The Malawi vs. Zambia Sports Day

            We had some more fun getting to know the Malawi missionaries today.  This morning I played kickball with the kids and then we all went over to the Birner’s for volleyball, bocce ball, ping-pong, and delicious food.  Kickball with all the Zambian kids is always interesting because it proves how kids are the same in every country.  The social structures are basically the same.  The boys make fun of each other, especially when a girl gets them out, etc. 

            I’ve enjoyed talking to the people from Malawi and hearing about their mission work there.  It’s amazing to me all the things that are going on over here that I’ve never heard about.  The medical mission is very interesting, and even though my brother-in-law’s brother’s wife (think about it…it makes sense) was a medical missionary, I knew very little about it beforehand. 

            Hmm…what else happened today?  Rachel and I went on a hunt for Internet minutes, and while walking around got a ridiculous amount of attention.  Depending on our mood, the attention is either annoying, creepy, friendly, or kind of an ego-booster. 

            Sorry about the skimpy blogs lately – I waited until it was too late to start typing this and now I just want to sleep.  I’ll do better tomorrow. 

Quick Note

Just a quick note - our Internet time is out and we couldn't get more today, so I'm going to make this fast.  Today we had our tutoring and English lessons and then went into town to run errands.  That's always kind of a process.  Nothing is done quickly, so waiting in line is just something you have to get used to.  Everytime we've been in Airtel, there will be one or two people actively working with a huge line in front of their counters while five or more other workers do nothing.  Anyway, it's made me much more patient.  There are missionaries from Malawi here for the weekend visiting, so we had a nice time meeting them and talking to some of them.  There are nurses from the medical mission here too, so that was interesting getting to hear more about that.  Anyway, that's all for now.  Again, nothing crazy or too exciting here today.

Normal Thursday

            Nothing extraordinary with classes today.  Preschool wasn’t as smooth as last time.  Last time one of the more…energetic kids wasn’t there, and today he graced us with his presence again.  He tends to wind up some of the other kids and makes the whole process a little more hectic for us. 

            On my run this afternoon, some kids started running behind me shouting, “Muzungu!  I’m fine!  I’m fine!”  Kids here learn how to say, “I’m fine, thanks, and how are you?”  Often when passing one of the little kids, I’ll say something like, “Hi Steward!  I like your shirt!” and will hear in response, “I’m fine, thanks, and how are you?”  Anyway, I think they think that phrase means hello.  It’s funny. 

            I spent way too much time looking through this last weekend’s pictures and reliving the experience.  The only downside from our trip is the mosquito bites…our legs are covered with them.  They’re pretty terrible.  My family members probably remember the backpacking trip a few years ago where we were attacked by psycho mosquitoes.  This is comparable to that time.  I’m experimenting with all sorts of anti-itch remedies, including fingernail polish and toothpaste.  We’ll see what works. 

Back to Lusaka

We started off our morning by packing up and waiting for Pastor Hartmann to kindly pick us up.  Asher relayed to us a story he heard from a woman who worked at the hostel.  Her sister had given birth the morning before, so she was at the hospital and somehow heard about a woman in the room next door.  The baby she had given birth to was born with some deformities, so the doctors killed it and told the mother the baby died in childbirth.  I feel sick writing that sentence.  The thing is that it wasn’t really a big deal.  Because of the history of witchcraft in the country, babies with abnormalities were often killed because of the fear of demons.  There is a tremendously strong presence of the Christian church in Zambia, but there is still an underlying belief and participation in witchcraft.

            Pastor Hartmann picked us up and before leaving Livingstone showed us the local Zambian markets.  This was interesting because we’ve seen all the other markets that are more expensive and really only designed for tourists and were just wondering where the locals get their products.   There was fish, chicken, and other meat all over on various tables and buckets.  Clothes from America and Europe were hanging up and every item you can imagine was found in there.  Bike seats, soap, and even vitamins are examples of things we saw.  The vitamins are interesting – they looked like chunks of rocks that you’re apparently supposed to gnaw on.

            We stopped at Pastor Hartmann’s house and got the grand tour.  His house is amazing. It’s not a mansion or anything, but the layout, decorations, and overall appearance is so gorgeous. His wife, who is an artist, designed the layout and much of the art is painted by their kids.  My apartment is going to be so sad in comparison.

            Along the way, we saw some interesting things.  Villages made of primarily of mud huts, about ten people squeezed into a pick-up truck along with a couple pigs, cows, and goats, and some schools.  In Livingstone, we passed their University of Technology or something close to that name.  The university was a couple of sheds with broken windows.  We couldn’t help but wonder what kind of technology was used there.  This was good for me to see because it made me realize how much of a city Lusaka really is.  It’s certainly not the typical life for most Zambians.  I’d like to venture out more into the villages sometime.   

            We got back just in time for church.  We quickly changed and hustled over to the church to practice with the choir.  Our song for the evening was “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.”  Unfortunately for me, there was some choreography/dancing to go along with it.  This is to be expected in African churches but certainly not something I’m used to (shocking, I know).  Right before we were supposed to sing, the power went out.  Rachel and I quietly celebrated our good fortune and sang the first ten seconds of the song happily and without any self-consciousness.  Then, literally five seconds before the refrain and the dancing started, the lights came back on.  So everyone was able to witness me trying to dance and sing at the same time.  I’m sure it was very nice and pretty. 

