Can you believe we have been here 43 weeks now? It has gone
so fast, yet has been so incredibly hard at times and really taken a toll. We
have 9 weeks to go before the end of Phil’s contract, so the countdown is on. What will we be doing then? I have no idea………………..
It hasn’t taken long to get back into the swing of things. I
made sundried tomatoes, or oven dried I should say. They taste ok. I have put
them in oil with basil and will use them in salads or whatever.
On Monday I got straight back into my walking. I feel as
though I have put on 5 or more kilos this holiday. Fabian came over to play
with Tom in the morning and then Brenda and Sonja came over in the afternoon.
It’s great to catch up with my friends again and of course the kids love having
other kids to play with.
I had a lovely walk on Tuesday morning. I saw a tortoise crossing
the road and the ground hornbill family. It really is lovely out walking by
yourself as it is so quiet and peaceful, you can get a lot of thinking done.
How I wish I could just take a chair and picnic and sit out under the trees all
day. It would be so relaxing not having to listen to the kids squabble.
Michelle and I went to Solwezi on Wednesday and my gosh it
is so muddy. All this rain lately has just made a mess of everything. The pot
holes are twice as big and the mud even worse than usual. It also seems as
though the population of goats has tripled. The roads are covered with them and
their babies and they do not move for cars, you have to go around them! That
afternoon I made a loaf of bread as the shops here are not selling nice bread,
it is too airy and dry. I also did a roast pork for dinner. The shop on site actually
had some decent meat for a change. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for
the fruit and vegetables.
Thursday morning I was out walking again and saw a family of
about 10 mongoose. It was the first time I have seen them here and it was
wonderful. It was certainly the week for seeing wild life on site.
Carol and I then went to Maheba as she needed to enrol in
school. Carol wants to be an Anaesthetist. As medical school is so expensive,
we are trying to get her into Nursing first and then hopefully, she can get into
medicine that way. Firstly though, she needs to have a better grade in maths,
and so she has enrolled this year to do maths, science, biology and English.
Then she can go to nursing school next year if she gets the grades. Hopefully
she will.
That afternoon Sally, Brenda and the kids came over and we
had a lovely time chatting the time away, while the kids played.
On Friday we had to head back to Maheba and so dropped in to
see Clement’s new baby. Hope was born on the 28th Dec at home at
2am. She is a gorgeous little thing. I took along a bag of clothes the kids can
no longer fit into for the others and some knitted items my mother had made for
Hope. Clements house is tiny. If you can imagine a single car garage divided
into 4 rooms in each corner and a centre section and you have Clements house.
This is for 3 adults (as Joyce’s mum is currently staying with them) and now 8
children, plus one room is the kitchen. I feel so guilty having such a big
house for the 4 of us. But at least they own it now and do not have to rent, so
that will save them some money. Maybe in time it can be expanded, but this is
an average size house. I am glad we were able to pay for Clement to put the roof on before the rains. The house would not have stood up to all that water on the bricks.
I have started back with cakes again. I hope to be in
Australia for the next cake sale and I have promised to make the LTG some cakes
to sell. Plus I need to stock up Phil with cakes as he eats it every night for
pudding. I have also some orders as well for next week, so need to get the
cakes made and then ready for decorating.
School starts tomorrow and it is really sad that Laura will
not be able to go. I am still so mad at the 2 girls on site who got Laura’s enrolment
revoked. I am really disappointed in one, as she I thought was a friend.
I guess not. I will be home schooling Laura, which I imagine will be difficult
as she is such an independent thing. Wish me luck.
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