May 6 "Final Goodbyes..."

LAST DAY in Zambia. Crazy. Where have the past three months gone!?!?!!? Well, since we’re in Africa, and we’ve only seen 3 of the big 5, we decided we needed to remedy that today. So T and I rolled out of bed early to head with Mrs. D&D an hour outside of Lusaka. To see lions. J There is a safari lodge on the outskirts of Lusaka that has a game ranch—like Nsobe for Easter Retreat—to do game drives in, but they also have an enclosure with lions. So, knowing we hadn’t seen them, and Mrs. D&D being the wonderful person she is, took T and I on our last day and her three year anniversary of time in Africa on her longest car driving trip here, to see lions. J Thank you! Yes, they weren’t technically in the wild, but much closer to it than the zoo. They have a chain link fence around the lion area in the park with four lions inside and you can walk right up to the fence! The game drive guy took out a chicken and the lions came right up to the fence to see it. So I was within a foot of lions today. J I was so tempted to reach my fingers up to the fence and touch the fur on the back really quickly, but my two companions advised me not too…Well, at least I have all my fingers. Mrs. D&D has seen lions in the part several times, but you never get that close to them, so this was still a treat. We saw African lions in Africa. They’re better than the zoo, for sure. J After lions, we continued on our game drive, which I didn’t actually know they had there. This is horrible time for game viewing—the dead grass there is as tall as the vehicle. We weren’t expecting to see anything, but we did see a monitor lizard, two puku, two hardebeest (bigger ones than at Nsobe, a lot bigger), and a tssessube (I have no idea how to spell it, but it’s another type of antelope, but it’s smooth and shiny instead of furry looking). The safari lodge gets kudu and bushbuck to walk up right to the lodge and have people pet them daily, but unfortunately, they had gone off to the wild by then, so the three of us headed back.

Back home, T and I had our last Zambian meal from Mrs. A—a special request for nshima, chicken, and pumpkin leaves. Delicious. J The rest of the afternoon was spent attempting to pack all our belongings and souvenirs into the 2 suitcases we had each brought to Zambia. My room was starting to look bare! I have lots of things left on my to do list yet, though, so I don’t know how it’s all going to get done! I didn’t want to be cooped up inside on my last day here (although it was chilly—I don’t like the cold season in Africa—that’s one good reason we’re leaving!), so I decided to run random errands outside to the press or other places pretty often. I just couldn’t sit inside knowing that my kids were outside playing and that today was my last chance to watch them and play with them! So I joined them for awhile. The preschool boys continued to follow me around and fight to win my attention, and little P, the cutest baby boy ever, ran up to me again several times today and I got to hold him. J Mrs. D&D was showing a missionary family from Cameroon around campus today and she saw me holding the baby and she mentioned he should come with me and that we’re both attached. Well, what do you think all the bags I’ve gotten here are for! All the kids are coming with me! J I’m sure between T and I, we can figure out how to smuggle 40 kids into the US, hahahah J

I begrudgingly continued packing until about 17 hours when everyone decided to stop by! We had lots of people from on campus come and say goodbye to us. It was all very sad, but very reassuring as they all mentioned if we don’t meet up again in Africa, we will meet up in heaven. J M and C, the girls our age on campus, came by for some “snaps” before leaving, so we asked a pastor to take the photos for us. We all were amused as he couldn’t figure out how to use a camera for the life of him…One of our tutorees came in with a letter for me and a card for T and I and a goodbye hug. So sweet. Within the next five minutes, about 2/3 of our kids had traipsed into our living room and were kneeling on the ground wanting to say their goodbyes. There was a moment of silence for a minute and then R, Ronaldino as I call him, an 11 year old boy who I’ve gotten really close too, said “I am going to cry.” The fact that he said it in English and said it at all in front of all those friends, and I lost it. I was crying as the cue of kids went through and I could hug each of them goodbye. R asked when we were leaving in the morning and I said 6:30 and he said he’d be there to see us off. Oh I hope the kids are there. Just typing this is making me sad. I’m going to miss them so much!

