"Please, Peace, just stop crying..."

                This morning was nice and relaxing.  I got out of bed very carefully as my feet are very sore from yesterday, made coffee, read some of my book, and got ready to go to town with Rachel.  We went to the mall, got some more Internet time, bought a cup of coffee (the man in the store asked me if I knew the American singers on the screen.  I laughed and said no, I’ve never met Chris Brown or Jay-Z), and got my passport pictures I’ll need for my business Visa (the one thing I forgot to do before leaving America, which was fine because it was way cheaper here).  While at the mall, Rachel received a call from Dee saying that the preschool teacher, Charity, was sick, and wanted to know if we could cover from 1-3.  We said of course we would, hopped on a minibus back to Chelsten (the suburb where the seminary is located), walked the short distance to the seminary, and quickly tried to prepare for the chaos that was sure to begin.  We only met Charity once – she’s a pretty, young Zambian woman who was hired to teach preschool to all the little kids there for a couple hours a day.  Rachel’s the early childhood major, so I was looking to her for help.  I’m definitely better with older kids, starting around age 10 and up, and have absolutely no clue what to do with preschoolers, especially when they speak no English. As we were walking through the gate, Rachel got bit by those horribly huge ants that have been moving their nest around.  It looked really painful, and apparently when the pain wears off she’s going to be itching for a week or so. 

                So…preschool.  It was a little crazy.  To be fair, Rachel and I had no idea what to expect.  We hadn’t seen Charity teach and had no idea what the routine was, and we really only played with the kids that one day.  Rachel is definitely more of a natural with them.  In order to give you an idea of what it was like, I’m going to recap some of the funniest, made-me-want-to-pull-my-hair-out moments.

                Goshen (remember the cute, naughty one?  Today, he was mostly just naughty) ran out the door, grasping tightly onto his cob of maize (basically corn – their staple food).  He winds up, chucks the maize out the door, and then wanders off into the grass.  I tell him, “Goshen, come back in please.”  He then drops his pants and starts urinating in the grass.  I’m a little startled, but I don’t know what else he’s supposed to do, so I just walk back inside.  A moment later, Goshen comes back too. 

                Peace is a little two or three year old.  She’s certainly not the most peaceful child.  She is either doing one of the following:

1)      Crying

2)      Slapping other kids in the face

3)      Hanging off my leg while gazing at me lovingly and fighting off other children who want to get a hug too

Another name that doesn’t quite match up: Innocent.  He is usually the one making all the little girls cry.   

                There were moments that went well – they liked playing ring-around-the-rosy and Rachel had them play “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” and they loved that.  But just when I thought I was getting the hang of handling my half of the kids, something would happen and then about half of them would erupt into tears.  I kept thinking about that scene in Finding Nemo where Nemo is going to school and he’s looking at the preschool playground where all the little fish (or whatever they were…I can’t remember) just started bawling.  Anyway, I’m interested to see what preschool is like with Charity teaching.  I don’t even know what American preschool is supposed to look like.  Is this normal?  Do all three year olds cry this much? 

                After that, Rachel, Sue and I went on a short walk and then came back to get ready for church.  We went to Bethel (the chapel on the seminary grounds) and enjoyed another service mixed with the very traditional WELS and African worship styles.  We even used the old hymnal.  One thing that surprised me was that women and men sat on opposite sides for the most part.  This is because there is still a belief that women are inferior to men.  It is improving – some men sat with their wives – but it’s taking its time.  In the rural areas, this is still strictly enforced.  After church, as the members filed out the door, they shook hands with each person who left before them and then went to the back of the line.  It was really nice – everyone greeted everyone. 

                I downloaded a book on Zambia on my Kindle when we were in London, and I started reading it last night.  It’s been pretty depressing.  It’s about an Englishman who came to the Eastern Provinces (Zambia is divided up into a few different provinces – I can’t remember how many right now) to teach math.  He gives a very harsh, critical commentary on Zambian life.  There are differences in our situations – he’s an atheist surrounded by corrupt members of the Catholic church, he’s living in the bush, this was five years ago when many advances weren’t yet made, etc. – but it made me really sad to think about the situation in this country.  It’s the first time I’ve really felt like that.   

