The more time I spend in Zambia the busier my life seems to become, but in a good way. The last two weeks we have started working in the play school which is where we will be from now until December in the mornings while we prepare the primary school in the afternoon (when they have finished building it that is!) The first week we spent there we were getting to know the other two members of staff and starting to sort the place out. We spent a long time organising toys into the right boxes (sounds dull but of course I loved it) and making lots of puzzles to see which had pieces missing which was unsurprisingly almost every one. We found out it wouldn’t have made a difference to the children any way as they don’t play with puzzles in the traditional way, they just arrange them randomly by banging the pieces into any hole which will fit.  We painted one of the rooms which had become a very dirty white and took down lots of old, ripped posters and put up new ones. It was great to see what a big difference this small change made. We worked really hard that week to get the play school ready as we were having 3 new children come and start the following Monday who would then be taken into the new school in January with some others. Disappointingly the children did not show up but we decided to teach what we had planned to the children who already attend the play school which is about 20 children. That first week of real teaching was more of a challenge then I would have expected. There were quite a lot of changes we introduced which meant repeating ourselves all week long, such as not riding the bikes inside and no jumping on the bed! Some children seemed to think it was funny when we told them off and the language barrier did not help. I’ve never been in a situation with children where I’ve felt out of control so it’s been quite a big learning curve to find other ways of communicating.  One example is where one child came inside and screamed and then all the children thought it would be fun to join in and despite us shouting lecka chongo (stop that noise) over the top of them they just carried on. We ended up getting one of the Zambian ladies to come in and she shouted in Bemba what we had asked….or so we thought! She switched to English at the end and said ‘you understand, you behave or I will get the whip!’ Thankfully most of their threats are hollow but it was not quite the message we wanted to convey to the children. We have also introduced sitting in a circle on the carpet rather than at tables in lines which is a new thing for the children and therefore results in us spending most of the time shuffling children around and crossing and then re-crossing their legs.

We went back and revisited the 3 children who should have started school with us and found that one had misunderstood and thought they should start in January, another was ill and the third had a funeral. Understandably they hadn’t been able to tell us as they would have had to walk 45minutes here to do so. Thankfully all 3 of them, Gift, Esnat and Purity, showed up today and we had our first day with children who spoke no English. They got on very well which was helped by the fact that we had a sort of TA start today called Brian, who wants to train as a teacher and needs some more experience, who helped translate some things. One crucial thing that needed explaining was the use of the toilet as most children have never seen or used a flushing toilet so he described how they don’t stand on top of the seat but sit on it which many children are scared to do as they think they will fall into the water. One thing I have really enjoyed is singing with the children, both teaching them songs and learning ones they already know.

I had a nice birthday, although quite a quiet one compared to normal. Liz and Cherie were very sweet though waking me up with a full cooked breakfast and a card saying I had a birthday surprise on Saturday. My surprise was a whole day of fun, for which I had to be blindfolded for first…we were a little concerned what the police at the road block would say when they saw but apparently a blindfolded person in a car is nothing to worry about. First we went to Jacuranda mall where we like to treat ourselves with ice-cream (perhaps a little too regularly) Then I drove to Nsobe game park (minus the blindfold!) and was treated to back massage then lunch by the river and my first glass of wine in over a month. I stuck to one glass as I then drove us around the game park, which is difficult enough navigating a 15 person minibus down very bumpy narrow dirt roads, all the while looking for animals, without feeling a bit tipsy! We managed to spot 4 giraffes that walked down the road in front of us and we were able to get very close which was exciting. A lovely birthday treat in all. I also bought a grass mat from the side of the road to make my room a bit cosier, I regretted this though when I got home as my bedroom quickly became infested with tons of tiny bugs, including small cockroaches, which I’m still occasionally finding running around over a week later!

On the Sunday we went to Charlie’s church, the carpenter from the college who is one of the leaders. He asked us to pick him up in the mini bus but I was not expecting 25 other people to squash into the back as well, luckily we didn’t have far to go for church. Unfortunately Charlie hadn’t told us it would all be in Bemba so much of it went over our heads but was still great to see a traditional Bemban church. As we waited for church to start (half an hour late) I watched an old woman hobble in, looking as though she might not make it to her seat but then later as the singing started she was the first to jump out of her seat and shake her behind in a way only African woman can! One thing about Zambians is they love to use sound systems but even the best voices don’t sound great as they think they still need to shout when holding a microphone. Luckily this church just had a choir and listening to them all sing together was amazing; we were even able to ‘join in’ as they had Bemban hymn books.

Whilst at the playschool one day last week we were asked to come outside and found some of the workers who are building the school waiting for us. One of them had just been bitten by a snake in the school grounds and they said it was poisonous so they needed some money to go to the medical clinic. When I asked if they were sure it was poisonous they said to take a look at it and that’s when I realised they had hung it over the fence and then they thought it was funny to tell me it was still alive, which it was not! Apparently he is still in lots of pain but other than that will be fine…I’m starting to think staying and teaching in the playschool is sounding like a better plan!

