Friday, January 8, 2010

Settling Into Sakeji

Sorry I haven't updated for a few days, but I wasn't able to at first and then i was busy getting settled in. I've arrived safely at Sakeji, here's what I have been doing the last few days:

On Wednesday morning after breakfast the Ronalds (see missionary handbook), Lina and myself piled into the Ronald’s Landrover. A trailor was attached to haul all of our luggage. We had a few more stops in Lusaka before we actually headed out. After having trouble with ATM’s not excepting my bankcard, I was thankfully able to find one that would just before we left the city. We had to make several stops along the way in different ‘towns’ to pick up and drop off various things for the school. We had a couple of adventures with backing up in small spaces with the trailer but never got into too much trouble. I was surprised that the roads weren’t all that bad, but then we were driving through the larger cities and towns. We only drove about 4 hours on the first day, ending in Garneton, where we spent the night at another guest house. I took a bunch of pictures of all the flowers and trees that are in bloom. As it’s the rainy season everything here is SO full of life and vibrant colours!

After a bath and good nights sleep we were ready to hit the road again. Unfortunately the Ronald’s youngest daughter was up sick all night so we left later then we had originally planned. Thankfully Naomi wasn’t sick the rest of the trip. The second day we had a much longer trip, it took us about 8 hrs. We hadn’t been driving too long when we got a flat tire. Being a good missionary, Mark Ronald was prepared for this and had 3 spares with him. It was perfect timing for lunch, so while he changed the tire, the rest of us ate and stretched out legs. Just as he finished up it started to rain so we jumped back in the truck and were off. About 2/3s of the way through the trip the paved road ends and the fun begins! After spending the last 2 years working for a Drainage Engineering firm, I was seeing the roads through ‘new eyes’. The road was so bad at one point that we weren’t sure we would make it through even with the 4-wheel drive! I tried to take pictures and videos but I’m not sure that it would show just how bad it actually was. The Lord was watching over us though and we made it ‘home’ to Sakeji by 8:30pm without getting stuck.

Lina and I were dropped off at our house and we started unpacking right away. We were so excited to finally have arrived. I’ve taken a few pics of what the house look like when we arrived, but will take some more once we have fully settled in. At 10:30pm we finally realized that we were starving so stopped for a ‘cuppa’ and some fresh homemade bread w/ p.b. After sitting we realized that our energy had subsided and it was time to call it a night.

I think the jet lag has finally worn off as I was actually able to sleep straight through the night for the first time. When I woke up I felt very rested but soon discovered that I am allergic to my house. L Actually, I’m pretty much allergic to most of the buildings over here as there is a lot of must/mould b/c of the rain. I am so glad I remembered to pack my allergy meds and hope that my supply doesn’t run out before the containers arrive. I’m praying that my body will get adapt to it, so I don’t have to keep taking the medication. I don’t remember it being this bad when I was here before, but as that was so long ago, I could have just forgotten.

I spent the day wandering the station and reminiscing (and trying to figure out what all the new buildings were) and then checking out my classroom. I started setting up my classroom, which I hope to finish today (Friday) once I am through catching up on emails etc. I think I shocked some of the Zambian workmen when they walked past and saw me standing on the desk trying to reach the top of a bulletin board, they seemed a little unsure as to what to do about it.

Well, I have gone on and on so I think I will close off for now and continue to catch up later. Thanks for all the prayers and I hope to hear from some of you soon!

No comments:

Post a Comment