Mosi-O-Tunya..."The Smoke That Thunders"

I got up early so I could enjoy a cup of coffee and some British news before we made a second trip to Victoria Falls.  Asher (our New Zealand roommate) came with us and we gave him the tour that Calvin showed us.  Today was even more spectacular.  Even though the spray coming off the falls was even greater, the day was clearer so our pictures are a thousand times better.  Asher also has a waterproof camera, so he got some amazing pictures and videos of the falls way up close that we normally would never have gotten.  We got completely soaked going over the bridge which felt great in the very hot afternoon sun and then hiked down to the boiling pot.  Rachel’s ankle was bothering her, so Asher and I went alone.  He’s a very interesting guy.  He’s only twenty-one but will finish medical school in a year and a half because he’s been in accelerated programs for most of high school.  He’s volunteering in a village near Lusaka for this doctor from New Zealand.  The doctor graduated from med school thirty years ago but never really practiced.  The job he got in the hospital did more paperwork than actual treatment of patients, and he finally got fed up with it and just moved to a random village in Africa.  He looked around and saw all these Zambians dying because no one could or would treat them, so he just opened up a clinic and started performing operations that he had never really been trained for.  He would actually have someone hold up medical books showing the surgery and follow along with it.  This guy is obviously brilliant and has made a huge difference in the lives of the villagers there.  He works seven days a week and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.  Amazing!  Getting to know Asher and hearing all these stories made today fun.   He’s got a very dry sense of humor and is somewhat of a dare devil which made Victoria Falls interesting.  Also, having a male presence has made some of the locals keep their distance…definitely a bonus! 

            I’m so happy we went back to the falls today – the sights were so much better than two days ago.  We even saw a rainbow that went in a full circle.  We all noted that guard rails and any other protection from the cliffs are really limited.  If Victoria Falls was located anywhere else, it would be lined by huge fences and tons of warning signs.  Only a few of the more precarious spots have somewhat of a barrier, but even those really wouldn’t stop you from toppling over the edge.  I love it – the natural beauty of the falls isn’t ruined.  According to Calvin, very few accidents happen, although fighting hippos might accidentally get too close to the edge and get washed down from time to time.   

            We had an interesting ride back from the falls.  The hostel’s shuttle takes you in for free, but you have to find your own way back via taxi or minibus.  We negotiated prices with a few taxi drivers, decided on one driver, and walked over to his taxi.  This taxi was quite different from Sunday’s.  For one thing, a few men were just finishing changing its tire. The spare didn’t look like it was in the best condition.  The back doors didn’t open from the inside, which would have been a lot creepier if Asher hadn’t sat in the front seat.   To top it off, the car didn’t even start, so he had to have his friends roll-start us.  The driver rambled on throughout our trip.  I didn’t catch a lot of what he was saying.  He then backed out of the price we had established and said he couldn’t take us as far as we had originally planned.  We told him just to drop us off in town then and we’d walk, but we wouldn’t pay him anymore.  I was thankfully oblivious to much of the conversation after this.  Afterwards, Asher told us the driver had pulled out a couple spark plugs and laughingly told him they were from the car.  He also has a strong suspicious he was not exactly sober.  He drove straight and got us close to the hostel safely, so thankfully this is just another little adventure and nothing more.   

            We relaxed at the hostel for the rest of the afternoon.  I played pool with Asher and remarkably barely lost – I’ve greatly improved my skills somehow.  The three of us played Jenga, which I lost twice.  Our plan was to get picked up by Pastor Hartmann who lives in Choma (about an hour away), spend the night at his house, and then catch a ride with him up to Lusaka, but his plans changed and he couldn’t get us tonight.  That worked out just fine – we were both happy to enjoy the hostel for another night and had already paid through Wednesday anyway.  So tomorrow morning we’ll end this amazing little vacation and head on back to reality, if you can call it that. 

Meeting the "Ellies" and a Sunset Cruise

            I woke up at 4:30 because I was so excited.  I felt like a kid on Christmas.  I got out of bed at 6 so I could have some coffee before we got picked up at 6:45 for our pick-up to go on our elephant safari.  A van with lots of other tourists took us to the national park about 10 kilometers away from Victoria Falls.  We had some coffee, heard the stories about the elephants, and then got to meet them.  I think there were nine elephants.  Three of them were young ones, which are just ridiculously cute.  The stories about the elephants were cute.  An orphan wandered into the park one day and one of the females adopted it.  Another female ran away with some wild elephants but came back a year later by her own choosing.  She was pregnant, so now she lives there with her little baby.  Normally they put two people on an elephant with the guide, but our group was smaller so we all got our own.  I was with Denny (elephant) and Elia (guide).  We walked around the park for about an hour, at one point stopping to take pictures of the lion cubs that were there for another tourist group.  We didn’t choose to do that, but it sounded cool.  You get to walk with them, pet them, and feed them.  The elephants took us through part of the Zambezi River, which is gorgeous.  It’s huge and wide with tons of green vegetation all around it.  We could even see the spray from the falls.  We didn’t see any crocodiles or giraffes, unfortunately.   At the end of the ride, we were able to sit on the elephant’s leg and feed them.  I stuck my hand in the elephant’s mouth which was pretty awesome.  Afterwards, we had more coffee and watched the video of our trip.  It was a nice video, but we didn’t get one.  We felt that the video of us swinging around the gorge was enough.  We had a good time chatting with the other tourists – some people from America, England, and Switzerland.

