It has been a while since I blogged but that is because there really hasn’t been much new to tell. Easter was interesting at least very early in the morning when I was awakened by about 20 women dressed in white sheets chanting “Jesu Wabuka! Wabuka!” outside my window at 4:45 in the morning. I was honestly scared at first. All sorts of thoughts of witchcraft going through my mind. Then I realized that I know what they are saying. “Jesus has risen! He has risen!” However, the rest of the day was just like any other Sunday.
The highlight of the month was going to Macha, a town about 70km from Choma. I thought the road from Choma to Sikalongo was bad but this was by far the worst road I have been on in Zambia. But after three hours of being thrown around the back of a truck like a rag doll we finally made it. “We” being Mark, Jocelyn, and myself. The purpose of our visit to Macha was to see Karen who is another MCCer and a nurse at Macha hospital.
Macha was a very interesting place. It is out in the middle of nowhere. Even farther from civilization than Sikalongo. However, it felt more like North America than Zambia. This was due to the North American style houses where several North American style people live and the North American style food that they fed us. (One saintly woman even made Mark and me our own Chocolate Pie). Even most of the Zambians who live there don’t seem like the same Zambians as the ones in Sikalongo. Probably due to their higher education as most are nurses or doctors and have been more exposed to whites. Furthermore, Mark and I had wireless internet in our bedroom. In addition, just next to the hospital is the John Hopkins Malaria Research Center whose lab is as nice or nicer than the labs at Bethel College.
While there, I was able to shadow the doctor we stayed with for a day. That particular day happened to be surgery day. The first surgery was wiring a guys mouth shut who had a broken jaw. I was able to help with the surgery by holding the guy’s mouth open. However, I don’t think he had brushed his teeth in a while and he had pneumonia so he kept spitting up greenish fluid. Eventually, I had to leave because I was feeling sick. The next operation was to clean some burn wounds. Apparently the patient had had a seizure and a traditional healer told him to walk on fire to get rid of the evil spirit. I don’t know if the evil spirit was vanquished or not but the guy’s feet were badly burned. The final procedure was to remove a tumor from a man’s arm. I found this much more interesting than the previous operations. However, I have decided I am not interested in pursuing a career as a surgeon.
Other than that, the weekend in Macha was a very nice relaxing weekend filled with good food, some actual entertaining television (the TV show “HOUSE” which someone had on DVD), and no screaming two year olds. It was hard to come back to the monotony and screaming two year olds of Sikalongo.
The two year old at our house is so spoiled. I am not a fan of spanking but if she were my child she would have been spanked several times already. Anytime she doesn’t get what she wants she screams. So my host parents give her what she wants so she will stop. 10 minutes later the process repeats itself. This then makes me want to spank my host parents for giving in every time…okay maybe not, but I have tried hinting that they shouldn’t give her everything she wants. Lest you think I am totally heartless, I do respect them for taking care of their grandchildren so that their daughter can have a chance to go to college. They have admitted to me that they are looking forward to April when they will also get a break from screaming two year olds when their daughter comes back from school for a month.)
Luckily, on the way back from Macha, I got an extra night in Choma at Ron and Erma’s because there was a miscommunication with the transport to Sikalongo. Miscommunication in Zambia…imagine that. Haha. Anyway, I must admit I am looking forward to April when my family comes and I also get to go to Zanzibar. I really need to get out of Sikalongo for a while.
As for school, we are in the final weeks of term 1. This is the busiest time of year for me because I am again typing the exams for teachers. But I really don’t mind (see monotony and screaming two year olds above).

A few weeks ago Mark and I played golf in Choma. There were cows in the “fairways.” I don’t think I really need to say more than that to give an accurate depiction of the experience -- but I will anyway. For those of you who are familiar with the course conditions at Haven Golf Club, they were about the same except here parts of the “fairways” had not been mowed for a few weeks. Thus even in the “fairways” it was hard to find the ball. Luckily we had a spotter who went out ahead of us and marked the location of our balls. Not only did we get a spotter we also got a caddie. We only needed one caddie because they let both of us use the same set of clubs, which weren’t in too bad of shape. Unfortunately they had regular flex shafts so I kept hitting everything left (at least that’s what I am blaming it on, although not playing for 5 months could have been a factor also).