                Changing the subject, if anybody knows a lot about astronomy and can give me and Rachel a short description of what we’re looking at down here, that’d be great.  I think we saw Orion, but can we even see any of the same constellations that we can see in the Northern Hemisphere?  Do they appear for a while?  We’re confused.  Any help would be appreciated. 

The Unexpected Marathon

                Oh man.  This morning was just ridiculous.  In order to explain what happened, I will go by an outline to try to make it somewhat simple.  I can’t quite remember everything (you’ll understand why after reading this), so I apologize if this gets all confusing.

6:00 AM – Alarm goes off.  I roll out of bed, trying to remember why I wanted to run this early.  Oh yes – I want to start getting into the habit of running early so I’m prepared for next week when I start teaching.  Because I’m starving (I don’t know why – I ate a huge amount of Anne’s delicious cooking last night) I eat a half a piece of bread and just a little peanut butter.  I drink a swig of water and decide I don’t need to put on sunscreen because the sun’s not up very high.  (These details might seem boring, but they get a little more important later).

6:15 AM – Begin run.  My plan is to run the same route we walked yesterday, which should take me 30 minutes or less.  I wasn’t planning on being adventurous or exploring anything.  I was being safe, right?  Right.

6:35 AM – All the dirt roads start looking the same.  I see one I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to take.  It was not.

6:45 AM – I find myself in a place that I can only describe as a “shantytown.”  There were tons of little concrete shacks with laundry hanging outside the windows and stuff.  I came across this nice man with some adorable little kids and asked how I can get to the main road.  I can still see it at this point, but I’m stuck on this dirt road and there’s a river, fences, and lots of grass in the way (don’t walk in the grass – there could be snakes.  Again, I’m being safe, right?)  The man kind of tells me to keep going and then take a right.  I continue going.  I do not see a road going to the right.  However, I see all these people wearing backpacks, looking like they’re going to work or school, so I assume that this road has to lead to the main road.  (If you’re asking why I just didn’t turn around, I can’t give you a good answer.  That thought honestly never entered my mind.)

6:55  AM – The dirt road comes up to a main road.  Yay!  However, it’s not one I recognize, and it also splits into two directions.  One looks more like a highway and the other looks like it leads back towards shantytown.  I ask the people waiting for the bus if they knew where the Lutheran Seminary was.  Dee said anyone in the neighborhood would know where it was, so I was surprised when no one did.  (Alarm bells should have gone off, right?  Nope, they didn’t.)  However, I’m not worried, because I see the U.S. Embassy.  I know that the Seminary is close(ish) to that, and I now recognize the highway. I go on the main road.  I get to a T.  The Embassy is to the left, but I don’t think I’m supposed to go any further towards it.  I go right.  Ten minutes later – I change my mind.  I’m going to go to the Embassy to ask for help.  Ten minutes later – The Embassy is all fenced in and I feel stupid.  I’m so close!  I know it!  (I was wrong)

This is where it gets hazy.  Basically, I run, and run, and run.  Every once in a while I stop and ask for directions.  Most of the time, people say, “What?  I don’t know.  You want the Roman Catholic church?”  Nope.  Then people tell me, “Oh, yes, madam, it is just up the road.  Keep running!  Right up there on the left!”   

7:30 – My thoughts: “I think I see it!  I think I see the sign!  No, that’s not it.  Oh, well – I’m sure it’s just up the road.  What a good story this will be!  Plus, it’s okay that I ran a little over an hour.  I’ll just take it easy tomorrow.  No big deal!”

