News from October 8, 2012

October 8, 2012

Hi Everyone,

We haven't had internet in over a week now. So if you haven't heard from us, that is why. First we were told something went down in Kenya, and that was why it was down. But days later we found out that our provider actually went bankrupt. So we had to get hooked up with another company and things don't happen that quickly here in Zambia.

So we've had a lot of time to read in the evening, which is nice.

We were hoping to plan our Christmas vacation last weekend, but now we have to wait. We were debating whether we should climb Mount Kilimanjaro, or visit South Africa. So I think we've made our decision. We're leaning more towards the South African choice. I think it will be a little cheaper and longer and we will do a lot of different thing. I will let you know our Christmas plans when I actually have things booked. But we plan on spending time in Jo-burg, the Kruger National Park and Cape Town. I'm super excited :)

Here at Sakeji, we've been keeping busy, as usual. We had a term birthday party last Wednesday. The term birthday party is a party once per semester and it celebrates everyone's birthday that falls in that term. So this was for September to December birthdays. The theme was Wonders of the World.

So the day before the party, the ladies who were available and some came over from Kalene (a village less than 1 hour away) got together to decorate cakes. I decorated a cake with Northern lights (it did not look like Northern Lights lol) and there was about a dozen other cakes decorated by others, all Wonders of the World. We also decorated the eating hall and assembly hall with balloons and crafts the kids made in art class.

The party starts at supper, where we had a delicious meal of fried chicken, potato wedges and other vegetables. Then we have home-made ice cream and cake for dessert. The kids all get a gift bag with a small toy and a few sweets. Once everyone is beyond satisfied, we head into the assembly hall. Mylon and I were the M.C.'s. (Everyone has to do some M.C.'ing at some point, so we figured this was better than the term-end party and it would be pretty easy anyways.) We didn't have a lot of work to do as we mostly just announce which group of kids is coming up to perform. We had skits, guitar, choir, poems and songs. In addition, all the adults have to dress up as a Wonder of the World. Mylon and I were a Great Pyramid (we each were half). It was an easy costume that didn't require a lot of materials.

All in all it was a great night and everyone was happy. I think Thursday morning was a little rough for the kids though. Too much sugar the night before!

This coming weekend will be Mid-term. Basically the kids don't have class Friday and it's all fun and games starting Thursday evening through to Sunday. All the kids look forward to it. Breakfast is also a little later, so everyone can sleep in a bit.

Well I better go before I bore everyone. Sorry if anyone has e-mailed us and we haven’t' replied. I'm not sure how fast catching up will be as many people will need the internet here when it is back up and it might just be running too slow.

Thanks to all of those who are keeping us in your prayers. So far the time has gone by extremely fast, which I think is a good sigh. We are enjoying ourselves and we have met some great friends that make us feel at home when we need that.

I hope everyone back home had a Happy Thanksgiving. I am really missing pumpkin pie today. I might attempt a squash pie someday.

Until next time!

Ikelenge Market

September 24, 2012

Hello Blog-followers,

This past weekend was our first weekend off. I think it was probably more exhausting than having to be on-duty. But it was definitely fun anyways.

For most people, when they are off, they will stay home and cook their own meals and kind of stay away from all the children and activities at the school. But, since Mylon and I don't really have food in our cupboards that we could make a meal with, we just show up and eat our meals with all the kids in the dinning hall. We don't mind anyways, and the food is prepared for us and it's always delicious.

On Saturday, we are technically only free after lunch. Mylon has a gym class at 9:30am and I assist with the grade 2/3 spelling class. And at 10:30 we both do crafts with the grade 3/4 boys. So After lunch, that's when we're free.

We've been here for about two weeks now and I really felt like going to a village of something and go explore a little off campus. So we got directions to the nearest village with a market and decided to go for a bike ride. It was about a 25 minute ride on the dirt roads. It was a beautiful day, I could feel the sun burning the skin on my arms.

We biked by a pineapple field which was pretty neat to see. There are also a lot of massive ant hills along the side of the road. Finally we started seeing huts and local villagers until finally we heard the music coming from the market and saw where many people of the village were. This market was sort of what I expected (as I had seen pictures of similar markets in Zambia), but also not what I expected. I think what I expected was more food. But I also think most of the produce isn't in season just yet. Most vendors have tiny little shops and they just sell very random stuff. From chiteŋges (African-type wrap around skirts) to second hand shoes, to drinks and odd-looking non-perishable food items. I got myself a chiteŋge and we each got a bottle of something cold to drink (Mylon got AppleMax which is carbonated apple juice with extra sugar, really delicious, and I got some weird Milky Orange Fizzy drink -gross.)

Then we went to the produce part of the market. A few ladies there were selling tomatoes. Some had a head of lettuce or kale, or cabbage they were trying to sell. And some other ladies were trying to sell dried little fish. Some looked like minnows, and some were a little bigger. I didn't buy any of that. It smelled like a pet store.

So when we realized that was all there was to see, we decided to start our bike ride back home. I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures on my way out.

It was a fun afternoon. I have to say I love being in Zambia. It's awesome going everywhere on bikes, saying hello to everyone you bike past. Everyone is very kind. The children all love us. It's very fun and feels adventurous.

I hope everyone back home is doing well.

Take care. Goodbye.

Wild Africa

Well, I have some interesting things to tell you about.

Yesterday, Mylon and I went for a jog with another teacher here.  And we saw a few cool things :)

First, I almost stepped on a grasshopper which was about 4 inches long.  It was huge.

