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.

Well, school has closed for December. All the kids have left. Sikalongo feels like a ghost town without the students. Life has slowed down quite a bit (it wasn’t that fast to begin with). But thus far I have enjoyed the extremely relaxed atmosphere and haven’t been too bored yet because I had 250 tests to grade and enter the scores on report cards. I have also maintained my duties as secretary, typing letters and other things for teachers. We were also planning a computer/typing course for staff members who were interested, but that hasn’t happened yet, partly because of the aforementioned atmosphere and partly because they are working in their fields.
Most of the fields have been plowed (using oxen) and planted with maize (by hand), but now they have to get rid of the weeds, which they do with little hoes. I have been glad to have an excuse to continue going in to school so I don’t feel obligated to help my family in the fields. However, one day I came home early and offered to help, after they were done laughing (white people doing manual labor is funny) they let me hoe for a few minutes. Then I guess they thought I was tired because they said maybe as time goes on I’ll be able help more and more, which I took to mean “Give the hoe back to Mr. Muchimba and go rest.” haha. So then Wednesday night I offered to help in the field the next day because my grading was finished (again laughter) but they told me that I “could not manage,” which actually made me a little angry. So Thursday morning I went to the field and proved them wrong...haha.
This coming week I will be in Lusaka for the MCC Southern Africa retreat. All the MCC workers in southern Africa will be there. I am looking forward to hearing about other SALTers’ experiences and eating food not made from maize.