Wednesday, May 25, 2011
today I sat and watched butterfly's
Monday, May 16, 2011
What? I didn't tell you about my first day in Zambia???
Day one in Africa. I don't want to forget to tell you about it! I got off the plane in the sweaty humid air and walked for the first time on Zambian soil..pothole..ashfault..pothole... It was a beautiful sunny day in the rainy season so this was a good sign! After Liz and I got through getting our Visa which took about an hour somehow we ended up being last in line so I was praying heartily that our bags would still be there on the other side. They were raise the praise! So we went out and were met by a missionary lady in Lusaka who was to help us get to Kitwe... by bus. I was a lil' worried. The advice they gave us was: make friends with the bus driver, be the first to get off the bus at the bathroom point or hold it (for 6 hours), and always watch out the window to see if people are making off with your bags at stopping points. Greeaaat.
The lady hooked us up with a taxi man who navigated us through what felt like the whole of Lusaka before we got to the "bus station" which basically looked like a run down hot dog stand with a few buses around. We had about 7 suitcases betweein the two of us and we stood guarding this mountain of luggage while they put masking tape on each one and wrote with a blueberry Mr Sniff It marker our destination... It also takes four men to do this job, if you didn't know now you do! So we got our entire lives and then some on the bus and then got on and managed get a seat together yay. I ended up being on the isle which I don't mind but these isles are about a foot wide and some of those ladies have quite the baadonk!! So I am trying to avoid getting hit by what I never wanted to get hit by so many times while Liz has her face mashed against the window trying to see if anyone is running off with our luggage. So far so good!!
So keeping in mind that Zambia is a Christian nation a preacher man gets on the bus and starts preachin away getting louder and more animated as he goes whilst skillfully dodging the large behinds, I know I was impressed. He was getting so into it so I started throwing in an Ahmen and Halleluhia! Preach it brother! Every now and then it was really fun. I think it spurred him on though cause he kept going for another 45 minutes.
So we finaly got on our way I was super jet-lagged so I would wake up suddenly with my mouth hanging wide open and drooling not even realizing that I had gone to sleep, juuusy love it when that happens I was very attractive let me tell you. Only a couple days ago Liz told me that the two kids across the isle from me would stare at me with their mouths and eyes wide open watching this lovely sight. Awesome! haha. So after about 6 hours of sweaty sleepyness we got to Kitwe and were met by Everlyn Village director and a team of guys to carry our luggage for us Halleluja!!!! Happy dance!
We finally got to our destination place both of us swearing up and down that we will never take the bus again. Lets see what happens! This was the first of many adventures in the life of Laura the Explora and I didn't want you to miss it. A whole year is ahead of me, there is going to be many laughs and many tears I am sure, but each day here is an adventure and there is always something to learn. I know already that I would rather be here learning the hard way than not be here at all.
PS You made it to the end YAY! I am pleased :)
The lady hooked us up with a taxi man who navigated us through what felt like the whole of Lusaka before we got to the "bus station" which basically looked like a run down hot dog stand with a few buses around. We had about 7 suitcases betweein the two of us and we stood guarding this mountain of luggage while they put masking tape on each one and wrote with a blueberry Mr Sniff It marker our destination... It also takes four men to do this job, if you didn't know now you do! So we got our entire lives and then some on the bus and then got on and managed get a seat together yay. I ended up being on the isle which I don't mind but these isles are about a foot wide and some of those ladies have quite the baadonk!! So I am trying to avoid getting hit by what I never wanted to get hit by so many times while Liz has her face mashed against the window trying to see if anyone is running off with our luggage. So far so good!!
So keeping in mind that Zambia is a Christian nation a preacher man gets on the bus and starts preachin away getting louder and more animated as he goes whilst skillfully dodging the large behinds, I know I was impressed. He was getting so into it so I started throwing in an Ahmen and Halleluhia! Preach it brother! Every now and then it was really fun. I think it spurred him on though cause he kept going for another 45 minutes.
So we finaly got on our way I was super jet-lagged so I would wake up suddenly with my mouth hanging wide open and drooling not even realizing that I had gone to sleep, juuusy love it when that happens I was very attractive let me tell you. Only a couple days ago Liz told me that the two kids across the isle from me would stare at me with their mouths and eyes wide open watching this lovely sight. Awesome! haha. So after about 6 hours of sweaty sleepyness we got to Kitwe and were met by Everlyn Village director and a team of guys to carry our luggage for us Halleluja!!!! Happy dance!
We finally got to our destination place both of us swearing up and down that we will never take the bus again. Lets see what happens! This was the first of many adventures in the life of Laura the Explora and I didn't want you to miss it. A whole year is ahead of me, there is going to be many laughs and many tears I am sure, but each day here is an adventure and there is always something to learn. I know already that I would rather be here learning the hard way than not be here at all.
PS You made it to the end YAY! I am pleased :)
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The brave lil' honky
It is still hard to believe I am in Africa but it has been six weeks already I can't believe it! So crazy! But it has been about this long without any interweb action and as being part of a spoiled generation which has grown up surrounded by it, it feels like a year!! But we bought a lovely little portable modem that works quite well at 5 am and not really at any other time. So I am sorry that there has been no updates I do not like to get up that early but I know how you are waiting at the edge of your seat for any news, so here it is!
It has been quite the experience so far let me tell ya. Being someone who has never left her continent and suddenly submerged into a completely different culture I feel like such a newb! So it was pretty hard the first couple weeks my mind going aahhh overwhelmed!!!! I had to experience the culture shock I guess but now I am settled in quite a bit more. We (my new roomie Liz and I) found a solid very lively Penticostal church (complete with the shouts of: "Glory! Amen brother! C'mon! Halleluja!" and lots of dancing it's so much fun) It is about ten minuts walk from our house so we just hike er' to church every sunday.