8:00 – I am not seeing any seminary, nor anything that looks familiar.  I stop at a gym and ask the guards up front if they can help.  I am given directions that were quite disheartening.  Up to this point, I really believed that every time I turned a corner, the Seminary would be “just up the road.”  I wasn’t worried, just a little tired and thirsty.  The guards, however, say I have to run back the same road I just came up for 6 kilometers, then take a right at the lights and run for another kilometer.  Then it’s “just right up the road.”  At the idea of running at least four more miles, I ask if I can get a drink of water.  I go into the gym – beautiful facilities, very American-like – guzzle some water, and then am offered a free trial for the gym.  I sign up for a 12:00 appointment tomorrow.  After all, if I’m just four miles or so away, I can bike in and enjoy a good workout.  Totally reasonable.  I take off, telling myself that four more miles really isn’t much.

8:20 – I’m thirsty again, and I’m starting to doubt the guards’ instructions.  It took a while for me to stop being so trusting – so far the twenty-five people I talked to before that hadn’t been right, but I’m forever the optimist, apparently.  I stop at a little grocery store and ask for directions.  No one can help me.  I ask for more water, and the sweet store owner gives me a free bottle of ice cold water.  He encourages me to take a big bottle from the back that’s nice and cold.  I took a smaller one, because by this time, I did believe I was, at most, half an hour away from the seminary. 

9:00 – I start to walk here and there, but I only walk for a minute or two at a time.  I’m trying to keep my pace up because I’m concerned that Rachel is worried about me.  At this point, I’m praying that she slept in and doesn’t realize I’m not there.  I’m still not that worried though because I keep seeing things that (I think) are familiar.  My thoughts: “I’ll get there by 9:15!  What a good story this will be!  I’ll be able to tell everyone that I accidentally ran for two hours, and they’ll think it’s funny because they won’t even know I was gone that long.  And bonus – now I know my way around here a little better, and I can tell everyone I was given a free workout at a gym.”

9:30 – I keep stopping and asking for directions.  “Just keep going – right down the road.” My thoughts: “Dear Lord, please help me get home.  Don’t let Rachel know I’m gone yet.  Just help me get home.  Why am I not hungry?  That’s nice…I should be starving by now!  Oh well – I’ll be home soon!  I bet I’m there in fifteen minutes or less.”

9:45 – Fifteen more minutes.  I’m almost there!  I know it.  I’m in a surprisingly good mood and greet all the nice Zambians as I run. 

10:00 – FOUR HOURS.  I am going on FOUR HOURS.  I keep seeing things that are slightly familiar to me, so I stop at a grocery store that we had driven by.  I assume the seminary has to be super close because Dee pointed it out as a place to shop, but by this time, I am sick of running and just want someone to give me crystal clear directions.  I go into the store, get every single person working at the store to help, but none of them know where it is. (“Weird…Dee said everyone in the neighborhood knew about the seminary.  Hmm.”)  They get a cab driver, and he says to run down this road, take a left at Roan road, and it’ll be on the left.  He seems confident, so I trust him.  I get to Roan road in just a minute or two, and after about five minutes of running decide he’s wrong and turn around.  I decide that this is officially crisis mode.  I see a white woman driving into her gated community, so I flag her down.  She has an accent (I thought it was Australian, but it was actually Zambian – I realized I haven’t heard a white Zambian speak before that, and it’s a little different than when a National Zambian speaks) and is super sweet.  She tells me to hop in the back of the truck so she can drive me to her house to get me some water.  I am covered in mud and sweat, am exhausted, and didn’t do anything to my appearance when I rolled out of bed.  So, basically, I look like a homeless person.  She was very willing to help, though.  Thank God!  She gets me water and then tries to figure out where I need to be.  I tell her the Lutheran Seminary.  She’s lived in Lusaka her entire life and has never heard of it. Bad sign.  I tell her that if I could get Internet access, I could look up the phone number on my emails.  She takes me back to where I had just run from (the shopping center with the familiar-looking grocery store) and go to an Internet café.  She pays for me to get on the computer and find the phone number.  I call Dave and he then says that Dee will pick me up.  I thank the woman profusely and ask for her address so I can send her a thank-you. 

