December 9, 2010

12/09/10

Oh the joy of a mosquito net!! I spent the first week here without one and I am surprised I did not just turn into one big mosquito bite. They seemed to have particularly like my “spring breeze” deodorant lol. Thankfully, the little buggers wont be getting me as much.

You know, I don’t think I have ever heard thunder so loud as I have here. On at least a few occasions I have been convinced bombing must be taking place near by and the thunder rolls and echoes. But the Lord knows I love a good rainstorm and I am certainly getting them, almost on a daily basis. I was wondering how the rainy season affects the students that come from the slums and was discussing this with the principle, Zicky. She mentioned that a good number of students will often miss due to the rains and school will sometimes close. So rain days instead of snow days. The dilemma is that the students have to walk to school and by he time they would get there they would be soaked to the bone with no change of clothes. I am still trying to think of a solution that would benefit both the children and the local economy. Maybe there is a poncho pattern I can get from the states and some type of cheap waterproof fabric here that we can make them from. Maybe it can be a “new business” for someone here that has sewing equipment. We will see, I need to brainstorm some more and talk to some people.

I also started teaching myself some Bemba. I will attempt to learn 10-15 new words or phrases a week but hope to have someone to help me make sure my pronunciation is correct and to give me more phrases. I am practicing what I know whenever I interact with people so that helps in remembering what I have learned.