Oi!

As a booklover – and in particular a lover of children’s books – those of you who have been following my blogentries, you will also remember my other book-entries – I couldn’t refuse this book from my shelf, after I have been asked at my school to teach Y1’s after half term. Phew! That will then put me in a category of…. teaching across five keystages! Well, I’ve actually done KS1 before [Y2], so I actually qualified for whatever category- Jack of all trades [keystages] but master of? …  two years ago. By just the thought of teaching the tiny tots in more than a week from now, put me in a mood of reading again some of my good-reads. This book, ‘Oi! Get off our Train’ by John Burningham is one of my big favourites. I  looo—oooove this book and its illustrations done by the author too. The boy in the story plays with his train – again. His mum sends him to bed with his payama case [a dog – also the dog in these pics] and then he dreams about the two of them on a train and all sorts of animals joining them with all sorts of excuses to get on their train,while having some great fun altogether as well. [See some the images which I took from the book for you to enjoy] Each time an animal gets on the train, they shout at the animal to get off and when the animal explains to them the why’s of getting on their train, their faces drop as they pity the animal and then they allow the animal on their train. On the last pic you can see the last animal explaining why it was getting on their train. The elephant was the first animal to get on. I guess you can work out the order of the other animals then. Don’t miss this book if you’re looking for a great book! The theme of the book ties in with cruelty to animals. Update: Nov- So, then the new teacher [senior position] has decided not to turn up and I’ve been asked to go back to my Y5-class, which was wonderful of course -sad- I could have spent my time during half term focusing on my Y5’s!

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A dream came true

Illustrations also by Joanna Troughton

 

Tortoise had a dream….

 

He dreamt of a tree which
was in a secret place.
From the tree’s branches grew
all the fruits of the earth –
bananas, dates, coconuts, melons,
millet, yams, cassava, maize,
pineapples and oranges.

 

Grandmother Koko has heard about the tree and she told Lion where to find it. All the animals thought that Tortoise was too slow and they wanted to go instead. They all failed, as they didn’t see the obstacles in their paths. Lion was first, then Elephant, Hyena, Ostritch, Baboon and lastly, Giraffe! All of them were warned not to look around but to look out. Despite them going, Tortoise also went to look for the tree, though against a slower pace than the other animals. He didn’t look around like the other animals and was determined to find this tree he saw in his dream. On the next image you can see his obstacle! The most dangerous and deadliest! The illustrations in this book are amazing, I wish I could scan them all in.

 

So he saw the scorpion in his path
“Lucky I didn’t look round,” thought Tortoise.
“Omumbo-rombonga,” he said to himself..

 

“Have you remembered the name?”
said the animals, as they saw
Tortoise slowly and steadily coming.
“Look behind you,” said Tortoise…

 

“Omumbo-rombonga,” cried Tortoise

This book is an African Folk Tale. A plain simple story about a tortoise that dreamt about this miraculous tree. Like many other books  there is a message behind the story. What message does this story convey? – you might want to ask. From my point of view, a couple. Firstly, tortoise shows us determination. He dreamt this dream and he knew he could “follow” his dream. His “dream” was to find this tree he dreamt of and he did it “slowly, but steadily”. He also faced  the most dangerous obstacle of all the animals. All the other animals faced an obstacle that could easily be overcome and despite of it, they forgot the name of the tree. Tortoise’s obstacle was a deadly one and he bravely continued his “dream”, despite this dangerous scorpion. He wasn’t put off by anything, he kept a cool head and moved on. This is how we should be in life. We should follow our dreams and don’t be put off by any obstacle, however simple, dangerous or deadly. You should continue on your journey to reach for your dream. I have a couple of dreams, more than I think I can achieve, but I will slowly and steadily continue following my dreams. Some of my current dreams are: to publish my own book, to start my own school, to play the piano again! To play the violin, to play any flute instrument – again, to write another children’s story, to climb mount Kilimandjaro and to do another sky diving jump! I’ve done it once and it was amazing! I would also like to play one of the big chess “engines” like Anand or one of my favourites, Ivanchuk or Kramnik. Topalov looks too scary, I think he’s got a mind of steel. I think he will give you one look and  you will start shivering and lose the game even before you’ve started! haha…Oh, I forgot, my actual dream is to teach chess during school time only and to kids in primary schools. There should be a chess school and kids should play chess all day long! How’s that one! If I look back at this list of dreams, it seems to me they all are impossible, well – for the next year at least. I think I’m going to wake up one morning, shouting: “omumbo-rombonga!” and see what happens! haha…maybe, just maybe, my dreams will come true at once. The end of this story is brilliant. Tortoise shouted the name of the tree and all the different fruits came down and he shared it with all the animals and then tortoise announced: They all should plant a seed. So, those seeds grew for future generations to have food too. More lessons from this book! Share and care for one another!