Well, if one emotional goodbye wasn’t enough, then T and I went to give Mrs. A her gift and say our goodbyes. She is seeing us off at the airport tomorrow, but it was still a tough goodbye….After that I definitely wasn’t in the mood to pack, but that’s ok because it was time to leave for dinner! The missionary families all took us and the Cameroon missionary family out to a Chinese restaurant as our goodbye meal. DS, our coordinator here, had some really nice words for us and about us and presented us some LCCA chitenges. We’re definitely a part of the family now. J T and I handed out our cards and our gifts to the families, and we all enjoyed our Chinese food one last time together. We also had to say goodbye to half the missionary families. Such a sad day! A great end to a quick three months….I am definitely coming back here someday. I just know it.

Well, at dinner we found out D&D were taking the Cameroon people to Vic Falls first thing in the morning, so we had to say our goodbyes tonight. Out of all the people on the mission, we were definitely the closest to, and spent the most time with, them. It was another tough goodbye. I’m going to miss my pseudo-family! DS drove us back to our house for the final night here. On my way in, I saw a message written to me saying “I miss you” signed from five or six of the kids—in the dirt on one of the cars parked outside our place. J Unfortunately, I don’t know how much sleep will happen, because it’s currently 11 pm and not all the packing is done and some other to do list things must happen before we leave here at 6:30 am tomorrow….

Well, there you have it readers. Thank you for joining me on this three month journey as I learned, loved, laughed, cried, experienced, joked, played, slept, ate, and shopped my way through Zambia. I had such a wonderful time here and I am truly grateful to DK for setting all this up. As this was just a pilot project, I hope that the wonderful experiences I had here will be an indication to continue the program for the long run. And hey, who knows, maybe I’ll be a teacher back here again one day! T and I are spending a few days in Paris before returning home to good ole Wisconsin on Wednesday night, so here ends my blog. Thanks for reading. J It will definitely be different living back in America again. Good bye Southern Hemisphere. I am excited for skim milk, texting, driving, frozen pizza, and daylight past 6:15 pm. I will not miss getting up at 5 am to turn on the water heater, dinners of sausage, and people gawking everywhere I go. But I will most definitely miss all the friendly faces on the streets, a 10 second commute, holding small children, and all the wonderful people I have met here. I will remember them all dearly. J

May 5 "Awards Ceremony"

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today meant we could sleep in. J But not too much, because we have lots to do yet before Saturday! In the morning T and I worked on crossing things off our to do lists. We assembled everything for the awards ceremony. We printed off pictures of us to give to the families as they had requested. We found kids to give us “testamonials” aka the kids would do or say something from tutoring or preschool on camera. Cute. J We walked to the market to get more food for the party. The morning went by too quickly; I definitely did not have as much done as I had hoped!

After lunch, we locked the gate and set up for the party. Good thing we locked it, because all the boys tried coming in early! We have never been to a Zambian party, so we didn’t know what to expect, but it sure was a good thing we got more food, let me tell you! It was all gone very fast! We let them eat and chat for the first half hour and then started the awards. Each student—wives, school aged children, and preschoolers—got their work from the past few months back, with a completion certificate and a personalized award. T and I had fun switching back and forth and presenting awards to the students. They laughed at the funny ones with us and cheered and clapped for everyone. J My favorite was the little preschoolers coming up and receiving 50+ pieces of paper with a lollipop and watching them take it to their mothers! Adorable! The preschoolers preformed their ABC chant and the older kids did the math chants and the parents loved it. J The dads had motorcycle training, so they came over in shifts to watch and to take family photos for us. J Yay! All in all it was a fun time. We tried closing with having them each sign their names on a sheet of paper for us to mount a picture on later, but they had other plans! While we had planned the party, one of the wives came up and had a nice speech and presented us with LCCA chitenges, which she wrapped around us proper-like, too. She wants us to wear them on the plane so everyone will know we’re from Africa. J It was so touching, especially knowing they don’t have much money and pooled together to do that for us. One of the sem students gave a speech, too, and some of the parents spoke up. Mrs. A also had a speech and a beautiful chitenge for each of us. I am surprised I wasn’t crying by this point! We threw the party—we weren’t expecting anything from them! It was so nice; I cannot even express…The ladies even helped us clean up after the 50+ people that were there. Saying goodbye to some I would not see tomorrow was tough, but I had to do it. I’m going to miss these people so much!

After the party I just wanted to sit and remember all the good times, but it was time to tackle more on the to do list. I had been helping Mrs. D&D with a penpal project for a church back at home, so I needed to find the two girls to finish it so I can take it with me on Saturday. Well, we found the first one right away, but she was playing a game, so the preschoolers and some of the older kids surrounded us again and I had children sitting on my lap and being my best friends. J I love it. J We got some more testimonials done and some signatures we had been missing and eventually the penpals done before running off to the next thing!

D&D had invited us to the movies for Thursday Date Night. Well, the movie that was supposed to be playing wasn’t actually there. Well, that’s Zambia. Since we had all seen all the other movies (well, 3 of the 4…it’s the only entertainment in Lusaka!) we decided just to go out to eat. So we went to Revolucion, a Mexican restaurant for Cinco de Mayo. Really good food and margaritas. J I cracked up at the Zambians saying gracias each time. J They also had salsa lessons going on, so we listened to some Latin and Caribbean music and watched the dancers. It was a very entertaining night! The power only went out once. J Dinner in the dark. J It was great to have one last time with D&D, just the four of us. Oh how I will miss them! Back at home, T and I weren’t in the mood for anything, but as it was still early, we ticked off one last to do list item: watch ALL movies. We watched Slumdog Millionaire (yes, I was sleeping through half of it) but now we have watched all our movies here and we can head home!

May 4 "Crocs and Copa me!"

Today was one of those extremely happy and extremely sad days. It was so fun hanging out with the kids all day, but it makes leaving so much more difficult. D&D had concocted a plan as a goodbye to the kids (they’re all leaving in a few weeks, too) to take them all to a croc and snake farm nearby Lusaka. So along with C, the regular preschool teacher, T and I headed off to Kalimba Farm with 30 kids from the campus. When we came out to get in the vehicles, all the kids from campus came up and hugged each of us; this is a common occurrence to start preschool, but it has never happened in mass with the older kids before! They all piled in the back of the pickups, it was adorable. J Our groups that we watched over ranged from the big kids to the little ones. I got to have the birthday girl in my group. J And E, the youngest one along, also the one in preschool who understands almost no English, was in my group. Honestly, if I didn’t know he was in preschool, I would lump him with the toddlers and babies on campus. Anyway, he decided to wet himself…on the ride there! Poor boy!

The farm has eight or so display windows of their snakes and a big pit where several large pythons are kept. Well, the preschoolers couldn’t see over the wall into the pit, and I had three of them in my group, so I had to lift each of them up to see. So when E, who was still very wet, needed to see the pit, I held him out in front of me and wanted him to stand on the side of the pit. Well, he must of thought I was going to drop him in there or something because he got so frightened! He didn’t go by the snakes the rest of the day! However, him and S had a death grip on my hands when we walked by the crocodiles! Again, there were times when I had to pick them up, and these little kids were getting so frightened by them! I don’t mind holding the little kids’ hands though. J There were baby crocs less than a foot long up to the big guys around 10 feet! And we got very close to them and got to watch them fighting for food during feeding time! I had a little boy from another group glued to me during that time; he didn’t let me put him down until we were safely on the playground again!

Anyway, besides the animals, there was playground equipment for the kids to play on, as well as some trampolines, which were a huge hit. I ended up chaperoning the boys’ trampoline, so I had lots of little charmers trying to win my affections all day. J We all joined together for lunch time with pb&j’s. These kids have never had them, so I had all the kids at the boys table telling me and Mrs. D&D that they were “nice.” J Oh, and then me being me, I spilled my drink on the ground, so all the kids in the vicinity of course had to say “sorry” to me numerous times because that’s what you say! Then one of my preschoolers tried to help and share his juice with me, but ended up spilling it all over my pants—oops! There were also cupcakes for the birthday girl’s special day that Mrs. D&D made. Watching them eat those was hilarious too—they didn’t know to take off the paper, even after showing them, they didn’t want to! Cute! I had lots of fun playing with the kids all day. J The best part, however, was a surprise from all the kids. They assembled together and sang a goodbye song to us with our names in it that C had written! “Remember to remain, in union with the Lord! Teachers, we’ll miss you!” So sweet! It was amazing! Some of the older kids came forward and said parts they had obviously written and memorized about love and God. I was definitely crying…Then they all came to give us hugs and since I was sitting on the trampoline, we all rolled backwards into a big pile together. J

During the car ride back I was busting out some of my Nyanja, and that of course was hilarious to them, so they tried teaching me lots more words, which unfortunately, I do not remember….It was an awesome morning; I’m so glad D&D thought this up and decided to include us before we left!

