Some events between July and half December 2008

For some reason I had not placed this progress report on the (old) blog yet so this is a new entry on the new blog. But it still is old news, so I pre-dated it accordingly.

June was the time for visitors and end-of-term celebrations. A Dutch couple on tour across the continent had a stop over at our house in Addis Ababa and another friend stayed for a few days over several weeks. At both the International and the Dutch school, the children performed to show some of what they had learned in the past year. For Saman it was a very special occasion as he graduated from pre-school!

Halfway July we went to the Netherlands for our annual home leave. This time Saman and Yekuno spent a lot of time together with their family members without us parents; they really enjoyed that! Saman had again some swimming lessons, but this time it was at another place and more focussed on getting acquainted with the water. We were not very happy with that and disappointed that he could not get his exam. During the holidays we enjoyed various outings in the Netherlands and the two brothers stayed several times one or two nights with relatives; and once their cousins even came to stay with us. We also had our annual celebration of birthdays on the 3rd of August, with many guests.

Back in Addis Ababa, the new school year started for Saman in Grade One. He was very proud to wear his new uniform and to be in a different building with all the big children. In September we spent a weekend in the country side with a befriended Dutch family. In October we had a city outing to the railway museum in Addis Ababa with the Dutch Association. The first of November was a very special day at the Dutch School, when a real circus came to visit and all the children could participate.

Again Saman’s physical health is no less than excellent. He has grown a lot and has suffered only one minor cold in the past 6 months. At school they have physical exercise classes twice a week and Saman has learned to play soccer, basket ball and running games, but also skipping rope!

Saman continues to make progress at horse riding. It seems he has a talent for it and his trainer even has to slow him down a little bit because Saman is not strong enough with six years old to fully control a horse. But the developments can hardly be stopped so Saman is now allowed to walk, trot and even canter our horse Ambo by himself inside the paddock.

In the parent-teacher conferences in November, Saman’s teachers told us he is among the best students in his class (a recent report of Andinet International School is enclosed). He reads and writes sentences in English and Dutch, but especially likes mathematics and science. Recently he has also shown a new appreciation for drawing and he is very creative at expressing his thoughts, sometimes drawing entire stories. Unfortunately the school gives a bit too much homework so we as parents are now guiding him into selecting what to do and making sure he still has time to play outside and spend time with his little brother. Now that Yekuno has turned 4, the two brothers get along even better and they talk a lot while they play, making up imaginary friends and their events. Another favourite pass time of Saman is folding paper planes and boats – the house is full of them!