Now I know what it's like to be on House Arrest!

The picture to the left shows a man in a canoe "paddling" through the crowd.  The Candidate Michael Sata (PF) has a slogan based on Noah's Ark and so everyone apart of his campaign does the rowing thing.  Funny.... but kind of weird. ha.


Today is Thursday September 22, 2011.  Today marks the third straight day of sitting in the house.  On Tuesday the 20^th, we held Presidential Elections for the country of Zambia and since then we have been waiting for the results.  Government schools were canceled through today but we were supposed to go back and teach on Wednesday.  As you now know, we have been in the house for 3 days and therefore we were not able to go back to school.  The first day or so had been relatively calm around us, as many people are just longing and waiting for change.  Now, on Thursday, people are getting riled up and they are tried of waiting.  The current president, who is also in the running’s for another term, had promised that it would be quick and to the point.  Now, many Zambians feel as though he is trying to play a game with them and they are getting anxious and impatient.

In our city today there were riots and people were beginning to break out!  Many people began stoning and lighting things on fire such as cars and stores.  There are a few cities that have been completely closed down because it is too dangerous for people to be out and about.  The buses are not running and they are asking people to stay put.  There have been threats made that if the president is not announced by 18:00 hours tonight, that students and other folks are going to break out in mass chaos.  People are tired of waiting and many are getting worried that the government is corrupting the elections.  The people have spoken and they are proclaiming that Zambia will be in fire if the elections get tampered with.  Many of the people have boughten and brought their own pens to fill out their ballots with because they are worried that the ink provided by the government will bleed onto a different candidate or will make their ballot not valid.  Corruption is key to the success of the presidency here, or so many believe.

As for Sara and I, we are ok.  No matter what you read or hear from the news, we are just fine.  Where we live is just outside of the city and therefore we are not in direct contact with the chaos.  Hope Fellowship is taking great care of us and we have stocked up on water and food in case we need it.  They have been very clear with us on what we must do (not leaving the house) and must not do (vocally support a presidential candidate).  Otherwise, Sara and I have been somewhat efficient over the last three days but it is coming to the point where we are ready to GET OUT!  We have planned out the after-school program for the next 8-weeks, created lesson plans for the next two, done laundry, watched a handful of movies, learned a lot about Zambia through consistent watching of the news as well as conversation, and Marvin leaves for school on Sunday, so it has been really nice to spend a good amount of time with him!

This will be a running blog seeing how we are not able to get Internet at this time.  We are hoping that they will announce the winner tonight and things will be back to normal soon.  We ask that you pray for peace and understanding; that God may have His way in these elections, as He is the only one that can create the CHANGE some Zambian people are looking for.  Please continue to pray for us as well as the people of Zambia as many have been hurt and we are not sure what will come from the announcing of the Presidency.  THANK YOU!

....................

It is official!!!!  At 00:53 hours on Thursday night Friday morning they announced our new President Mr. Michael Sata!  When they announced the winner the city began chanting and shouting.  Everyone went to their porches and and started whistling and chanting "Don't Kubaba"!!!!  We headed outside to where the party was and people were gather in numbers.  The boys were running around the complex with drums and horns.  They started ripping down Banda (who is the other candidate) pastors and burning them.  It looked almost like a Indian Tribal Dance!  They had this fire going of election propaganda and they were circling it dancing and singing.  After a short time in our complex area they took off running.  They ran all around town in numbers of the hundreds.  They ran in the middle of the road simply going CRAZY!  At about 03:00 hours (3 am), everyone was back home in our house and they were talking talking talking and I thought it would never end.  I fell asleep on the floor and Marvin woke me up at 04:45 hours and showed me to my bed.  The next day... Friday was spent all day watching the TV once again.  This time it was actually interesting and exciting.  The old president/also candidate said a good-bye message and then they issued in the new man!!!!  It was really fun to watch and definitely be apart of the process but man.... did it take a long time!  It is nice to have things transitioning back to normal and hopefully get back in the groove of things.  I ask you still pray for the Republic of Zambia as people here have high hopes for this new president and I hope he can live up to them.  We are not fully out of the clear but looks really great!

