here! It’s great to have her here sharing the workload and whatever
observations or stories we come up with during the day. I was
definitely missing a lot of the humor from back home too!
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| A typical Friday lunch of nshima, capenta, and veggies |
exams start soon so that will be changing. I always welcome the weekends here, because it’s a break in the routine, and as exciting as it is to share my learning with them, I don’t think teaching is something I could do permanently right now. Most days are good- when the girls pay attention- and the others are giving me a crash course in patience.
I’m falling more in love with this country and some days I just have
to stop moving for a minute or two to remind myself how beautiful the
land is. I don’t know if I’d ever feel ready to leave it permanently and that’s also because of the people. I get asked all the time ‘how
is Zambia/Mazabuka?’ It makes me feel as if my opinion of this place
really matters! When I bought ‘airtime’ to call home, the shop owner
caught me the next day and asked ‘did it work?!’ I really can’t
describe the openness and genuine character of the people I’ve met
here. Spending this last weekend mostly with the oratory leaders (most
are 24/6 years old) has made me truly appreciate my experience here in
a new way. I know that their attitude towards life and one another
will give me a new perspective on many things. Unlike the lack of
personal space in Italy (yikes) here it seems to be more from the
sense of community everyone shares. public transport is overcrowded
and it always looks like someone is going to fall out of the bus! But
I'll enjoy seeing it until the time I have to use one ;)
Last week Katie and I finally made the trip to Livingstone and
Victoria Falls, 4 hours south of us. While I was waiting outside the
bank for Katie, a man came up and asked ‘are you waiting for me?’ then
went on to tell me how welcome I was and that he hoped I would enjoy
my visit- a good first impression of the people there! I was also able
to accomplish all three of my African goals in one day! Starting in
the morning with a walking safari where we saw giraffe, a warthog
(Pumba), impala, a bushbuck, white rhinos, buffalo, monkeys, and
elephants! We got dropped off at the falls and spend hours hiking
around admiring the gorge and ‘boiling point’ (at the bottom). Since
it’s the dry season, there’s not a lot of water falling, but the placeis still incredible. As soon as we got back to the hostel, I literally
ran to join the elephant back safari! Not as much wildlife this time
(besides rogue elephants and a lion), but it was amazing to be riding
such a massive animal, walking through deep rivers like it was
nothing! Afterwards we had a chance to feed them. New friends were
everywhere, from my bus companion, to the safari driver, to the other travelers. I was blessed to meet a beautiful family from Australia who
were incredibly supportive of my time here- thank you Toby and Esther!
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| Feeding Matinta, the elepant I rode. The name basically means that the person (or elephant) is the only boy in family of girls- or the other way around! |
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| Standing in front of part of Victoria Falls |
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| Our visit to Chimungalu with some of the children there. |
The week we got back, the sisters took us on an afternoon outing to Chimungalu, a village that is definitely part of 3rd world Africa. It made me even more thankful for the running water and electricity here! The men and women working/volunteering there have my respect.
On Tuesday the Irish sisters had Katie and I over for supper and besides having a night out, it was great to hear their stories and perspective since they’ve been here for 14/40 years! Wednesday we celebrated Zambian Independence and next year is their Golden Jubilee. Katie and I must have been greeted 100 times by people excited to see us celebrating in Zambian chitenges! I still have so much to learn here, especially the language which I’ve been pretty slow to grasp.
Maybe next time I’ll finally have a sentence or two memorized to share. ;)
I would love to receive emails from ya’ll, especially since I’ll be on
my own again for the month of November. Hope that all is well!
Until next time, my thoughts and prayers are with you from Zambia!
Annie
