How Time Flies

Alex, Diana, Pia, Melanie
Me, Michelle and Julia

Not always so serious 😉

Wow, almost four weeks. Time both flies here and also stands still, it’s a very strange sensation. I both feel like I have been here forever while also feeling like I still am new and don’t know all the people that I should yet. Leaving Bristol feels like forever ago but also like last week. My brain is very confused I think 😂. I don’t think it helps that we are already talking about where to go in December on holiday.

Here the school year is different. Instead of the year starting in September, here they start in January which means that I arrived at the beginning of term 3. In England we have our long holiday in August but here it’s in December so we are trying to decide whether we want to go somewhere in Zambia or maybe somewhere else in Africa. There are 6 of us to make this decision and it depends on everyone’s budgets aswell, so we shall see. I don’t feel like I’ve been here long enough to be planning Christmas yet!

There is a very sweaty me playing
Pia in the background. 🎾

This week is going better I feel. The kids have been easier to deal with and have been listening better which was especially good when I had a migraine early in the week. I started a couple of new things this week too. So now on a Tuesday after teaching and before we eat together at the flat we now play Squash which was soooooo much fun, I was really thankful for knowing how to play before we went. On Wednesday I now go over to the girl’s dorm to help with their sewing projects which I think Ms Clara was very grateful for, they’re making little purses and coasters at the moment. I also had some time and managed to fix one of Pia’s dresses while over there! 

Trying out my new hat 🧢

The little painting I bought to
brighten up the flat a little

I got to go shopping this week! Wendy took me, Pia and Julia with her and Megan to Chingola on Friday after school. I managed to buy a hat so that will come in useful, I also bought some chitenge to make a bag out of, a painting for the wall, some stuff which we can bake with and some other stuff aswell. We also had Ice cream 🍦😍

The things I found most interesting about this week.

•          Everywhere you go there is a picture of the president. Literally everywhere. Here at the school I think there are 3, one in the school and one in each of the dorms.
•          Some things that are just normal to me are totally new to people here and the other way around too! For example because I live close to Southmead hospital I see helicopters go over all the time. Here they never see them so all the kids came out of the village to see what it was (even the adults came out but they didn’t run 😂).

Points of Thankfulness

•          The cold floor in this house. It’s great for lying on after a hot day at school.
•          Paracetamol. I had a migraine earlier in the week and things would have been so much harder without paracetamol.
•          Electricity! Something I definitely take for granted in the UK!

Prayer Points

•          I have been away now for almost 4 weeks. This is by far the longest I have ever been away from my house let alone my family. So far I haven’t really been homesick particularly. I would like to keep it that way. (When I say I haven’t been home sick that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss people)
•          My eczema is still quite bad. It’s mostly under control but occasionally I get a small flair up and because it’s on my hands it’s hard to keep clean without drying it out more
•          Please pray that my friendships with those I live and work with will continue to grow.

End of Teaching Week #2

My beautiful maths notes

I have now come to the end of my second week teaching. My biggest challenge so far (apart from learning so many names) has been the children who are testing me in what they can get away with when I’m teaching. This has been a good lesson in patience for me but also makes my role a lot less enjoyable at the moment. I now have a timetable to work from though which is good. So this week I mostly taught (other than swimming) grade 5 maths which is challenging for me because I’m having to remember my maths from years ago. I work especially with the children who need a little more help either focusing or with the work in general which again is a good test of my patience especially when repeating the same thing a minimum of 10 times (seriously I’m not exaggerating). I ended up drawing out all the diagrams myself in my book to help with them visually.

On our way to the pool

Music lesson outside

The small pool here at Amano

Last Sunday (the 15^th) in the evening we went to a service at an orphanage which was lovely, it had lots of singing and the talk was short and to the point and I actually understood what was being talked about which is always good. Hopefully we will get to go back there sometime. This week it was held at Amano in the boy’s dorm.

Diana and Michelle playing volleyball with some
of the dorm girls and boys

We started a couple of new things this week. One was our cultural training on Monday evenings. Last week we learned lots of statistics about Africa and Zambia in particular. We also learnt much about the differences between the English and German culture which was really funny. For example, the English way of writing an email vs the German way; typically, Germans are short and to the point but the English add lots off fluff to everything. On Friday Michelle decided that she was going to go and play volley ball with the dorm people (some of them are really not kids anymore 😂) while I sat and watched which was very entertaining for me. We also joined the Friday evening music group which was really lovely because we also sang with some of the older dorm kids (different ones from the ones playing volleyball).

I’m starting to get used to getting up so early which is good because it means I start the day in a better frame of mind. I also am maybe getting more used to being called Miss Beth but that is still very strange and makes me feel old, especially when the 17 & 18 year olds ask ‘Miss Beth may I be excused from the table’.

We came out to support.
Melanie, Michelle, Me, Pia and Julia

On Saturday there was a big sports event held at Amano which had, I think, 6 other schools taking part. It was basketball and volleyball which was lovely to watch especially since I haven’t really seen any proper matches of this before (other than one basketball game last year in Canada). It was a lovely day of just being there and supporting Amano. The girls came 1^st in the basketball. I don’t know how well the boys did over all.