Then, when we were more in a hiking-type trail, we saw a huge lizard. Possibly a Monitor lizard.  I'd say it was about 3 feet long, but we didn't see the whole thing, so it's hard to say really.  They are pretty fast.  Here's what they look like:

Then, as we were jogging up a huge hill, Mylon saw a huge black snake in the ditch.  The other teacher with us said it was a Black mamba, but I'm not convinced.

Then, when we were walking home in the evening, after dark, about 5 minutes after I said I was glad i wasn't  a night watchman, we found out there was a lion in are area, within a few miles maybe.  Apparently it has been tracked from the Congo. It has been killing cattle and goats on it's way and it is currently being hunted. Crazyyy

Activities at Sakeji - Week 1

This past weekend, Mylon and I had the duty to teach crafts to the grade 3 and 4 boys. We had so much fun teaching them how to make “The World's Best Paper Airplane”. The boys were so excited. We had a contest of who's plane would go the farthest and the winner got this really complicated, cool-looking paper airplane that I made before the craft. Here's a picture of our little class. Now I'm stuck making all the boys the harder paper airplanes because they are all jealous. It's kind of fun though, so I don't mind.

We also have to play games with them on Thursday afternoons. We played Capture the Flag. Girls against boys with all the little Junior kids again. They really like it when the adults play with them, so we did. During the game, one little girl excitedly told me “Mr. Ollila is very fast, but the children are faster!” I love the random quotes you hear kids say. Today another girl told me that “yesterday I was wearing a dress as tall as a tree”. Anyway, here's a picture of some little guys racing:

In other news, to our amazement, someone here has a punching bag and gloves! WHATTT?!?!? We were so excited. We've worked out once on it so far. It felt so good to do a bit of boxing again. Me and the lady it belongs to (she's actually a kick-boxer) are going to set a specific time each week so we can work out together. I'm really looking forward to that. And to make the work out even better, Sakeji is located at a higher altitude than we are used to. I'm not sure how much exactly, but it is a little noticeable when you are running with kids etc.

Well I am going to go read my book and then go to bed. Breakfast is a 7am all week, so we have to be ready and out the door nice and early.

Goodnight.

Week 1

So it's been almost a week since we've been at Sakeji. We are both enjoying it here.

There are a few things I need to get used to. For example, there are always bugs in the house. Usually small flies, but they are still there and sort of annoying. Sometimes there are spiders. Gigantic spiders! Here is a picture of a spider called a Flatty.  At least that's what people here call them. They flatten themselves out to go hide behind picture frames on the wall. Then they walk they are very tall. And, they are so fast. I was shocked at how fast they are. Thing is, you aren't suppose to get rid of them, because they eat the mosquitoes. So I know there is a gigantic spider somewhere in my house now. I don't really like that. I try very hard to sleep with my mouth closed!

Here's a picture of the school dog named Sasha. She is part doberman, part rottweiler. Locals who walk by the school get very scared of her and climb up the trees when they see her. But she is one of the friendliest dogs. I think they just mostly aren't used to having pet dogs.

Today we experienced the very famous Sakeji ice cream! They make it every Sunday for dessert after lunch. Mylon and I both had banana-peanut butter. Other flavours they had out today were vanilla, neopolitan, and grape. It was so good.

Overall, the food here has been (to my surprise) quite good. For breakfast we often have a type of porridge (oats, cornmeal, hearty oats) with toast and rice cakes. I'm not a fan of the rice cakes. The kids love them though, and they put honey on them. And for lunch we'll have a lot of vegetables (squash, carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli, coleslaw, potatoes), sometimes we have beans, chicken, beef. Once a day for dessert there is the most delicious pineapple, and bananas. Then we often get baked goods. You really have to pick and choose your favourites because there is so much baked goods that if you ate them all the time, you would gain a few pounds. So My personal favourites and cinnamon buns, and brownies.

Well that's all for now. Thanks for checking in!

African Sunrise

Since we're still a little jetlagged, so we decided it was a good time to get up to see the African sunrise.  What a natural beauty!

Arrival at Sakeji

Sept 10-11

We've finally made it so Sakeji School! What a long day of travelling. Actually it doesn't even feel like a day. More like just a big blur. And after being in the air for a total of about 19 hours, you don't feel much better. We are both pretty jet-lagged and we want to take naps all the time.

So we arrived in Lusaka on September 10^th at about 12:30pm. We taxied over to a guest house for missionaries in Zambia, It was nice and relaxing there. We had showers, a delicious supper and a very comfortable bed. However we had to get up at 3:30am to go the airport.

So today (September 11^th) we flew to Sakeji School. It was in the smallest plane we've both ever been in. Our flight was very smooth and kind of nice because we were flying below the cloudy haze so we could see all the landscape. Africa is so different than anywhere else I've flown. Right now, because it's the dry season, everything is yellow and the dirt is red. So that was very neat.

When we landed at Sakeji on the grass landing strip, we were greeted with a big welcome. First we were shown our new house for the next eight months. Turns out it's even bigger than it looks in the picture. It has 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms, full kitchen, living room and dining room. We were invited for lunch at another teacher's house. And this afternoon we went to a tea/snack break to meet more people. We have supper later and another snack in the evening. But besides that we have all the time in between to relax.

School starts tomorrow with a pancake breakfast at 7:30am. So in our experience so far, I think we will both enjoy it here. So far all the food we've had has been delicious, everyone has been very kind, and the weather has been warm and lovely.

One last thing, we did see a blue-headed lizard today but unfortunately we weren't carrying our camera with us. Hopefully they are common and we will get one another day.

So that should be it for now.

Keep in touch :)