Independence Day Fun

I've been trying to get a blog up all week, in fact I've written 4 and whenever I go to post them the internet or website aren't working! i'm determined to make this one work!

Today marks 46 years of "independence" in Zambia. It's a bit of a laugh really as Zambia is actually very dependent on outside aid etc. but I won't get into that now. For the kids, Independence Day means no classes but a whole day of water races and pool games. For the staff it means a whole day of hyper/excited children and a sunburn to keep us awake all night. It is a great day though, and everyone had fun! Of course, my house, Fisher, won the competition and so is still ahead in the running for the trophey at the end of the term. :) still undefeated. :D all the kids did an amazing job and i was very proud of my little 'no sealers' who did awesome despite the fact that they were swimming in water over their heads and only 2 of them can actually make a width of the pool. We have a new King of the plank champion, which is always exciting. unfortunately the staff didn't get to play as we ran out of time. :( the only injury today was to a staff member who dislocated her shoulder in a silly swimming game. oops! the day ended with a MASSIVE bonfire (over 2 stories high) and some great fire works. what a day! unfortunately we've got regular classes tomorrow and the grade 7's start their national exams.... not so great timing for them. not sure if they'll be awake! (pics to come once they're downloaded and if i remember)

today is also the 1/2 way point in our term, craziness! our year will be finished in a little over 5 weeks. i'm not really prepared for all the end of term craziness but i'm excited about going home for hte holidays!!

this week we'll be handing out the scripts for the end of term show. this means that i'll also have to get memorizing as i've got a part in it this year. thankfully no singing for me! :)

last week we had birthday party. i won't go into lots of details but the theme was "circus". it wasn't too bad. i dressed up as a little girl who was going to the circus.

i also held the 'Friday Night' ('late night' fun for 7-9th gr) at my house last week. actually i just had the girls and we did a 'spa/dress-up' night. it was a lot of fun. the girls enjoyed putting on face masks and giving each other pedicures. they also got manicures and enjoyed dressing up in my make up and earings and such and taking tons of pictures. it's so nice to have these 'fun' times with the girls. :)

thanksgiving post (a little late as usual)

Right now back in Canada many people will be celebrating Thanksgiving; eating turkey and such, thinking of the things they are thankful for. Here in Zambia we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving so I had kind of forgotten about it until I noticed some comments on Facebook. So I’ll do a quick list of what I’m thankful for this year:
1) The Lord has allowed me to continue serving Him here at Sakeji
2) All 19 of my students (even the ones that drive me insane occasionally!)
3) The rain! It’s been cooling things down and of course helping my little garden grow!
4) The 22 students who were baptized last term
5) That I’ll be able to go home for a visit at Christmas and see my family!
There are many, many more things to be thankful for as God has given me SO much and continues to astound me with the ways in which He provides for my every need and then some!
Quick update: we’ve just finished our first ½ term break so we’re already 1/3 of the way through the term! Wow! We had some gorgeous sunny days for our break, which of course means all the staff are sporting some nice sunburns (myself included). The first day Lina and I completed our morning duties (try-outs for the end of term program and some supervision duties) and then borrowed a vehicle and took off for Kalene. Lina was on a mission to get some yitenge (cloth) from their market, unfortunately we got there at a bad time and a lot of the shops were closed. Those that were open had a very poor selection. Our next stop was The Rapids, where I spent some time on my birthday. We arrived, changed and were looking for a place to jump in for a swim when this guy came up and told us we had to pay to be there… um.. what??! It’s a public river for goodness sake! Finally the only way to get rid of him was to tell him we were leaving. I was pretty miffed, no swim. :( We found out when we got back that apparently they (whoever ‘they’ are) are now charging a small fee. So stupid! It’s not like there’s upkeep or anything, it’s a RIVER! So we packed up our stuff and headed off, having a bit of a picnic supper on the way home. It was a rather disappointing afternoon and really not worth the cost of renting the vehicle. Oh well, c’est la vie! On Saturday I had swimming supervision (where I earned my burn). After lunch I headed up to my house and spent the afternoon relaxing and sewing. There were 2 staff vs students tag rugby games but I opted out. I had tried to learn the game but it was so ridiculous (not much resembling rugby at all!) and I wasn’t very good at it so it was all quite frustrating. As it was tag rugby I had no way of venting my frustration! so I decided it might be best not to play rather than lose my cool in front of the students! Apparently I wasn’t really needed anyhow as the staff still managed to beat the students. :) overall is seems everyone had a great long weekend and now we’re all buckling down for the next section of the term. Lina, Jill and I need to decided soon who will be getting the main parts and solos etc for our Christmas play and get that ball rolling. Next Wednesday is birthday party and we have a few special guests coming over the next few weeks…. So it should get rather busy soon!
51 days left!

written on Sept 30th but forgot to post till now....

It’s been awhile since I last wrote, not just because I had nothing to say but I haven’t been on the internet all that much. As I write (type) we’re in the middle of our first really big rain of the season. It’s been working up to it for few days/weeks now with little showers here and there, mostly in the night. I think this one will be a ‘gully-washer’ as my friend says. It never ceases to amaze me when we get hail here, but hail there is. I’m just glad that there’s not a long of lightening yet. I prefer the lightning storms at night when I don’t have to be out and about! I’m a little worried about my classroom right now because I think I left the windows open, but I’m not worried enough to go out in this downpour. I’ll check the damage later.
Other happenings since my last blog: sickness, sickness everywhere! It seems the students all came back with some form of cough/cold and decided to share with their teachers; this is not too uncommon. Unfortunately someone also brought in a nasty form of flu which has gone through the ranks as well! Thankfully it’s short-lived, about 48 hrs, but not a fun time for sure! So since the beginning of term I’ve had laringitus (sp?)/cold (which makes teaching interesting) and just when that was clearing up and I was feeling somewhat “normal” again I came down with the flu. The worst part about being sick out here is that there are no substitute teachers to call in! so we try and accommodate each other as much as possible, letting the sick person get as much rest as they can. Thankfully for me my first (and worst) day was on a Wednesday. I suffered through the morning, put on a video, then had my afternoon classes (handwriting and swimming) covered by the current short-termers. Yesterday I managed to slug my way through the day, taking as many naps as I could and going to bed early. Today I’m feeling much better and was actually able to eat meals. Hurray! Of course, now it’s my afternoon off and I’m busy catching up on all the planning and marking that has been piling up for the last 3 days! :S
Well, just as quickly as it started the rain has stopped, the birds are out catching the worms drowning in the puddles and I must head up to my classroom to assess damages…