Back at the ranch, T and I finalized everything for our awards ceremony tomorrow, and I went to watch the last kickball game before I left. Well, I attempted to watch. I had preschoolers crawling all over me. They were fighting over who could stand closer, of course. They make me melt. This is why I could never be a little kid teacher long term; I just think they’re so cute and could never teach them! Much laughter ran through the air through all the tickling that happened. J The boys tried doing my hair too. J And I got to hold a baby; that always makes me happy. J He ran right up to me too! CUTE! I of course had my camera with me, so they went nuts over that, too. “Copa teacha, copa!” was shouted through the air, aka, teacher I want to take a picture! I have some interesting photos they took! I did experience some things I wish I wouldn’t have though; I saw the preschoolers peeling termite trails of dirt off the trees and eating them….yuck. After the game I had to tear myself away from them all and head back for supper, a Zambian meal with nshima and pumpkin leaves. T and I finished some things for tomorrow and watched a movie (one left!) before bed.

May 3 "Touching Moments"

Today was the last day teaching—how sad that sounds! We began with all the school-aged kids in the morning. Yes, it was fun to bring them together for our final time and do something as a group, yet we soon remembered how crazy it could get with 8 to 16 year olds all jumbled together who knew various levels of English. We practiced some chants for Thursday’s ceremony, did some drawings, read a story, and took some pictures. English was pretty similar. T and I both finished our books with each of our groups. I gave my ladies a writing activity on our novel to wrap it up; they all appreciated reading the book because they never read anything in English. I also asked them to critique our teaching for the next group, and they were way too nice. J Finally, we ended with a speaking activity for the whole group and took some pictures. The morning flew by and all of a sudden we were done with 2/3 of our students!

Over lunch we made copies of everything we had been trying to copy since Friday, and walked to Asado for our final groceries. On the way back, I heard a “Hello Miss A! Hello Miss A!” and I turned to look. Four young boys I’ve never seen before were waving and saying my name. Random. According to T, I must be well known in these parts! We ate lunch and I read a bit before preschool. Apparently the boys really wanted to go to preschool because starting at 13 hours, they began gathering in the guest house area, sitting at tables, ready to learn, when school doesn’t start until 13:30 and at the preschool. It was really cute. J Preschool went really well. We finished our books with Y and Z, had time to sing and read some stories, of course take class pictures, and then had play time to end the day. The day came and went—a very abrupt end to our final day, in my opinion!

The funniest part of the day was receiving a phone call in the middle of teaching that mine and T’s packages had arrived—packages that were sent in the beginning of February. They both decided to make their appearance during our final days. J Thank you family! Now I have a few new shirts for my final days, a birthday card, and some only slightly out of date new contacts to change into. My eyes thank you, too!

It’s only Tuesday, and everyone trying to say goodbye is making me want to cry. This morning, M, one of my afternoon tutorees, gave me a card saying she’d miss me and a letter asking if I would be her penpal in the States and asking me never to forget that God is watching over me! How sweet! Love it! Then in ESL, I let the ladies in the upper group each talk for a minute about anything, and N decided to talk about how much she’d miss me and how much she’d learn and that there was going to be a hole in her heart! The other ladies chimed in too! Then, Pastor P came over during lunch to ask us to move the awards ceremony to Friday so that the three pastors could come, too, since they wanted to saw goodbye! There were a lot of hugs today too. J

After school, I picked up my package, and worked on this penpal activity Mrs. D&D gave to me earlier in the day with two of my girls. Funny thing is, the penpals just so happen to be from the church I grew up at home! Anyway, then I caught up on some journaling and things, T and I enjoyed our supper, and we finished off our sightseeing plans for Paris in a few days! We watched IQ and headed to bed.

May 2 "Sleeping in on Holidays"

Yes, it was a wonderful morning of sleeping in. Hurray for Monday holidays two weeks in a row! Since yesterday was May Day, today everyone has off. Random, but nice for us! I was a bum (by Zambian standards) of just laying in bed reading and showering and getting ready by 11. After that, T and I worked on some of our final paperwork and organization of things for the next group. We spent some time online trying to finalize Paris, but that didn’t quite happen yet. It needs to happen soon though for we’ll be there on Saturday!

