What an auspicious little encounter✨

Last Sunday, while Tony and I were out on a run, training for Oceans and what not, when we came across this cute little guy, on a little micro-adventure on Blouberg promenade. I’ve never seen such a large mole before, and so cute too ❤️

And then some other unrelated odds and ends I can report on – last week, I attended our institutional teaching excellence awards dinner, where this time I was a recipient of yet another award. In 2018, I was awarded a departmental teaching excellence award, and in 2019 I was awarded the faculty teaching excellence award as well as the institutional teaching excellence award. In other words, the best teacher at my university for that year (yay for me :). In 2022, when I took on my current role as faculty learning and teaching coordinator, it became my job to attend the award ceremonies – to congratulate the awardees and thank their partners (awardees are allowed to bring a plus one) on behalf of the faculty, for supporting them, and ultimately for their contribution to the faculty.

However, at the end of last year, a new award category was introduced – team teaching, and immediately I saw how relevant the work that colleagues and I have done on the First Year Experience project is to this award category. So I persuaded the team to apply – and we won!

While I am really so happy about this – the ‘happy’ feels different to the ‘happy’ I felt winning previous awards. With the focus shifting from me to the team, in a way, it felt more gratifying? It feels like I’ve grown. The team getting this award will do so much for the morale in the faculty. Although it’s nice to be recognised and acknowledged as an individual, and don’t get me wrong, the recognition is GREAT, the recognition for me as an individual doesn’t feel as if it’s as valuable to my day-to-day work, as seeing my team succeed. Is that growth? Yeah, maybe there’s hope for me still:)

Finally, it was my nunu’s birthday. Little Bailey turned 5, and Aunty Bronnie just had to make him a pinãta. I just realise now that I don’t have a picture of it, but it was colourful and I stuck pictures of all his favourite things (thanks to Mum Monique for facilitating that). So it had pictures of Sonic, and Hot Wheels, and Chase, and Coop and the Batman Hot Wheels car and PJ Masks. I think it was a hit, I think Bailey was happy. And isn’t that what life is about, making memories with loved ones. I think/hope that this will be one of those things that Bailey will remember.