LOVE, SLE!

Title-less

                 Muli Shawni all! Well here it comes, the post I promised earlier bragging about my ever so wonderful students! If I talked about the whole week I would be writing just way too much, so let’s just focus on Thursday and Friday.

                  I don’t believe I told many of you, but this past month two business students from Stanford University, Claudine and David, were working with Spark and Hope to kinda track Hope’s progress and help them out on the whole business front of their organization. It was great working with these two, and it already feels emptier at the office without them.                  

                ANYWAYS, since Thursday would be one of their last days, they offered to come to school to read with Stacey and my students. My students love books. I bring a few stacks in every day that they can pull from if they finish their work early, or if we have a few free minutes before lunch or break. Now many cannot understand what they are reading, and some can’t even tell what word they are looking at, but they don’t care. It is just such a commodity to have a bright, clean, colorful book in their hands and once they pick it up its quite hard to get them to put it back down so lessons can continue. Hehe. This being said, I was understandably stoked to have two extra resources in Claudine and David at hand for reading. Teacher Judy and I split our class into four groups according to skill level, and I then pulled a few books for each group that would be up to par, if not a little challenging. I then placed each adult with a group, taking the students that struggle the most for myself. Not gonna lie, I was not so sure as to how this whole reading thing would play out, but I can say for myself it was extremely fulfilling. Yes, many students in my group struggled with any word more difficult than “the”, “that”, or “and”. Yes, a few were only able to repeat a sentence after I read it. Yes, there were some very frustrating moments in that hour, but looking back it still only makes me smile. Can you imagine, one student reading a few lines out of a story book while eight others eagerly crowd around trying to see and sound out words as well, waiting not so patiently for their turn to come? Precious. Towards the end of the hour, after struggling through two stories, I was making my way towards closing the afternoon when I heard dear Elizabeth’s voice pipe up over the noise of children reading. “Teacher Sara, can we read one more book?” Why of course Elizabeth, I would love to read one more book with you. I mean, really, how could I deny her? This is a girl who basically refuses to read out loud in class, often looks disinterested, and giggles at me if I try to ask her a question so to have her ASK for more work blew my mind.

                  I thought Thursday couldn’t get any better, but of course I was wrong again. That evening at Hope House they had a closing meal for Claudine and David, and Stacey and I were lucky enough to attend as well. The power in all of Ndola blew for a few hours, so the evening started in candle light. You might think this would just be horrible, but it was actually quite beautiful. The kids from the orphanage belted out songs in the dark, and I think Ba Charles was quite right in stating it was good the lights were out so we didn’t have to see one another’s tears (though for once I wasn’t the one crying!). Thankfully the power turned back on during dinner so Stacey and I could challenge the girls from Hope to an EXTREME game of Twister. You know Twister…”left hand red, right foot blue”. Pretty calm, yes? Not the way we were playing. Hehe. There was some serious pushing, tickling, and even a little butt smacking going on in our game. We were laughing so hard at one point I couldn’t move, let alone breath. These going away dinners, while so much fun, are already making me dread the day my turn comes around. Is it too late to change my mind and stay an extra few months?

                  I think I’ll not talk about the craziness of showing up to work on Friday to find most of the teachers gone and therefore just jumping into the seventh grade classroom and teaching them from scratch. Yeah, it was kinda rough. Stacey and I that day also had the genius idea of combining our two

classrooms (which turned into three classrooms since I had 7^th grade as well) in the afternoon for a little gym time relay racing. It was a hot, loud, fun mess. We had them running, wheelbarrow racing, skipping, hopping, and my favorite….cart wheeling. I forgot how much fun gym time is. I think I look forward to Friday afternoons more than my students!

                  Well this week just started, so I guess the bragging can stop there. Presidential elections are tomorrow so there is no school as President Banda declared it a holiday. I don’t really expect trouble, but prayer for peace in Zambia during this hyped up time would still be much appreciated.

Loves!

