Exhaustion sets in...

Last Wednesday was the official half-way point in the term which meant Mon & Tues were 1/2 term break. It was fairly relaxing, especially as it followed my weekend off. It was almost like having 4 days off in a row! Glad I got those days because since then it's been non-stop! At least that is how it feels! The weekend was full of swimming and other supervision duties, 2 Sunday school classes (morning and afternoon) and a weekend of dish duty in the dining hall. I have also picked up 2 more class periods of teaching in which I am helping a few children in grades 2 & 3 who are behind in their reading skills. I didn't think it was going to be that big a deal, but I now realize that I now have 3 days in a row with no breaks from breakfast (7am) until after supper dishes (6:30pm)! I do have 'rest hour' but as I have no prep class it is mostly being used for prep stuff. What was I thinking?! Having just reached the end of the 3rd tiring, I feel completely wiped out! To add to the 'fun' I'm fighting off a cold which the students have so generously shared. I think I'm going to have a long bath and then head to bed with a good book! Praise the Lord, tomorrow is Friday and I have the afternoon OFF! SOO looking forward to a LONG nap... before walking over to the orphanage of course. Only 4 more weeks of the term... will I make it?

Grade 1 Class - 2015

It's well past time I update this as I have now been back almost a month! My new class is great! We have our issues from time to time, but I'm enjoying them so far. I have 6 girls and 3 boys this year which is almost exactly opposite to last year's class.

On our first full day of classes we had a little lizard visit our classroom. He was attached to the side of one of the desks. I flicked him off and he promptly scurried under my chair. I wasn't totally okay with this either as I was sure I was going to step on him or something. Eventually I scooped him up on a paper and deposited him outside on the windowsill. Half and hour later I found him in this position ON the window.

Last Tuesday was our first time going into the School Library. The kids were quite excited because it is in Upper School (where the senior's classes are). I'm not sure how excited they will be this week.

I guess that's about all for now. The current weather here is rain, rain and a little more rain. That's to be expected of course being that it's rainy season. I think it has rained every day since we arrived back with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions. Although the sun comes out for part of the day, it would be nice to see a little more of it!

Trip back part 2

I'm finally back in Zambia! Didn't think I'd survive. Started to feel queasy on the last leg of the trip but I think it was just the waiting in the plane and basically being on the plane for 36 hours! The last leg was only 45 mins and I was too tired to keep my eyes open, but too uncomfortable to sleep. I would have spread out on the extra seats, but they were filled in Harare so no luck there. PTL none of us had trouble at customs and ALL of our bags arrived, although we were beginning to wonder about one of Bethany's bags. It took at least an hour and 1/2 to get through customs, grab our bags and head out. With a "quick" stop at the ATM and a phone store to pick up my new SIM card (having lost my phone in Rome this summer After dropping our stuff at the flight house and washing the "plane grime" off we headed into town for supper at Mug & Bean. We didn't do any shopping other than stopping at the grocery store to buy some milk. The rest of the evening Lina and I spent catching up on the last 6 months. Our flight to Sakeji was at 8am this morning which wasn't too bad. Thankfully I remembered to put on my medicinal patch so I'd defiantly have been sick on the flight as it was not smooth. We drove through clouds and rain the whole way back. Bruce tried to go above or below the clouds but they kept finding us. I was able to snooze a bit so the 3.5 hour flight went by pretty quickly. Jill fed us a yummy lunch and then I came home to unpack my suitcases and boxes and get my house in order again! I will head into my classroom tomorrow and start prepping it for the coming term which starts on the 12th.

trip back part 1

It has been a LONG trip and it’s not over yet. The flight from Toronto to Addis Ababa was way too long and uncomfortable! I usually take the window seat so I can lean against it and try to sleep. I don’t usually get up much during the flight so it doesn’t matter much. When I booked my seats for this flight I didn’t think about the fact that this flight was longer than my usual flight to London. The middle seat was occupied by an elderly lady who didn’t speak English and expected me to crawl over her to get out. Very awkward! I didn’t get ANY sleep and had very little tea which meant that my head was pounding by the end of the trip. I did finish a mitten I was knitting and got started on the second one. Maybe by the time I get to Sakeji I’ll have a pair done. As our first flight left an hour late we missed out transfer flight… sort of. I’m not sure if they delayed our connection or put us on another plane. Either way we were herded onto various buses and driven to planes that were waiting for us. I was assured that my luggage was going to make the same flight, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. I just hope it arrives before we fly to Sakeji. The second flight (Addis Ababa – Harare) was much nicer! I had 3 seats to myself :) and was able to snooze a bit. It was a much shorter flight (only about 3 hours). I am currently in my seat(s) as the cleaning crew cleans and the gas guys refuel the plane for the final leg of the journey (Harare – Lusaka) this is also a short flight (we actually flew over Zambia to get to Zimbabwe). I am praying this flight goes smoothly as well as customs in Lusaka. It would also be very nice to see my luggage waiting for me! From Lusaka Bethany and I will catch a cab to the CMML Guest House where we’ll join Lina for the night. I can’t wait to have a shower and crawl into bed!