The next song – “The impossible Dream” – is sung by Peter O’Toole and comes from the movie:MAN OF LA MANCHA

Lyrics:   The Impossible Dream
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Music here. Next you can listen to the  music of by Jim Brickman… Dream come true. This cd was sent to me by one of my chess player-friends in the USA!

Jim Brickman

Dare To Dream

Let nothing hold you back from
exploring your wildest fantasies,wishes, and aspirations.
Don’t be afraid to dream big
and to follow your dreams
wherever they may lead you.
Open your eyes to their beauty;
open your mind to their magic;
open your heart to their possibilities.

Dare to dream.
Whether they are in colour or in black and white,
whether they are big or small,
easily attainable or almost impossible,
look to your dreams,
and make them become reality.
Wishes and hopes are nothing
until you take the first step
towards making them something!

Dare to dream,
Because only by dreaming,
will you ever discover
who you are, what you want,
and what you can do.
Don’t be afraid to take risks,
to become involved,
to make commitment.
Do whatever it takes to makeyour dreams come true.
Always believe in miracles,
and always believe in you!
+++
~ Julie Anne Ford ~

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Jackal marries Wolf’s wife!

Image:kyotojournal.org

Jakkals trou met Wolf se vrou! Wie van julle sê dit nog!?

Today is a cooler day than a few days ago, every now and then there’s a few makhulu sized drops..oh, if you don’t know what makhulu means…it means quite biggish… lol! also…makhulu is a Xhosa-word which means Grandma and that’s where the word comes from…  I’ve also thought that it’s only South Africans having this “myth” about the animals getting married when it rains while the sun shines! Here is a short version of the story….Jackal fell in love with the Wolf’s wife and he wanted to marry her. The animals in the animal kingdom knew of course it can not take place, as they are not suppose to be together as Wolf’s wife is Jackal’s godmother!  So, they talked to Mother nature and asked her to stop-spoil-the wedding day! When it was the big day, Mother Nature let it rain on this day, which was a  sunny day and the wedding couldn’t continue! hehe..

From Wikipedia:

A sunshower is an unusual meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining . These conditions often lead to the appearance of a rainbow, if the sun is at a low enough angle. The term “sunshower” is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and parts of Britain, but is rarely found in dictionaries . Additionally, the phenomenon has a wide range of sometimes remarkably similar folkloric names in cultures around the world . A common theme is that of trickster animals, or the devil, getting married, although many variations of parts of this theme exis.

Animals
In South African English, it is referred to as a “monkey’s wedding,” a loan translation of the Zulu umshado wezinkawu, a wedding for monkeys . In Afrikaans, it is referred to as jakkalstrou, jackals wedding, or also As jakkals trou met wolf se vrou, meaning “when the jackal marries the Wolf’s wife.”
In Hindi and Bengali, it is also called “the jackal’s wedding.”
In Arabic, the term is “the rats are getting married” .
Bulgarians speak of bears marrying .
In Korea, a male tiger gets married.
In various African languages, leopards are getting married.
One animal, the fox, crops up all over the world[citation needed], from Kerala to Japan (Japan also refers to it as ‘Kitsune (the fox) takes a bride,’) to Armenia; there’s even an English dialect term, “the foxes’ wedding,” known from the south west of England. In Calabria, it is said that “when it rains with sun, the foxes are getting married.”

 Other variations
In Polish, the saying is that “when the sun is shining and the rain is raining, the witch is making butter.” For Filipinos, “elves are getting married”, or “tikbalang” (half-horse, half-men) and a “kapre” are getting married, while in Spain it is witches, and in Greece it is the poor.

In Lithuanian, the phenomenon is described as “orphans’ tears,” where the sun is the grandmother drying those tears. In Russian, it’s “mushroom rain,” as such conditions are considered favorable to growing mushrooms. In Russian it is also often referred to as “слепой дождик”, which literally translates as “blind rain”.

