Saturday, May 31, 2008

A long summary of the last week in May

Firstly, I am still having trouble putting pictures on this blog. So... plan C is to stick them in a word document and send them to everyone on my Zambia E-mail list. If you don't receive any pictures and would like to, just send me an e-mail at youvegotmail@ncol.com.


Well, it’s been another super-busy week.

On Sunday, I Chris and I walked to church with the Sharon (the pastor’s wife and a teacher at the school) and Haniel (their son). I was really excited when I got there because a bunch of the grade four kids at the school had walked a long way from their homes to get there. It was so encouraging to see them. When we got home, Tanya had also returned home from their weekend away, Leeland had left for his trip up North and David had returned to the States. I went to the market for a while with Tanya and after that we all headed off to youth group. Basically, Youth was a question and answer time where the kids could ask questions and talk about challenges in their lives. Some of the hard things that those kids go through are really heart breaking! Two of the girls (who were part of the group that came to church that morning) had been sexually molested on the way to church. They said that they had been “rude” to the men telling them to leave them alone. They were wondering if that was wrong to have responded that way. Their culture tells them that they should never disagree with an older person (and that includes going to other adults for help) even if you are being abused. That was pretty tough. We assured them that they’d acted properly and that they have the right to defend themselves from being exploited.

Monday was a holiday from school. In the morning, Chris and I enjoyed hamburgers at the mall (that were amazing, but incredibly gooey- like…even more than the White Spot mushroom burger!). We also had a good time at the market with me teaching him how to bargain. Then Tanya and him headed off to the airport to pick up our new guests: Lisa, Chrisy and Paddy. They had arrived from Virginia and after all their stuff was brought into the house we headed out for dinner at a really nice restaurant called Rapsody (which Tanya had talked about before, and I’d thought was called “wrap city”).

Tuesday we went back to school again. I’m working so hard with my grade fours on where to use capital letters in a sentence. I’m really proud of their hard work.
That night, Pastor Chiza, Sharon, her sister Precious, and Haniel all came over for dinner. All the food was in the oven and ready to bake and the power went off. TIA- so we prepared for Plan B, and whipped together another meal that didn’t need to be cooked. After dinner we looked though the amazing amount of supplies that these ladies had brought for the school. They are all homeschool moms and love learning and teaching. It was really exciting to see all the things.

On Wednesday, one of the exciting things was that another one of the rooms was finally getting cement put on the mud brick walls on the inside. All the kids went off to the waterhole and brought water back to the school. Of course, this work meant that two classes were squished into one classroom. The kids were very good though. In the afternoon was clubs day and I taught them “Go tell it on the mountain”. In the drama class the kids did a drime about the dangers of sex outside of marriage (can you imagine doing that in a public school here!), complete with STDs and pregnancy. I didn’t know what it was about the first time I saw it and I was pretty confused! That evening we ate our dinner from the night before (which we were now able to cook). Boy, electricity is awesome! We were even able to watch TV. There’s no VCR or DVD player here but we have satellite and we watched a drama called “Ladies in Lavender” about music and love and getting old. Very girly and slow, but it was a movie—and hence, enjoyable.

On Thursday, the excitement continued with the grades 1 and 2s stuck together. Today they were pretty wild. I need to make a serious effort to learn the nianja for “sit down”, “listen” and “look”. I’ve really gotten into a good routine with my kids though. That afternoon, the drilling truck came to finally drill a borehole for the people in the village. So far they have been getting their water from a mud hole in the ground a 10 minute walk away from the village. Getting this clean water is an amazing gift that has been funded by Tanya’s church in Virginia. When the truck came in, all the kids were watching it, but the first time it started up they all ran away from it on mass. It was pretty funny. The men from the village brought stools to sit on and watch and woman came out with their babies and all the kids gathered around. It was quite the show. A long show—where I got very sunburnt on my face. It was nice though, because I got to spend a lot of time with the kids, just sitting with them, holding them and having them jabber off to me some story of which I only understood two words: something about a white person and a flip-flop. That evening we went out for Indian food, and when I came home I got to talk to my dad on the phone. Skype is a beautiful thing.

