This morning I woke up (At 7:30! I was a lazy bum who couldn’t get out of bed!) thinking that today would be a pretty regular day. The rest of this week has been that way, anyway. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with some random events to break up the regularity of the week.
So, I wasn’t supposed to have tutoring this morning, but I was prepared for M to come since she came at that time on Monday (I have M/W am kids, T/Th am kids, T/Th aft number one kids, and T/Th aft number two kids). So, M didn’t come, but E showed up around 8:20, just as T and I were going to be productive. E hasn’t been at tutoring due to exams in the past week so with some quick thinking on my feet, I prepped and delivered a lesson for her benefit. J After tutoring, it was time for English class. My upper level ladies are really getting into the book. It had been going slowly for awhile, but now that we’ve past the halfway point, we’re flying through it. A lot is going to happen in the last 40 pages! After that, I worked with the lower level group on writing their pen pal letters. I am very glad that the girls writing the letters back in Wisconsin are enthusiastically writing; however, that made my job a bit tough today to get them all to understand what their pen pals had said. I compromised by reading and acting out the first bit of each of their letters to them and asking them to ask their husbands about the rest. We write group responses to the letters were they fill in the blanks on a topic I’ve chosen for them to tell their pen pals. Then at the end I encourage them to write something for themselves, but as no one can really write (they can say and copy) in this group, this is difficult. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s what we’re working with right now. I think they enjoy sending their thoughts to people in America, though, showing that someone across the seas cares about them.
After English, it was time for fritters! Mrs. A had promised to teach T and I how to make them today. J Yummy! So, 30 minutes and hands full of sticky dough later, and I had delicious fritters (donuts) to eat and the gist of the recipe so that I can recreate it in the States. Hurray! (Mom, I’ve already been thinking about variations of the recipe with some additions to use as a candy for cookie baking. J)
Also over lunch, J, one of the ladies we tutor, stopped by to chat for a bit. This NEVER happens; we chat outside on the grounds, but rarely do the women ever come to our house (or vis versa, but it has been happening more often lately). She works for one of the missionaries on campus and has to miss part of class a few times a week and she came to ask if she could make up what she missed sometime in the week! Extra instruction time; that’s awesome! This occurrence gave me a smile on my face for the rest of the day. J The cherry on the top was that she came while T and I were making up verses for a Palm Sunday song to the beat of She’ll be coming round the mountain. Our windows were open and I’m sure J saw and heard everything as she came in! Hahaha. J Good thing that she knows we teach the adults and the kids!
Next on the agenda was preschool, but we got a call 10 minutes beforehand saying that our extended visas were ready! So, we planned on leaving preschool at break time at 2:45 and just ending early to get them. Well, that wasn’t the plan, apparently! We started a bit late because the kids came a few minutes late (very normal for the adults in Zambia, not so much for the little kids!). Within 20 minutes we were interrupted by P, the church secretary asking if I could play piano for the Lenten service tonight—sure! Then, 20 minutes later, we were interrupted again by E, the man who would drive us to immigration saying we needed to leave right away. Try telling 13 preschoolers who are engaged on making their letter R’s and drawing the R words (ring, rocket, and rabbit) that they need to hand in their work unfinished and leave an hour early! They were frustrated and I was too; today was going so well with them! Oh well. There’s always next time. J
So, T and I made our way to immigration…again. We haven’t been there in a few weeks; we missed the place. NOT! So, E dropped us off and we made it to the correct place, only to wait again for awhile. There were some random directions in there (leave this building, go down the road a ways, find a copy shop, make two copies, come back and get your passports) but after jumping through all the hoops, T and I did NOT leave empty-handed this time. We are now proud owners of temporary permits and can be legally volunteering now. J And apparently I don’t have to leave the country until June 9th. Shall I stay? It would be fun, but there’s too much to do at home too! J
E asked us to make a pit stop on the way back home since we were already in town (it took about 45 minutes to get there in the traffic at this time of day), so we stopped on Cairo Road (where the locals do business) and the surrounding areas to find some specific type of nik-naks, aka munchies. Hahah. So, E, T, and I walked up and down the road into all these little bulk food shops where all the food is behind bars on shelves and you have to ask the workers to get it for you, trying to find these snacks. After about 10 minutes of searching and countless stores later, we found them and E succeeded (not all the stores carry this brand apparently). The trip to Cairo Road brought the staring to a whole new level. Mzungus on Cairo Road? No way! One man even yelled Mzungu in my face as he proceeded to shake my hand. So very different than home. J Then we had a long trip back to the Seminary. While we were stopped in traffic at a robot (stoplight—there are very few of them here and they never work), the street vendors got up and walked through the waiting cars trying to sell their goods, like normal. Everything from talk time to tomatoes to cell phone covers to shaving kids to hair extensions and anything you could possibly want. Today’s vendors were especially friendly, as one of them passed by me trying to sell me grapes and then came back a minute later with a slip of paper from the car behind him he said. Some guy’s phone number. Boy, they are persistent buggers here! Hahah.
We got back to campus by 17 hours, in time to gulp down supper, and pick and practice hymns for tonight’s service at 18 hours! Thankfully I figured out some easy ones in time, which is a bit of a feat since it’s the old hymnal and I don’t know those hymns and hymn numbers as well. Dinner was fish and chips, but not England style. Still good though. Then Mrs. A outdid herself and tried a new sweet potato recipe, which included peanut sauce. I NEED to get that recipe to make and pour over ice cream. J Yum! Or maybe for my fritters. J It was a rushed hour, but we got supper eaten, I practiced my songs, and we got to church on time. Tonight’s preacher was a soft-spoken man; I was glad the keyboardist plays in the front of church otherwise I know I wouldn’t have been able to understand him like T! Playing went off without a hitch and I was the center of the little kids’ attention after the service as they all tried playing the keyboard as I was carrying it back home. Not plugged in off course. They’re so easily amused!
T and I were pleasantly surprised that the Internet worked tonight, so we were bums and lazed around on the Internet for awhile. Typical Americans that we are. J Then I did some finalizing of my handout for Saturday and thinking through some of the other parts of the training that I need to talk about. Read a bunch of the book we were assigned to read here, too, "When Helping Hurts." Not quite as interesting as "The Hole in the Gospel" but it'll do.
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