plan b, no c... ok lets try f!

so the buying part of our trip went well. The visa part was no problem at all. However, the liscences have given us trouble yet again! i gave up in Solwezi when the guy told me that to convert my liscence I needed to hand over my Canadian liscene to him (YA RIGHT!), so after giving him a piece of my mind (and embarrasing Lina) i stormed out and decided i'd had enough of Zambian burocracy! Lina on the other hand is a little more of a go-getter then me and decided to try again (without me around ;) ) in Lusaka. she went in and stood in the many lines and worked her way through the whole rigamarole. she even made them book her driving test for the next day. So yesterday the plan was that she would get up early, take her driving test while Hannah and I packed everything up and prepared to head home. we'd then pick up the new kitten i have adopted and head back up north. of course this is Africa (T.I.A) and nothing goes according to plan. Lina was told (after a bogus test) that she had passed but needed to come back either Thursday or Friday to pick up her pass certificate. after much pleading etc she wasn't able to get them to budge. Unfortunatley we both had dental appointments booked for this morning in Kitwe (about 6 hrs drive away). after much phoning around and stressful decisions, it was decided that we head to Kitwe yesterday. get up early, do the dentist thing and then head back to Lusaka to complete business. things still didn't work well. it took us awhile to get everything in the truck as (of course) we'd bought 'too much'. we had to stop and purchase a tarp and rope to put stuff on the top rack of the car. we had a somewhat hilarious incident shortly after leaving Lusaka where i noticed a package of TP fly off our car and bounce down the road. of course this happened at a time when the road was divided and we couldn't turn around! by the time we got stopped the toilet paper had been scooped up by some keen entrepaneur (sp?) who will no doubt be selling it on the street later. anywho, amid much laughter we stopped the car and re-did the tarp. because we had taken so long getting away, by the time we got to Ndola it was pretty dark, except of course, for the high-beams of everyone's vehicles driving at me! we got a little misplaced on the round abouts and went round about a few times before we figured out where to go. of course it would be much easier if there were actually signs and street names, but hey, what do i know.
we were rather tired when we pulled in last night. after much advice about how to deal with "our situation" we went to bed.
this morning Lina and i got up bright an early and had to unpack the roof of the car as we didn't want anything stolen while we were getting our teeth worked on. this ended up taking longer then expected so we went without breakfast.
I'm not really a fan of dentists but this one wasn't too bad. actually she was pretty nice as she showed me exactly what she was doing and stuff. i went to have one tooth pulled and one filling filled and left with no teeth pulled and 3 fillings. she added up all the costs and showed me the bill 610. I asked "is that in dollars?" and she said, "oh goodness, no! that's kwatcha, K610,000" (which is about $130!) i couldn't believe how cheap it was!
after lunch we headed back out onto the highway towards Lusaka. thankfully nothing 'eventful' happened on the way down. we're praying tomorrow is pretty uneventful as well! if all goes according to the new (many times reviewed) plan we should arrive back home at sakeji on saturday afternoon.

on the move

Well the term has ended and once again I'm in the big city on a buying and immigration trip. the drive down was a little rough as i had some stomach issues followed quickly by my usual end of term cold. there were 5 of us in the truck (Lina, Hannah, my dad, a guy named Ryan and myself) but only 2 of us are really allowed to drive the school vehicle so the others just had to deal with our driving. i almost had trouble at one police stop but managed to sneak through without too much hassel. thankfully the roads weren't that bad and we didn't get stuck at all.

we've spent the past 2 days comparing prices in various stores and then today spent a huge amount of money on groceries for the next year. i have to say it's not easy predicting what you'll need 6+ mths in advance! between the 3 of us girls (the men have both left now) we managed to pack out the car. it should be interesting trying to fit everything in! thankfully we remembered to bring some cardboard boxes with us this time so that will make the packing a little easier!

tomorow we had to immigration bright and early so hannah and i can get our work visas and lina will be heading to road traffic to try and get her driver's liscence. i won't be trying this time as i don't have all the nescessary documents (or patience to deal with annoying gov't people). i'm sure lina is relieved i'm not coming this time as when we stopped in solwezi i completely lost it with the guy who was on a total power trip and said some things i should probably regret. i will consider getting my liscence later when the new gov't gets its act together.

well, i'm off to bed. hope everyone had a great easter remembering the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He lives! :)

sorry for the long delay

My mom informed me that I am a month over due on updating my blog. Appoligies. So much has been going on, including the usual bad weather that keeps the internet down, and all my other excuses.

So what has been going on? While apart from the day-to-day busy life of being a first grade teacher. I also have my Dad here visiting/working. It's been great to have him here, (although admittedly it was a bit weird at first) and we've definatly settled into a routine. Dad came to help the Canadian team on re-building the dorm roof. It has been an interesting 'ride' for them. The old roof (which they mainly left in place and built the new roof over) was in such bad shape that several of the men have nearly fallen through it several times! Many of them have scrapes, cuts and bruises to show for it. The worst injury so far happened to my dad last week. He had been working up on a ladder when it decided to break, sending him falling 8 or so feet down to the very hard concrete & stone landing. Thankfully his instincts (and God's grace!) kicked in and he remembered to roll as he fell. From what I understand he took the brunt of the impact on his right shoulder & wrist (spraining his wrist) and then spread out the rest of the pain all over his body including bruised ribs etc. The other men were very concerned that he would have internal bleeding, but praise the Lord, there was nothing that serious! It has taken him the better part of the week to heal and is still unable to fully use his right arm. On top of this his arthritis has been pretty bad so it's really slowed him down. Not to worry there are several women on station (including myself) who have been harrasing him daily to see how he's doing and ensure he's taking his medicine. :)
The Canadian team is leaving tomorrow with the exception of a few guys (my dad included) who are sticking around for another week or so. The whole back of the dorm (sorry don't know how big that is) is now complete, which was the biggest part of the job as they had to rebuild it. From what I understand, the front part is more structuraly sound and so they are mainly just replacing the steel sheets. Please continue to pray for their safety, especially as we are now entering the end of the rainy season which can bring some pretty fiercesome storms!