            Then we spent several glorious hours lounging by the pool until our pickup for the sunset cruise at 4.  On the cruise we found a British couple that we had met on the elephant rides.  They were very interesting to talk to because they’ve been all over the world.  The cruise was so beautiful.  It took us upstream on the Zambezi River away from the falls.  We could still see the spray coming up from the falls even though we were quite a distance away.  We saw some hippos bobbing in and out of the water and a warthog, but unfortunately no giraffes or anything like that.  We had drinks, snacks, and dinner and then watched the very quick, gorgeous sunset.  Because we’re so close to the equator, dawn and dusk are extremely short.  We had a great time, but came back to some slightly disappointing news (at first).  We’re staying in a hostel, but it hasn’t been busy at all, so our room of four beds has just been occupied with the two of us.  We were informed that a man checked in and was staying with us.  Thankfully, he is quite normal and this should be a good situation.  He’s twenty-one, from New Zealand, and is heading to Lusaka to do several weeks of medical work.  He and I both want to return to Victoria Falls to bungee jump, but the high cost and the fact you need your passport (mine is in Lusaka) is preventing me from doing that.  We’ll see if he goes through with it. 

            Another amazing day in Livingstone.  Not quite the same thrill as yesterday, but very enjoyable nonetheless.  Tomorrow’s plans are still up in the air – we might return to the falls, tour the Livingstone museum, take a look at the curios, or do a little of all three. 

My Encounter with One of the Seven Wonders of the World

             Today was the most incredible day of my life.  Words cannot describe everything I experienced today, but I will do my very best.

            We were picked up around 8:30 to be taken over to the gorge for our fun half day of adventures.  We were driving around in one of those game trucks with the open air seating on top.  The driver stopped at other hostels along the way, but the only other two people he picked up were two Canadian sisters, ages 23 and 21.  They are in the middle of spending five months in Africa.  They’ve backpacked from one of the northern countries (can’t remember which one right now) and are planning on spending a month in Vietnam when they are done with exploring Africa.  They looked like they were twelve and had these little tiny girl voices, so it’s amazing to me that they are able to go all over the place doing this (Melanie, let’s do it!!).  They were really fun to meet and had some interesting stories. 

            I was so excited all morning for this and wasn’t nervous at all, but when I saw the gorge my stomach dropped.  The anticipation of what we were planning to do gave me a feeling I’ve never had before; I can only say it’s similar to how I felt before our championship game against Concordia.  I was dry-heaving in the bathroom before that game, so that gives you an idea of how I was feeling.  We watched the sisters go on the gorge swing which added to that feeling, and then met with the many nice men who worked there.  The sisters just did their one jump and left, so it was just Rachel and I enjoying the entire place to ourselves.  The first activity we did was abseiling, which is just scaling down the side of the cliff.  I wasn’t too great at it; my dad wouldn’t have been impressed.  I kept thinking about the time we went to a rock-climbing wall and he was explaining to me how you really have to push off with your legs in order to do it well.  I never pushed off the face of the rock as hard as I should have, so at one point I ended up kind of dangling instead of moving down with nice fluid movements like I was supposed to.  The abseiling calmed my nerves a lot and was once again incredibly excited for what was coming.

Once we did the abseiling, we hiked out of the gorge, which was quite the walk, and then went up to the do the zip-lining.  We could do the zip-lining twice and had two options for that; sitting or flying fox.  Flying fox means you run and jump off the ledge face forward like you’re superman.  Sitting is a little less scary because you don’t go head first.  I opted to do the flying fox right away.  Sprinting toward the edge of a cliff is terrifying, but the moment I was in the air, it was the most amazing feeling.  I swung across the ravine (not quite to the other side; I didn’t push off hard enough for that) and they pulled me back in.  I did my second jump right away, and just marveled at the scenery.  We could see the Zambezi River but not quite the falls just yet.  We were close enough to hear them, though.   

The zip-lining was fun, but not exactly the thrill I thought it would be. I was feeling pretty confident heading over to the gorge swing.  We got harnessed up and while the man was showing us how we were going to scoot our heels over to the edge and then lean backwards, I lost my confident feeling.  Rachel and I wanted to jump tandem because you go faster, and it was nice to have the moral support.  This was the most ridiculously scary thing ever.  No roller coaster ride has ever come close to this adrenaline rush.  We were standing on the platform, completely harnessed, and then told to put our backs to the gorge. We had to inch our heels over the ledge, squat down, and on the count of three, lift our toes off the edge.  Words cannot describe the seconds that followed.  I didn’t scream; it was impossible.  I think I let out some sort of noise, but I’m not sure.  On the first jump, I can’t even remember the first few seconds except for seeing my feet above my head.  After we fell, we swung around for a while, which was incredibly fun.  Then we were lowered down to the platform and began our hike back up the gorge.  The entire hike, my body was trembling from the adrenaline, and Rachel and I continuously giggled and said, “That was amazing.  That was just so amazing.”  The second jump was so much better than the first.  We were about a hundred times more scared because we knew what was coming, so the adrenaline rush was even better.  I can remember every moment of this fall, too.  My goodness…it was just amazing.  I can’t say anything else about it.  The words so far are completely inadequate anyway.  I want to do something more, though.  I think bungee jumping and sky diving are in my near future.

We spent some time with the workers there, who were all really fun and very nice.  We bought some crafts, mostly just as a way to say thank you, and then were driven into town so we could pay with our credit cards instead of cash.  The system wasn’t working, so the man just told us to come back later in the week and pay then.  That certainly would never happen in America!   They then dropped us over at Victoria Falls.  We ate lunch at a restaurant outside the hotel.  It was very healthy and extremely African (just kidding): a milkshake, French fries, and a hamburger.  Nice and healthy for our four hours of hiking around the falls! 

Victoria Falls is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my entire life.  Again, I have no words to describe it.  I don’t know how anyone could see what I saw and doubt in the existence of God.  Heaven will have waterfalls, I’m sure of it. The power, beauty, and splendor of the falls are overwhelming.