On the 16th we did get to go to Choma Secondary to play games. The school took boys and girls soccer teams, boys volleyball, chess, boys and girls basketball, and girls netball (which is like basketball but without dribbling or backboards and is played on a grass field). We got there about 10:00 AM. The first item of business was to have a coaches meeting for each sport. So I met with the other coaches and we determined how long the games were going to be and how we were going to set up the tournament. Since there were only 2 girls teams and 3 boys teams we decided that the boys games would consist of 15 minute quarters (yeah, they were long games even with running clock) and the girls game would be 10 minute quarters with running clock.
The first game was between the two other boys teams. As we were watching the game it was immediately apparent to me that we were not going to beat one of the teams. They actually had some fundamentals and organization on offense and defense. I felt somewhat vindicated for my coaching efforts however when one of my players came up to me and said, “Coach that team does what you want us to do.” haha (ie – not run around like a bunch of headless chickens on offense). Unfortunately despite the recognition of what we should do, we were unable to actually do it in the game. Our first game was against the good team, which beat us by about 40. However, we did win our second game 31 to 29. Because there were only 3 teams, second place was not good enough to qualify for the next round, so boys’ basketball is over until May.
The girls faired better. There were only two teams and thus only one game – which we won 14-10. We were propelled to victory by our monstrous 8-point 4th quarter. I was not planning on coaching the girls’ team but their coach couldn’t make it so she asked me to fill in. With our victory we qualified for the quarterfinals on March 8.
Overall it was an interesting experience. It had a similar atmosphere to MAYB but outdoors and less organized. For example, the schedule of games changed several times. The coaches who changed the schedule didn’t bother to tell me. Jocelyn, who also coaches basketball at Choma, informed me of the changes. When the other coaches were asked when they were going to tell me, they replied, “When he asks.” Ha. The other major difference was that the referee was the coach who didn’t have a team playing at the time (although they didn’t ask me to be a referee, which was fine).
This past weekend Mark, Amy, and I went to Kitwe, which is in the Copperbelt in the northern part of Zambia, to see the Smiths. They are MCC workers at a peace institute.
I would like to end by thanking Mark's brother for sending him The Best of the Colbert Report DVD. I really miss that show

It is hard to believe it is February already and I my term is half over. Sometimes I am excited that I am already half-way finished and at other times depressed that I am only half-way finished. I guess it depends on whether or not I am having a good day.
It continues to rain almost everyday, although it is abating somewhat. I have to ride my bike through several inches of water everyday where it is flowing over the dam between me and the Secondary School. Also, the water table is so high it is causing some buildings to be unstable. I have heard of people suddenly having springs of water popping up in their living rooms. Also, the latrines at the girls’ dorms collapsed (yuck). Thankfully, no one was using them at the time.
Not too much is new in Sikalongo except for the sudden influx of paparazzi. Even with the rains and the bad roads it is hard to find a moment to myself. People are always asking for pictures and autographs. But hey, I guess that’s the price you pay for being put on the back page of “The Common Place.”
Because of my new found fame, they have asked me to use my influence and teach Sunday school to the grade 12’s. (Or maybe it’s because they couldn’t find anyone else to do it.) Our first lesson was on Jesus being able to relate to our human needs, desires, temptations, etc. Once again I found it to be more for me than for the pupils. The material suggested that I begin class with the question, “Have any of you ever felt like no one understands you?” No response. So I asked again, this time slower and with more of my Zambian accent. (I do have one, but for some reason it only comes out when talking to Zambians. I can’t really turn it on and off.) “Have any of you ever felt like no one understands you?” No response. So I said, “It must be nice to always be perfectly understood.” To which, a boy in the front row said, “Sir (pronounced “suh”), we are not getting you.” I thought about trying to explain irony, but decided against it.