10:15 – I am waiting outside the grocery store, still looking like a homeless person.  Getting stares from lots of people.  I don’t blame them.   

10:25 – Dee and Christine pick me up.  They tell me I’m at least 10 miles away from the seminary, so thank God I didn’t continue to try to wander and find it myself.   When I start describing some of the things I had seen, Dee is shocked and can’t believe I was so far away.  I’m estimating that I ran at least 3 hours of the whole trip.  I kept thinking it was “just up the road” so I kept my pace up quite fast the whole time too.  Then, when it got late, I was so worried about everyone at the campus freaking out, so that kept me from wanting to slow down or walk for very long.  So…I ran what, between 15-20 miles?  The road I was on by the embassy is about six miles away and that store is ten miles away, and those two spots were definitely not close to each other at all. 

I kept a continuous prayer going the whole time, but I was never too concerned or worried. I truly thought I was really close to the seminary, so that kept me from freaking out.  I kept a running monologue in my head of how I would retell this story.  With each hour, it changed slightly:

One hour: Oops!  I ran a little further than I meant to.  It was such a nice run, and I got to see how some of the poorer people lived, so it was a good experience.

Two hours: Phew!  I ran two hours today when I meant to run less than a half an hour!  Now I really know the roads around here better, and I won’t get lost again.

Three hours: Wow – what a crazy morning.  I can’t believe I ran so long!  I wasn’t expecting to run my half marathon so early in the year. 

Four hours: My mom and dad are going to be so mad!  What is wrong with my sense of direction???  Did a toenail just fall off???

Wow, this is long…sorry about that.  Anyway, once Christine and Dee picked me up, they (after giving me the appropriate amount of sympathy) scolded me and then made fun of me, and then asked if I minded if we would run some errands on the way back.  I was so happy to be in a car that they could have driven to Egypt and I would have been fine with it.  They bought me some fruit from a roadside vendor and then I got to tour pretty much the only part of Lusaka I didn’t run through.  We went to the heart of downtown; it’s not exactly pretty – there’s a lot of rundown concrete buildings.  There are some skyscrapers that were built after Zambia got their independence in 1964.  Countries like Sweden came in and tried to start big businesses there, but most of them failed, so these huge buildings are empty for the most part. I saw people selling lots of items on the street, including heaps and heaps of clothing just laying on the sidewalk.  On the way home, I saw a really nice area of town, too, not far away from where the President lives. On one of our stops, Dee and I waited in the car while Christine ran into the store.  Four men came up and started talking to us.  Of course, they were very friendly, and of course, they asked for money because we are “muzungus” (white people).  Dee, who is funny, sarcastic, and quite nice, dealt with them in a good way.  I wasn’t sure how to act, especially when they started trying to charm me: “You have such beaaaautiful eyes,” and “You look so nice and humble!”  (I’m not sure what they were trying to do with that one).   

Finally, I got home around 1 in the afternoon.  Dave, who loves to make fun of people, made a “welcome home” sign for me.  This is just the beginning of the abuse that is sure to come.   

Once I showered, ate, and had some coffee and about five bottles of water, Rachel and I walked up to the store that’s just a block or two away.  We bought some little snacks and then had a long conversation with one of the guys for a while.  He assumed I was a basketball player (shocker) and then asked for our numbers.  That seems to be a common theme here too.  We declined, but he gave us his card.  Don’t worry Mom and Dad, we won’t use that one either.

Every Tuesday evening, Dave, Dee, and Sue play volleyball with the ladies and some of the men.  They’ve never played before, so this was definitely basic-level volleyball, but it was so fun!  They’re all so silly and happy – I have a permanent smile on my face when I’m around them. 

Random things from Zambia:

The water makes my hair feel like I still have conditioner or soap or something in it.  Kind of gross.  Keep this in mind when looking at the pictures and you see the crazy mess on my head. 

They sell long-lasting milk, which means you don’t have to refrigerate it until you open it.  Weird, but it works.  I haven’t tried it yet but apparently it tastes just fine.   