On Friday, we were able to take all the kids to a place called Munda Wanga. It’s a zoo, but it’s also got a botanical garden, a playground and even a pool with a waterslide. It was like a trip to Disney Land with these kids!! Some people from Patty’s church had donated the money for the kids to go on the trip. We’d only thought we had enough money to bring the kindergarten, grade ones and twos, but with an extra $50 we were able to bring the whole school. As they drove into the zoo they were all singing at the top of their lungs “Oh when the Saints go marching in”. They had so much fun playing at the park and at the pool. Chris, Sandra and I were asked by some film people to do some shots for a commercial (so I may be on Zambian TV one day!). Tanya went down the waterslide in her clothes, and people were impressed- “Wow! Look at that woman! How old is she?!” Watching the kids play was a lifeguarding nightmare with people going down the slide too close together, diving into the pool, bazillions of children gathering onto the playground equipment. I was so happy that no one was injured.
After that all the kids ate. Sharon had done a lot of cooking the night before, and two moms came and cooked some chicken on the grill, and the kids were really happy (chicken is their very special occasion food). Because we had brought the two extra grades, the older kids had been told that they wouldn’t get chicken because there wouldn’t be enough, and they were just happy to have been able to come. But there was enough food for everyone! And after taking the kids around to see the animals being fed in the zoo they were even able to come back and have seconds. And then there were two chickens left over to give to the moms as a thank you for helping out that day. It was like the fish and loaves and bread—there just kept being more food. It was so cool. It was a pretty special day for them, and it was really neat to be a part of it. The kids were amazingly well behaved. At the end of the day many of the little kids were tired and it was so cute to see all the bigger ones pick them up and carry them around and help them with shoes and what-not. They have so many negative role models in their village, and it’s really touching to see them all taking care of each other.


Last week I was starting to get the feeling like my honeymoon period of being in Africa was coming to a close. The work at the school can be very tiring, and I’ve really been missing my family. Having these ladies come though has been such a wonderful blessing. Their excitement and energy is contagious. It is a privilege to be doing this work, and it has been refreshing to see it again with fresh eyes. It’s actually a lot like a week-long ladies retreat (and you know how I love ladies retreats). They have been so fun to talk and laugh with, and they have really recharged me. It’s been rewarding to be part of all the excitement of this last week.

Monday, May 26, 2008

When in Zambia: My How-to Book

How to get clean:
Put plug in bathtub
Turn on the hot water and then go do something else… use this time productively.
Run hot water for 15 minutes
Run cold water for 4 minutes (no you can’t run both at the same time! The taps don’t work that way. And make sure you don’t run the cold first, or the hot may never turn hot)
Mix water around with your hand BEFORE burning yourself by entering the tub.
Take bath
Place fingers under the water and notice how they disappear under the ridiculously dirty water.
Exit bath immediately.

How to ride the bus:
Find out how much the fare is before getting to the bus stop. (Don’t ask the bus man or you’ll get ripped off)
Tell the door man where you are going and hand him the exact change.
Find a spot to sit… half-sitting on a stranger’s lap is perfectly acceptable.
If sitting in an aisle seat, be aware that you may have to stand up and fold up your seat at every stop to let people off who are sitting behind you.
Close your eyes.
Pray until reaching your destination.

