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.