Fun in the (Very Hot) Sun

                I slept well from ten until a little before seven.  This morning I went for my first run here.  It was a nice thirty or forty minute run around our neighborhood.  Most of the roads around here are paved, but I did make it to a dirt road which was more fun to run on.  There was quite a bit of traffic – lots of people making their way to work, students in uniforms waiting for rides to school, etc.  I remember my dad warning me about crossing streets when they drive on the opposite side of the road because you aren’t used to looking the opposite way for oncoming traffic.  He’s right – it definitely takes a certain amount of concentration.  I know it sounds so simple, but it’s hard to retrain your mind.  I got back and experienced a frustrating moment with my coffee pot.  Since I got here I’ve been using my Starbucks Vias (instant coffee for you non-Starbucks addicts) but Dee brought over a coffee pot so I was excited to finally make my real coffee (which is Kenyan coffee that I bought in America…I’m hoping to pick up some of the real stuff here).  The coffee pot has this weird plug that does not fit in any of the outlets or our adapters, so I was very sad.  I didn’t figure it out until I already had the coffee and water in it.  Thankfully later in the morning Dee found an adapter that works for me, so my crisis was short-lived.  It really was a stressful few hours for me – I’m more addicted than I thought. 

                At 9:30, we met with Dee and all the wives.  There are eleven in all, most of whom speak very little English.  They are very shy, but apparently in a few weeks they will start opening up and we’ll get to see their true personalities.  After that, we met with Pastor Phiri (I think that’s how you spell it).  He’s Zambian and is the Dean of Students at the seminary.  He’s a super nice man and was very welcoming.  We planned out when we’re going to tutor the women and he’s going to find out the children’s schedules so we can plan out their tutoring schedule as well.  I’ll give a more detailed scheduled when we figure it out.  We met Christine, a Zambian who works in the office.  She was also extremely friendly and gave me my first Zambian handshake – hard to describe, but you shake their hand normally once or twice, switch to the type of handshake guys give each other (imagine “cool” guys slapping hands and then half-hugging…does this make any sense??), and then go back to the regular handshake.  I messed it up, giggled like an idiot, and then tried to fix it. 

                Rachel and I then sorted through the box Abby and Tammy left for us and tried to figure out what we’re going to do with the women.  Their ability level seems much lower than what A & T had last year.  We’re a little overwhelmed and can’t believe A & T came into this with really no help and made up all this stuff by themselves.  Seriously…thank God these two had all this stuff here for us!  We sat outside (on a grass mat, in the gloriously hot African sun) and brainstormed, then came inside for lunch.  I ate a peanut butter sandwich, a plum, and part of the most amazing mango ever.  Apparently there’s a mango tree around here…we have to find it!  We watched some of the Zambian channels.  The news talked about the Oscars and how bad the roads are here.  We also some music videos, which repeatedly showed a woman shaking her behind while standing in a kitchen or something. 

                We wanted to go into town since we are already need to fill up our top-up cards for the Internet, (it goes by how many megabytes you buy, and we’ve already used quite a bit with uploading pictures to Facebook) but there’s a riot at the international school along the way there.  Apparently the international students get angry easily and show their frustration by throwing rocks at cars.  I’m irritated at these people…they come to school in such a beautiful place with nice people and then act this way. 

                We saw a rather horrifying sight…ants moving their nest.  They were just marching along in a straight line on the sidewalk back and forth.  They are so huge!

                The power has only gone out once.  It was the first night we were here when we were over at Rachel’s aunt and uncle’s house and when we came back home the generator was on, so we really didn’t experience any difficulties with that at all.  (**A few hours after writing this, our power again went off.  Apparently the power companies do this to certain sections of town to save money.  Our generator again went on after just a few minutes, so it’s not a big deal for us).