Despite my frustrations with being understood, I was encouraged this last week when I learned that some students told the Deputy Headmaster that “we are getting used to speaking English because we are taught by an English speaking teacher.” English is one of the subjects that every pupil must pass to graduate. (I learned of this because the headmaster had to write a report evaluating myself and the school’s partnership with MCC at the half-way point. Guess who typed it...haha.)
In other news, Obama-fever is spreading through Sikalongo. The school accountant told me he stayed up most of the night watching the coverage of Super Tuesday. (He has a special satellite with CNN). The school also has satellite TV in the staff room which gets two news stations – a French one and an Iranian one. Both of which have quite a bit of coverage of the primaries. Whenever a report comes on about the elections in the States everyone stops what they are doing and listens. The extensive coverage by both the French and Iranian stations as well as the interest of the people in Sikalongo has given me a new appreciation for the fact that whoever the next president is will affect not only Americans but the rest of the world as well.
As for basketball, I am quickly losing interest. It was fun for a while but now I am finding excuses not to go to “practice.” The problem is I want it to be something that it will never be. We will never run an offense or really be able to gameplan or anything like that. And despite my attempts to teach some fundamentals, whenever we scrimmage everything goes out the window. Also we did not go “tripping” on the 26th so we have been having lots of practice with no games. However, the official schedule came out and we will be going to Choma on the 16th of February. I wonder what we’ll do if it rains?

School has started again, which I am happy about. The weeks go much faster when I have something to do. My job has changed a bit this term. The school secretary is on medical leave for the term so I am taking over her position. This basically entails typing letters and other documents for the headmaster and teachers. Because of my secretarial duties my teaching load has been reduced, so now I only have two classes – 12th grade physics and 11th grade chemistry. I will have 3 grade 10 classes when they report to school, but as of right now they are still waiting for their Grade 9 National Exams to be graded. I have asked several people when they will report. Some say at the end of January and others say not until March. I guess I will just have to wait and see.
In the afternoons, we have started basketball “practice” again. Once again practice is in quotes because it in no way resembles what I think of as practice. I treat it more like a basketball camp where we only work on individual skills and play games like knockout (I bought two balls which has allowed us to do more things) or horse or other shooting and dribbling games. So the result is something like a mix between a basketball camp and a circus, but I think they have fun. We are supposed to be “tripping” (i.e. going somewhere else, not falling down) on the 26th of January for a basketball tournament, so I am looking forward to seeing what Zambian basketball is really like.
At home things are changing as well. My two sisters who were still living at home last term have left – one to teach at a primary school and the other to a teacher training college. Also, Cliff, one of the boys who stayed with us last term, left. They have been replaced by a two year old girl and a five year old boy -- my host parents’ grandchildren -- their mother (my other married sister) has also started teacher training school. At times they are very entertaining but I am getting tired of the two year old crying every night while I am trying to sleep.
About the only other thing to report is the rain. It has rained everyday except two for the last month and a half. It is a serious problem to get in and out of Sikalongo. The backroad straight from Sikalongo to Choma is horrible and has taken my host father as long as 8 hours to get from Sikalongo to Choma or vice versa. To make matters worse, the paved road that the school and clinic use has had a bridge washed away. So to get to get to Choma to catch the bus for Lusaka (where I am now, we had a team meeting) the headmaster of my school had to drive to the washed out bridge where I walked across a makeshift bridge to the other side where the headmaster at Mark’s school (Batoka Basic) picked me up and took me to Batoka where Mark and I got a minibus to Choma. I asked if it is always like this in the rainy season and they told me it is not usually this bad. In fact, they are saying this is the most rain they’ve had since 1921. Many farmers have had their crops washed out and some people have lost their homes.