Me standing on the plane in the playground at church.
(It was a real plain that flew once upon a time)

This Sunday I went with Pia, Michelle and Julia, to the flying club church which I think has been my favourite church so far and I’ll probably keep going there. We also were invited to a BBQ after church down at the ranch and I got to cuddle puppies 😍🐶. It was really good to get to know people a little better, even those who work at Amano (which is most people there)

Puppy 😍🐶

The things I found most interesting about this week.

•     When giving or taking from someone you MUST use your right hand and it is also best to have your left hand on your elbow. (This apparently shows that you don’t have a knife in your hand. I think now it’s just more of a sign of respect than a I am not going to kill you sign)
•     When a child is being told off they don’t look into the eyes of the one telling them off because that says that you are equal which in that moment would be EXTREMELY disrespectful.

Points of Thankfulness

•    Weirdly I am thankful that my shower is cold. The heating doesn’t always work in the flat, especially when there’s a power cut but it’s really good for this heat (although not so much at 6am)
•    I am thankful for data bundles which enable me to talk to those back home (although I ran out this week by accident)
•     I am thankful for Mosquito nets

Prayer Points

•    Please pray for the eczema on my hands and ears to go away. I have to wash my hands all the time here with strong anti-bacterial soap which is not good for my hands. It flared up when I arrived and it’s just not going away and occasionally getting a little worse.
•     Please pray for patience for me with those children who are still testing out the boundaries of what they can get away with me.
•     Being here is still very exhausting, learning new things, getting to know more people, being busy, being so hot etc… I go to bed at around 9:30 pm but even then I’m exhausted all the time. It’s good though because it means I’m never bored.

Bonus Photo time

The locals NEVER see helicopters here so they got very excited and all came out to see it.

The flowers of a Jacaranda tree 😍

We have an Orange tree in our garden

Blog Post #1 - In the Beginning

Welcome to Amano Christian School

So I thought that since I have now been here in Zambia for 2 weeks I ought to give you an update. So the first week I mostly spent getting to know the people who live around the school site and the other volunteers who I live and work with. On Thursday we had a big staff outing to a boat club and had a bible study, which was really good because it meant I could meet all those who I hadn’t met already before being thrown into teaching with them. I also went along to some school meetings which meant I could prepare myself for teaching on the Monday.

'The flat'

I live in a little bungalow with two other girls who are really lovely. Michelle and Julia. They are both German which has proved to be far less stressful than I anticipated. Their English is amazing and I only have to correct them occasionally which is good because that would get annoying for all of us. There are two other German volunteers called Melanie and Pia and they live in the girl’s dorm with Diana who is also a volunteer but she is Zambian. She is teaching us Bemba (the most used Zambian language). Alex, who is also Zambian, is the only male volunteer this year and he is living in the boy’s dorm. It has been really great getting to know these guys better especially on our Tuesday evening meal which we have all together at the flat (my house).

From left to right: Me, Diana, Alex, Julia, Pia, Michelle and Melanie at our Tuesday night meal together

School started on Monday the 8^th of September. I was really glad I’d had the week before to get use to the area a little bit more otherwise I probably would have gotten lost. I had 3 hours of swimming teaching on the Monday which was a lot and very overwhelming but good because it meant that the rest of the week felt much easier.

Not a great picture of the primary school 😂

So right now I teach Swimming mostly and help out with other classes in the primary school which is grade one to seven. I also am now a music teacher with my flat mate Michelle for grades six and seven which I think is hilarious!😂 I haven’t properly started teaching music yet, last week we went along and met the children briefly but this week we have had to plan a lesson so we shall see how that goes! 😬 I also help out with other lessons mainly PE and library lessons. 

I have been to two different churches since being here in Zambia and neither of them have been like Ebe at all. All the songs we sing are generally quite old (or what I consider old at least) and they either had no accompaniment or very little accompaniment. I have one more church to go and see which will be next week which is where Stu and Wendy go with the kids.

The thing I found most interesting about this week.

• ·         They never leave food on their plate! If they leave anything they are sent back to the table to finish. When collecting food it just means that everyone is very particular about how much they are given. You can ask for more and you can ask them to take some off but you do not waste food! I like this practice, it means there is so little wasted food!

Points of Thankfulness

The awesome Moon

• ·         I am very thankful for all the lovely messages I have received from people back home
• ·         I am thankful for having an amazing group of people out here with me that are in the same position I am and have such a heart for Jesus!
• ·         I am thankful for having a family so close to me that I know I can go to for a hug if I really need one.
• ·         I am thankful for really great food here
• ·         I am thankful for the moon! It looks awesome here

Prayer Points

• ·         Please pray that I stay well. It is getting very hot here now and I need to remember to drink lots and wear lots of sun cream.
• ·         Please pray that I will continue to get closer with the other volunteers here as I spend most of my time with them
• ·         Please also pray that I will get used to living with ants! They often cover our sink which is horrible!

WHY?!

Thank you for all your support. I’ll try to keep you posted on the latest.

Beth

15/09/2019