This is definitely a “wirlwind” tour. Arriving on Thursday (having missed Wednesday entirely) and meeting a few families for dinner and desert, I had time only to sleep a half-dozen hours before the conference in Christchurch began early on Friday, continued to Friday night, went all the next day, and finished at 5pm on Saturday evening. What superb, enthusiastic homeschooling families here in the Christchurch area! The family pictured (charming children) are big fans of our writing program, and they may be visiting California in August.
All the talks went well, even the “Humour in Teaching and Speaking” which I was so anxious about. The New Zealand folk do laugh properly, and they were extremely appreciative. The only trouble I had in teaching here was during the session on spelling. I tried to point out that “ea” can say “ee” as in “bead”, can say “e” as in “head”, and “ay” as in “steak”. I was informed, however, that “head” is actually pronounced “hid” (with a long, drawn out short “I” sound) and so to categorize “ea” as a short “e” sound was wrong. After failing to spell “logorrhea” with the correct British spelling (evidently it must have an “o” before the “e”), I quickly wrapped up the talk and retreated to the “Gents” room to check my schedule in private and see if I had to do this spelling talk in any other city. Sadly, it looks like I have to do it in every city (three more times)! Oh well…
At Ian & Dorothy Brown’s house on Saturday night, we had a splendid meal of hogget, potatoes and salad. Hogget, a term I’d never heard before, is sheep meat, older than lamb but not as aged as mutton. It was excellent and I ate more of my fair share, which seemed to please them. Our dinner came mostly from their farm. Ian, Dorothy, & Leeanne (their adult daughter still at home) have a 12 acre farm with 26 sheep, 2 cows, 3 calves, and 1 steer (soon to become freezer beef!), 2 horses, 2 dogs, 14 chickens, 8 hives of bees, and an uninvited hedgehog which terrorizes the baby chicks (and will likely take a permanent underwater swim as soon as Ian catches him). The Browns make their own jam & butter, too. On top of all that work, Ian does counseling and ministry, healing the sick and saving lives and rescuing souls—he is truly a remarkable man. Dorothy supports homeschoolers and organizes events here on the South Island, duplicates and distributes our IEW materials, and seems to have countless other projects. Industrious is the word to describe the Browns!
No comments:
Post a Comment