It has been a busy, social weekend, including a BBQ we threw for 12 people, not as relaxing as I thought, now I understand why my parents have binned their BBQ! Playing pool with some of the workers, going to the college’s monthly church service and having lunch with the students afterwards. The highlight was definitely Friday night where we were asked just a few days earlier to plan 2 hours worth of games/ performances to entertain the 50 something students, most of whom we’d never met. I wasn’t sure what to expect but serious bible college students, many of whom are married with children, running around, fighting for chocolate, and becoming very distressed when others cheated was not it! We taught them the chocolate game although the concept of throwing a dice once and then passing it on was lost on some people, they’d rather roll it until they got a six and then hurriedly shove the last person away and scoff the chocolate, needless to say I didn’t get one piece! The funniest game was a scavenger hunt, which started well and ended with grown men coming up to me and pouting because someone had blocked their team.  Perhaps asking them to bring me a full glass of water, a bench, a person and a lit candle was a little reckless…I wasn’t sure they’d hesitate if I got hurt if it meant they would win the point!  But all in all the evening was a big success.

So as you can see I’m kept pretty busy out here and I haven’t even mentioned, the weekly prayer meetings, bible study, student chapel starting at 6.45, swimming, and of course watching Downton Abbey.

Sorry this is such a long blog, I will try to write more regularly so it’s not like reading an essay to learn my news!

It feels like a lot has happened since my last blog so lots more to report this time...
Feeling very settled and at home here now and very much enjoying the food (especially when it is cooked for me) and the weather (hot and getting hotter!)
We went for a day out to Nsobe game park which was lovely and relaxing, except for the part where we visited the snake house and held crocodiles, venomous snakes and a very large python. We also saw a snake which lives locally in Zambia and if bitten by it will be dead in 20minutes...a frightening thought when walking through any tall grass! We went for a drive to see if we could spot any animals and after 20minutes of only buck we thought it was unlikely. however when we came around the next corner we saw a family of 4 giraffes which was a nice surprise.
Last Monday was Cherie's birthday so I decided to make a cake and spent Sunday evening making 2 for a Victoria sandwich, it wasn't until I took it out the oven and tasted it that I realised I had used salt rather then sugar! On Monday I attempted cake 2 and underestimated how much the cake would rise...it came over the top of the tin and set fire to the oven, luckily we managed to salvage it and eat some resemblance of a Victoria sponge.
We had another girl, Liz, join us last week and the three of us went to stay out in the bush with a lady called Mrs Chomba. We were really excited about seeing the way of life out there and experiencing 'the real Zambia.' It was definitely fun to walk around and see how excited the children were to see us and listening to them trying to speak English. It was also an adventure using the toilet in the dark (a large hole in the ground with an equally large hole in the roof) and sleeping in a mud hut where we saw large rats running along the walls and them scuttling around as we tried to sleep. Sleep didn't come easy though when wild dogs decided to have a party outside our door and a cockerel tried to wake everyone up when it was still dark...and then continued to try every hour until we got up! It was fun to experience real Zambian food too, which took 3hours to prepare and included Nshima (a bit like congealed rice) and some small fish with the heads still on. Eating by candlelight as there was no electricity made it easier though and using our hands was messy to say the least. Because of their culture we ate on our own in their house while the rest of the family ate outside and the 2 younger children did most of the work while we weren't allowed to lift a finger. All in all an interesting experience and the best part was how honoured Mrs Chomba was that we had come to stay.
There have been lots of things to get used to such as people only using 24hr clock and trying to work out what time to be some where when it's '15'. Also being called Muzungu (foreigner) almost as much as Charlie...people shout it at you as you walk past, despite it being more than obvious we are the only white people around! Getting used to the roads with crazy drivers and even crazier trucks and police road blocks everywhere. Today I walked through a family's garden and they were slitting the throat of a chicken (nkoko in Bhemba) while the children squeezed the juices out of all the organs, mmm delicious.
Today we went on home visits to the children who will be starting in the new school which was such a world away from the home visit I did 2 years ago working in London...sitting on logs or old tyres listening to everything being translated, having family members trying to guess when the children's birthdays are and finding out if they need medication for HIV. Still the children seemed excited about starting school although pretty shy. Also I popped into another country today as one child lived just over the train tracks which technically means we have (illegally) crossed the border into the Congo.
The last 2 or 3 weeks have been a nice mix of sorting things for the school, exploring the real Zambia around Kaniki and relaxing in the evenings with a movie or a book (I've read 3 already since being here!) I'm looking forward to going into the playschool next week to see how everything's run and then  to start teaching the following week, although I'm not very excited about the fact it starts at 7.30!
That's all for now.