These have been good weeks.
Week 35
Monday was very quiet, catching up on things that have been
going on whilst Laura and I were away.
Tuesday was a wonderful day full of surprises. I was out walking when Phil called me to say
he had a chameleon and was bringing it home for us to have a look at. When I
got home Phil had headed back to work and the chameleon was wondering through
the garden. I picked it up and Laura I took it to the school for the kids to
have a look at. The kids thought it was wonderful. They really are beautiful
creatures. I then released the Chameleon under our Larpa. Hopefully s/he will
stay. The locals do not like them as they change colour and believe them to be poisonous because of this.
Carol, whilst doing the ironing, spotted a local selling a
giant mushroom, so we went out to have a look. It was huge, bigger than a
dinner plate. I took a photo and bought it for both Clement and Carol. Then
half an hour later an even bigger one came past. This one was twice the size of
the first. I had to buy this one as well. So Clement took the biggest one home
for his 7 kids and wife, and Carol took the smaller one for herself and family.
Laura and I were then returning from the shops and I nearly
ran over another chameleon, so I picked it up and again deposited it under the
Larpa. They move so slowly that they often get run over on the roads, so I
thought it would be safer under the Larpa. I love watching them change colour
and their eyes that can roll around in all directions. Hopefully they will both
stay as the garden is a very safe environment for them.
On Wednesday, we had word that Laura would be able to start
Kindy here next year. This is fantastic for her as she is so ready to go. We
did have a problem as the start date here is the same as Perth, 30 June and so
she missed out. But due to the fact that there is nothing else around and the
NSW cut off is 31 July, she has been accepted. We are thrilled as is Laura.
The LTG had its final meeting on Friday for the year. It was
nice to wrap things up and know that we had accomplished quite a bit for this
year. Next year should hopefully be even more productive.
That afternoon we had the biggest storm of the wet season to
date. The wind was high and driving rain into the house. Our front verandah
door is half mesh and so I was struggling to tape plastic over it, to stop water
coming in. I also had to pop towels down on the floor as rain was also coming
in through the ceiling. Then a tree collapsed in the yard and thankfully missed
our car, house and the neighbour’s house. The back fence flew over and there
was a river running across our back yard. It was amazing. I called Phil at the
mine which is about 5 km away, and they were getting nothing. Thankfully he was
able to get some fence poles on the way home and him and Luke his driller, set
about righting the fence. A lot of trees came down,but thankfully all missed houses and cars.
We also had our last morning tea of the year on Saturday and
managed to get a couple of new faces along. It was wonderful to see some ladies
there that had not ever been before. Hopefully next year we will see more and
more of a community built here and some walls that have been built in the past
come down. This place is such a mix of colours and cultures and I hate the fact that some women feel as though they cannot join in due to this. I would love for this place to be a racial free environment.
Sunday was a lovely day. Michelle and Jan have just bought a
boat and it finally arrived. They called us up and we all went for a trip out
onto the dam. I had no idea how big it was. It was lovely to get some fresh air
on the face and the kids loved the speed. Thankfully we got in just before the
rain came down again.
Week 36
A busy week. But another good one.
On Monday, Laura, Colleen and myself headed out to Meheba
Boarding to school to see Sandra a girl the LTG sponsors. We gave her some
money to get home and told her to let us know her book list for next year as the LTG provides that as well. I had
never been out there before and it was great to see as we had to drive through
the refugee camp to get there. The camp is for Angola and Congo refugees.
Zambia is lucky to not have any war and unrest, unlike the other countries. I
think at one stage there was 15,000 people there. It is amazing to think that there could have been that many people in such a small area outside of a local village.
Tuesday saw me have another busy, busy day. In the morning I
had a cake meeting. I had been asked to do a swimming pool cake for Kade who
turned 2 on Saturday and then I helped Anke do some fondant figures for Fabian’s
cake. His party is next week.
The kids and I went out to Nyamsome School on Tuesday afternoon
after Kindy and it was such a wonderful experience. We arrived at the school,
to the children singing and it was so loud that Tom covered his hears. We then
split up as I went with other LTG members. Bex went outside with my two and
played games and Colleen and I stayed inside and sang songs. The Hokey Pokey
went down well. The kids can speak English, but by doing this, they use it more
and become more fluent. We handed out some goods that Colleen’s friends had
sent over from Australia, a soccer ball, some books and pencils. We then said
good-bye and got in the car just as the down pour started. The poor kids got
drenched as they rain home from their last day of school.
On Wednesday, we had Kaylen over for a play. Her mum Krissy
has been sick and so she spent most of the day here with Laura.
Then on Thursday I went into Solwezi with Brenda to do some
shopping for Xmas decorations. It was amazing that Shoprite had baubles,
tinsels and lights. When I got home the kids had a ball decorating the twigs
Laura and I collected the other day. I then had to make Kade’s cake so I could
decorate it on Friday.
Thus, Friday was spent doing Kade’s cake. Unfortunately, the
weather has been quite humid and so I wasn’t able to complete on fear of it
falling apart. So I made the figures and did the rest on Saturday. It turned
out really well. This was the first time I had done people, or half a person
(see cake photo), but I was happy with the result as was Helen and family.
I measured the kids this week as Tom believed he had grown.
Well, he had. He has grown 2.5 cm since his birthday in May and is now 116 cm
high, Laura had not grown anything and still remains at 101 cm. They really do
grow up very quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment