Well the weeks don’t get any quieter that’s for sure. This
one started with me heading off to the gym on Monday morning. I did 10 minutes
on the cross trainer, 20 minutes in the gym lifting weights and the 30 minutes
on the treadmill. I was pretty exhausted by the time I left, but I do need to
lose weight. Especially now that I am off my medicine, I can really get stuck
in and hope to see results.
In the afternoon we had Ella come over to play. She is Tom’s
girlfriend. Ella is an adorable little girl with such a cheeky attitude and
smile. She is also a tom boy and so she and Tom get along really well. Ella has
informed her dad that Tom is her boyfriend and on asking Tom, he definitely agrees
with that. It is so cute. I have been asked to make her 5th birthday
cake which is on the 13th of May, same date as Oliver my nephew, who
will be 10.
Tuesday was a crazy day. I started off at the gym again. My
legs were so sore last night that I had to go again today and do the same
routine plus lots of stretching! It was then off to playgroup with Laura and
then Janelle came over to play. Whilst the girls played, I was able to get in
and make Ella’s cake. It seems the favourite here is my vanilla choc swirl, and
the girls had a wonderful time licking the spoons and bowls! After lunch we
headed over to Kennis’ house for a farewell coffee with Natalie. She is heading
to Australia to have her twin boys and she already has 2 girls. She is sure
going to be busy when she returns in 5 months!!!
After picking Tom up from school, we headed to Michelle’s
house to take Janelle home. Laura informed me today on our way to playgroup
that “Dadda’s snoring made my brain come out”. We were discussing having to
share rooms at Auntie Heather’s house and she made this comment due to Phil’s
loud snoring. I thought it was so cute.
On Wednesday after the gym, we had a playgroup meeting and I
was voted in as Treasurer as no one else wanted to do it. You don’t get too
many people volunteering for anything. It seems to be the same old ones doing
the work, and Mardi volunteered to be Secretary. The rest of the day was spent
getting myself organised to do Ella’s cake and making all the fondant in all
the right colours.
Thursday was gym again before play group. If I keep this up,
I should lose weight in no time! Hopefully…I then started making the characters
for Ella’s cake and once that was finished, got stuck into organising all the
money for play group and setting up some spread sheets. Clement also cleaned up our vegetable garden and picked all the potatoes. I was so amazed to see what we had grown in our compost heap, not to mention the size of one potato. Check out the photo as I think I have won the prize for largest sweet potato ever!
I then had to have Ella’s cake ready on Friday. So that took
quite a bit of time putting the cake together. She wanted a Dora cake and so I
had made the back pack as the cake, then a map, Boots and Dora to go with it. I
had made Dora on Thursday, but her head was too small, so I had to da a bigger
head. It took longer to put together than I hoped and I was exhausted by the
end of the day. I then had to get ready for guests that night for dinner.
Again, with little fresh veg it was a bit of a mix of everything. But it was a lovely
night of food and talking around the fire.
Phil came home early on Friday, so that we could announce to
the kids that we would be heading home! Phil has accepted a job back in NSW at
the same mine as before. Not the same job, but one he is happy with. The
situation here is not good. Everyone is looking for work and has a ‘Plan B’.
Thank goodness Phil was able to get a job before the Company authorised an
international job freeze. The mine here is reducing its numbers and so a lot of
people will be out of work, luckily we are not one of them. We are all excited
to be going home! The kids can’t wait to see Sebastian (our cat) and all their
toys that have been in Perth all this time. I am glad to be leaving as this
place is going downhill very, very quickly and I can’t wait to get away from
this atmosphere. All the women are feeling it and it is getting a bit much. I
don’t think there are too many happy people on site.
Late Friday night we had an email informing us that there
would be no water on Saturday as the systems were too low and they had to be
replenished. Yeah! This is always good news. Thankfully, I had arranged a day
trip to Solwezi with Yolandi and Michelle, so we would not have to worry too
much. Our husbands and kids on the other hand would be in trouble. Thankfully,
we had some washing water saved up for flushing the toilet, lots of drinking
water and we filled up the bath for washing ourselves. Bring on Forbes and a
constant water supply!
Solwezi was great. We had a wonderful time roaming the
markets for bargains. The girls bought some clothes and I looked for material
to take home for sewing. They were truly sad to hear we are leaving, but know
it is just the start of things to come. Both of their husbands work for
contractors and so neither feel safe, knowing that the majority of contractors
are being asked to leave. We headed to The Kansanshi Hotel for lunch and did
not get home until 430pm. Several hours past our expected time, but hey we had
a great time. There was still no water when we returned and it did not come
back on until after 7pm. We were then informed that there would be no water on
Sunday either. Can you feel the love that I have for this place? I love having
to wash the kids and myself by cup in the shower. Makes you feel so clean. NOT! I should not complain, since most people here don't have running water, but my love for this place is running very low at present.