First, we walked over to the big bridge that connects Zambia with Zimbabwe.  Because it’s rainy season, the water is at its highest, which means the mist coming off the falls makes it difficult to see everything.  We got a few good shots, but still couldn’t quite see too much of the falls.  While we were walking, every single person we passed (except for a pair of American guys) stopped to ask our names and where we were from.  When they heard we were from America, we always got a response something along the lines of, “Oh, Obama land!”  Then they asked us if we liked him and would vote for him in November.  It’s funny how interested they were in American politics.  We headed back from the bridge to a different part of the park.  Finally we were able to get a really good look at the falls. We were taking pictures on a rock that juts into the river right by the falls when some Indian men spotted us and asked if they could take our pictures.  The few minutes that followed were rather uncomfortable, especially when Rachel somehow snuck out of the picture and it was just four men taking pictures of me on their cell phones.  We then met an awesome person, Calvin.  Calvin works for the Zimbabwe side as a guide.  In dry season, he takes people out to swim on the falls – if you Google pictures you might see what I mean.  It gets low enough that people can swim right up to the edge without going over.  Calvin then showed us around the rest of the day, which was the best thing that could have happened to us.  Without him, we wouldn’t have done half the things we did.  We hiked down the Boiling Pot and got right up to the water line, which I wouldn’t have done without him guiding us.  The Boiling pot is a spot past the falls where the current spins around in a huge whirlpool.  It’s right below the infamous bridge where the bungee jumping happens and the Australian woman’s rope snapped.  Here, some more men spotted us and asked for pictures with us.  We climbed over these huge boulders and got right up to the water.  Calvin took tons of pictures for us and showed us the safe places we could go.  We hiked back up, which we were told was going to be quite the climb.  It’s a very steep 600 meters down, but it really wasn’t too bad.  Climbing out of the gorge was much harder.  Then we walked over the little bridge where we could get the best view of the falls.  Because of the spray off the falls, pictures were impossible except for one spot.  We got completely drenched.  It was like standing under a shower head.  The view from this spot will be forever cemented in my memory.  There would be moments when the mist would clear up and we could get a glimpse of the magnitude and magnificence of what was hiding behind.  I can’t imagine a more beautiful sight. 

Calvin then encouraged us to go swim since we were already soaked anyway.  We hiked back up to the top of the falls and climbed on into the Zambezi River.  We stayed close so the current couldn’t take us over the edge.  I wasn’t worried either way because Calvin obviously knew what he was talking about.  Then we dried off while watching the sun set over the falls.  Amazing.

Before Calvin took us out to help us get a cab back, we stopped in the markets.  These vendors are aggressive!  We didn’t buy anything despite their best efforts and, after thanking Calvin profusely and giving him a fraction of the tip we could have given him, piled into a very nice cab.  This was a strange ride home; the driver was listening to some very strange children’s music for one thing, and he took us on these very rough back roads.  I will never complain about roads in America again.  These roads were comically bad. 

One random note from the day: people think I’m the most hilarious person ever when I say, “I’m Erika from America.”  Seriously, that joke kills here. 

Divine Savior got a lot of press today.  I was wearing one of the T-shirts I got when student teaching there, and I took pictures with so many people from so many different countries that I’m pretty sure every continent has now seen pictures of that logo. 

I can’t imagine a more amazing day.  Re-reading what I just wrote makes me a little crabby because I just can’t describe it.  You just have to be here to really understand it. 

Livingstone

Safe and sound in Livingstone!  Nothing too exciting today.  We took our seven hour bus ride down, which wasn’t terrible but not exactly the most comfortable ride either.  Our hostel is fantastic (although the pillows have some questionable stains on them): we have a pool, a pool table, a fire pit, a restaurant/bar, and guides to help us plan out all the fun things we’re going to do here.  Tomorrow, we have a half day pass to the gorge which allows us jump off the gorge in a swing, use the gorge slide (not quite sure what that is…could it really just be a big slide?) and zip line as many times as we are able to.  We’re also given breakfast and lunch and then will be driven to the entrance at Victoria Falls and will spend the rest of the day there.  I can’t believe I just typed that paragraph…this is so awesome! Monday, our day is going to be equally as wonderful – an elephant safari and a cruise!  The elephant safari includes riding around on an elephant, feeding them, and playing with the babies. 

            Right now, we are eating our dinner (which is of course delicious), watching soccer on TV, and resting up for our fun adventures in the next few days.   

The Ants Were Marching...

            Friday mornings are short – just one tutoring session and then English class.  Only two ladies were able to be at class this morning, so instead of doing what I originally planned, I pulled out a list of conversation topics and told them to decide what they wanted to talk about.  It was just Sarah and Thokazani, and I wasn’t sure what to expect since these two are the quietest of the bunch and usually rely on Regina to translate for them.  Being two-on-one with these two was fantastic because I got them both to speak a ton.  It was awesome!  Sarah talked for probably ten minutes straight.  She finally got over the fear of making a mistake and just tried as hard as she could, and she even called me “Miss Erika” without cringing too much.  She said the sweetest thing in response to the prompt “describe your perfect day.”  She said that her perfect day is everyday because she’s married to a wonderful man, has two children that were sent from God, is able to take wonderful classes on English, health, and cooking, and is preparing to be a pastor’s wife, which is a gift.  I told her at the end of all that how proud I was of her for speaking in such excellent English, and she said it was only because I was there to help her learn.  That is not true…I definitely did not teach her half the vocabulary she was using.  I left class with such a good feeling – I felt like my relationships with those two ladies are stronger now, and we made huge leaps and bounds as far as conversational English goes.