Sara

So I have spent a lot of time thinking these last few days.  I have been thinking about the idea of blessing.  If I am honest, I love life here and I am having such a blast but I also had a count down running of my time here.  I don’t know what it is but I love being here and many of you may not really understand that.  Like when I say I love being here, I LOVE IT!  We have so much fun and I love our family so much.  I long for the times when we are able to go home and hangout with the family.   There is never a dull moment at the house through conversation, dancing, joking, Korean Soap Opera’s…  it is VERY GOOD but I miss people from home so incredibly much. 

Last night Savour, Marvin, Sara, and myself had a conversation about struggle, poor vs. rich, lifestyles, goals and priorities and it made me think a lot.  I went to bed very unsettled and frustrated simply because I wish I knew how both sides of the spectrum worked.  Here, people compare the US and Africa a lot and I am sure we do that in the States as well but to me, it is so difficult to compare them.  The lifestyles and abilities in life are so drastically different that I can’t wrap my mind around how to compare them.  I know and see the differences!  I am not trying to be an ignorant person and “judge” any group of people it is just a hard conversation to have.  I can own and recognize that I am very blessed and so then I began thinking about the term blessed.  I began thinking about what that actually means “to be blessed” and if all I have blesses me, what does that mean for others or does material and what I have not even constitute as blessing?  When looking up the definition of blessing, the Oxford dictionary says: to ask God to look favorably over you; to glorify; and an attribute to one’s good luck to make happy or successful.  After reading through these, I feel more confused at how one can be blessed and one not so blessed.  If God is the one that distributes blessing, then why are others not as blessed as I am?  If God distributes blessing and favor, why do we have kids dying of malnutrition here, right down the street from me!  Many may say that God is choosing or God is withholding blessing but I don’t believe that to be truth.  Throughout our whole conversation last night, the only thing I could think of was blessing outside of material.  I couldn’t help but think about the people I met the first time I traveled to Zambia.

The first time I traveled to Zambia, I met people and spent time with families that were filled with unspeakable joy and hope that I had never seen before.  I had conversations with folks who knew more about life and the real look on life than many people I am in everyday relationship with.  I left Zambia the first time in awe of life here.  I left the first time so struck by the happiness of people, even those people who had nothing, but celebrated life because they were blessed to be living.  I believe my view on life had then changed and my trust in God’s provision grew stronger.  My priorities went from knowing what I want to only having what I need.  I began understanding more and more that money will not satisfy and even though we say it a lot, actually understanding that more money does not create happiness.  I believe I became more and more comfortable living with what I had and less and less worried about what I don’t have.  Now, I came back to revisit this challenge of blessing and the fact that I have a hard time understanding life here because I am very blessed as a white American girl.  I am struggling because I know how I feel and I know what I believe.  I told Marvin last night that I am convinced that if one continue to work hard, they will be fine, taken care of, and shown favor and his response was… you just don’t really understand that it doesn’t always work like that.  He told me that he could go to college and get out to get a job but still struggle to have his own house and living a well supported life.  We were talking about how much things cost in America and he was changing it into Kwatcha (Zambian Money).  It is very interesting to hear life stories about other places around the world and it challenges you to question and check yourself.

So, this is an unfinished blog because I donno

Love You All,  SLE

TwO BoTsWaNa!!!!

          Last week we had quite the adventure.  Sara was not able to get her visa stamped in time and therefore she was forced to leave the country.  I was not forced but offered to travel with her because I thought it would be fun to see another country and after the first 20 hours on the bus, I started to question my decision.  We went to school on Wednesday and taught for a half-a-day and then left early to grab lunch and hit the bus.  We left Ndola at 1:15pm and arrived in Luska at 6:00pm.  We quickly got off the bus, paid to use the bathroom ($1,000k), grabbed some dinner, and got back on the bus for the next leg of the journey.  We left Luska and started our overnight to Livingstone.  In Livingstone we jumped another bus and headed to Kazungula where we arrived at 7:00am.  After hours and hours on the bus we got off and stepped into the frigid winter of the morning.  IT WAS SOOOOO COLD, I was literally looking for the snow!  We then loaded a boat that transports cargo and people from Zambia to three other countries: Botswana, Namibia, and Mozambique. 

