Dry Season

When you can see your daily walking path joining the tire marks on the airstrip...

This time of year there are splashes of scarlet in the dry bush to tide you over till the rains come and things go green again,

and the afternoon sky is filling with clouds after the rushing winds have blown all morning.

And teachers at Sakeji are beginning the never ending process of getting ready for term! One math test written and literature unit planned...a million other things to go!

Cottage Trip

We as a station (all 12 of us counting the 5 staff kids) went out to the cottage for a cookout this past Saturday. We took my brazier and a cool Menonite barbeque stand and they worked beautifully. The kids got to swim, the adults got to chat, the bugs weren’t too bad, the river was cool and peaceful, and it was a nice break from our little world of the station.

What do teachers do while the kids are away?

* Put up some very appropriate wall letters in their living room.

* Hang a candle sconce and a picture frame in their rooms.

* And get given a new set of pots to replace the totally motley collection they have been using for the last 6 ½ years!

Parting thought:
* While I was in town, I ordered a rump steak for dinner one night. Much to my amusement, the chef came out and asked if I would like my “lump steak lare, or medium lare.” We had heard vigorous pounding coming from the kitchen, so I can only assume there were working on those ‘lumps.’ TIA! (This is Africa!)

Parting shot: The clouds are back!

Road Trip!

Last week I took a quick trip down to Solwezi with Jill to pick up some perishable supplies and to get off station. Some highlights include:

Staying at Mutanda Nature Lodge--lovely place and good food!

Buying a brazier up-cycled from a drum; actual picture of mine in use to follow.

We got to drive past some pretty big bushfires,

And I found a few personal treats including this fun hat in the stores at the new mall.

We had some car trouble, but the Lord worked things out for us and took care of us. Now, I have a few weeks to recharge and prepare for the last leg of this school year. With His help and strength, I can do all things!

August Holiday has officially begun!

* Term ended!

* My cold turned into a sinus infection

* One of my 7th grade students was baptized--praise the Lord!

* I have been working on getting somewhat caught up on sleep. This could take quite awhile...

* I am taking a quick trip to Solwezi this week; just two nights away, but it should be fun to get some shopping done.

* Have I mentioned how glad I am for a holiday?

Dinosaurs!

The big event this week was our birthday party, which was delayed when Mr. Y passed away in June. The theme was dinosaurs, and I didn’t get around to taking a single picture. The staff had foam dino hats provided by some short termers, so dressing up wasn’t too big a chore, and the kids had a blast with the dino goodie bags by their plates. The show was a pretty typical birthday party show; there were some funny skits, some awful ones, and some that were funny for reasons totally other than what the kids intended. My students were surprisingly with the day after, but there was some late homework on Wednesday. I was able to get two of my exams out of the way, and I have official started working on the report card comments.

Please pray for the teachers at Sakeji as we put in our tri-annual Herculean effort to get all the exams and report cards finished by Saturday, and also that the horrible flue that is sweeping through the school will pass the staff by. It’s bad enough trying to sort out the sick and faking kids, but to try and go through the busiest week of the year being sick yourself would be a very big trial.

Just a week and a half left! Where has term 2 flown?

Parting shot: Thank you Lord, for roses in the midst of the crazy.

Week 10--two and a half more to go!

Monday and Tuesday of last week was half-term, so there was a nice break from the rigors of school. I got pretty much caught up on marking, took some sorely needed naps, and got a sore arm after participating in the tug o’ war that was part of the ‘fun’ races day. My kids brought their brains back to class to varying degrees, and one of my students pride and ungratefulness is really wearing at me. They burned most of the fire break around the school, and though my house sat in a cloud of smoke for two days, I felt much better knowing that if I did hear the crackle of a fire, at least my house wasn’t first on the gone list!

This is our last ‘normal’ week of school, with the coming week being exam and report card writing week. I am going to be giving a few of my exams this week; one of the benefits of first and second term being you can finish a unit for the report card, and then roll the last few days week onto the next. Third term, unfortunately, allows no such luxury… I’m going to try and start writing my comments as I can this week to ease my work load in that last full week.

Parting shot: Here is a picture of the lower school as it looked a week ago. Since then they have got a few roofing sheets put up. Chovu, chovu!