Duathlon - raw power

Last weekend Paige and I took part in a Duathlon. A duathlon is a race where you cycle and run. We were in the 10 and under age group.

We started with a cycle. It was a 5km cycle. I was about 5th out the gate, but I was on the tail of the leaders until the downhill and then I overtook them.

Then Tamtyn Hawley and I pushed neck-a-neck right to the change-over. We opened a big gap and those chasing us were not even in sight.

The run was hard and Tammy's legs were long, but I managed to hang in there and we had a "photo-finish".

Paige did really well too - as she came in third. Paige just chows boys for breakfast.

The event was organised by IBFAN-SINAN - which promotes breast-feeding of babies. I was interviewed by a lady for TV. I told her I was breast-fed for a while, but that according to my dad, I stopped wanting it and the only thing I would drink was Energade. I drank Energade instead of milk until I was 3 years old...but breast is best!

Maguga Lodge

When we stayed overnight at Maguga Lodge, I had a chance to drive the boat. I steered the boat the whole way around the dam. We went fishing for bass. Nick the skipper of the boat showed us how to catch bass. He is an expert and he taught us many things about bass.  We really liked his two little dogs too. They were very friendly and funny. One was a boy and one was a girl.

Nick invited me to come back in the holiday to help him with his snake park and to go bass-fishing with him. I want to go, but it seems like December is already full with lots of things that my mom and dad have planned. Maybe next year?

Fishing in our river

Dad and I went fishing recently. Check out these pictures. I caught two small fish, although according to my Dad they were foul-hooked or "jigged" rather than been properly caught. We let them go. I like fishing, I would go fishing every day if I could.

Cricket match at school

This week there was a cricket match at school.  I got a letter from my cricket teacher to say I was in the team. I was so excited that I could hardly sleep. On the day of the match I batted, bowled and fielded in every position including being wicket-keeper. We played against Njabulweni School from Manzini. We played 4 matches in total, and we won three of these and lost one. It was fun. This was my first ever real cricket match. I hope we can play more matches this term.

Tooth cracked

Today I bit my bottle and my tooth cracked. Then when I was coming home a piece of my tooth fell out in the school combi. It feels funny now.

After school I went to swimming lessons at the Cuddle Puddle. It's nice to swim there because the water is warm.

Bush Fire 2009

I went to the Bush Fire music festival this past weekend. My favourite singer was Johnny Clegg. But I was so tired that I fell asleep while he was performing.

Athletics Day

I had my first athletics day last week. It was fun. I ran in three races. I was in the green team. Our team is called libhubesi, which means lion. We won. We got more points than the other teams.

Imvelo or not!

I still can't believe that I wasn't able to do the Imvelo MTB Race this year. I was really really looking forward to it. I got really sick 2 days before with a high temperature, so there was no chance of riding... in fact even standing up to go and watch was hard.

Anyway I am glad a went and was able to support my sister Paige. She rode. It was her first time. I rode the race last year.

Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary is a really cool place to cycle because you get to see a whole lot of wild animals. Next year I'm going to make sure I'm not sick.

Kei's 1st Blog

Kei Raw is an 8 year-old boy who lives in Swaziland. He is still learning to read and write, so his dad (Darron) is helping out with the typing....just for now. We've been suss'ing out where the name "Kei" comes from. These are some of the results that we got.
One source said:

The meaning of the name Kei is Sandy, White
The origin of the name Kei is African

Another mentioned that Kei hailed from the Middle Ages and appears in the tales of King Arthur.

Arthurian Legend: Arthur's brother

Another spelling is Kai, which is of Germanic orgin and derived from the Kaiser, meaning leader. Kaiser itself is derived from Ceasar, which gave rise to Czar as well. It is a great name.

In Japan, Kei is a fairly common name, according to Wikipedia:

Kei (けい, ケイ) is a Japanese male's personal name; used increasingly as a femaile name as well, as a shortening of Keiko

• Kei, a type of bowl shaped bell that rests upon a cushion with the bell's mouth facing upwards. It is used to summon kami.
• Kei car, a Japanese category of small automobiles
• Kei truck, a tiny but practical 4WD pickup truck in Japan
• -kei, a suffix, such as when referring to Shibuya-kei or Akiba-kei

Kei can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:

• 圭, "square jewel"
• 恵, "blessing"
• 慧, "wise"
• 慶, "jubilation"
• 敬, "respect"
• 佳, "excellent"
• 桂, "Japanese Judas-tree"
• 啓, "disclose"

So the question remains, where did Kei Raw get his name from?

Well according to his parents, Anita (Kei's Mom) saw the name Kai in a list of possible names and Kei's Dad also quite liked it... but preferred the African version thereof, which is spelt K E I and is best known as the name of a major river in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. As Kei's dad is a keen kayaker and has paddled many of the rivers of Southern Africa, having a son named after a river had definite appeal.

So that his how Kei got his name.