          While in Botswana we went on a boat cruise safari from a local resort called Chobe Marine Lodge (my new honeymoon destination).  We took the sunset cruise with eight other people, four from South Africa and four originally from Canada.  During the safari we saw baboons, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, giraffes, and tons of birds!  The other people we traveled with had a weird obsession with birds and we had to stop and look at EVERY ONE that flew by us.  As we were completing our safari the sun was setting and it was SOOOOO beautiful; probably one of the most beautiful things I have seen in a long time!

          After the safari we went and had dinner, we found these huge bags of Cheetos (1kg and 4kg bags), and then got slightly harassed by a man carrying a dead fish!  I am not gonna lie, he made me real nervous and so I ran into KFC because there was a security guard at the door that stopped him from coming at us.  Who would have thought that one could be so happy to see KFC?  :o)  We went back to the Kanga Guest House and slept for what had seemed like the first time in days.  The next morning we checked out at 7:30am and crossed back into Zambia.  We headed up to Livingstone to visit the Victoria Falls.

          The Falls were so pretty as well.  I have never experienced something like the falls and I just felt so blessed to stand at a historical landmark like that where you meet people from all over the world.  Victoria Falls is a place that you can’t help but stand and bask in the amazement of God and His creation!  Because it is the dry season right now, the Falls were very small and we were able to walk along the top rocks.  As we were playing in the water, our guide Mambwe was nervous we were gonna fall in or get hurt so he watched us closely.  Little did we know, he started to enjoy the water himself, maybe even a little too much, because soon after he slipped and fell in two different times.  Haha.  He got up as everyone was laughing and shouted, “I have been baptized… TWICE!”  Good thing that was the last thing we needed to see at the Falls because Mambwe was so wet and had to then travel in his wet corduroy pants and long sleeve flannel shirt.  On the way out of the Falls a nice man with a slingshot and large stick escorted us because they were afraid the baboons might attack us to steal our Cheetos!  NO JOKE!  The baboons were just running around, doing their thing, and when we walked by a handful of them stopped and stared at us.  It was crazy cool!  For the rest of Friday we hung out and then caught the 8:00pm bus back home to Ndola.  We arrived back home in Ndola at 11:00am Saturday morning.  After coming back home, we spent the rest of the weekend with our family.  We danced, sang, and watched Walk The Line.  You all better watch out; I am learning some serious African Dance here!  The number one style of dance here is called the pelvic thrust (PTP)! Haha.  Everyone here is a pro at the pelvic thrust and I simply look like a fool but soon enough you all will want me to teach you!  JUST WAIT… specially you Karna, Kara, and Laura! ;o)

          So far things here are going well.  School is really great but so much work.  I feel like we have been given a great deal of responsibility both in the classroom as well as with the after-school program and it just makes me nervous.  I want to do my very best but I feel a lot of pressure to do GREAT things, if you know what I mean. Our days are long but packed with things we love to do. 

Quick example: Today I discovered a girl in my class who does not talk, write, or read.  It is very bad of me but with 40 kids, it is hard to keep track of them all.  While the students were working on group projects in math, I noticed that Mellan was not participating.  I told her multiple times both in English and in Bemba that she needed to participate and then my co-teacher finally informed me that she doesn’t understand much.  I quickly got frustrated that no one had informed me and that no one does anything for her.  She has been at our school since first grade and she doesn’t do anything!  So, after switching my frustration and anger to sadness, I pulled her aside and we began writing the alphabet together.  After school I asked the teachers about her and no one really had any answers.  They asked me to diagnose her and do what I could but that is it.  It is was really hard to talk to the teachers because I wanted to sit them down and ask why they keep moving her along if she is not capable of completing the work; I wanted to ask them what they thought was going to happen when she needs to take the government test in 7^th grade and all we have done is pass her along; I wanted to ask them how they imagined her future and what they could see her doing as an adult trying to survive, and then I had to keep myself in check.  I had to sit back and realize that I am not in the States and education here is much different.  I had to realize that they don’t have special teachers who are able to work one-on-one with students that need extra help and it is not as easy to simply diagnose a problem and fix it at the drop of a hat.  Today was a big eye opener for me because I felt my first real, raw, honest emotion about the differences and issues here in Zambia.  Today I was challenged to take my struggle and turn it into energy and power to change something.  I have a feeling that today was only the beginning.  I get excited for work tomorrow because I will sit with Mellan with great hope and expectation that new things with come from her!  As we continue, I will keep you posted.

