Back in Texas for a few weeks

After four days of traveling, I’m safely back in Texas once again! It was a good trip; just really long. I had a bit more hassle than usual in Dubai; I guess new travel regulations have been coming down the pipeline. I got to sleep, shower, and swim at the hotel there before getting on my longest flight. I stayed awake till a decent hour Monday night before collapsing into bed. I’m a bit tired this afternoon, but hopefully I’ll be fully on schedule in a day or so more. Plus, I got waaaay too little sleep the last week at school.

I’ll be picking up my leased car this week and having a podiatrist appointment next week. I need a massage as well, but I’ll have to see if I can fit that in before the wedding. All the stress and lack of sleep the last week and half have made both my shoulder and my tendonitis flare up more than normal. I’m also going to try to start scouting out some things like apartment and car prices for next spring.

The Wednesday before I left was our camping/outdoors themed birthday party.

Most of that day was a whirl of getting my substitute prepared and working in my classroom, but I did get to enjoy the pig that slow roasted for about 24 hours in this clever pit,

and sit outside for a bit enjoying the bonfire.

Prayers for my podiatrist’s appointment, for my students and substitute as they finish up the last two weeks of term, and for all the details of my sister’s wedding and accompanying festivities appreciated would be appreciated. It’s going to be busy, but boy is it good to be home!

Last Sports Day

Just quickly as it's late, I need to sleep, and I might do a tad more packing, here are a few pictures from Saturday. My house, Fisher, did a great job of competing and encouraging each other, and there were no major injuries. The day started with the school carrying "Big Bertha" (the rope) up to the field-

I was busy keeping score as usual so I didn't get a lot of pictures of the actual events, but here is my house captain encouraging a house member on during the whole house sack race relay,

And Fisher during the tug o' war--which we won!

Afterwards the kids went down to the river as usual for a Saturday afternoon. The older boys have constructed a fort in one of the trees,

and the younger kids had fun at the clay tables.

Parting shot: Way to go Fisher house!

Busy, Half-term, and thatching

You’re never going to guess what kind of week I had—it was busy! Since our second half-term (so it’s actually more like a 2/3 term) was this Monday and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday were a rush of trying to get things finished off, which resulted in more and less success. I had my last weekend off before heading back to the States, in which I got caught up on marking, took a much needed nap or two, and did some work around the house.

For half-term I took almost no pictures, but I did take the 7-9’s for early morning swim at the dam, I spent almost two hours squeezing math corrections out of some of my students, I wrote almost all my report card comments, I did a braiding activity with Ruthie and the 5-6 girls,

I biked over to the farm to pick up the weekly 2L of milk, tried to top up my back tire and broke the top of the Presta valve right off, did a ‘housework workout’ today, and started packing. So, nothing super picture-worthy, but busy days. I leave Sakeji on July 13th, so there isn’t that much time left this term for me! Plus, there is Sports Day on Saturday, and Birthday party next Wednesday, so things are going to continue to be a bit crazy. Helping with a wedding is starting to sound relaxing!

Parting shot: The work on our big chota continues; the grass matting is down, and now they are starting to bind on the bundles of grass.

Very dry, but not very cold this 'winter'

Sorry I didn't update last week. Not a lot had happened, and I was super busy, and it turns out starting to come down with the plague that has not stopped sweeping the school since the beginning of term. Here are a few pictures and highlights to convince you that I'm not totally boring!

* I now am teaching spelling to my students two times a week as the usual spelling teacher is on furlough. This means I have two less preparation periods a week, and makes Tuesday a little wilder, but it's only for three more weeks. Last week grade 2 had a pretty good lesson in music class; we're working on treble clef notation. I've been surprised by how different people do with that.

* I killed a bushy-tailed mouse in my kitchen; it was pretty dramatic. There was broom smacking, no support from my cat, and some fast footwork around the kitchen. That weekend I scrubbed out the mess it had made of my cupboards, and so far all seems to be well. What a hassle!

* We finished up astronomy in science, and started on ancient Egypt in history class. Playing with hieroglyphs is a lot of fun!

* Our biggest chota is due for a rethatching; you can see the supplies piled up inside, and the difference in color of the grass on the inside from the outer layer. I love watching the men work on thatching; it's such a practical and cheap way to cover a roof out here.

* It has been a very mild dry season; there has really only been one cold week so far. We even had a sprinkling of rain last week after a few overcast days! I haven't pulled out my heater, because there hasn't been a need for it.

There are just three more weeks before I head home for my sister's wedding! There is a lot to do before then, but I'm looking forward to the time with family, and the break. Yes, helping with a wedding sounds like a nice, relaxing change of pace!

Parting shot: Though things are really starting to dry out, there are a few lovely flowers still blooming:

Copper Belt Tour 2018

Sorry I didn't write last week; if you were following my Facebook updates then you'll know I was helping chaperone the annual Copper Belt Tour for deserving 7-9th grade students, where they go down to Amano Christian School to play sport against Copper Belt Schools, as well as enjoy some treats and experiences along the way. We left on Thursday and came back on Monday, and I had all I could do to get myself turned around for Tuesday, which is one of my very busiest days. So, here are some of the highlights of our trip.