How to barter:
If possible, dye skin as dark as possible.
Wear clothing with many inconspicuous pockets. Organise money into these various pockets according to amount.
Practice math games on the way to the market: “If something is 50,000 kwatcha that is approximately how many dollars?”. Get good at doing the conversion quickly.
Go to the market.
Ignore the people calling you, or give them a quick hello. This may feel rude at first, but they want your money, not your friendship and will hassle you mercilessly. It’s interesting how many of them say they will give you the best deal, that it’s half-price day, that they haven’t sold anything today and are hungry, or that you are their friend so they’ll give you a deal (who says you can’t buy friends!?). Don’t look too interested in anything- refrain from jumping, clapping or singing upon finding the perfect item.
Figure out what you think that thing is worth in dollars and convert it into kwatcha in your head. (Refrain from murmuring the numbers aloud).
Ask how much it is.
Laugh at the ridiculous price they will tell you.
Tell them you don’t want the masungu price (and use as many random nianja words as possible). Remind them that it’s half-price day, that they said they had the best deal and that that is not the price they would sell to a friend for).
They’ll give you a much more reasonable deal.
If it’s still not as low as you want, walk away. They’ll call you back and give you a better deal.
Then ask if they will give you an even better deal if you buy more than one. (They’ll say yes)
Pick out two of what you want and end up getting your things for half price (half price on “half price day” is good!)
Hand them the money quickly whipping the change from your various pockets without showing your other money. (Make sure you have exact change because they won’t have change for you and will then try and sell you something else that’s just a bit more expensive than the difference, so you’ll have to get out more money and this cycle will continue until you are broke, bewildered and have lots of things you didn’t intend to buy.)
Shake their hand as they thank you for your business, good-luck or friendship (or possible combinations of the above).
Walk away with your purchases happily.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

a flip-flop, a bbq steak pizza and a potato man

Hey Folks,
Well, it’s been a week since I’ve returned from my safari. Another week of teaching has gone by. I’ve finally got some more long-term lesson plans ready and set for my classes, so that makes me feel good. In my grade four class we are learning about paragraph writing. They’ve never written paragraphs before, but we started off by speaking key phrases (“My name is…”, “My favourite color is…”) and this last week we worked on writing the sentences with our answers. Now we have to work on the proper places to put capital letters, and when to use “is” and “are” (my favourite colors are…). English is a complicated language!
My grade 2’s love to sing and I’m continuing to teach them songs. I think that’s their favourite part of the class, and it breaks up the harder work. We’re going to be doing lots of letters in that class- working on letters and sounds. During my Thursday class, one of my kids with epilepsy had a seizure. It was really different than the seizures I've seen before, but I'm so glad I have a first aid background, because it didn't really phase me.
I also quite enjoy the drama/culture/choir class that happens on Wednesday. Some of my grade two boys are awesome dancers! It’s really fun to watch. Sandra (another teacher) and I have been doing the class together. Last time I taught the kids a medley of “swing low”, “oh when the saints” and “I’m gonna sing, sing, sing”.
On Friday, some World Vision people came to the school to check it out and some of the kids did a presentation for them. During the presentation they sang the medley and I was so proud of them (I only taught it to them for the first time on Wednesday). All the kids did a great job of representing the school. I also got to work for a bit with the preschool and kindergarten class (called the "reception class"). They speak almost no English, but it's interesting how much you can communicate with body language—especially to little kids. I did some singing with them and they caught on really well.
One evening this week the Brennemans, Chris and I all went out to the Protea (?) Lodge (where I sat on the elephant last time). It’s a really nice place, but it’s starting to get colder at night now, and we were glad there were heat lamps in the restaurant.
Another evening, the Brennemans were invited out to dinner, so Chris and I ate Indian food and explored the mall. There’s a bowling alley, a movie theatre and a movie rental place there. This weekend the family is gone again, but Chris and I have been holding down the fort at home pretty well. Last night Joseph, one of the other teachers at the school, came over for dinner and today we all took the bus to town.
Buses here are crazy! Seats are irrelevant, because however many people you can fit on the bus will fit on the bus. In fact, there are fold-out seats that go into the aisles so that more people can fit on the bus. So, if you are sitting at the back of the bus and want to get out, all the aisle people have to stand up, fold up their seats, get off the bus, let you off, then go back, fold out the seats and sit down again. And if you are sitting in an aisle seat (which I was), you do a lot of standing up and seat folding. So funny.
Town was a little intimidating and I was glad Joseph came with Chris and I. I attract a lot of attention from people for being white. Street vendors would sort of run at me or shout at me to get my attention. It was a place to hold my purse tightly. Even inside the supermarket I was greeted by the cashier (in a very friendly way) "hello white woman". Other people would talk with Joseph and I could always tell they were talking about me in among their nianja: "blah, blah, blah masungo blah, blah". There are various interpretations of the word masungo. In Kenya, we were told it meant traveller. Here it refers to someone who is perceived as wealthy, or someone who is white- and all white people are perceived as being wealthy. I think a white woman walking with two black men in the inner-city is pretty rare.
I was also saved by Joseph from a man with a cart of potatoes. As I'm walking, I hear this sort of hissing sound- like a KSS. As I'm wondering where it's coming from Joseph pulls me in front of him, and I realise it was the driver of the potato cart telling me to move out of the way. I got to be very good at listening for that sound which is used by all the vendors as a "coming through" warning.
I actually was also saved by my flip-flop today which is semi-interesting. I stepped on a pointed rock as I was walking and I felt this prick on my foot. This rock had gone right through my flip flop and the end had poked by foot, but been stopped by the foam of the shoe from actually going into my foot. This event reminded me of going into Entebbe market one evening in Uganda and having a bone go through my flip-flop (except in that case it actually went into my foot).
While in town we ate pizza. I had bbq steak pizza. It was actually quite good. The things you find in Africa!
Well, that's the summary of this week folks.
Take care all,
Dayna