On Sunday I made Toms cake, so I could get that in the
freezer. We did not do too much except get our list of items for sale ready,
which was not big as our belongings are still in Perth, however we had
accumulated some necessary items. I also had informed Brenda of our leaving, so
she came up for tea and a chat. She is really sad that we are leaving as we
have become close friends. I will miss the girls quite a bit, but we do hope to
come back and visit one day.
Week 60
Again no water today! We were not informed this time and so
a few were quite angry, including me. Apparently the water was switched on, but
was not coming through the pipes to some houses and so an email war broke out.
We finally had water by 1130am and so I jumped in and had my first shower in 3
days! It was wonderful to get clean and wash the hair. I was so tired by the
end of the day mentally that I went to bed straight after the kids.
Tuesday was a busy day. The catering company on site got
back to me with regards to the food for Tom’s party on Friday. They wanted to
charge me AUD $5 each for a spring roll, meatball, chicken strip and a chipolata.
Can you believe that? $300 AUD for 60 pieces of food!!!!! I said no politely of
course and thus started to make my own. I made some chicken sausage rolls and
ham and cheese pizza. This went into the freezer for Friday and I organised for
the Indian Restaurant to make a platter of vegetable bhajia and spring rolls
for 1/3 of the price, that I would collect on Friday morning. I also finished
Tom’s cake for school tomorrow.
15th May 2013, Wednesday, my boy turned 5 yrs
old. Wow time flies. He is getting so tall, 120.5cm and is such a string bean.
I really can’t believe he is 5! Phil left for work late today so that he could
be home to wish Tom a happy birthday and watch him open his presents. He was
thrilled with his lego and his other presents. At morning tea, Laura and I took
up a cake and his class sang happy birthday and then proceeded to gobble down
all the cake. It was also Crazy hair day at school and so Tom went off to school in a wig we had bought from a lady in the Township. He looked so different. He had some friends over to play that afternoon and had a
wonderful day.
On Thursday, I had to start making his cake figures. He had
decided on a TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) cake and so I started making
the 4 turtles. The first took 1 hour and the others not so long, but long
enough. I finished the cake at 7pm. I was so tired that night as Laura and I
also went to play group that morning.
Friday was the day of Tom’s party. There was a school
assembly in the morning and Tom was given an award. I am so proud of my little
man. Then it was a mad rush to get everything done by 12. I headed up to the
ELC and took as much with me as I could, then off up to the Indian Restaurant to
collect the platter of food. It was back to the house to get all the food in
the oven and then up to the ELC to hang up decorations and set up the tables.
Then, it was back to collect all the hot food and then pick up Tom from school.
Thankfully, everything went really well. The kids had a great time and Tom
loved his cake. That makes it all worthwhile, but thankfully he has only one
birthday a year! Laura’s party will have to be delayed, as we only get back
into the house on the 9th July, so she may have to wait a week for
her party. She has chosen her cake already and I don’t want to disappoint her.
On Saturday, we did a mad dash to Solwezi to show our car to
a potential buyer. Thankfully, he decided to buy the car, but he wants it
straight away. We have arranged to borrow a car if we need one after ours is
gone. So thrilled we have sold the car as not too many people are buying things, due to the high level of job uncertainty here at present.
After Solwezi, we had a birthday party to go to. Isabella
turned 2 and so we headed across the road for lunch. It was a lovely afternoon
of sitting around eating and talking and I caught up with some people I have
not seen in a while. All in all it was a good day.
Today was spent looking after Tom as he vomited all day, the
poor love. There has been a tummy bug going around and it seems he picked it
up. Thankfully, no one else has it, yet….
I also got stuck in with some packing up. We have had
several issues with being relocated back home and other problems. Am I surprised? No. Thus, I want
to be on top of things if we get a last minute email to say the packers arrive
tomorrow or not at all. If everything that we are taking is all in a box, then
actual packing will go a lot smoother.
This time in 3 weeks will we be on a plane out of here! We
are heading to Mfue in South Luanga for a week and hope to see lion and other
animals we have yet to see. Then we are off to Reunion for a week. This was
Phil’s pick as it has live volcanos (and he loves them). It also has some
beaches and it should be a wonderful end to our time here in Africa. We will
then fly into Sydney and hopefully pick up a car and drive home to Forbes,
where we will spend several weeks in a cabin at The Big 4 Caravan Park before
our house is ready to move back into. I must admit we are not looking forward
to spending time in a cabin in Forbes during winter, but it won’t be forever
and we will have our house and belongings at the end of it. I can’t wait to see
and use my Thermomix!!!!!!!!! Mind you, I am not looking forward to getting all our Air Freight back as most of it was destined to finish out its days in Zambia. The clothes and shoes will all be too small. The baby toys no longer needed or wanted. The other items, such as medicine all out of date!
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