What Happens Between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Each one deserves its own post but who has time for that?

WEDDINGS

My first experience at an African Wedding. Wow! There was dancing and more dancing and some food then some dancing and as soon as you thought the dancing would end they would start dancing again. The dancing is only done by the wedding party and watching it brought on a whole new meaning of dirty dancing, for sure had to close my eyes for some of it. Lots of yipping and hollering. Quite the experience.

CONTAMINATED WATER

What’s that you ask? That is the corpse of the dead rotting maggot covered owl that was living and dying in the water that I was drinking, bathing in, washing and cooking with and I live to tell about it. Oh Africa, how I love thee.

Here’s a few more pics just in case the first wasn’t enough for you:

And the heroic men who finally removed the owl from the water tank. Thank you Paul and Martin.

View of the land from the top of the water tower (much more pleasing to the eye than the owl):

SCHOOLS

My school is finished. Well…in Africa that means…there’s just a small portion of the roof that still needs to be put on…the doors are coming soon…a medal grate still needs to be put on the windows…the floors and walls need to be cleaned…still need electricity…and on and on. But we’re starting Jan 4th, roof or no roof and I’m so excited. I can’t wait to start teaching. We still haven’t hired a Zambian teacher but we’ll be holding interviews next week and will have someone before the 4th. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment to happen forever and I can’t believe it’s finally here. Yippee!

My Office:

ARM WRESTLING

You can see how this one turned out. Moving on…

CHRISTMAS PARTIES

For the MWB Christmas party we went to an Amusement Park. In Africa this means there are two amusement park type rides to go on and once everyone is on the ride someone stands at the bottom and pushes the ride as if it were a swing. Never seen anything like it but it works and the kids LOVED it!

After 2 1/2 yrs I was finally reunited with my sweet little (he’s not so little anymore) boy Dala. I will never be able to describe the love I have for this kid. I just want to take him and Evans home with me in August.

The kids got to go on a waterslide and play in the water at the bottom. Pretty sure some of these kids have never been in more water than what a bathtub can hold. It was so fun to watch them splash around.

Couldn’t have a party in Africa without a little dancing. Had to put some videos of Choolwe and Alice dancing. Adorable!

We ate lots and lots of good food courtesy of Rhapsody restaurant who donated the money for our little party.

Just a few more fun pics from the party:

ISLAND IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

I decided to go on a little vacation before I started teaching and wouldn’t have another break until April. I took a 2-day (so it was 1 1/2 days but saying that just doesn’t do it justice) bus drive from Lusaka to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. It was by far the worst road trip of my life. I was so happy when I finally got off that dang bus and decided that there was no way I was going back to Lusaka the same way so I flew. Much better!

If it hadn’t been for my new friends Bryan and Able I never would have survived the two days.

We took a ferry from Dar to Zanzibar only to find that the entire island of Zanzibar had been out of power for two days and would probably be out of power for the next four weeks. Some places were using generators but mostly there was just no electricity anywhere. However, Zanzibar is beautiful with or without power.

We spent the first day in Stonetown. Here’s some pics from our tour of the city:

We walked around the streets in total darkness trying to find a place with a generator that we could get food.

The doors are incredible and since the majority of the population is Muslim there are Mosques everywhere.

My new favorite drink: Sugar Cane

The crazy crazy market.

After our walk through the city we headed to Jambiani Beach on the Southeastern part of the island. I just can’t begin to describe how beautiful it was. The water was amazing. I felt like I was swimming in a hot tub the size of an ocean. I used to love the Pacific Ocean but my heart now lies with the Indian. Pure heaven!

Unfortunately the trip didn’t end well. I got some major food poisoning that pretty much knocked me out for the next four days. I flew home in the middle of the sickness and was happy to be back in Lusaka with some antibiotics to hopefully kill whatever bug decided to make a home in my stomach.

FRIENDS

Matilda

This woman brings me joy I tell ya, pure joy. She sells biscuits, nuts and sweets at the end of the road I use to get to the Internet Cafe. I started buying things from her when I first arrived in October and we’ve become dear friends. She only has the use of one leg because the other one is paralyzed. She walks everyday to her little corner of the road to sell her things. I brought her back a chetenge from Zanzibar and I’ve never seen anyone so grateful. Today she wore the chetenge and was so happy to show me how nice she looked. She’s one of the highlights of my weekends in town.

Osward

I met Osward in Livingstone the last time I was there. He was visiting Lusaka for a wedding so we went out for ice cream. It was fun seeing him again.

Sister Missionaries, Tandi, and Mavis

Who said missionaries can’t dance? I sure have loved having these gems as my roommates. I’m sad they’ll be moving out at the end of the month. I’ll miss them.