Day 5 – Parties and Games

               We had another difficult morning when I dropped Liam off at school today.  He is not used to being at school for six hours straight, and things are still rather unfamiliar to him, so he struggles every morning.  I left him crying, which almost broke my heart.

               I hoped today would finally be a day when I could get a lot of research and writing done, but it was not to be.  My calculus students back in Washington had a test today, and at soon as it was over I started receiving complaining emails from them.  They were so upset I decided I ought to grade their tests quickly, and I spent most of the rest of the day grading exams.  This was, of course, considerably less fun than the other work I’d planned.

               At 3:00 I picked up Liam.  It’s always fun to get him after school, when all the kids are playing on the playground and having a great time.

Playing kids at Ilam school

Liam on the bench

Liam's "hat"

The lower grades' cloakroom

  We went exploring, and ended up in a small house on the South part of campus for a math talk.  Every Friday afternoon someone in the department gives a “primer” – a 20-minute introduction to a field of math, after which the department goes out for drinks.  We thought this sounded fun, but because the home was so close to Liam’s school, we got there about 40 minutes early.

The lovely courtyard between some buildings in

the "Kirkwood Estates"

     Question: How much fun can a five-year-old have in an empty room?

     Answer: If he’s a happy kid, and has a new kind of candy bar to try – a lot!  Liam cackled and laughed his way through his first Moro bar, and then we played tag and hide-and-seek outside until the talk.

 

 

The talk was good.  Twenty minutes is about right for a math talk, and knowing that the audience was waiting to go get beer seemed to have a motivating effect on the speaker.  (For the mathematically curious, the talk concerning Bayesian Model Averaging -- a new idea to me, and quite a fascinating one!)

After the talk we went for drinks.  Liam got a small mixed drink – lemonade and apple juice!  We chatted with other math faculty from NZ, Germany, and Sweeden, and then walked by to his school for Family Fun Night

               Family Fun Night

Ilam school held a school-wide celebration, complete with balloons, a magician, a sausage sizzle, and a three-legged race.  Liam and I entered the three-legged race, acquitting ourselves well but not winning.  We ate delicious sausages from NZ, and he watched the magician-comedian.  He did well, though he was severely hampered by a poor sound system.

Family Fun Night

L

One of the great things was that we knew several people.  We saw Liam’s teacher and his principal.  We saw two people from the UC math department.  I got to meet Liam’s new friend “Humdum” (I’m guessing on the spelling) from Pakistan.  Humdum has been very nice, and has helped take care of Liam at school, as Liam gets used to so many new things.  Plus -- how cool is it that Liam now has a friend from Pakistan?

Liam and friends at Family Fun Night.

We stopped at my office on the way back to Skype Allyson (Emery was already asleep), and made it home in time to play with Liam’s new floating Lego boat in the bath.

Good night everyone!