                Right now a cooking show is on.  I should record it – the guy’s voice is making me laugh.  Every last word in his sentence he says with an upward inflection.  “You add the ginGER.”  It’s just so funny to us right now because he has the accent, too.  Also, the quality of the show isn’t quite like Rachael Ray’s.  The oven is super stained, and right now he’s mashing potatoes by hand.   

                Later in the afternoon, we went over to the preschool and played with the kids there.  They are beyond adorable!!!  I fell in love instantly.  Here are some of the names: Goshen (who is the naughtiest, and therefore, the cutest), Stewart, Isabelle, Innocent (those types of names are common – I also met an Obey),  and Violet.  We threw balls back and forth to them.  Rachel and I each had groups of seven or eight kids who just started chucking balls at us until we told them to go in order.  It was pretty hilarious – Goshen kept throwing out of turn, so I was catching two balls at a time and then trying to tell him to go in order so I wouldn’t get hit in the face.  For a bunch of little kids, like three, four, and five years old, they can catch and throw really well!  Barnabas (age 11) and Shy (no idea how to spell that – age 10) came over too.  They were really sweet boys.  We played volleyball, basketball, and soccer.  I showed them how to bump and set and how to shoot a basketball.  They obviously had learned before, probably from Dave, but I showed them some other techniques and we played for a long time.  Because Zambia was a British colony, net ball is big here, which I’d love to play.  There are no hoops around us, for basketball or net ball, however, so I’m not sure if I’ll get to do that. 

                Dee, Sue Burner, Rachel and I went for a nice long walk for a little over an hour.  They try to walk in the afternoons three days a week, so I’m sure we’ll make this a regular thing.  We got lots of attention.  A group of students from the local high school or university came walking towards us with their arms linked to try to get us to hug them.  We just laughed and dodged out of the way, so Dee and Sue ended up almost getting clotheslined.  They laughed and joked about them being our mothers and protecting us from them.  It’s funny how friendly these people are – when you pass someone on the road, they’ll always say hello, how are you (they answer “I’m fine” – never “I’m good” or “I’m well”) and then ask if you had a good day.  All this while just passing by!  I’m definitely a little sunburned from the day’s outings – I might actually be tan when I came back!

                We’re enjoying some of the little creatures around here.  Frogs of all sizes, who jump in front of you with no regard for your shoes, and lizards are most common to see.  I haven’t seen anything crazy like an elephant – that’ll have to wait until later when we go to the game park. 

                You can tell Rachel and I haven’t been busy today with how much writing I’m able to do.  It’s nice to have this week off to plan before we start teaching next week.  Then we’ll be very busy working all the time.

                Before I forget – I posted some links on the side of the blog.  There’s a link to the WELS Kingdom Workers site, so check that out if you have a chance - it gives more information and background on the mission here, and the link to my Facebook pictures. 

Settling In

I slept a wonderful eight or nine hours last night.  When I woke up, I went straight to my computer to find out the results of the WLC-Dominican game.  Congratulations to the WLC women’s basketball team for making it to Nationals!  I’m hoping my Internet is fast enough for me to watch the game on Friday.

                Rachel – after killing a very large spider that was found inside her mosquito net – and I did a Jillian Michael’s workout and then got ready for church.  I had a very familiar breakfast – oatmeal, peanut butter, an apple, and coffee.  The peanut butter is kind of like the Adam’s natural peanut butter I have at home, except even thicker (Melanie, you would love it!).   We then went to the church in town.  We have two choices for churches – the one we went to today or the one on the seminary.  We’ll probably switch back and forth.  The church service was, ironically, the most traditional church service I’ve been to in a while.  We used the hymnals, the liturgy, and sang about five hymns with all the verses.  They normally use a computer program to play their hymns for them, but it was broken, so they asked if anybody played piano.  I ended up playing piano for the service, which was a nice familiar feeling for me.  I’m doing better understanding everyone.  Zambians learn British English, so even a fluent speaker is a little difficult to understand because of the accent.  Before the church service, one of the members started teasing Rachel and I.  His accent was very thick, but we think we got the gist of it.  He predicted where each of us would get married (Barbados for me) and then told me all the countries I should go because the men there appreciate tall women.  I wish I remembered what he said – I might have to check those places out on my way back home (haha). 

