip line to you non-South Africans) from the Kumquat tree, over the bed of rose bushes and into the base of the Cypress tree ... 

My brother and I became quite adept at zipping down the line, with legs pulled up to our chests to avoid the thorny bushes below, and then, before smashing into the tree at the end, we would jump off and roll theatrically down the lawn. Friends would come over just to see our famous and dangerous ride. My sister, who took a lot longer to pluck up the courage, finally attempted the trick, jumped out of the tree - arms, legs and gangly body fully extended. She plowed through the roses, and in shock, hit the Cypress, bloodied and dazed. I remember asking if I could help pick the thorns out of her legs. My Granny Ruth was not amused ... And that was the end of my big sister's foofie slide career... 

But back to the Lego: The Midgley boys here have more of the little coloured blocks than I have ever seen before. In fact, I think there is some mysterious vortex that sucks lost Lego to this nondescript house in Tana.

Midgley number 1, aged 11, had this to say about his creative process:

I'm no Lego expert, but to ask Uncle Rob, my creations are abundant. I make use of what I’ve got. Mainly, I look at pictures off the Lego site, although it is only relatively useful, as it doesn’t show the mechanics, or every aspect of the creation. I am glad that I have recently discovered the Lego Customer Service site though. Anyway, I should go now. Uncle Rob is showing my brothers pictures of West Edmonton Mall in Canada. It's so cool and we’re stuck in Madagascar. Sorry for us. At least the food is good here.

Okay, so he got a bit distracted at the end. I think I'll go and look for some homemade cookies ...

Midgley # 1 - Legalomaniac

Pot-bellied piglets: made in China

Evan, 4-year-old pot-bellied piglet

Midgley number 5, Evan - seriously, what planet is this kid from? So, the other day chatting to his mom:

Evan: "Everything is made in China."
Sue: "No, Evan. You were made in Pretoria."

Evan: "No I wasn't. We're all made in China!"

China, achieving world domination one kids' toy, volleyball and plumbing fitting (and little boy, apparently) at a time ... I guess one can see where most products in Madagascar are from...

Then today, on his way home from "boys' club" with the other little 4-year-olds:

Sue: "What did you learn about today?"

Evan: "Just Jesus."
Sue: "What about Jesus?"
Evan: "When he was born."
Sue: "Oh, and where was he born?"
Evan: "On the moon!"

Perhaps he got a bit confused by the star bit of the story? I guess it also gives a new spin on the whole "man in the moon" story. I can just imagine him standing outside at night staring up at the moon wondering about what Jesus' house looks like up there. Kids and their perceptions - that's like an account I read yesterday about a six-year-old sharing her memory verse 1 Thessalonians 5:17 with her mom: "Pray without sneezing." 

"... Be joyful always, pray without sneezing; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus ..." Why not? Makes sense - after all, it's really difficult to pray properly while sneezing ...

All five hooligans - send money, they clearly aren't eating enough! Except pot belly, of course.

Evan, the Midgley youngest, turned four at the beginning of August. He's a strange little chap, who constantly comes out with the most off-the-wall quotes...

These pics remind me of photo albums my grandfather used to make of my brother, sister and me - always with witty, cute captions. He was an amazing man who lived to enjoy his 100th birthday with his family and closest friends; he influenced many and was much loved.