We had lunch and continued working on tying up loose ends. Lots of ticks on the to do list. J When 13:30 rolled around, we headed out to pre-school for our last day (yes, on a holiday) and when we realized that wouldn’t work and we wouldn’t have many kids, we just pushed it off until tomorrow. So it was like a real holiday that way for us, too. Since several of our to do things couldn’t be done without the press being open (for all your printing and copying needs!) be decided to hand make our invites for Thursday’s awards ceremony. Then we had the fun task of going around to all the houses and talking to all our students. J I remember being nervous the first time we went to visit all the families at their homes, and today it was like visiting friends. J Everyone was excited to hear we were having a fun day before leaving. We invited all 10 families and the 3 national pastors that live on campus too. If everyone comes it’s going to be a big group!

My favorite part (and saddest part) of the day was all the people coming up to say goodbyes. It was sweet, and sad. M, one of the girls our age on campus, dropped by to say hello, and that she’d come back later in the week to say goodbye because she would miss us! Then, over lunch, the pastor from Good Shepherd, came over to thank us for all our work on campus and for all the help with the teachers of the community schools. Again, really sweet. Everyone here is so nice. J Finally, later on at night, two guys we know from choir were wondering where we were yesterday (no, I’m not going to practice when I can’t sing next week), and they said they’d miss us and they’d come by on Friday to say goodbye. I’m gonna miss them all….

We came back and planned Tuesday’s lessons: our final classes tomorrow. Then we continued tying up loose ends before dinner, which was delicious. We ate it all. We never do that. Spare ribs (ish), noodles, and potato salad. We headed over by D&D next to finish plans for the week, chillaxed at the guest house a bit, and guess what—watched a movie! Tonight’s feature was When Harry met Sally. Never seen it, but I feel like it’s one of those everyone has to see, so that worked out well. We decided to be really bold and watch another half of a movie, too. Pearl Harbor, since I only have half here. hahah

May 1 "Church Goodbyes"

Last Sunday and last day at church. It was a very nice sermon on Romans 1:16 (I am not ashamed of the gospel). Pastor had some funny and applicable anecdotes about smoking and Shake-Shake (alcohol). I didn’t do too badly on playing the keyboard, either; it even worked the entire time! Usually it turns off sometime when I’m playing….However, the page did blow over in the middle of one of the hymns I was playing, so that made for an interesting verse. T and I joined in with the choir for the final time, even with skipping practice yesterday. Thankfully, we didn’t sing any of the songs from last week, but mostly ones we “know.” T and I both got goosebumps on one of the songs, too. I guess that’s what happens when you know the words. J The dancing didn’t go too badly either. There was one dance and song I missed and I was glad, though, because I’d never heard the song and the dance was really confusing. I had to miss it because I played the hymn while the choir got communion and then they started singing while I got communion. I guess it was God’s way of watching over me to not make a fool of myself during the Communion song. J After the service, the Pastor said a nice thank you and goodbye to us in front of the church, as well as the Chairman in his speech. It was really nice. J They wished we were here for a year so that I could teach “organ.” Don’t know if that would have happened! It was getting really emotional and I was sad to leave for the reception line out of church, except that we didn’t have it today because they had a congregational meeting instead. Once T and I figured this out, we slid out the side door and that was that. I’m going to miss that church. Everyone was so nice and the pastor gave very good messages every week.

After church, T and I decided to go on our final minibus excursion to the Sunday market. (sob.) There were a few things that needed crossing off of the fun to do list, too. We went to Manda Hill to eat at Mugg and Bean. We wish we had eaten there sooner; it was delicious! Very American place. Reminded me of home. Next on the to do list was to ride the escalator at the mall. Yes, it sounds silly, but there’s an escalator in Zambia. That’s unheard of. All the locals ride it to the top level (there’s nothing there) and back down, so we did, too. Next on the list was to go to Mr. Price because it looked like a good store. Again, we wished we would have gone in sooner! Lots of cute clothes and things that reminded me of the States. Surprisingly, most of the clothing stores in the malls were really expensive, so we didn’t shop in the mall much. We quickly walked over to Arcades to head to a movie that the Internet said was there, but sadly, we were mistaken. The ticket takers looked at us like we were crazy when we asked to see the movie. Guess that proves to us to not always trust the Internet!