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Pictures

Hey folks... so regarding safari photos... they won' t load today. :)
Hopefully I'll get to post some soon.

Short novel on my safari

May 19th, 08
Well, here is the short novel about my amazing safari weekend.
On Friday we left the house at 6.30 in the morning and headed to the airport. There we boarded a small, gold-colored plane and headed off. We noticed that all the tray tables had been removed from the plane and figured that’s because there were no snacks on the plane, and the flight attendants got tired of explaining that to people. But there were snacks! We got juice and chips and peanuts and cookies and tea… which is a fair amount to balance on one’s lap. The plane landed at Mafuwe National Airport (which is tiny), and we got to look at some crafts before leaving in a van for Kapani lodge. We were welcomed with warm washcloths (with bougainvillea flowers on top) and lemonade. Our rooms were beautiful!
We headed to the dining area which was a patio overlooking a lake and a field. We watched hippos, baboons, impala and various birds and then we had lunch. Afterwards, there was some free-time and we all headed to the pool. It was amazingly gorgeous and monkeys walked around the wall and jumped in the trees around us. Tea time came next and after that we went on our first safari. ‘Able’ was our guide, and he was really great at finding the animals. He also knew a tonne about them too. Let me impart some of my new-found knowledge regarding impala: Impala herds will be either an all-bachelor herd or a herd with one male and a bunch of females. The one lucky guy though only lasts in said position for about two weeks. The reason is that he spends all his time mating and defending the ladies, where as the all-guy herd spend all their time eating and getting strong. The guy with the ladies jumps around so much that no birds (which eat ticks) can stay on him so he acquires more and more ticks which suck his blood and make him weaker. The all-guy group groom each other, and have the birds so they get stronger. When they fight for dominance, power is passed. Isn’t that fascinating!!
The vehicle we drove in was pretty amazing. We would come to these drop-offs and I would think, “how in the world will we get over there?” and then down the slope we would go and up the other side! It was like a roller-coaster and Chris and I took to putting up our arms roller-coaster style.
The land was incredibly different. Some places were flat with hardly any grass and just short dead trees, other places were so green it was unreal. Sometimes we went through bushes, and there were open plains too. There were so many different types of trees. Some were huge!
The game drive exceeded all my expectations tenfold. Highlights were baby zebra, baby hippos, a baby elephant (we saw the adults too, but they were a little less exciting), giraffes, a giant herd of cape buffalo and then… a pride of lions!! They had killed a zebra the night before and the lion cubs were so cute playing as most the adults slept around them. We stopped at a beautiful place overlooking the water and watched hippos as we enjoyed icy beverages and snacks and watched the sun set. It was amazing. After that, the safari continued and we were able to find two leopards (which is quite rare). It was stocking some pooku which let out whistling sounds to warn eachother. It was fascinating to watch.
We came home and were told that the power was off. Tanya and I (being the girl guides we are) lit a candle and found our stuff and left for dinner. Then we noticed the boys had a really bright light on in their room. Of course… the lodge had a generator—we’d just been told the power was off so that we wouldn’t expect hot showers. The boy’s super bright “candle” was the cause of quite a few laughs. After a multiple course dinner that was very fancy and we headed off to bed.
Our wake up call was 5.30 the next morning for breakfast. Over a fire in the dining area were pots of tea and coffee, and porridge and toast. There was also cereal and muffins. We left for the game drive at 6.00. We found some more deer, giraffes, zebras. We also found the lions again in the same spot. I really loved watching the cubs again. We stopped for a snack in another beautiful spot with zebra and impala grazing in the background. Then it was back into the “tank” to see some hippos and a crocodile before returning home. We had lunch, some tanning time at the pool and then tea and it was time to hit the road again. We saw more impala and zebra and then an elephant decided to show us who was boss with some head tossing and trumpeting. I learned that elephants kill the most people in that park out of any other animal. The place we stopped for our snack this evening was amazing. We were in a sort of plain and in the distance all around us were animals. Zebra, elephants, giraffes, baboons, impala… it was incredible. There we watched the sunset. In the evening we were able to find another leopard and watch a group of giraffes which was neat. Another huge dinner awaited us when we returned home and then it was off to bed.
Another 5.30 breakfast call woke us in the morning and we headed off on our last safari at 6.00. No lions today, although we did see some more crocodile, some warthogs and some crested cranes—in which I have a particular interest because they are on the Ugandan flag. We stopped at a river and watched the hippos in the water during our break.
After the drive, we went home for lunch and then a break before heading to the textile factory in the area to look at some wares. Then it was off to the airport and back home again by the evening.
So there you have it folks. My amazing weekend in a nutshell. J I really had a great time taking pictures and video footage. Look forward to showing it to some of you upon my return. Here’s some sneak peak pictures. :)
Love, Dayna