Prayer Requests:  * Please keep our host family and their friends in your prayers.  One of their friends Joann, her mom passed away yesterday.  They live in our building and Joann & Savour (our sister) are friends from school.

                                * Please pray for our water.  We have not had water at the school or the orphanage since last week Monday because a pipe has broken.  Because of this issue, we were not able to serve lunch last week at the school and the after-school program has not been able to run either.

                                * Please pray for safe travels as our friends, David and Claudine, from Stanford University leave this week.  They have been here for the last month doing research on behalf of Spark.

Love, SLE

Week long adventure in a few days...why not?

    Wednesday afternoon Stacey, our wonderful guide Ba Mambwe, and myself boarded the 13.30 bus for Botswana, Africa. I don’t think either of us poor abusungu’s knew quite what was in store for us. The first leg of the journey was actually pretty nice, though I don’t think anyone else in the bus really appreciated ‘Con Air’ except for Stacey and me. Positive the second, third, and fourth legs would go just as smoothly as the first, I was stoked getting back on the bus after a short dinner break in Lusaka. Boy was I wrong. Ten hours of LOUD African music later with little to no sleep and we were in finally Bostwana though.

    Ba Mambwe promptly took us to Nkanga guest house to quickly freshen up and then we were off again to exchange our money, book a boat safari, and EAT.  Our host brother, Marvin, is OBSESSED with Kentucky Fried Chicken, so much so that he wants to visit Kentucky solely for the chance of a little KFC. Therefore, when Stacey eyed the KFC in Botswana we were sure to capture the moment in pictures, not to mention chomp down on a chicken wing or two. It’s funny, in the States I steer clear from places like KFC, but the little American culture never tasted so good this weekend. However, I think I was actually more excited to find Greek yogurt and crisp bread. If anyone out there wants to send me a care package some crisp bread would be highly appreciated. Hehe

    Okay, enough about food. The real joy in Botswana was the boat cruise we took through Chobe Marina Lodge. Oh this place was simply gorgeous! If you are looking for a honeymoon local *cough Grace and Carlos cough*, or you are just loaded with money and want a Holiday, I recommend this place. Stacey and I had a few hours to kill before our boat cruise so we just relaxed by the pool, wrote, napped, and took in the beauty that was our surroundings. Weather = perfect. View = perfect. Afternoon = perfect! I know I have only been in Africa for two months, but trust me that was long enough for the culture shock to hit hard while hanging out at this beautiful lodge. Stacey and I joined in with some people from Canada, the UK, and South America for the boat cruise. We not only added some American flavor, but we brought the average age down a good 20 years. Hehe. It was good times. Man that boat brought us RIGHT to the animals. I think Stacey thought she was going to get eaten alive by crocodiles a few times. He. Elephants, Hippos, Crocodiles, Baboons, Impalas, Giraffes, and more birds that I can even begin to name was on the list for our cruise. This missionary guy from Canada was obsessed with birds, so it seemed like we stopped every other minute to view some spotted something or other, but he was a nice guy so I’ll leave my complaining about that there. We drove back to shore as the sun was setting, and I think our cruise guide was getting a little annoyed with us because we kept moving trying to get the perfect shot of the sunset. I got some pretty decent shots, but they still don’t do that evening justice. Can I use the adjective beautiful a few more times?! We were welcomed back to shore with a little traditional African music and dancing. Okay, it wasn’t actually for us, but it was pretty sweet none the less. After ice cream and dinner Stacey and I promptly feel asleep. I think I was out by 9:30, and it felt amazing.