It was a good thing that we didn’t hit the movies because we wouldn’t have finished all our shopping! We picked up our specially ordered bags from last week. They’re super cute. I love them. J The ladies recognized us today and gave us big hugs too. And one of them said she was making purses for us out of the leftover material, but we won’t be able to pick them up next week! Sweet thought though. J Shopping was interesting today. Bartering seemed much harder. Lots of sob stories. And lots of guys trying to stop me to talk to them. Two of them held my hand, in fact, and one with fingers interlaced. A step up from the guy doing the same thing last week! And another guy gave me a hug because he was trying to sell something to me and I had bought something from him yesterday. Oh man. But yeah, final souvenirs were bought for those lucky readers out there. Sunday market = checkmark. Our last check of the day was heading to Times Cafe to enjoy a beverage. We had heard it was a good place to head too, and even at 5 pm it was packed! Our minibus ride back (last one!) was way less eventful than last week’s ride, and we even had leg room and only three people on a seat! The driver was playing this song over and over that was a montage of American songs, with shnipets of Zambian things in there like Shake Shake and Shoprite. It was quite hilarious. J

When we returned, Mrs. A had dinner for us. (Sausage. Not my favorite. If you look closely in the trees behind the old guest house, you may find part of the sausage. Or it might be gone. Maybe the galu got to it already!) Then we decided to be reminiscent and lay out all our souvenirs to see the collection of the past three months and decide (for the final time hopefully!) what everyone will be getting back in the States. Man, have we acquired a lot! I hope it all fits! After the souvenir extravaganza, T and I watched Happy Feet while I chatted (or tried to, the Internet hated me) with a friend in Germany and my sis. I stayed up late to chat with my fam around midnight, read a bit, and went to bed pretty late (for here), glad that I could sleep in tomorrow.  

April 30 "Race Day!"

Race day! D&D and I left around 7:15 for AISL for Mrs. D’s start time at 8:30. It was amazing watching the people in the Sprint category early in the morning since these were all the really good ones. They flew through the pool; it was crazy. They can swim the 400m in the time it takes me to do the 200m! Anyway, SB and PB came too, and we all cheered on Mrs. D during the swim and got her bike set for her and helped with that transition. Then, Mr. D&D and PB were set to start at 9:00, so SB and her daughter and daughter’s friends and I watched them swim before T and DS picked me up for the market!

Yes, it was kind of crazy to go to the market right before my race, but the Dutch Reform market happens only one Saturday a month, and we’ve missed the others, so it was now or never. They have food there, unlike the Sunday market, but I couldn’t partake anyway…..T and I had fun meandering through the grounds looking at all the curios. Many of the vendors are also the Sunday market vendors, so we ran into the ladies making our bags for us to pick up on Sunday! T and I bought a few curios in the 45 minutes that we had before heading out again for AISL.

Back at the school, I got there 20 minutes before my race, and of course I was supposed to be in the “waiting to compete” tent by then, but I needed to get all my things ready…..oh well, it gave me less time to be nervous. AISL gave 5 lanes in the pool, so in my Senior Women division (this is the first time I’ve ever been referred to as a senior in that sense!), which is 16-39 year olds (because most of the ex-pats in Zambia are families, so there are hardly any people in their 20s), I swam with three 39 year olds and a 44 year old. I was the only person in their 20s in the Intermediate category. So, no matter how I did, I could say I won for the 20 year olds! J Anyway, I was starting to get nervous by the time 11:10 rolled around, but the swim took the nerves away. It’s a 200m swim, followed by a 6k bike, and a 2K run. The Sprint category is double that. That’s what everyone else was doing, but there was no way I could do that without really training. It was funny while I was swimming because I could hear D&D, SB&PB, and T all cheering for me. I even gave them a thumbs up during one of the laps. J So, the swim went alright; about the same time as I normally swim, but the change of clothes and putting on shoes for the bike took a little longer than I wanted. I ran to the bike, putting on my Mickey Mouse helmet and trying to strap on my ipod, jumped on the bike and was off.