                After the service, we went to the women’s Bible study.  Most of the American WELS families attend this church, so there were four of the American wives there and about six other Zambian women.  The devotion was interesting and the women were very friendly and welcoming. 

                The weather isn’t as warm and humid as I expected, thankfully.  I was expecting it to feel like Florida in August (a.k.a – super humid and extremely hot).  Yesterday it was nice and breezy, and I’m guessing it was around seventy degrees.  This morning was very sunny and warm, but it cooled off in the afternoon a little.  Because of the elevation (4,000 feet) the humidity isn’t too bad.  Last night I actually got a little chilly on our walk back home. 

                Rachel and I went for a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon.  We got caught in a couple rainstorms.  During the first one, we ducked under a tree to wait it out.  While we were there, quite a few cars stopped to offer rides.  All the cars had men in them and they were all very charming.  One guy handed us a card with his number on it.  While this would be creepy and/or annoying in America, this is funny and not really out of the ordinary.  Zambians are very friendly and greet everyone, but being blonde, American women gets us more attention than the general public.

                The second storm we got caught in, we waited in this little roadside shack where a woman was selling vegetables.  The shack was far too small for me to stand up in it, so I parked myself on a cinder block and waited it out.  We thought we were in the clear and headed back to campus, but when we were all but two hundred meters away from our house the skies opened and we got completely drenched, even though we sprinted back. 

                A little later, we went to the American International School with Dee, the Burners (Pastor Burner teaches at the seminary and Mrs. Burner is a tutor at American School), and Nathan.  We swam laps at the pool and got to see a little bit of the grounds, like the obstacle course, the (dirt) track, and the basketball courts.  It’s apparently an excellent school, comparable or even better than American schools. 

                When we got back, Rachel and I finally unpacked our stuff and cleaned up a little.  We chatted with Dee, Dave, and Anne, and then ate some dinner.  Just simple stuff – sandwiches, yogurt, fruit. 

                Here’s some random commentary about the culture here.  Dee told us that in all her years living here, she’s never seen one Zambian fight with another.  They’re very patient, calm, and laid-back.  When we stood in line to get minutes for our phones, no one seemed impatient or in a hurry.  In America, there would have been grumbling and complaining, but no one seemed to care.  In general, most Zambians seem to like Americans.  This is different to me because when I was in Ukraine, I felt some very anti-American feelings. 

                Tomorrow, we’re being introduced to the wives.  Other than that, it’s kind of up in the air.  We’ll see what happens with our schedule - this laid-back mentality everybody has means we’re not planning anything out super early in advance, which is just fine by me.  Overall, a successful, comfortable second day in Zambia.

Getting to Zambia - February 24, 25

                Our adventure began at the Waukesha bus stop.  After tearful good-byes to Gretchen, Regan, Reesa, and Melanie, Rachel and I met and boarded the bus to Chicago.  When we got there, we were told we could get on the earlier flight, so we hardly waited at all.  Our flight to London went well.  I slept for maybe just a few minutes here or there, and we landed just after midnight our time, so that was a little rough.  On the plane, I got up to stand and stretch, and I ended up chatting with a Greek Orthodox priest for a while.  He was an interesting guy to talk to, although he made a few comments that were hard to understand in his broken English.  He either complimented my figure or said something along the lines of I’m too fat.  For my sake, I’m going with the nicer one. 

                I thoroughly enjoyed hearing all the English accents.  Everyone sounds so much nicer and more polite.  Rachel and I considered leaving the airport to try to see London since we were there for an entire day, but the whole process of leaving the airport and dealing with customs and then trying to figure out where to go and how to get there seemed like too much of a hassle.  We settled for a nice nap on the cold concrete floor.  So the entire day/night I was going on maybe two hours of sleep.  For those of you who know what I’m like when I don’t sleep, you probably are feeling really sorry for Rachel right now.  But, I found a Starbucks and was feeling quite chipper.  I thought I was doing well and not acting at all jet-lagged, until I walked into the men’s bathroom.  I was so out of it I didn’t notice the fact that there were different pieces of furniture there, like urinals, or that there was a male janitor.  Ahh….feel free to make fun of me for that one.

