Blood in Bush,, Stand Up Comedy, Coffee and Dead Yeast
June 14-
We had a mostly an uneventful day
her at NDO. We did launch 2-liter bottle
rockets in school. I only had a
basketball pump so we used small bottles so I wouldn’t have to pump so
much. I let the teachers launch 2-liter
bottles. It was windy, so we maxed out
at 50-75 feet. The kids loved it. I am going to launch them next Friday with
the K-1 students.
Lynne and I had arranged to eat in
the NDO dining hall tonight. Kulenga was
cutting and frying potatoes for chips when I arrived. I offered to operate the mandolin cutting the
potatoes while he cooked. It didn’t take
long before the mandolin had eaten the end of my middle finger on my right
hand. To say it bled profusely is an
understatement. I took off for our hut
and first aid while Lynne stepped in to help Kulenga. I know he felt bad that I cut myself, but it
was clearly my fault. I have it wrapped
in gauze and secured with a band aid. We
can’t let a little cut stop us out here in the bush. I returned to the kitchen, picked up Blu’s guitar
and regaled the cook with some good Christian music. It seems I am only welcome in the kitchen now
in the position of an entertainer. I am
relegated to music or stand-up comedy.
It could be worse, I could be the trash man.
Tomorrow is Kid’s club from 3-5
PM. We had about 75 children last
Saturday. I am teaching the computer
class during that time period. It is really a joy to teach the ladies and
gentlemen computer skills. They have
told me they are really enjoying the class.
We are using Open Office because that is what is installed on the
computers. For all intents and purposes,
it is MS Office without the logo.
Praying we don’t load shed during the class.
Blu and the guys spent today
running pipe for the new well and the new water tanks. Tomorrow we are expecting some workers to
install the pump, hook up the pipes and then we will be in business. Bottabing, bottaboom!!!
I am looking forward to the team
bringing my Zambia bird book. So far I
have seen hornbills, woodpeckers, fish eagles, and “various and sundry” other
birds. I got to use that phrase again.
We are finally feeling settle into
our hut and routine. Looking at the
calendar, our remaining time will fly quickly.
Rosemont team is here next week.
A week from Monday we travel with them to Livingstone (24th),
have a free day to do whatever (25th) and then we return to NDO with
Wes and Laurie (26th). The
following Monday another team arrives for a week. We actually leave NDO on July 10 to drive to
Lusaka. Our flight leaves on July 11th
and we arrive in Atlanta the evening of July 12th. Are we looking forward to being home? The thought has not entered my mind. We are too busy getting to know people,
learning the language, working, teaching, and serving. I just feel in my gut that the last few weeks
can be a blur if we don’t squeeze the gusto out of every opportunity.
Lynne here: I have talked to Hilda, the Tonga teacher
here at the New Day school, and she is going to tutor me in Tonga. Mulenga
helped me tonight with some of the songs we are singing in devotion time and
church. Now I know what they mean and what they are saying so I can sing along.
Hopefully I can learn some more of the language soon. I kinda wish our daughter
was here to hear this language. I know
it would fascinate her.
I
successfully made bread today. It was my
3rd attempt and the third time’s a charm. The first time I left out
the salt the second time the water was too hot and killed the yeast. Today it
turned out well and tasted good. I replanted some of the rape today. Noah
and I discussed it in his best Tonga and my English and decided that the way we
planted it, some of it was covered too deeply for it to germinate. So today I
planted again shallower. It cost me 20 cents for the seed. Noah took the bicycle
to the store to buy the seed. It took him about 30 min to go and come back. I
am glad he went, I have no idea where he went so if I’d tried it we would still
be without seed and I might not have made it home. We have a store here at New
Day where I could have gotten seed except it was Friday and they close on
Friday. If I were going to be here longer, I would have to find out where that
other store is located.
I am going on a hike tomorrow along
the road into NDO. I have ridden in
vehicles several times, but I want to do some bird watching, which is very
difficult from a vehicle. Lynne and I
have been very pleasantly surprised at how many people are reading our
blog. We appreciate you sharing this
experience with us and praying for us.
June 15 (morning)-I
changed the bandage on my finger this morning.
Pop quiz! Name 8 exposed parts of
your body that have a very large concentration of nerve endings. You are correct, the finger tips. I rediscovered that physiological truth
changing the bandage on my finger this morning.
Lynne said I should wait till Sunday to change it, but I wanted to put a
smaller, less bulky bandage on it. There
is always that one piece of bandage . . . well you get the picture. Did get the bandage changed. Need to slaver some triple antibiotic cream
on it when I change the bandage again.
Blu, if you are reading this and have some at your house let me know so
I can use it.
We are
still drinking Munali coffee from the plantation we visited when the van
broke. Zambian coffee has an interesting
terroire. You see coffee absorbs flavors
from the soil in which it is grown.
Jesper, at Munali coffee, is changing the terroire of their coffee
 |
| Munali Coffee selection. Espresso roast on the far right. |
Comments
Post a Comment