Thursday, May 15, 2008

clubs and sports





May 15th, 08
Well, today is Thursday and the school week is over for me. Tomorrow, early in the morning we leave for our weekend Safari. It’s been a long time since I went on a safari and I am rather excited… although in the past I remember seeing a ridiculous assortment of deer… and occasionally other things of more interest.
Yesterday, in the afternoon, the school has clubs. I really enjoyed sitting in on their drama class (which is a dance class) and their choir class. The kids killed themselves laughing at my dancing and I got quite the exuberant applause! We had a great time singing and dancing together and stayed at the school for half an hour after school was out… just hangin’ out.
Thursday in the afternoon they do sports, so I stayed around and did some photography and filming. David and I are working on some movies to let people know about the school and the work that is being done here—primarily to raise support for the project. The kids love getting their picture taken!!! Sometimes that’s a problem though being they push so close to me that it’s impossible to take a good picture of them. Then I show them the pictures on the digital camera and they laugh and laugh.
Take care folks,
Dayna
Pictures are of: My grade 2 class, kids enjoying lunch and a boy having fun with the blackboard eraser.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Things I've learned in Zambia and other notes




May 13th, 2008

First of all: Happy Birthday to my sister!!

Well, things are starting to change around this place a bit. We’ve had power for the most part and today we have water again (huzzah!).
We’ve just got a maid as well which makes life so much easier. Boy it was surprising when I left my room with all my lesson-planning stuff spread out all over the floor and my bed unmade as I ran out the door, and returned to find the room spotless. Going back to my room in Canada is going to take courage!
We’ve also got some visitors. David, Tanya and Leeland’s son, and their nephew Chris both arrived from the States yesterday. It’s great to have more people in the house… I do like people. J The guys are a lot of fun and I’ve really enjoyed their company. I beat Chris in a game of pool yesterday (which was highly momentous). The last time I saw David was when I was five and he was three. Needless to say, we’ve got lots of catching up to do!
Monday was the first full day at school. During their two-hour lunch break I sat with the teachers and some of the other kids and started to learn some words from one of the local languages which is called Nyanga (which is spelled quite differently than how it sounds… and hence just spelled wrong). It was good fun and we all had a good laugh.
In the afternoon I worked with some kids on reading… and made an unfortunate discovery. Many of them can’t read. At all. In my grade four class. Part of the cause of this (I think) is that they don’t get a lot of opportunities to read, and when they do, they read together as a class or repeat after the teacher so the ones who can’t read easily slip through the cracks. Repeating after the teacher, or mouthing what the other kids are saying requires no reading. The other problem is that some kids are new to the school, or they might have missed a term and now are back again and very behind. So… we are going to start from square one. I’ve made some phonix flash-cards and laughed when I was making them because of some of the things I had to change. “I is for Indian/ Igloo” is not going to be particularly helpful to these kids.
In the evening we had a great party at the house. It was in honor of the arrival of Chris and David and of the birthdays of me and another teacher at the school called Joseph. He is turning 22 on the 19th so it’s been a good joke that I’m so much older. It was a lot of fun.