    We left bright and early in the morning to travel back into Zambia and hit up Livingstone Falls. If you didn’t know, this whole trip was necessary because of a Visa mix-up that required me to leave the country and return again as a Business Visitor instead of a plain, old, ordinary visitor. So this part had me a little stressed, but I there was no need. The man at the border just took my visa, I told him business, and he stamped it without even looking at the nice, official letter Ba Charles wrote up for me. Goodness Gracious. Anyways, I was stoked to see Livingstone Falls. Everyone says that it is a must see when in Zambia, and I agree. We saw it in the dry season, meaning it obviously wasn’t nearly as wet as usual, but it was still breathtaking. I think Stacey and I are already planning a return trip in December so that the ponchos we purchased can actually come to some good use. One part of the falls they even let us wade through as it was so dried up. Our ponchos could have actually come in handy here, seeing as poor Ba Mambwe slipped and fell in not once, but twice! He was such a good sport about it though, letting us take pictures and joking that he was “baptized for a second time”. Hehe.

    After hanging out a bit in Livingstone and finally getting Stacey some Hungry Lion (a fast food joint from South Africa), we hopped on the 8 p.m. bus back home so we could travel through the night again, arriving back in lovely Ndola by 10.30 in the morning. I won’t even bother going into detail on the rough bus trip back, but instead simply relish in the good moments. Lots of big animal butts, breathtaking waterfalls, baboons trying to steal our food, ever so perfect weather, and the great feeling of returning home after a long, successful trip. Thanks for the prayers!

Sara Anne

P.S. Posts blatantly bragging about my students to follow as I simply love my class. 

 

An Anniversary Event...

        On Saturday, Sara and I were given the opportunity to go to a traditional anniversary event called Amatebeto.  This event is done once throughout a couple’s marriage and it is put on by the bride’s family.  The gathering is a simple way for the bride’s family to say thank you for honoring and marrying our daughter and we would like to introduce new things into your marriage.  This event is an all day thing.  You start early in the morning, if not the night before, cooking a ton of new meals that are going to be introduced to the husband.  All the women gather at one house and spend the day cooking, singing, dancing, and teaching the bride things such as: ways to please her husband, ways to manage the family as everyone grows, and ways to continue managing the house in a balanced manner.

        We joined this event around one in the afternoon on Saturday thinking we were going to be late for the “big drop”.  When we first arrived everyone began yelling “ABUSUNGU” which means White people.  They all greeted us and quickly threw us in the middle to begin dancing.  People here love to see white people dance… it is odd! Ha.  After dancing we were brought over to the outdoor coals where they were making tons and tons and tons and TONS of nshima.  Nishma is the food I was telling you about; it is the white mix of mashed potatoes and sticky rice that we eat with every meal.  While the women in the family cook, drum, dance, and sing, the wife must stay in the house somewhat hidden.  The bride or wife was a lady we work with at Hope and so we were able to go into the bedroom where she was hiding.  We sat in there for awhile as she told us about the outline for the day and how the tradition unfolds. 

        Once everything was ready, we loaded the food (which we will post the pictures next week), all the women (35+), and the drums.  We all rode in the back of the truck over to the house where the husband was.  I was fortunate enough to sit next to the lady who was in charge of hiding the chicken.  She was carrying a live chicken on her back and while we were in the truck it decided to poke its head out and “lick” my arm.  I can say that that was the first freak out moment I have had since being here!  From there, Sara and I got to be a part of the transferring food and Sara even got to carry it on her head like a true Zambian!  I on the other hand, I carried the beer!!!!  :o)  So once we got to the husbands house, we unloaded the truck, sang, and danced WHILE walking backwards into the house.  The house was full of the husband’s relatives including the “best man” who sat with him throughout the night.  For the next 3 hours we all sat around while two women presented all the new types of food.  The two women danced, unwrapped food containers using only their mouths, hid underneath chitenge’s (pieces of cloth) and then the husband had to find them and help them up.  They wrapped up this part of the gathering by inviting/forcing Sara and I to go up and dance in front of EVERYONE!!!!  For a split second, I think I blacked out because I don’t remember anything other than seeing hundreds and hundreds of camera’s pointing at us!  We did get paid though, don’t worry, that’s how they do here. 