In the United States, particularly the South, a sunshower is said to show that “the devil is beating his wife.” In German, the variation is “Wenn’s regnet und die Sonne scheint, so schlägt der Teufel seine Großmutter: er lacht und sie weint,” or “When it’s raining and the sun shines, the devil is beating his grandmother: he laughs and she cries.” Similar phrases occur in Hungary and Holland. A regional variant from Tennessee is “the devil is kissing his wife. — Wikipedia —

 

Image: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshower

 Our changeable weather!!!

Picture taken about 2:45 this afternoon!

Picture taken 15:20!

Iemand al gehoor van hierdie sindroom!! hahaha ….O.G.A.A.T.S. SINDROOM —Ouderdom Geaktiveerde Aandag Afleibare Teenwoordigheids Sindroom!

Book Time! The Wolf who cried Boy!

This book is so funny! I guess you know this story, but it’s much more funnier than “The Boy who cried Wolf”!

Spreekwoorde in Afrikaans:

Hy’s a tweegatjakkals!

Jakkals verander van hare maar nie van snare nie – ‘n skelm mens verander uiterlik maar nie innerlik nie.

Read on this link Afrikaans/English Wolf-and-Jackal-stories

https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/wolf-and-jackal-stories/

Troetelwoorde vir ogilvie douglas
(’n bosbouer van ’n nedersetting by Grabouw
het op ’n reëndag met sy mongoolkind op sy
skoot gesit)

kyk oggeliefie druppeldou
jakkals trou met wolf se vrou
ag die stomme wêreld wou
dat jy my kind sou wees
my kind hier in ons eie dorp
agter die bosrug van grabouw
my droomoogkind
met jou oophangmond
wat kwyl
soos heuningdruppelsdou
kyk daar’s druppels op jou mou
kyk daar’s druppels teen die ruit
o oggeliefie douglas
elke druppel is ’n sonnetrou
dit reën
jou pa kan nie vandag
sy boom gaan kap
o nooit volprese God
wat ook oor wurms
wag moet hou
seën die oggeliefiekind van my
en my sy pa
en daar sy maltrapma
o oggeliefie druppeldou
o jakkals trou met wolf se vrou

Uit: Sprokkelster
Marlene van Niekerk

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Huberta…South Africa’s famous hippo!

Huberta’s Journey…..

Ek’s gek oor hierdie Seekoei-verhaal. Die storieboek is ook in Afrikaans verkrygbaar en maak seker jy kry hom in die hande, want ek dink hy gaan dalk uit druk gaan oor ‘n paar jaar. Ek weet net ek was baie gelukkig om hom in Afrikaans te kon kry! Maar Engels is ook seker net so goed, solank jy hom kry! Hierdie boek verleen hom ook tot die gebruik in Kuns! en kinders kan hul eie lekker seekoei-stories skryf na hul Huberta s’n gehoor het! Op een van die links hieronder kan jy ook lees oor ander bekende seekoeie. Geniet die Buffalocity-link, want daar is oulike inligting oor Huberta! en die museum ook!

  Huberta: the wandering star of the Eastern Cape

One of King William’s Town’s most famous residents is Huberta the hippo. In November 1928, for reasons known only to herself, Huberta began a long trek from St Lucia in Zululand to the Eastern Cape. For three years, she took a 1 600km wandering path southwards and her adventures captured the imagination of the nation and the world.
Huberta was not shy of strangers – she crossed roads and railroads and visited towns and cities. She ate her way through parks, gardens and farms and trampled over golf courses. Wherever she went, there followed journalists, photographers, hunters – and the interest of thousands of people. She became quite famous and her story appeared in South Africa’s newspapers, as well as international publications such as Punch and the Chicago Tribune.

The press, thinking she was a male hippo, nicknamed her Hubert. Later, when it was discovered that Hubert was in fact a female, she was renamed Huberta.

During her journey through what was then Natal (now called KwaZulu-Natal), Huberta settled in the lagoon at the mouth of the Mhlanga River. She seemed to enjoy her new home, and visitors would throw fruit, sugar cane and other titbits to her.

A decision was made to move Huberta to the Johannesburg Zoo and a team set out to capture her. However, Huberta evaded capture in a classic comic-book scenario: journalists fell into mud pools in their efforts to interview her and she chased photographers up trees. But, as her status grew, the Natal Provincial Council decided to declare her royal game and it became illegal to catch or hunt her.