Now the biking is where it got interesting. So, I—being the clever person I am—decided, hey!, I’ll bike and run with my ipod. Start idea? Not. Well….when you’re swimming and your arm is wet, an ipod holder isn’t too easy to put on. So, as I ran to my bike, I had to put on the ipod and my helmet and off I went. Long story short, the I couldn’t get the ipod holder on my wet arm, so I just had to hold it. That’s all fine and dandy, except that one of my ear buds caught on the bike frame, making everything just a bit trickier to hold while racing. The route is on dirt roads filled with rocks, too, so it wasn’t very easy to balance and readjust things…Anyway, I was doing all right, except on the top of the big hill I had just climbed, my ipod flew out. So off the bike I went to pick it up and resituate and off I was again. Lost about 45 seconds and lots of momentum….but I learned my lesson.

I traded in my bike back at the school and my helmet and off I was jogging, and this time I was able to adjust the ipod. Hurray! Again, the route is bumpy and rocky, and in previous days I had told D&D that I was going to trip on one of those rocks. Well, me being the gracious person I am, I tripped on not one but two rocks, and fell once. So that took a bit of time from the racing too. Anyway, I finished in 48 minutes flat. Not fast at all, but I finished, which was my goal, and I was hoping for under 50 minutes. And I wasn’t last. J So, triathlon = conquered.

D&D told me about their results after my race. Neither of them had beaten their times from last year, but Mrs. D&D won for her age division overall. And PB had improved by 4 minutes from last year, coming in third for his age division. So it was a good day. J We waited around for the awards ceremony and watched SB’s kids that she teaches doing the triathlon in the afternoon. It’s a big family event, so they have fun races and junior races for the kids. My favorites were the two four year olds: one little girl had streamers on her bike and training wheels and the other boy had a bike with no pedals that he just had to push off the ground on. They were adorable. J It was a fun day, and I was proud of myself for finishing.

After race day, we headed back to the ranch. I had gotten an sms earlier about playing for church in the morning, so after a quick nap, I went in search of the keyboard and hymnal. Then D&D invited us into town, so T and I picked up some supplies for our goodbye party and we all ate some pizza at Debonnair’s. They forgot about our pizza though, so D&D waited with theirs an extra fifteen minutes…. L After pizza, we all headed back. I was pooped out, but I needed to practice my hymns for tomorrow. Then we watched The Hangover and headed to bed early for a good night sleep.

April 29 "Power Outage Extraordinarie"

Last teacher inservice day. The morning started with our last normal tutoring session. The M/W kids this week became W/F kids so that we could have a full week of tutoring with the kids. T left tutoring early to set up and prepare for the inservice, so I had all the kids for the last 20 minutes. E was working on her animal book and she read it to O and V, and then O and V each took a turn reading others’ books from yesterday. They were so excited to read, since they don’t get to read very often.

Next was inservice. One man was there when I got there, and by the time we started (35 minutes after we said it started) we had three men, but one of them was a new one from previous times. Today’s inservice was a bit shorter since we had gone really over time the last two times. We spent time on Lemov’s positive framing, as well as reading comprehension and fluency. The two men who had been at previous sessions said this one was their favorite, too! They were sad that we are heading back to America “so soon” and they wanted us to stay and teach them more. They were also amazed to hear we haven’t taught in our own classrooms (for real) before; that was a nice compliment. J I wasn’t really in the mood to do the training today, but the session was extremely successful and after hearing compliments like these, it definitely made me glad I put the effort in. J

Well, nothing else was planned for the rest of the day, so we rested, right? No way! Well, that was partly due to the fact that the power went out (mid-teacher training) and was out until 5pm, and since neither of our computer’s was charged, we couldn’t do anything using electricity or technology. Instead, we made a big mess on our floor of all the papers we have left to give back to the students, making piles to take pictures of some, copies others, and give them back to the students. So we spent a few hours organizing the papers that will hopefully guide the next group that comes. We also came up with awards for the awards ceremony we’re holding on Thursday. There were some other last minute things to touch on for organization, but then some reading and chatting with Mrs. A happened before heading out for the evening.

D&D and I went to AISL for triathlon registration. My favorite part was instead of asking you what size shirt you wanted, they measured your shoulders and assigned a shirt to you. Apparently I don’t know my own t-shirt size! hahah D&D headed back to my place with me and chatted for a bit while T braided Mrs. D’s hair for the race in the morning. T and I watched a movie (surprise surprise) and caught up on some Internet since the power was back! Hurray! I tried to head to bed early because of the race tomorrow…