            Then we took the busy, congested trip into town to extend our Visas and get bus tickets for our trip to Livingstone/Victoria Falls tomorrow.  Christine, the woman who works in the office with Dave, drove us.  Thank God for that; without her we would have had absolutely zero clue what to do.  She’s lived in the Lusaka area her whole life, so she’s an expert at maneuvering through the traffic (and avoiding the people who’d rather not obey certain laws, which seems to be the majority) and knows the ins and outs of the government and immigration offices.  I won’t bore you with the details of our Visas, but we only could extend them for two weeks.  By next week, we’ll be able to apply for 90 day business Visas, so unfortunately we have do this all again soon.  Then we went to the bus station.  We leave early tomorrow morning on a very nice coach bus.  We’ll get to Livingstone sometime in the afternoon – I think it takes eight hours or so (I am so excited – Google Victoria Falls and you’ll see why).  Driving around the bus station with our windows down is an invitation to get harassed by various men.  “Sister!  Sister from another mother!”  “Sweet sister!”  “How are you today, my sister?” are just a few examples of comments we heard.  I pretended I didn’t speak English and just turned my head the other way.  Christine wanted someone to wait in the car to protect it but also needed someone to come with her to buy the tickets, so Rachel was the unfortunate one who stayed back while I pushed through the crowds with Christine.  When we came back to the car, Rachel had her head buried behind pieces of paper pretending to read them and was ignoring the smiling man trying to get her attention by tapping on her window.  I came around to the other side and had to tap on the window and shout her name before she was convinced it was me and it was safe to look up and unlock my door.  We were in a busy, safe part of town, so it’s not like there was any danger; it’s really just a nuisance to be fighting off overly-friendly vendors.   

            Random sighting of the day: three men standing on the side of the Great East Road holding turkeys.  They were gigantic, still alive, and extremely docile.  It was strange how relaxed these birds were, especially since I’m pretty sure they were going to be killed as soon as someone bought them.   

            Other funny sight of the day (for me): Rachel falling down the stairs.  Rachel’s flip-flops did not agree with the rather slippery staircase in the immigration building and she slid down the last few steps on her bottom.  Instead of helping her up and asking if she was okay (which is what Christine did), I dissolved into laughter for the next fifteen minutes or so.  I have continued to laugh about it intermittently throughout the day.

            Anne made us the most delicious things of all time.  They were like little chicken pot pies. There was a homemade, flaky crust with onions, green peppers, cheese, and of course chicken baked inside them.  I cannot describe how amazing they were and how much I love this woman. 

            The rest of the afternoon was spent not doing what I should have been doing (packing and planning for next week) and doing things that are much more fun (laying in the sun and playing with the kids).  After dinner, Rachel and I had a little National Geographic show in our very own living room.  A couple hours earlier, I found a dead grasshopper lying on the table (right next to all of our food, of course) so I threw it away in the garbage can.  I was walking past the garbage when I was horrified to see a multitude of little ants carrying the huge grasshopper down the side of the garbage can.  It is amazing how quickly they found it.  Also, watching them carrying it was even more amazing because it took some very impressive coordination and communication.  We watched them for a while and then wondered where they were going to take it.  We were hoping it’d be outside to one of the ridiculously huge ant hills in our yard.  We figured it’d take them a while, so we went and washed the dishes.  I came back in to see where they were (praying they weren’t under my bed or anything like that) and was unpleasantly surprised to see the ants trying to force their meal through a hole and underneath the carpet.  Soooo…apparently we’re living on top of an ant nest.  They never did get the grasshopper underneath the carpet.  They were trying so hard – they even ripped its wing off – but then Anne came in and ruined their hard work by throwing it outside.  Pretty gross, but also quite fascinating at the same time.   

Madam Erika

            In English class today, the ladies were working on a writing assignment when I casually told them not to call me “madam” and instead address me by my first name.  Immediately, their heads popped up with horrified faces on each one.  Sarah looked at me and loudly asked, “Why?”  while Ella and Thokazani shook their heads saying, “No, no, no, no.”  I was a little surprised by their reaction and started explaining that I respected them all so much and felt that if I was calling them by their first names then they definitely should do the same.  Regina cut in and said, “Madam, it is our culture, we will always refer to a teacher with a term of respect.  It doesn’t matter how young you are.”  I made a face at them, laughed, and said, “Fine, I’m calling you all ‘madam’ then.  Just try calling me ‘Erika’ sometime.”  They laughed at my reaction but still adamantly refused to call me anything else. 

             Preschool went amazingly well today!  It was a huge improvement from our first day there.  Everyone went to the bathroom where they were supposed to and there were no tears, so that equals a huge success! 

            I went for another little run to see how the foot was doing today (pretty well) and when I came back found Rachel playing with the little kids in the woods.  As I was walking over to join them, they came sprinting towards me yelling, “Teacher! Teacher Erika!” and jumped up on me to get hugs.  I’m beginning to understand early elementary majors more…these little kids have stolen my heart.  We played hide-and-seek for a while and at their request sang “The Ants Go Marching.”  I felt a little corny marching around the lawn while the seminarian students looked at us like we were crazy, but as long as it makes the kids happy I don’t mind.

            We have exactly eight more weeks here.  If I think about that too much more, I truly would start crying.  I don’t know how I’m going to say good-bye to these people.  I am so attached to so many people here and the thought of leaving and never seeing them again is heart-breaking. 

"Why is your arm blue???"

