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.