I am still enjoying my work at the school although there are days that are very challenging. I remember, in my psych classes, talking about primary motivations that need to be satisfied in people. So many of the kids in my classes are hungry and are abused at home. How do you effectively teach kids who are so tired and hungry they can hardly keep their eyes open?
My grade 2 class loves to sing so when they start to get restless we stand in circle and sing some songs. They can now sing a very energetic “Head and shoulders, knees and toes” and “God made me” (we were learning body parts last week).
In my grade four class I’ve started to read a bit of Oliver Twist (an easier version with pictures) every day. I think it’s a bit hard for some of them, but it’s nice for the more advanced kids, who don’t get challenged that much, to have something more at their level. I act it out as I read and we stop every few pages and I ask them some comprehension questions.


Some things I’ve learned:
*The “Chamba Valley” where I am partying means “Marijuana Valley”.
*You can fit (at least!) 12 people into a car.
*“Please teacher may I go outside” or “Please teacher may you go outside” means “I have to go to the bathroom”. (Found that out after going outside and being very confused as the child I’d just been talking to disappeared)
*It is possible to drive through pot-holes the size of moon craters.
*Watch out for busses!! Shoulder checking is optional here—and you never know when they’ll pull out!
*You can get endless hours of amusement from advertisements and signs: a bus that says “For whites only” (advertising a laundry detergent) or another bus that read “flash the people on the move”.
*If there’s a red light, know that stopping is optional. If there is no light it means “GO!”.

This coming up weekend we are going to go on a safari. I am ridiculously excited.
Take care folks,
Dayna

Pictures are of the party on Monday. Me and Joseph the birthday boy.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Fun times!








Yesterday I had a great adventure. In the morning I hand-washed my clothes with Tanya (we won’t get out washing machine until some time next week), went for a walk, and got some good work done on my lesson planning.
In the evening we all went to the Pretoria Game Lodge.
There is a tame elephant on the grounds which I was able to sit on. It was funny because to get the elephant to lie down, the trainers would put some food on the ground and then twist the elephant’s tail. Apparently it wasn’t too happy about its tail being twisted because as it lay down it let out the longest, loudest elephant fart ever (*although this hasn’t been scientifically verified)!
After that, Tanya swam and I enjoyed my Fanta and some peanuts and we talked at the pool (which was really beautiful). No health act saying “no eating on the deck” here! It was so enjoyable.
Then the sun started to go down and we went and sat on the grass in lawn chairs and watched the sunset and various deer coming out to graze. The birds chirped above us and I enjoyed tea and we talked about Mozambique and some of their African adventures. I loved hearing their stories, and of course the setting was beautiful.
Then we went inside and enjoyed a great buffet at the lodge. Leland was given a giant steak (meat only comes in XXXL in Africa!), and all the food was delicious. We talked and talked, and at one point I was laughing so hard I was crying.
As we were driving out of the game park we stopped the car and turned off the lights, got out and looked at the stars. The crickets were chirping and the stars sparkled and there was a bright sliver of a moon shining.
It was a perfect evening.