Thursday--The "Green Machine," the R's Land Cruiser breaks down just as we reach Solwezi. Pam, the 7 girls and I go ahead, while a rescue is launched for Phil and the 6 boys. After grabbing some supper Pam headed back to pick up the boys while Phil and his brother continue to tow the Green Machine in. The boys were feed late at night, and got to bed just as Phil made it to Chingola. All very tired, but thankful for being safely in!

Friday--Slow morning, but a busy afternoon with 6 games in a row for both our boys and girls teams. There were 4 games--2 volleyball and 2 basketball going on at all times, I went back and forth between our two teams taking video, encouraging, and picking up water bottles.

In the evening, we went over to have a sing and fire night with some other missionaries--what a treat!

Saturday--Another slow morning with swimming and some volleyball on the grass at Phil's sister's place. Then on to an afternoon of field hockey. I had never seen it played before; an interesting game! I can see why you'd need mouth guards though...

Sunday--I took very few pictures because I was too busy enjoying an English church service, the music both at church and at the orphanage that evening, visiting with some Amano staff memebers, and watching the kids play ultimate Frisbee. Sometimes memories and people are more important than pictures!

Monday--We had back to Sakeji; the Green Machine was still being worked on, so Phil's brother drove the boys up close to Mwinilunga, where we were met by Gwen in another car. Until Solwezi things were pretty quiet--

But once they had spent the rest of their K30 allowance on junk food, the ride back got pretty interesting...and loud. We arrived back to find the Nchila gate locked, so the sugar-high kids started walking back while we waited for the key. Then it was getting the kids fed with REAL food, staggering home and preparing for the week.

Last week was pretty rough; I was tired and waaaaay behind after being away and not marking for 5 days, and the students did not come back from half-term well. Here's hoping that this week, midterm week will be better, and that I'll get caught up enough to actually enjoy my first weekend off in three weeks!

Sick, encouraged, and very busy!

I had every intention of updating last week, but what with having a lot to do to get ready for the week and having a cold I was trying to get over, it just didn’t happen. I’ve been super busy these last two weeks trying to get everything in motion again, trying new things in my classroom, trying to get curriculum and projects solidified for the person coming after me, and trying to get better. At the end of last week the cold blossomed into a full blown sinus infection, which if you’ve never had one, really takes it out of you. Thankfully I was off this weekend, so I holed up in my house drinking fluids, resting, and irrigating my sinuses, ‘cause I ain’t got time for that. It seems that my strategies are working, as I feel much better today. In fact, I cycled over to the farm to take my turn picking up the fresh milk, and I managed to make it up the big hill on the way back without stopping!

Last Friday we had a tea as the whole school—workers, staff, and students, to celebrate and thank our workers. We also wanted to honor the retirement of a long-time kitchen worker. Lots of the kids formed long lines going around and shaking all the worker’s hands, and the oldest kids helped serve.

For the first two weeks of school we had a couple visiting who were a huge blessing; Josh took a week of special assemblies and spoke on Sunday evenings, and Keri who has training in special education and support needs was able to give lots of practical suggestions and advice and gave us some tools to help our students in areas where we are weak. She spend time in our classrooms, took kids out individually, and was a huge encouragement. There are still many things that need work, but I feel more equipped to finish this year now.

One thing I’m working on with my kids, is having a growth mindset. The first week of school they each colored 2 pieces of this poster, and then a couple of them helped me with the final assembly. They did a great job, and it was a handy object lessons for accomplishing big things.

On that note, I’m doing the Do Hard Things conferences/book with the seniors for Sunday school, and am praying that it resonates in their hearts. The first session went well, and I’ll be doing the next one in a few weeks. One hard thing that I’m working on in my classroom right now, is trying to replace a negative habit of calling others out and laughing at them with more positive things. It’s going to take a while to unlearn something they have been doing for years, but I want my classroom to be a safe learning space, where my students learn to respect and value all kinds of people. It’s not all the three R’s in the classroom…

Parting shot: I've seen more flat spiders in my house this term than I have in a long time. I rather like them as long as they stay on the wall and flat. It's when they're on the floor (and almost impossible to see) or rising up to scuttle faster that they creep me out a bit!

Close encounters of the snake kind, a new term, and 24 hour power again!

Well, the students are back, and term 2, 2018 has started! I was missing 6 students on Saturday, so we just talked about a few new things I’m going to be trying, did the “Span the greatest distance” activity, and started work on a big poster project. I am going to be trying to do quite to teach my students about and encourage having a growth mindset this term; I can’t wait to see the finished project! Today, Monday, was our first full day of school, and things went pretty well. I'm super excited about several of the topics we are learning about this term, and hope the kids will be too!

This afternoon while I was coming back from my bike ride on the airstrip, I turned the corner of a road on the edge of station and found a large cobra crossing the road just beside me. It looked pretty surprised to see a person on a bicycle coming through, and I was pretty surprised that that stick that looked rather snakelike was actually a snake. I decided the best course of action was to keep going, and I assume the snake carried on with his day after I passed. It sure got my heart rate up though! I'm so thankful that the snake wasn't aggressive, and I didn't have to find out if I can cycle faster than a cobra!

A huge praise around here is that the hydro station that has been offline for repairs for the last 3 ½ weeks is finally back up and running again! Having power 24 a day is a pretty big deal… It means that the kitchen can operate normally, teachers can photocopy at any time, and laundry can run when it needs to. It's amazing what a difference having constant power makes!