Once again avoiding work..

I am 'taking a break' from report cards at the moment (AKA avoiding); I've actually got all the marks in, which is the easy part. (Well, once I'd sorted out the new report card format! - there was a LOT of baking going on to relieve the stress caused by that on Friday)Now comes the part i totally detest... writing the comments! i know it's important for the parents, it's one of the only ways of communicating with some of them. it's just so hard to write all that needs to be said in the space provided. sometimes the hard part is trying to think of how many different ways you can politely say 'your child is lazy and needs to get their butt in gear'. my goal is to get all my report cards done by thursday night so that i'll have friday to pack (lina and i need to ship our suitcases down to lusaka earlier then we fly) and the weekend to relax/ work on my lines for the play.

The play is coming along quite well, i'm mostly frustrated with myself and my sieve-like brain that can't seems to remember my lines as soon as i stand up on stage. i know lina's rather stressed over the music end of things (and her lines) but i think the kids seem to be doing quite well.. but then i'm not musical so ... :)

Tomorrow the 3 TA's fly out around breakfast time, so it's back to just me in the classroom. I've been slowly working in more Christmas crafts and less work so it shouldn't be too bad. the kids are starting to get antsy though and it's getting harder to keep them in control. i TOTALLY understand how they feel, i don't really want to be in the classroom any more either. unfortunately we don't get much of a choice there. i really only have Tues-Thurs full class days, a few periods on Friday and Saturday and then Monday and Tuesday are only 1/2 days as we have play rehearsels. yahoo! Lina and i have already been planning out what we're going to do/buy as soon as we get to Lusaka. high on our list is going to the new cafe or any restaurant really!

please pray for
1) the parents as they drive up on Wednesday and home on Thurs. we've been getting a lot of rain so there will be bad patches on the road, especially if a storm hits that day.
2) the end of term program will go well, but more importantly will touch the lives of those who hear it as they hear the true meaning of Christmas
3) of course for safe traveling for myself and Lina as well. we fly out of Sakeji next Thurs Lina leaves Lusaka on Fri and I leave on Sun (arriving home Mon).

ok, now back to work i go!

counting down again!

What a crazy day it's been, and it's only 11am! The end of term insanity is officially beginning.
This morning at breakfast i was asked to interview a potential grade 2 student. i had no problem with doing this except that i have never done the grade 2 interviews and am unfamiliar with the process/tests etc. on top of that, i had to re-vamp my morning plans (which i had actually done in advance for once!) so that i could get one of the TA's to supervise my class. i spent 15 mins running around looking for the people i needed and finally gave up and wrote them a note on the blackboard, which thankfully worked out ok.
the interview went fairly well (considering i didn't know what i was doing and the girl was pretty nervous) but it took much longer then i expected so i didn't get through all i had wanted to do. after the interview i went back to my classroom and proceeded with the usual classroom mayhem. (actually they were fairly well behaved this morn). 45 mins later (tea time) i was in desparate need of a cup of tea but was only able to get down about 1/2 a mug (it was really hot!)before i had to run out to get the truck to pick up Bethany from Ikelenge. Today was the first day of grade 9 national exams. as we only have 1 grade 9 student she had to go to the local highschool to sit her tests. Bethany Fuller went with her to keep her company in between tests (hour long break) because she's she and it's her first day. please pray for her this week as she not only has the pressure of the exams, but apparently the students from the local highschool are pressuring her for answers as they figure she should know them b/c she's from Sakeji.
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it's now 6:30 pm and I'm just getting around to finishing my blog. i was supposed to pick Kahalu up but due to the problems she was having our headmaster went in to talk with the headmaster from Ikelenge school and let him know what was going on. apparently it will be 'sorted' tomorrow. we're not holding our breath about it tho'. the rest of my day flew by rather quickly. my class was excited to find out that the Brownies they had written to in England had replied. So we spent the afternoon classes working on writing back to our penpals. the kids were excited about this for several reasons: 1) usually only the senior classes get penpals and 2) it meant they didn't have to do creative writing. :) (not their favourite subject).
i keep forgetting that i am in charge of 'senior girls games' on mondays. so after school i was racking my brain trying to think of something to do with them. however, phil towse asked if we could do 'swiches' (meaning i got the senior boys instead). although i wouldn't normally be pleased with this it actually made my descision easier. they've been drilling on rugby all term so they were over then moon when i suggested we play football (aka soccer).

now i'm back in the class trying to get some marking done and my report card grades all tallied up (so i'll be ahead of the game for once). and plan for tomorrow as i have another interview. i think i've figured out what my 'sub' can do with the class. hopefully she'll be able to reign them in tho'! must go if i'm gonna get all that done as i also have to drill my lines for end of term program tonight. sigh. i just keep telling myself that we're almost done! 13 class days left!

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…

back in the groove

We have been back at school for a whole week now and I have to say I'm quite impressed with the way my students are adapting to our new schedule of having both grades together all the time. Apart from the classroom being a little louder then I like (which is to be expected), things are working out rather smoothly. It's funny how quickly we fall back into the routines.

My students are currently studying 'animals' in science class and have been keeping my on my toes with some great questions. i however have not been able to answer them all and was wondering if anyone can answer this one:

"How come an oppossum (and bat) can hang upside down and all the blood doesn't rush to it's head like it would in a human?"

The obvious answer is that they're created differently but that wasn't a satisfying answer for them. :S

We also had an interesting discussion today about angels and demons. It's crazy what their little minds can come up with and yet they can't get their minds around (what we might consider) "simple" math or language promblems. Kids sure keep life interesting! :)

Nothing too exciting planned for this week so I might not blog for awhile...

off to a good start!

Our first day went well... for grade 1 & 2 it's really just a reminder of the rules, checking out the "new" things in the classroom (which includes a computer this term... we'll see how long that lasts) and getting to know each other again. It's only 1/2 a day of classes so we spent a lovely afternoon swimming, splashing and generally having fun at the pool and river. the water was freezing but the sun was so warm it felt rather refreshing.:) we ended the day by finishing up the movie "Milo and Otis" which the kids started on Tuesday night. Overall a good day.

Today however is when the real work begins. Right into class work and such this morning. We'll see how it goes having both grades in the classroom at all times...