Mzungu Mansion Celebrates 100 Years

Holland, Mi.

The Mzungu Mansion, located in Holland Michigan, and currently occupied by Nannie and the old guy, recently turned one hundred years old. The house is located in the Holland Historic District,  and the exterior is little changed from her original construction. The house has a clay tile roof, an Italian Marble fireplace, and an Art Deco stained glass window. While exact date of construction completion in 1916 is not known, a birthday party, attended by several dozen friends and neighbors, was held at the house on June 18 to celebrate the occasion. 

Showing only a few signs of her age, the house has had some recent minor cosmetic work done as well as some new landscaping to enhance her charm. She begins her second century in fine form, and family and friends anticipate many more happy years ahead for the house.  Nancy and Tim have been living in the house since 2003, with occasional breaks, including a two year absence while living in India and a 3 month adventure as Mzungus in Tanzania.

We congratulate the place for her fine years of service to her occupants and to the community.

Kodai Revisited

Always so green - Poinsettia tree ;-)

After more than forty years, I returned to Kodaikanal, where I had gone to boarding school through 7th grade.

Main entrance

It had been 47 years since last I had been there - though several family members had been there since. Much has changed of course - the town is much bigger and noisier, as is the school. There are a number of new buildings that made the campus seem more crowded than I had remembered. Of course things also seemed much larger in my memories, some of which I am sure are because I was smaller and my perspective has changed.  A lot of thoughts and memories came back to me - mostly good, I think. I worried that I afflicted Nancy, Alisabeth and Rickie with boredom as I spouted old stories, but they said they enjoyed it.  I hope so.  Here's some pictures.

Chapel

Chapel interior - significant early spiritual and musical memories.

Phelps entrance

Near Sherwood dorm - I helped build it serving detention hours. Used to make forts in woods near the dorms.

Phelps Hall - my first dorm - Houseparents were Mr. & Mrs. Banks - both born in 1899.

My traveling companions in front of the auditorium.

Kodai Lake - Perumal Mountain in the background.  The school in the red roofs on the right hand side above the boathouse and the Carlton Hotel.  Stayed there.

Summer Vacation

The summer of 2013 has been over for us for a few weeks now.

Nancy at the castle in St. Andrews

We began again back at school here in Mumbai on August 5, after almost two months of time off to travel and see family. In many ways it was the first real summer vacation Nancy and I have had together.  Before this we had usually taken a week or two off here or there, but not an extended period of time like we did this summer.

Waterfall in the Lake District

This summer's vacation was pretty special and was broken into about 4 sections. First, we had a good time, just the two of us, exploring England and Scotland.


Then we separated for some professional development, Nancy heading to Connecticut and New York for a visit and writers workshop and I went to San Antonio for the big ISTE conference.

Mt. Rainier - Yes, I took this picture - I was gob-smacked!

We re-united in the Pacific Northwest where we had a great time visiting family and enjoying the outdoors.

Hiking in the Olympics with Jen & Eric

Finally, we spent a couple of weeks at a rented cottage near Lake Michigan where we could hang out and enjoy family and friends.

Hanging with family and friends at the beach.

We have never had a summer so full.  The life of the international teacher is lots of hard work, but also lot of good vacation and travel!

Staal Family Reunion

Staal brothers tennis : Left to Right by age (youngest first) Dude, Steve, Tim, Tom - photo by Nora Staal

 
Every summer my brothers Tom and Steve, who both have lived internationally for many years, come to the States to visit family and have a little vacation. When things work out well, the rest of the family likes to try and all get together from our various locales and have a Staal Family Reunion.  Over the years, we've had several reunions around weddings and other family events as well.  We had a very memorable reunion several years ago at a Sierra Club Lodge near Lake Tahoe where most of the next generation was able to join us as well.

This year it worked out well for much of the family to meet here in Michigan, where Steve and his family rented a cottage at Castle Park and many of the others stayed at a local Residence Inn.  All six of the original Staal siblings were able to be there (Sisters Eileen and Judith lead the gang, followed by the four boys listed above). Lots of fun was had by all - pleanty of eating (Steve is justifiably famous for his Indian food!) and drinking (note the "beer bellies"), talking, story-telling, joking around, and just plain enjoying each other's company.

We usually also try to have at least one tennis game with the four boys.  We grew up learning to play tennis on the red clay courts of Kodaikanal, India, and we all still enjoy tennis a great deal.  Dude (real name David - but we call him Dude from the Arabic for David which is Daaood) is now probably the best player because he plays the most these days and is thus the most consistent, but we all really enjoy playing.  We also had a great time playing with all the family of course - everybody taking turns partnering with others between generations and genders.

I think my daughter Alisabeth put it well when she noted that our family just really has fun hanging out together.  She thinks we're all pretty cool.  I do too.

For years we've been the ones staying in the states and awaiting word from the international types as to when they'll be here.  Now we'll be some of those international types!  Fun thought.

Steve relaxing

Daniel, Lisette and Dude waiting for food

Mom Staal (aka Grandma, Hilda) and Alisabeth