Heading Back

I can't believe my furlough is now over. It started out moving so slowly but I'm not sure where the last 3 months went! If all goes according to plan I fly tomorrow (Tues) just before noon. I won't arrive in Lusaka until Thursday (3 flights to get there this time)and fly up to Sakeji a day or two later. Although it's been a busy time here, because it was a change of scene, it has been relaxing enough that I feel re-charged and ready to take on a new year and a new group of kids. Schools starts up again on the 12th (if I remember right) so i'll have to get right into planning lessons and organizing my classroom! So how am I spending my last night in Canada? Watching the Canada vs Russia hockey game of course. I'm not usually one to watch hockey but it'll be the last time I get to cheer for Canada on Canadian soil for awhile so why not. :) Not sure when i'll get on next but Happy New Year. Let's see what God has in store for 2015!

not-so-set routines

It's hard to believe I've been back in Canada for almost 3 months already! My life has finally settled into a routine (of sorts). Monday I have a class in the afternoon/evening. Tuesday and Thursday I work for the Engineering firm I was working for before I left Canada. Wednesday and the weekends vary from week to week. I usually do errands on Wednesday with/for my Grandma or else I try and get caught up on my school work. The weekends have been my times to travel and catch up with friends and family. I have been north (to Sudbury) several times to help out with my Mom's new alpaca farm. I was in Huntsville for my Grandpa's funeral. I have been in Toronto to speak at a Ladies Group and I am currently in New York (state) visiting with my friend Hannah who taught at Sakeji for 2 years. The drive down was pretty easy. It's a 6 hr drive (give or take) but I broke it up by stopping at my sister's place in Harrowsmith overnight. When leaving the next morning I forgot to add some time for the boarder crossing so ended up meeting Hannah 40 mins later then planned. The boarder guard wasn't so sure about letting me in when he found out I'd been in Africa recently. He wasn't mean, just wary. ***sigh*** I wish people would figure out that Africa is a HUGE CONTINENT and not a country. I wanted to tell him that I had more risk of getting the Ebola by entering New York (as there are apparently cases reported here) then they did because I was in Zambia. However, I held my tongue and tried instead to explain that Zambia was not at risk and was in fact thousands of miles from the countries affected. I know of course that it doesn't mean it CAN'T travel there (it has reached the US after all) but it IS unlikely. I did eventually get through and was able to reach Saranac Lake with no further issues (other than trying to figure out the speed limit). Unfortunately I won't be able to stay here more the 24 hours as I have class tomorrow; although 10 years ago I probably would have skipped without giving it a second thought. So tomorrow is back to the weekly routine for a few weeks. Not sure what's happening next weekend, but the one after that is going to be crazy busy! Then I'll be off to Mexico for a week (skipping both work and school :D - it was bound to happen sometime) with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. It will be nice to relax and hang out with them, although I have a paper due when I get back, so will probably not be relaxing too much! Well, I must go check out of the hotel and see if I can find my way to Hannah's house for a pancake breakfast and a day of exploring. :)

culture shock

Finally settling in 'back home' in Guelph. Home is a word I use rather liberally. now that I'm back in Canada I use it to describe Zambia. When I was in Italy I used it when talking about our hotel room. Anyhow, I'm back at my Grandmother's house in Guelph and should be here until about 1/2 way through December. It's been an interesting last few weeks, always have some culture shock to deal with when returning. This time, as I was travelling first, I had the deal with culture shock in Italy as well. Even after driving in Zambia for 5 years, I was totally unprepared for the maniac drivers in Italy. I'm so glad I didn't rent a car although riding in a bus and taking a cab wasn't much better! The other thing I was unprepared for was the amount of smokers. They were everywhere and as I was already dealing with a cold, the smoke did not help my allergies and asthma. Thank you Canada for having smoking laws and Zambia for not having many smokers! It was weird coming back to my parent's place as seeing it as a working farm. they have had other animals (goats & fowl) before but now they actually have a tractor! I got to drive the tractor a few times, which was kinda fun, but I am still no farm girl! Guelph has changed so much, even since last summer (although I wasn't here enough to notice too much before). There's so many new building and some of the stores/restaurants etc have changed but I think I can find my way around ok as long as I don't have to go into any of the new subdivisions. The biggest change though for me is the technology. I know that sounds funny as I've only been gone a few years but man did I feel like an old lady the other day when I was trying to buy a phone! I haven't had a new phone in probably 8 years but as my phone has disappeared (with my luggage in Europe) I had to get a replacement. I pretty much knew nothing about smart phones and tablets, except that they existed. The guy at Staples was very helpful and didn't laugh at me once despite my stupid questions. I am now the proud confused owner of a smart phone. I'm slowly figuring out how to use it, but if you get a strange txt or call from me, I appoligize, the phone has a mind of it's own!