Dedication II

As we are nearing the end of the month, I realize I should dedicate my next month of service. November is dedicated to my great-aunt Venise, or Aunty Vee. She recently passed away at the age of 86. She was still working when she passed away! She worked for most of her life with children at schools and preschools. She taught them yoga, and she was also a music teacher. She taught my mom how to play piano, who in turn taught me, using the same tricks as Aunty Vee: making me have bubbles under my fingers when I played. My mom also used to reenact how Aunty Vee used to sneeze. I've never met Aunty Vee, but her influence on my mom's life has left an impression on me as well. Her whole family loved her dearly and I'm sorry that I never got to meet her.
So I hope that this next month is full of music, children, determination and hard work!

Back to school

Sorry for the lapse, internet difficulties...
Starting work again after the midterm break was exhausting! The first week felt like it would never end, but now we're all back in the swing of things and the days are racing once again.
We celebrated the Birth of the Bab, the forerunner of the prophet-founder of the Baha'i Fiaith, on October 20th. The childrens classes we conduct performed two songs and told a story. Then we celebrated Zambian Independance Day on October 24th. I have discovered that Zambia and Tanzania both adopted the tune of South Africa's national anthem, so even though I don't know the words I can still hum along :)

We also had a halloween costume party for Amy's birthday... we had an undercover-Disney princess theme! We had a great time playing games. And taking funny pictures...

Also, Amy, Sophie and I will hopefully be starting a music and drama program at the Primary school. Dance workshop has been progressing really fast! We've nearly finished a step dance that they'll be performing at graduation. We've also been working on a million plans for the december break, all of which have been modified a million and one times! Right now we're probably going to Livingstone for a few days.

Other than that, things here are aaall groovy!

Midterm Break

Shhhhhh - it's quiet!
This past week the students have all been away for the midterm break so we've been enjoying a quiet campus and free time. We've been working to get the school ready for a teacher's conference that's happening tomorrow, but we also had plenty of time to go relax by the pool and watch movies, as you can see.

On a more sad note, Neda left to go back home so now we are down by one volunteer, leaving 5 of us to forge ahead. We had a really nice going-away dinner for her though, a braai (bbq) and a slideshow/movie of pictures and songs about her (to the tune 'Wimbawe': "To the island, the tiny island, Neda soon returns... etc... Weeeee will always keep you in our hearts)
When we dropped her at the airport, we stayed in Lusaka for 2 nights with a family we know, the Alavians. Being away from campus for a while was really great: we did some shopping, went to markets, saw the current and the new Baha'i centers in Lusaka, went to a devotional meeting at the Baha'i center and even saw a movie! It was actually the first time the 5 of us got to hang out and laugh and laugh and have fun together. It was really nice and I think we'll all remember the funny moments we had. I actually made Rae keep a note of all the funny things I said... for instance, while discussing how the travel channel always advises tourists to take the only means of transportation there is (ex: India, tourists should stick to taxis, rickshaws and trains) I said "apparently the hovercrafts aren't very good..." ok. you had to be there.

We took a very full bus back to the school on Monday - I was so squished we almost had to amputate my let... it was close.

We've been cooking for ourselves this week, which has been niee because we can eat what we feel like and not what the dining hall serves, but tricky as well because our stove only has the temperatures "on" and "off" and the oven is too small to fit a dish of longed-after brownies. Hurray for improvisation! We have also been perfecting our techniques of floating on three kick-boards at once to make up for the loss of inflatable pool toys.

When we were at the Baha'i center in Lusaka, I met a woman named Cathy who works for an aid organisation (I think USAID) and I hope to see her again and maybe visit her office and see what she does! After our trip to Children in Need, I've been really keen to learn more about aid work in Zambia!

A funny story: in one of the pictures you will see me apparently scratching a palm tree with a pool tool. Correction: I am strategically using the pool tool to retrieve papayas from a papaya tree! This is how we get our food at Banani. And we also made a mulberry crumble from mulberries that we picked ourselves from a tree outside... it's a do-it-yourself mentality.
The other pictures are Neda's party, hanging out at the Alavians, squished in the bus, retrieving papayas and floating in the pool. If they don't upload now, I'll try again tomorrow.

And great news! I finally received the packages that my family sent from home - computer accessories and clothes I'd forgotten, flaxseed oil and calcium and a few other surprises I wasn't expecting. It was like Christmas or Ayyam-i-Ha, getting to open boxes and have treats inside!
I hope everyone in Canada is enjoying the cooler weather - it's the hottest month now and only one room in the school has air-conditionning!