I really enjoyed retreat. (It was hard to go back to Sikalongo after). It was good to eat American food and take showers and our speaker was from Zimbabwe so it was interesting to hear what life is like there. I also really liked talking to the Swazi SALTers. It made me thankful that I have a teaching job where I get whole months off at a time (which allows me to do things like go on safaris in Botswana, see below) because it sounds like they are much busier than I am. The downside is that when I am not on a safari, I get so bored I have started running 3 miles everyday (there is a dirt track near my house… in some places you can still see where the lanes are) then when I get done running I read or watch the international French news station.
I finally got my hair cut. It seems it was “bothering” some of my neighbors. Back in November both my neighbor and my host father suggested that I get my hair cut when I go to Lusaka. However, I disobeyed and on my return my neighbor asked why I didn’t get it cut. I replied I decided to wait until the December-Lusaka trip and I asked him if it was bad to have long hair to which he replied, “No, it is up to you.” (but in a tone of voice that seemed to say “you should know better.”) But then a few weeks later as he was leaving our house one evening he said, “You really need to get a hair cut.” I asked him why and he said, “It bothers me.” Haha. So after retreat I did get it cut (by Mark). My neighbor is much happier with my appearance now.
Since retreat, my family has allowed me to do a little more work. They let me help them spread fertilizer on one of their fields. To do this we each take a little bowl of fertilizer and walk up and down the rows placing a pinch beside each corn plant.
Christmas was very different. We went to church in the morning from 10 to 12. We sang some Christmas carols, in Tonga, and read the Christmas story. I thought that the rest of the day was going to be just like a normal Sunday where we go to Church in the morning and then “relax” the rest of the day. However, that evening my family and the neighboring families got together for supper and a little program complete with singing, dancing (yes they made me “dance” if that’s what you want to call it, and no I will not show you when I get home), and a short devotional. So I really appreciated that because it made it seem a little more like Christmas.
The day after Christmas Mark and I left for Livingston. We were originally going to spend Wednesday night at my friend’s house in Kalomo (a town on the way to Livingston) but when we got to Kalomo, he told us it would be better to stop in on our way back…haha. It’s not the first time he has gone back on his word so I think we just might be too busy to stay there from now on. But on the bright side, it gave us an extra day to hang around Livingston and go to the falls. Speaking of the falls there is much more water now than even two months ago. There is so much mist that you need an umbrella or rain coat just to get close enough to see the falls.
On Friday, we left for Botswana to go on a Safari in Chobe Park. It was amazing. We did one river cruise and one game drive on Friday and the same on Saturday. For the night, we slept in tents in the middle of the park. (They told us if we have to go to the bathroom at night shine our flashlights in the bush. If we see blue eyes we are okay -- just antelope -- if we see red eyes get back in the tent) We saw elephants, hippos, water monitors, lots of birds, several species of antelope, crocodiles, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs, zebras, lions. I have seen most of those things in the zoo but there is something spectacular about seeing them in their natural habitat without a fence separating them from me. I was also impressed by how close we could get to the animals. We got within 10 yards of an elephant, 7 sleeping lions, a crocodile, and hippos.
Saturday night when we were back in Livingston, Mark and I decided to go to a Pub and Grill to get cheeseburgers. It was pretty busy and so instead of asking us to wait for our own table they just took us to a table for four where two Zambians were already seated. We would not have minded too much except they were drunk. Fortunately they were happy drunks…haha.
Sunday was spent back in Livingston where we went back to the falls and went to a craft market. I can still hear the vendors “Come see my shop. Free for looking.” “My friend, my friend, where are you from.” “I give you good price. New Year’s special.” Haha.
Tomorrow I will head back to Sikalongo. There will be nothing to do for three days. Then on Friday we have a staff meeting to talk about the next term, which officially starts on Jan. 7. However, in reality it won’t start until Jan. 14 because it takes a week for all the kids back to come back. I am ready to start doing something again. Just sitting around reading gives me too much time to think about home. School gives me a reason to be where I am.