                Our twelve hours in the London airport really weren’t bad.  The terminal was super fancy with stores like Prada and Gucci, and the restaurants were all very nice and served fresh, healthy food.  I walked around a lot and even started reading on my Kindle while walking up and down an empty part of the terminal…my family will appreciate that.  Our flight to Lusaka was pretty empty, and as soon as we took off, everyone bolted to get an empty row to themselves.  I ended up with two seats to myself, which is definitely not enough room for me to comfortably sleep on, but I managed to catch a few hours here and there.  This ten hour flight was pretty smooth.  It was quiet, had good movies and good food, and the sleep I did manage to get helped a lot.  We landed in Lusaka around 6:45 Saturday morning.  It’s very green and beautiful.  I keep seeing surprising plants, like roses and palm trees.  Parts of the city remind me of Seattle, with brick walls and vines, and other places remind me of Florida.  The people wear a mixture of American and African clothes.  Women often wear chitenges (sounds like sha-tane-gays…I think) – which are cloths with colorful designs that they wrap around their shorts or pants – and a regular shirt on top.  For every “normal,” American thing I see, I’ve seen something else that’s different, like women carrying crops on their head or breast-feeding on the street.  The people are very friendly and welcoming. 

                Rachel’s uncle, who is a professor at the seminary, picked us up from the airport.  Driving in the left hand side of the road is extremely strange.  When we got to the seminary campus, we met Dee and Dave Matthiak and Anne, our housekeeper/cook.  All three are very friendly and welcoming.  After Rachel and I showered, Dee took us to town to get groceries, cell phones, and Internet minutes.  We went to Dutch Reform, which is like a flea-market that happens every last Saturday of the month.  I bought some wooden coasters that have designs carved into them, a picture made out of butterfly wings (sounds weird, but it is very pretty), and some little carved bowls.  I could have bought way more stuff.  Bartering does not come naturally to me, so having Dee and Rachel there helped me a lot.  I’d give in way too quickly to a bad price. 

                The rest of the afternoon we spent playing kickball with the kids and enjoying their company.  They speak very little English, but it’s funny seeing how kids are all the same.  They play with each other and make fun of each other the same way kids at home do. 

                For dinner, we went to Rachel’s uncle and aunt’s house who have lived in Africa for forty years or so.  They had lots of interesting stories to share and some excellent food to give us too J.

                The jet lag is catching up to me.  It’s about 8:30 PM my time and haven’t really slept more than a few hours since Thursday. I am starting to mix up words and say things that don’t make sense.  There’s so much more for me to share but I don’t know if I can write out too many more coherent sentences.  The important thing is we’re here safe and are enjoying everything so far!  I feel incredibly blessed, excited, and happy! 

Welcome!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to my blog.  My plan is to update this every day I'm in Zambia, so check this often to see what I'm up to.  I'll also post pictures to my Facebook - add me as a friend if you'd like to see those :)

I'll be landing in Lusaka Saturday morning (Friday evening in the United States), so depending on how soon I can get my laptop hooked up to the Internet, you should be seeing posts from me soon.

Please stay in touch!  My email address is erika.laete@gmail.com and I'll try to check Facebook often too.  Any and all information from America is welcome (especially once March Madness starts).  I'm not sure how good the Internet service will be, but if you have Skype and want to give it a try, go ahead and search for me on there too.

Thanks for your prayers, blessings, and support.  I've appreciated all your help!

Here's the website for our gifting site for those of you who have asked:

https://kingdomworkers.myetap.org/fundraiser/Africa-Zambia/aboutEvent.do