            This morning I had hands-down the most fun hour and fifteen minutes of tutoring so far.  Given, Stone, Jeremiah, and Obey were so enthusiastic and excited about reading.  Given, who on my first meeting couldn’t even identify all the letters correctly, was literally begging me for more stories.  I started off by having them take turns reading sentences, and each boy was thrilled when it came to be his turn and pleaded with me to let them continue to read more.  Stone is improving – he still takes a long time figuring out all the letters and sounds, but he’s improved so much already.  Jeremiah is very energetic but always focuses all his effort on reading.  Obey is really quiet, calm, and reserved.  He’s very smart, and until today was reading and writing far beyond the other boys’ levels.  Given actually did better than him with reading today and nearly equaled him with writing.  I can’t tell you how proud I am of Given.  I have never seen a teenage boy so excited about anything, let alone reading, and the leaps and bounds he has improved by astound me.  I can’t believe how much he has improved.  On Monday I assigned him homework, and he did above and beyond what he was supposed to do.  He is so ready and willing to learn – it’s a teacher’s dream.  The thing that kills me is these boys go home to no books.  I think back to when I was learning how to read, and not only did I have stacks of my own books to look through, but my mom took us to the library several times a week.  How will these boys ever improve if they don’t have the resources?  If Given had just one or two books he could practice with at home, he would improve even more.  Is there a way we can get books here permanently for the kids?  Having just a small library with some Dr. Seuss books they could borrow for an evening or two would make such a dramatic difference.   

            One funny moment from English today:  Our theme for the week is asking for help and describing an injury, so today I was teaching more vocabulary, like rash, stitches, and bruise.  I showed a picture of a bruise I had on my arm once and started saying something like, “You know how when you hit your arm or leg on something, it turns colors?  This is a bruise.” This was met with concerned, confused looks at the picture.  I then realized that a bruise on my whiter-than-average skin looks a lot different than a bruise on their skin.  Sarah asked, “Umm…why is your arm blue?”  and Regina answered, “Our skin is black.  Our bruises look differently.”  The other ladies were really concerned by the picture and asked, “Wait…your bruises actually turn colors like green, blue and yellow????”  Which reminds me of another funny moment last week – I said that when the word is “ivory” is used, it means white, and then the ladies suddenly started chattering away in Chewa for a few minutes, laughing hysterically.  I heard them say, “The Ivory Coast” and immediately knew what they were laughing at.  One of the ladies turned to me and asked, still laughing, “If it’s called the Ivory Coast, then why don’t white people live there?”

            My afternoon tutoring session went really well.  I finally got solemn, stone-faced Shain to open up, talk, and laugh during our activities.  He started giggling uncontrollably when we were drawing things that started with “E” and I drew a really tall stick person, saying it was me. 

            I went for a very short, slow run to test out my foot…success!  No pain!  Then I went over to watch kickball for a while.  Wednesdays are kickball days for the really little kids, ages three to seven, which is just ridiculously adorable.  I started playing with the little kids who lost interest in kickball after a few minutes.  I scooped up adorable little Aubly (pronounced Aubrey…Africans often switch the “L” and “R” sounds), who is the tiniest little three year old ever.  His little giggle just melts my heart.  Then Brian ran over, and soon eight or nine of the other little guys came too, all asking to be picked up and snuggled.  It’s nice to feel loved!

            Our little choir sang tonight at church.  It didn’t sound as nice as it had in practice – Charity is sick and can’t sing very well right now and we struggle without her.  It went fine, though – we sang “Lamb of God” and a song that Charity taught us. 

"Where do you put the cows when it snows?"

            Since I had only three of the five ladies in English today, I decided not to teach the new lesson and instead spent part of the two hours showing pictures of Washington.  The women were intrigued by Mount Rainier and my explanation of volcanoes.  Thokazani thought the people living in Seattle were extremely foolish for living so close to one, even after I explained it hadn’t erupted in a long time.  The pictures of snow were even more fascinating for them.  They kept asking what all the animals did during winter and were horrified about the idea of having to shovel every time it snowed.  I showed them some animals found in the U.S., like moose (which they thought looked like the African buffalo), deer (they compared it to the impala), and skunks (I spent a good five minutes explaining their defense mechanism – they couldn’t believe it).  Again, they asked what these animals did during winter, so I explained that some animals hibernate, which they thought was funny.  This was all incredibly off-topic and in no way related to our theme for the week, but the ladies seemed to really enjoy it and asked tons and tons of questions.  I pointed out other places on the map that I had lived and explained that Washington is very different from Florida.  I said that Florida’s actually pretty similar to Zambia weather-wise, except that Florida has hurricanes.  They had never heard of hurricanes either, so that led to another discussion. 

            Before all this, we played a modified Bananagrams game with Rachel’s group.  This was highly entertaining to Rachel and me because we saw the women get feisty and competitive. 

            Preschool went very well today – the best it ever has.  The kids went crazy with dancing again and even organized their own little songs and chants to do.  So funny! 

            We had more tutoring and then volleyball.  It was a very full yet pleasant day.   

Do-Do-Do-Shaw Do-Do-Do-Shaw

            I felt very prepared going into this week.  I feel like I know exactly what to expect from each student and can plan good things for them.  Same for the ladies – I’m not going into each lesson hoping it won’t be too hard or too easy.  It’s nice waking up feeling like that.

            Given showed up for today’s tutoring session, which was fine.  Great, actually – again, he’s the thirteen year old who is reading at a first grade level, and I found out today he can’t do simple math.  It breaks my heart, because he’s obviously really smart but somehow hasn’t had the opportunity to learn as much as he should.  I hope he comes as much as he can because he works hard and is improving rapidly.