Teaching has been the biggest challenge I think. The first day I had 25 students in the class. I was supposed to have 17 but some were just curious about the new "mazungoo" (white person in Bemba the main language). The next day was way less but oh man I had to pray my way through that day haha. But each day gets better and each day I get more confident at this new job I am learning to like it and have fun at it. So I have one class in the morning and one in the afternoon about 19 regular students, eight boys and eleven girls. When there isn't a foot ball (soccer) game happening I will usually have everyone there. We have finished making tote bags and just finished making aprons which was the first one I have ever made! This week we will be starting shirts for the boys and wrap skirts for the girls and I will be teaching about how to start your own business haha so wish me luck!
I feel like every day has a new life lesson. I am learning so much about patience, how to grocery shop, cook, and how to kill larger than life insects which will eat your FACE... but not really.. I am just terrified of all things crawling at ground level here cause they are usually twice as big as canadian insects. It's something I am praying through ok! A couple nights ago we had a couple of lovely neighborhood cockroaches enter our abode so we spent a few squealing minutes jumping from couch to couch and trying to quickly move the funiture so we could have a chance to kill it before it would run under the next couch. I made Liz kill them cause there was no way I was getting that close to it. I am so SO glad she is my roomate if she wasn't here I would for sure go crazy. God is so great setting that up so we could be here at the same time. We were even sitting next to eachother on the plane! So rad. So yesturday we bought a bag full of chemicals so it is death to the cockroaches and slugs very soon can I get an Ahmen!
So am living in a compound area with two houses in it one is owned by the PAOC and a missionary couple lives there part time, Don and Marie they are so, so great. The first night we got here they cooked us dinner which was iiiiiincredibly delicious spagetti yum yum. The other house is where we are living which is owned by the Village of Hope. Coinicidently it hasn't been lived in for two years so there is alot to do. We are thinking of hiring people to help us, as the other day I spent about two hours scrubbing two years of dirt off the bars on the kitchen window with a tooth brush. Hahah
Sometimes it is hard to believe I am here who would have thought that I would be in Africatalking Liz into killing insects, learning how to cook, waking up at the unGodly hour of SEVEN in the morning to get ready for the day and then go teach sewing classes in the 23 degrees celcius heat (it is getting cooler now). For real? Yeah no. But it is pretty rad I am learning how to live in a whole new way and learning how to lean on God.
Well this is a sizeable update if you made it to the end you deserve a very high five and my congrats. I miss you all so, so much and am thinking of you thank you for your prayers, please keep em up I defs need them! Will update again soon and tell you what is happenin in the life of Laura the Explora!!
It has been quite the experience so far let me tell ya. Being someone who has never left her continent and suddenly submerged into a completely different culture I feel like such a newb! So it was pretty hard the first couple weeks my mind going aahhh overwhelmed!!!! I had to experience the culture shock I guess but now I am settled in quite a bit more. We (my new roomie Liz and I) found a solid very lively Penticostal church (complete with the shouts of: "Glory! Amen brother! C'mon! Halleluja!" and lots of dancing it's so much fun) It is about ten minuts walk from our house so we just hike er' to church every sunday.
Teaching has been the biggest challenge I think. The first day I had 25 students in the class. I was supposed to have 17 but some were just curious about the new "mazungoo" (white person in Bemba the main language). The next day was way less but oh man I had to pray my way through that day haha. But each day gets better and each day I get more confident at this new job I am learning to like it and have fun at it. So I have one class in the morning and one in the afternoon about 19 regular students, eight boys and eleven girls. When there isn't a foot ball (soccer) game happening I will usually have everyone there. We have finished making tote bags and just finished making aprons which was the first one I have ever made! This week we will be starting shirts for the boys and wrap skirts for the girls and I will be teaching about how to start your own business haha so wish me luck!
I feel like every day has a new life lesson. I am learning so much about patience, how to grocery shop, cook, and how to kill larger than life insects which will eat your FACE... but not really.. I am just terrified of all things crawling at ground level here cause they are usually twice as big as canadian insects. It's something I am praying through ok! A couple nights ago we had a couple of lovely neighborhood cockroaches enter our abode so we spent a few squealing minutes jumping from couch to couch and trying to quickly move the funiture so we could have a chance to kill it before it would run under the next couch. I made Liz kill them cause there was no way I was getting that close to it. I am so SO glad she is my roomate if she wasn't here I would for sure go crazy. God is so great setting that up so we could be here at the same time. We were even sitting next to eachother on the plane! So rad. So yesturday we bought a bag full of chemicals so it is death to the cockroaches and slugs very soon can I get an Ahmen!
So am living in a compound area with two houses in it one is owned by the PAOC and a missionary couple lives there part time, Don and Marie they are so, so great. The first night we got here they cooked us dinner which was iiiiiincredibly delicious spagetti yum yum. The other house is where we are living which is owned by the Village of Hope. Coinicidently it hasn't been lived in for two years so there is alot to do. We are thinking of hiring people to help us, as the other day I spent about two hours scrubbing two years of dirt off the bars on the kitchen window with a tooth brush. Hahah
Sometimes it is hard to believe I am here who would have thought that I would be in Africa
Well this is a sizeable update if you made it to the end you deserve a very high five and my congrats. I miss you all so, so much and am thinking of you thank you for your prayers, please keep em up I defs need them! Will update again soon and tell you what is happenin in the life of Laura the Explora!!
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