        Finally we said goodbye to the husband’s relatives and loaded the truck again.  We sang and drummed our way back to where we came from and left everyone else to eat.  Once we got back to the house we started at, the wife was able to come out of hiding and then we all ate together.  Sara and I headed home to make an American meal for our home stay family but everyone else stayed to party all night.  They spent most of the night drinking this traditional brown brew as well as shake shake (an alcoholic milkshake).  Unfortunately we found out the next day that a man who was sitting behind Sara and I at the husband’s house had passed away.  They are not sure what had happened because he spent the night celebrating and dancing but did not wake the next morning.  Lesson taught: stay away from brown brew and alcoholic milkshakes!  ;o)

SLE and Sara!

1st Full Week as real TEACHERS!

Today is Friday!  PRAISE THE LORD!  haha....

Bemba Lesson Two:
Tukamonana mailo (to-ka-monana milo)- See you Tomorrow

Twalamonana (twalay-monana)- See you later

Today ends out the first full week as real teachers here in Zambia.  This week has brought on more than I could have expected.  After this week, I believe I can conqueror the world!  ha.  A little exaggerated of course but kind of true.  It has been a crazy week and I cannot tell you how thankful I am for all the messages and times I have been able to talk to many of you.  I was able to skype with Jaime Woods and my brother this week as well as have a reasonable lengthy conversation with many of you.  I will have to say that most weeks will probably not be like this.  This week was very busy but we were able to plan our own schedules so...  don't put an expectation on this!  ;o)

This week... where to begin.  The elections are going on as Sara told us about before.  It is really funny to hear all the people chanting and talking about the elections.  I don't really understand much about them other than the phrase we were told to learn "don't Kubaba" which means take everything they offer you but don't tell them you are voting for the other guy! haha.  People here.... so funny.  So yeah, you hear that all day everyday.  Other wise, it is really crazy around here in the sense of us being so popular (not really).  People just stare at us and when we come to the village or leave the village for school the kids run to us or want to touch our hands or invite us for food.  It is almost like we are famous.  It is kind of funny to literally be the only or very very few "white", not even American, just white people here.  It makes for an interesting day and has evoked good conversation with our family about what people say or think about them when they are seen with us.  Marvin kind of enjoys it because he gets a lot of attention! haha.

School this week has gotten a lot better.  It just takes time as many of you have relayed to me and I appreciate that.  I am now teaching English, Math, and Art/P.E.  Today we did relay races where I introduced the wheel barrel race and it was SO FUN!  The girls were wheel barreling in their dresses! haha...  only in my class.  Interesting enough, I am struggling the most with English.  It is hard to teach kids, who are older, the basics of English and reading because I don't remember ever learning the basics. We have been playing a lot of games and doing a lot of spelling.  Here they have a few English books (textbooks) but they don't actually teach English.  The textbooks here only give stories at which we use for other subjects; for example next week in the English book we will be doing the sky and solar system.  Hopefully we will gain some knowledge as Sara and I press into the fundamentals of English and we will get a new wind of what to teach.  Otherwise, school has been good.  The days fly by once we get going, it is just getting started!

Finally, I got sick today and that sucked!  After getting sick we saw a HUGE snake just outside of school.  I think I have now covered all grounds though.  I think the testing process is over and now I am ready to officially become a Zambian and get on schedule.  :o) When you're sick are the days you realize how much you take your MOM for granted!  It is no fun getting sick and having to clean IT up and clean yourself up all by yourself! ha.  I think I have gotten the bucket showers down as well.  I can make it in and out within 15 minutes and have minimal water on the floor unlike the first day.  We pretty much had a swimming pool in our bathroom the first day!  I was a hot mess...  but again, it all comes in time, right?!  Well, I should be going as our brother and sister are going to take us out on the town tonight!  Sara and I have to finish our work and then go get ready for our big night! ha.  Hope all is well in the States and know that we have appreciated hearing from you all.  Keep it coming!  Much Love from Ndola!  Teacher Stacey, Out! ;o)

 Sara, Stacey, and our sister Savour

Me and My momma! Love you!

Pictures Have Arrived!

So I attended my first Welcome Party yesterday and so the first set of pictures have arrived.  They are all posted on Facebook but some you can find below.  Many of these pictures are from my classroom.  I am teaching 5th Grade again and many who have been here before will recognize Kelvin as well as a few others seen in the pictures.  Stay Tune for more!