            English with the ladies went well - lots of laughter and teasing today. 

            Afternoon tutoring was outside under a tree on a grass mat because our tables were being used by some visiting pastors.  That was fantastic…I wish I could teach in that setting more!  Today was a really breezy, cool day.  Still sunny, but there was almost a crispness in the air that was a welcome relief from the blazing hot past few days we’ve had.  From what I hear, Wisconsin probably had hotter weather than we had today.

            We stopped by preschool to videotape them dancing (the title of this blog is the beat they were singing).  Rachel and I both got some hysterical videos and have already enjoyed watching them several times.  Later, we went for a walk, and I was again struck by how much I am enjoying myself here.  I am so content, happy, and thankful for my situation.  I’m in one of the most beautiful places on earth, surrounded by some of the happiest, kindest people I’ve ever met. 

        

A Very Particular Rainstorm

            We had a nice service again at Bethel.  The kids’ choir sang, and we loved watching all of our students sing and dance around the church to a drumbeat.  I love that boys aren’t “too cool” to do that – even the twelve and thirteen-year-olds I tutor were up there doing a great job.  I was amused with the announcements after the church service.  Apparently it’s very African to be blunt about certain things.  Pastor Mutentame told the congregation that they need to start working together to get chairs for the church and that they can’t expect someone else to come in and buy them.  It wasn’t in a mean or a rude way – it was just very straight-forward.  No beating around the bush for him.  Then, a man (we think he’s the president of the congregation) stood up to jokingly scold the youths who didn’t come work at the church last week.  He sent one of the members of the choir to stand by the gate and stop each young person who didn’t help last week.  He threatened they’d be put to work today, but we’re pretty sure he was just joking.  Again, this wasn’t rude, just very straight-forward.  We appreciated it.

            Rachel had the idea of taking pictures of our ladies with their families and printing them out for them.  The ladies loved the idea, so we’ve been going around to each house taking pictures.  I just have to talk for a minute about one of the nicest, sweetest, kindest families I have ever met.  Regina and her husband Steward have such adorable children – Steward Junior and Brian.  I have so enjoyed getting to know their entire family.  Anyway, today while taking their pictures, I suggested taking one picture just with the boys.  These boys are so sweet – they’re five and three and totally love each other.  Steward reached for Brian’s hand and I captured the cutest moment between them.  Ah!  I just love those boys! 

            Pastor Sargent is letting us use one of his printers, which is the best thing ever.  Having easy access to a brand-new printer is going to make planning so much easier.  We spent our afternoon planning a little more for the week and went to choir practice at 3.  While we were waiting, Charity, who could truly be a professional singer with her high, powerful voice, told us a story about how she broke both her legs five years ago.  She fell out of the tree while picking fruit and shattered her right leg in twenty-five places and her left leg in five.  The doctors here wanted to amputate her right leg, but Mrs. Wendland thankfully took her to the Italian hospital and they were able to set it.  She wasn’t able to walk for over a year, but she made a full recovery.  I can add good medical care to the rapidly growing list of things I’m thankful for. 

            Random, weird thing: When I was walking across campus, raindrops started pouring down me.  One hit me so that was so huge and was coming down so fast it actually almost knocked the camera out of it.  I took maybe seven more steps, and I was out of the rainstorm and in the sunshine.  I could see it raining just feet away from me!

            We’ve been here for three weeks now!  Time’s moving very quickly.  Thinking back to our bus ride down to Chicago seems like months ago, but it doesn’t seem like we’ve been here for more than a few days.

A Little Bit of March Madness

            Nothing too crazy today.  Our power was out for several hours today because they were working on the transformer or something, so we took that opportunity to handwrite lots of worksheets for the week.  We were very productive.  In the afternoon we went to town for groceries, watched the kids play kickball, and made ourselves some dinner.  Then, we invited ourselves over to the Wendland’s house to watch the NCAA tournament, which has been heavenly.  As I write this it’s halftime of the Gonzaga-Ohio State game.  I never thought I’d be watching a Gonzaga game in Zambia!

            Several people have asked me what I miss, if anything.  Of course I miss my family and friends, so I’ll skip those sentiments and move to the other material things I do wish for sometimes.  In order:

1)      Driving (specifically, the independence of being able to drive myself)

2)      Going to Starbucks (yes, I know that sounds snobby)

3)      Watching all the tournament action on a TV and several laptops at the same time

With that being said, these are all very small sacrifices and I am more than happy to trade them in for this experience.

Random thing about Zambia: when driving on the Big East Road (the main highway that goes through Lusaka up to Malawi) there are people who snake through the traffic selling items.  These people sell everything, and I do mean everything.  Here’s a short list of things I’ve seen being sold: maps, jeans, passport covers, DVDs, mangos and other produce, soccer jerseys, and baskets.  Men and children will walk around the traffic, peeking in windows and trying to get you to buy their items.  I’m finally getting better at just giving them a little wave and looking away.  The first two weeks here I smiled too much and then they would come over and make me laugh.

The Fly-Swatter Game, Matero Visit, and Balderdash

            I felt like a super-teacher in my tutoring session today.  I had four kids at three very different levels.  Gertrude and Daliso are high and can read and write English, but they are struggling with much of the vocabulary in “James and the Giant Peach,” so I can’t let them read it without my guidance.  Then there’s Given, who is improving at a rapid pace, but still can’t be without my help for too long because he’s reading at maybe a first-grade level, or lower.  And then comes Obey – the super smart eight year old who can read a little higher than Given and write much better English.  I felt that despite the large differences in levels, I was able to give them all the attention that they needed and not waste anyone’s time. 