And today has been a great birthday! An amazing church service, Tanya making me a special breakfast, having a great vanilla milkshake for lunch, cooling off in the pool (we had no water IN the house today... but we have a pool) and I went to the market and the youth group. Thanks for all the birthday messages.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Photos






So today, the internet will let me post some pictures...
Here is:
Where I am living
Inside a classroom
The school where I am working
Some of the kids playing netball
Me enjoying coke from a bottle-- one of my great African memories.
Take care folks,
Dayna

Settling in

Well, I'm settling into my role in Zambia. I slept through the night last night which was really nice.
This week the school has been having half days, which is nice because I've been adjusting to the weather, and working through my jet-lag. I like the heat, but I really don't like drinking water... and remember that I have to force myself to once I get a headache at about 11.00.
The school has "reception" (which is preschool and kindergarten) up until grade 4. There are 17 year olds in the grade four class-- because that's just the level they are at. We have quite the task ahead of us! It's hard to tell how old many of the children are because of malnutrition. Most of them (even the older children) are shorter than me-- which is saying a lot.
Tanya and I have been working with the grade fours on an intensive English program for two hours in the morning. The public schools in Zambia teach kids English, so they have the advantage when it comes to finding jobs. We'd like to help these kids to be ready to compete when they are ready to get jobs. Tomorrow we will split up the class, and I will take the more advanced kids and she will take the ones who are struggling so that we will be better able to teach to their exact needs. Today I did some tutoring with some grade ones, and for the next while I will be teaching the grade 2's english.
Teaching in the school is challenging for a few reasons: There is a language barrier, the classes are crowded (there are 37 reception students) and there aren't many teaching supplies. It takes teachers with a lot of energy and creativity to be effective here. I'll do my best. :)
Well, it's time for me to leave the cafe I'm at. Last night I did my lesson prep by candle-light. We'll see if we have power tonight. :) Time for me to get prepping.
It really is great to be back here.
Take care,
Dayna

Monday, May 5, 2008

London Adventures

Hey Folks,
Time to backtrack to my London adventures. :)
Here's what I wrote:
May 2nd
Well, today has been a brilliant day.
It started off early for me. It’s been a long time since I felt so chipper at 4.00. I wish that I could be this awake when I open at work!
After breakfast, Helen and I took the tube to St. Paul’s cathedral. She’d gotten free passes for the cathedral from her church which was great because we were always waved through the lines. The cathedral was amazing. Beautiful mosaics sparkled on the ceilings, and I loved the intricate carvings and patterns on the transcept. There were lots of statues primarily dedicated to British military heroes on the main level. Some of them were really beautiful. It was very hard for me to obey the signs and not take pictures. Behind the alter was a small chapel that was built to honour American soldiers who had died fighting in Britain during WWII.
We went up quite a few steps to the whispering gallery—so named because if you whisper into the wall, it carries your voice around the drum. The dome had some beautiful paintings of the life of Paul, and underneath, mosaics of various saints. Then we climbed up more stairs to a gallery where we had a great view of the city. There were very narrow long and winding hallways to get to the top (maybe 2 feet wide in some places) which were so low that I could touch the roof without even jumping (which is quite a feat). Good thing neither of us are overweight, tall, or claustrophobic! While up there we talked with one of the employees who volunteered to get us ahead of a mob of bustling French school children to get to the top viewing area. Felt rather posh to randomly be brought to the front of the line. Went up a very narrow and winding staircase (carefully) and took some pictures from the top.
After that we went down into the crypt where we had a very nice lunch of sandwiches, tea and amazing shortbread cookies. We looked though the tombs and plaques dedicated to people. Favourites of mine were Lord Nelson’s and Florence Nightingale’s.
The bathroom on the lower level had apparently been named “Loo of the year” in 1995. I’m not sure who is in charge of giving out this award… and from the look of the washroom this award had defiantly expired. There were sweet sinks though that were in a circle (think: Harry Potter prefect’s bathroom), but that was it’s only redeeming feature.
After that we went across the millennium bridge. Apparently when it first opened, so many people went on it that it started to wobble and had to be closed down soon after for repairs. There was no wobbling this time. We went across to see the Rose theatre (which had a gate of carvings of random metal animals- including bugs), then speed-walked along the river to the parliaments and Big Ben.
Once we started off it started to rain. Helen had brought two umbrellas (lucky me) and even through the weather we made it back to the tube fairly dry.
Came home for a cup of tea, and then Neil drove us to the airport (driving on the right side of the road is quite the adventure!)
The staff at this airport are very friendly—they even smile and laugh (what a concept!).
I got here quite early, and so after wizzing through security I went and traded some money, went to starbucks and have been enjoying my Chai Tea latte, and some caramel shortbread.
I’ve had a very short but sweet time in London. It really has been lovely to see the Hawes and be hosted by them.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Arrived