On the classroom side of things I have been continuing to struggle along bringing my kids up to 'snuff'. As I write the report cards (today and this week) it is somewhat encouraging to see how far some of them have come already. Although it is also discouraging to see that some are still really struggling with the basics. One little boy will not be coming back next term as it has been decided (by all the staff) that he is simply not mature enough. We have had trouble with him both in the classroom and dorm with wetting/messing in his pants and bed. among other things. Please pray for him and his family as they hear and process this news.

It's hard to think of what else has been keeping me so busy! Well, maybe I'll remember more later. Right now I need to finish up some report cards!

weekend exciment!

Some pretty exciting things have happened this past weekend.

1) Saturday morning I discovered most of my kids can spell simple words! Ok, this may not be exciting to you, but to me it means that they have actually learned something and the past 6 weeks have not been for nothing. :) of course this excitment was soon over-ruled by the fact that a few hours later...
2) my dad arrived! i couldn't concentrate at all during home ec time (good thing we weren't cooking this week!)poor kids, i even dragged them up to the airstrip with me to meet the plane. most of my students have been waiting excitedly for my dad to come as well, but not that he's here they're all rather shy. i guess he's a little intimidating? The men in the kitchen were quite excited to see my father as well as it's been a long time since they saw him last. I'm sure today he will be meeting some of the maintenance guys who he used to work with and will be working with again over the next 5-6 weeks.
3) the third exciting thing kind of ties in with the 2nd as my dad brought a bunch of goodies with him in his many suitcases. (praise the Lord he didn't have much trouble despite traveling with 4 bags!) thank you to everyone who chipped in to send some of the stuff out. I have to say i didn't really get excited about the tools, but i'm sure they will be put to good use here. the chips and chocolate bars, however, were very welcome! :) the best treat sent tho' was the oatmeal choc chip cookies made by my mom and nephews... talk about a little taste of home... mmmm!:D

well, the weekend is over and we're back to the daily grind. i'm hoping my amazingly brilliant students of saturday are still around and still remember... it's always a little frustrating when you think they've mastered something only to find out it was a fluke.

ttfn!

From ABC's to Reading Week

Nothing really 'new' to report, back to the day to day 'grind'. If anyone has any brilliant ideas on how to help students better learn letter and number recognition; i'm all ears! i have a few students who are still really struggling with this. The biggest problem I have to overcome this year is undoing the stuff they were taught wrong and re-teaching it the correct way. It's quite frustrating for all involved as they feel they have already learned this and want to move on; where as I'd also love to move on, I can't until they have actually learned it properly. That being said, its quite exciting watching those who have learned their alphabet, but it together and form words. Right now at school we are having a reading competition (Reading Week) to encourage the kids who aren't so keen on reading to really dive in. Of course this means the kids that already appreaciate reading are constantly lost in books. Its very common these days to see students wandering around with their head in a book, completely oblivious to their surroundings. As the grade ones can't yet read, they are to get others to read to them. I'm glad to see the older students helping out in this way too. it's quite cute to see 3 or 4 grade ones packed in around a 5th or 6th grader listening intently to a book. Maybe this will encourage them to start reading too!

quick update on work permit

The Lord has shown His awesomeness once again! Last time I wrote I was planning to drive down to Lusaka to take care of my work permit however, the Lord worked it out so I didn't have to go in person. I was able to send my paperwork down on a plane and now I'm just praying it will be all taken care of on Wednesday! So that Thursday I am able to take the receipt in to our local Immigration officer and get a temperary extension until all the paperwork is processed. Your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Unplanned Roadtrip

Well as usual the days had all sort of blurred together for the past few weeks until Thursday I found myself looking at the calender and realizing I had exactly 7 days to get my new work permit or I'd be illegally in the country! You may ask why I waited so long, well, I have been working at getting all the paperwork together but with teaching and living in a 3rd world country it is not always quick and easy to do! On top of that, when I left the country in December, the plan was to leave my paperwork in Lusaka for it to get renewed... quick and easy. Unfortunatly the new goverment decided to screw up my plans. I am now not able to renew but need an entirely new one, which means I needed a new form, pictures etc. It's also not as easy to get someone who can certify documents here, especially when the Immigrations officer is never in his office. Anywho, he was tracked down today and said that he is not able to issue a 'report order' (sort of like a temp ext.) unless I have a receipt, which of course I don't. This means that I have to get my paperwork to Lusaka and in the system by Thursday... yikes! So tomorrow after lunch I'll be making my way south. We're hoping that I'll be able to leave my stuff in Chingola (1/2 way) with the man who usually takes care of this stuff for us. However, if he's not planning on going to Lusaka next week, then I'll be heading all the way down. Not a drive I really want to make in the rainy season... but one that seems nescessary.

On a possitive note, some of my students are slowing starting to get a hang of the whole 'reading' idea which is very encouraging. Others are a bit slower but we made some good progress today. We discovered that the one girl who has been having a lot of trouble learns songs rather quickly. So Hannah has been making up songs with actions and such to help her remember her letters and numbers. I'm hoping this will be a big breakthrough.


Well, must get back to figuring out the plans for the next few days.