            English with the ladies was really fun today.  We ended class by combining both ability groups together to play the fly-swatter game (thank you Pastor Seilz and my years of Spanish class for that one).  The ladies loved it – these normally reserved, rather quiet mothers were getting really competitive and laughing hysterically.

            After Anne spoiled us with more fritters, we met Pastor Sargent and headed off to the school in Matero.  We stopped to pick up Mr. Saeli at Kaunda Square, and while we were waiting for him, some of the little kids in the school spotted us and came over to touch our hands.  One little girl ran up to me and stretched out her arms to get picked up, so we snuggled for a little while as I gave handshakes to the other kids. 

            At Matero, we met with the pastor of the church and several of the teachers.  The purpose of the meeting was to set up in an in-service day for teacher training.  Our meeting didn’t take too long, so we were able to observe a couple classrooms.  We met a young teacher, Justin, the teacher for grade four and saw a woman teaching grade five.  One interesting thing about the culture here is they don’t raise hands.  The teacher will say something like, “Two goes into six how many times?” and the students respond in unison.   There’s lots of chanting in unison – greeting visitors who come in, (“Good afternoon, madams!”) reading off the board together, giving answers, etc.  When leaving the grade five classroom, I spotted a kid wearing a WSU Cougars T-shirt.  Someone from eastern Washington is sending lots of clothes out here!

            I’m still shocked by how barren the school at Matero is.  The rooms are neat but completely sparse.  There is no such thing as posters.  There’s no tray filled with scrap paper, no drawer with calculators, or even a cup filled with pencils.  If the teacher wants to show a map of Zambia, he has to draw it himself.  If he’s teaching about the lifespan of a butterfly, he draws it himself.  There’s no PowerPoint or even a computer to print off pictures.  Hours and hours of valuable preparation time are spent copying teaching tools by hand.  And this school is considered rather well-off for Zambia.  There are more desolate schools who can’t even afford paper.  Imagine trying to teach kids without having those resources.  It makes me sick to think about how even the poorest schools in America have a thousand times more access to resources than schools here do.  And yet, there always seems to be complaining.  The teachers here are a lot more creative and resourceful, and American teachers could learn a lesson or two from some of the people we observed here. 

            And get this...there are many students who, after graduating from Kaunda Square or Matero, can’t go on with their education because it’s too expensive.  To Americans, “too expensive” usually means thousands and thousands of dollars.  Here, that means $200.  Two hundred dollars, which isn’t much more than a pair of basketball shoes, or an iPod, or any other item I’ve so thoughtlessly bought.

            On to lighter topics…

            Charity asked us if we wanted to sing in a special choir they were forming for Wednesday night services.  Of course we said yes and went to practice in the evening.  It was so much fun!  I’m not usually such a big fan of choirs unless I’m playing the piano, but Charity taught us all the songs without words and music in front of us, or even a piano accompanying.  It was interesting to learn a song that way.  I felt like I was working a completely different part of my brain.  She asked us if we could teach them a song, so we got the lyrics to “Lamb of God.”  Some of the girls knew the melody already and Charity is extremely talented and was able to make up the harmony on the spot.

            The Sargents invited us over for pizza and games (Balderdash) and we had a great time.  This weekend might be our last free weekend for a while – we’re hoping next week we’ll take three or four days to visit Victoria Falls!  I’m so excited for our first big excursion. 

Dancing Lessons

                I started off my morning by tutoring Mildred and Betha, the two very sweet, studious young girls who I just love.  I haven’t seen them since the first day I tutored them because we kept having holidays on their days.  We’ve been enjoying reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I am so happy St. Marcus donated those books…they have been a tremendous help!).  Then I had English with the ladies.  Today we had a lot of funny moments.  We’re working on describing people and making comparisons, so I showed them pictures I got off Facebook.  I showed them a picture of me with some friends and asked who had the whitest skin.  It was obviously me, and the ladies started laughing because they didn’t want to insult me.  I made a joke about how I’m whiter than everyone and always get made fun of for it, and they thought that was funny.  I showed them a picture of a group of people I got off Google and asked them to describe the woman in the pink dress.  I heard one of them say something about how she was a muzungo (white person), so I repeated it and they were so proud I knew that word.  I said I know what it is because I hear it every time I walk down the street and they also liked that.  To get them talking, I asked them to describe all the people in the pictures.  Some of the ladies said stuff like, “I like your hair” or “You are pretty” and I told them they were just sucking up. 

                Then we did preschool.  Charity came and showed us what she does with them.  We saw her routine and how she handles the more rambunctious kids, and as a result, today went very, very well.  We took turns teaching and we all learned from each other.  The most hilarious moment of today was when Charity had them do some dances.  We got in a circle and sang this rhythmic song while clapping to the beat, and one of the kids would dance around the circle, then enter the circle, do a little dance for everyone, pull someone into the circle to dance with them, and then someone else would start the whole thing all over.  Rachel and I were so shocked to see all the tiny little boys pull out Michael Jackson moves.  All the girls, some who can barely kick a ball, danced with amazing coordination. I was just dying of laughter – until I was pulled into the circle.  Rachel threatened my life and wouldn’t let me pull her in.  

                We left preschool very optimistic about our future lessons.  Afterwards, I had the two Barnabases and gave them a quick lesson on the state of Washington (they requested it). I showed them a picture of Twilight (because it takes place in Forks, WA) and they immediately knew what it was.  That kind of makes me sad...