Greetings all!

I'm afraid we have been pretty irregular with our news, which will come as no great surprise to my family. Plus, we here have all been leaning on Holly for our next installment, since she has become "the writer in the family"! However, while you are waiting for her next (post-exams) entry, I thought I should just give you a quick summary-update of our doings. 

In short,  we have all been busy settling into our school and work routines here, which among other things involves a lot of DRIVING! Joburg is famous for its traffic, and for its mini-bus taxis which follow an entirely different set of rules of the road that no one else entirely understands (except that it is good to leave as much distance as possible between you and the mini-bus taxis). Meanwhile, we are collecting various snippets from the frequent traffic reports which we think will make for a great Monty Python-type item on the weird, wonderful, and bizarre of getting about this place (Radio Announcer: "Oh dear.... Oh dear... Oh dear!! I do hope this is a mistake! There is a motorcyclist on fire at the Malibongwe interchange. I do hope that should read, there is a motorcycle on fire....").

Having said all this, we are really enjoying the energy, edge, and creativity of the economic heart of the new South Africa. The kids are all having quite remarkable school experiences, in very different ways. Holly and Rory are at Sacred Heart College, which has quite a storied anti-apartheid history and, unlike most of the fee-paying schools here, is three-quarters or more non-white. The kids are really enjoying hearing from their classmates about their parents' prison stories! Holly is now deep into her first real set of exams, which she is finding challenging but strangely exhilarating. Elizabeth's international school experience includes peers from over 80 different countries, along with a very high standard (and demanding pace) of teaching and learning. She is loving the friends she has made, and is juggling participation in the upcoming school musical performance of "Legally Blonde". She has even learned to tolerate her 5:15 wakeup and nearly hour-long commute each way!

 Heather is also going through her own intensive learning experience concerning the Maternal Death audit system for the country, and I am enjoying learning from her investigations second hand. The report she is writing has taken her to 7 of the country's 9 provinces, with incredibly varied conditions (though in each case vast inequalities between the proverbial haves and have-nots). Last week she was summoned to an audience with the national Minister of Health, where she presented her preliminary findings! He is considered to be a very good and dedicated minister, and it was good to have the opportunity to meet him. Oh, and she also broke her foot! It is healing well, but in the meantime this apparently allowed her to compare walking boots with the Minister, who also recently broke his foot.

 Meanwhile I'm afraid much of my time has been occupied trying to get a book which was supposed to have been put to bed before I left Halifax off my desk once and for all. However I am slowly chipping away at some new writing projects and enjoying connecting with new and old friends and colleagues. I have been down to the western Cape for a short visit where I did a presentation at the University of Cape Town (among the most beautiful campuses in the world) and had some meetings with colleagues at  Stellenbosch University. We also managed a long weekend getaway to the Royal Natal National Park which is the Drakensberg Mountains. Heather and I went there almost two decades ago and it was great to share the experience with our kids. It is a stunningly beautiful place, with demanding but rewarding hikes. Just watch your lunch: a good chunk of ours was stolen by an aggressive local baboon while our backs were turned!

So that's a very quick update from Jozi (the place seems to have lots of nicknames!). Hope you are all well; warm greetings from all of us.

David.