Hey everyone!
I've arrived in Zambia, and am writing you from a little internet cafe. Although I've written a fair amount on my lap top about my London Adventure- exploring St. Paul's Cathedral, eating in a crypt and getting caught in the rain, I'll have to wait until we have internet access at the house before I post it.
Just wanted to let you all know that I am safe, jet-lagged and extatic to be here.
The plants, the roads, the land is like a living photo-album of my childhood. It's amazing to be back.
Take care,
Dayna

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Dress Rehersal

I've often heard that having a bad dress rehersal means that you will have a really good show. I've had bad dress rehersals before and there's always this feeling like: how could this have happened after all my careful planning? Of course, the show in the end turns out fine... maybe because the performers realise they aren't invincible and work extra hard. Anyways... this is the story of my bad dress rehersal.

So basically... there was a typo in my last post. A bad one. I didn't have 28.5 hours... I had 4.5. The only problem was that I didn't realise this until it was 12 hours late. I immediatly start to hyperventalate (there's some intense stage fright) at this realisation (think Matt in Destinations... except in my case I was NOT on a plane.) Anyways, I was rescued by two superheros simultaniously. First Dad came to the rescue with his calmness and Janice, my travel agent, was contacted and found a standby flight. We left pretty much immediatly for Sea-Tac. The border crossing was suprisingly easy and we got to the airport in decent time. There we spoke with many grumpy people and enjoyed listening to the amusing conversations around us (and now I want to write a play that takes place in an airport). Lots of prayers later, I had my boarding pass in my hands. I was going to get on the plane!

Anyways... like a bad dress rehersal this embarrassing mistake filled me with self-doubt... but I've now told myself that since a bad dress rehersal means a good show, the worst is now behind me, and ahead is comparitavly smooth sailing.

Dad and I had some coffee, and then I headed to security, where there were more grumpy people, and lots of other people taking off shoes and belts which somehow reminded me of a concentration camp. I got all my stuff back into my bag, followed signs to a train, and easily followed signs to my gate.

My seat was near the back of the plane, so I was one of the first to be boarded. I got an aisle seat too! (Huzzah)

I have decided that I actually really like some airplane food. I had lasagna, and lemon cheese cake, tea, orange juice and sprite and even a crunchy bar (lots of my favorites all in one convenient location). There were pretzels (they were free, Becka!) and in the morning we had lunch... I think somehow because of the time zone change breakfast time never happened.

Then I had a movie-watching marathon, which was brilliant because I didn't sleep. I've got a cold that is so typical that I could be a cold-medication-poster-child. I have it all: runny nose, sneezing, headache, watery eyes. I'm sure I've made many people on the plane sick.

There are lots of interesting people on planes! There was a group of french students with a very type-A teacher. There was a lady who brought a pinyata on board as her carry-on and had quite the time with it. The man beside me was wearing a great hat, and I was pretty sure he was gay until he told me he was going to meet his fiance.

The plane arrived on time, but it took forever and half to get through the lines. It was easy to find my bags, and I met Helen Hawes (a cousin of my Granny) right away in the airport. We took a cab to the house and had tea. I really like England. Adorible houses, patterned carpets, tranquil gardens. Kylie- we are so coming back here in 2010!

Love, Dayna