Once her idyllic life in the pool had been disturbed, she continued to travel southwards. She walked on to one of Durban’s beaches, and amused holidaymakers when she swam in the sea and sauntered along the beach. She trampled over the elite Beachwood Golf Course and arrived uninvited to a party at the Durban Country Club, ambling along the veranda as partygoers danced.

She went from there to the Umgeni River. She reached mythical status, with Zulus allegedly convinced that she had some connection to King Shaka because of the time she had spent in one of his former sacred pools. Xhosas honoured her as the spirit of a great chief who had returned to the world to seek justice for his people.  Read on this link more!

Update: January 2014: The first two links are broken, these links were my original sources. The 3rd and 4th links are new links for you to read about Huberta.

1. http://www.buffalocity.gov.za/visitors/huberta.stm

2. http://www.keiskammafriends.com/articles/huberta_garson.htm

3. http://www.museum.za.net/index.php/14-fp-roktabs/31-huberta-the-world-s-most-famous-hippo

4. http://eng.hrosi.org/?id=91

Famous Hippos

Book: Huberta the Hiking Hippo

by: Daphne Cox

Picture book for children age: 5-8/9

OOS-KAAP: Swerwer-seekoei kry ’n opvolger
YOLANDÉ HAYWARD
29/05/2008 10:09:01 PM – (SA)

PORT ELIZABETH. – Is dit blote toeval of is daar nou na 80 jaar nóg ’n seekoei met jeukerige voete?

Huberta, die bekende swerwer-seekoei, het in 1928 al wat leef en beef aan die klets gehad toe sy haar “huis” in St. Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal verlaat het en die pad Oos-Kaap toe aangepak het.
Dit blyk dat die seekoei wat vandeesweek op Ballito se strand in Durban gewaar is moontlik in haar vrye voetspore wil volg. Nie net het albei seekoeie se stories in KwaZulu-Natal begin nie, maar dit lyk of al twee ’n liefde vir die branders het. Luidens talle nuusberigte oor Huberta het die media in daardie tyd ook van haar vrye voete te hore gekom en haar eers Hubert gedoop. Dit het egter later aan die lig gekom dat die hy eintlik ’n sy was. Van toe af is sy sommer Huberta genoem. Luidens die Buffalo City-webwerf het haar pad – van sowat 1 600 km – met dié van baie Suid-Afrikaners gekruis. Sy het glo vir ’n wyle in die Mhlangarivier in KwaZulu-Natal gebly, maar toe is daar besluit om haar te vang en na die Johannesburg-dieretuin te neem. Dié planne het haar glo nie beïndruk nie en sy het uit haar vangers se kloue geglip en weer die pad gevat. Volgens die webwerf het die provinsiale regering toe besluit om dit onwettig te maak om Huberta te vang of te jag. Net soos die seekoei op Ballito se strand het Huberta ook ’n besoek aan een van Durban se strande afgelê en sonsoekers daar met oop monde gelaat. Volgens mnr. Garnett Cantor, ­eienaar van die Kraggakamma-wildpark in die Baai, is dit nie ­eienaardig vir seekoeie om in seewater te beland nie.

In 1931 het Huberta die Oos-Kaap bereik, maar dis ook hier waar haar epiese reis en lewe tot ’n einde gekom het. Sy is deur ’n groep jagters by die Keiskammarivier geskiet. Vandag is haar opgestopte seekoeilyf in die Amathole-museum in King William’s Town te sien. Volgens Cantor is swerwer-seekoeie nie ’n vreemde verskynsel nie. “Veral bulle – omdat hulle baie territoriaal is – word partykeer uit hul groepe geskop. Dan vat hulle die pad.” Hy waarsku hoewel Huberta se storie mense betower het, moet dit mense nie blind maak vir die feit dat seekoeie gevaarlik is nie.
Bron: Die Burger
http://www.dieburger.com/Stories/News/Regions/17.0.502052609.aspx

Image: Wikimedia

Hippo-Skull..image: Wikimedia

Die Suid-Afrikaanse boek — wat in Engels geskryf is wat ek onder hande gehad het, se titel is “Huberta’s Journey”…volg hierdie link ook daaroor!
Cecily van Straten is die outeur…volgens hierdie link.
http://www.childlit.org.za/vstraten.html

Image: dinosoria.com/mammifere/sens-huberta

Image: Everypicture.com
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

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