Year complete!

So, we've finished our first year teaching here at Amano. We've been here for just under a year which seems weird that we've not been home for that long we're due to come back to the UK in August which will be after 20months in Zambia. Its still hard to get used to the weather, Rich had his birthday and for the first time ever it was hot on his birthday and didn't feel like his birthday at all its always cold on his birthday! Then its coming up to Christmas and its definitely not Christmas weather. We've got Rich's parents coming out for a few weeks over Christmas which is very exciting but, is weird that we'll spend christmas together in the heat! No Roast Turkey here!

Teary goodbyes (and taking the opportunity for a little hug!) 

Us and the 6th form students!

So whats been going on, well mainly things have been involving saying good bye to people in the last few weeks. We've had leavers service, good bye party type thing in the dorm and leavers meal which is another story. As well as a staff farewell and a Christmas concert and carols by candle light! So its been a very hectic few weeks and we're certainly glad to have got to the end of term so we can have a break. As we're a boarding school then there are things going on all the time and it can be hard to get away from things and have some time off especially when you live next to one of the Dorms. So its nice to have nice long holidays away from pupils to be able to catch up with things and properly recharge the batteries! We'll need to be fresh ready for next year as with several staff leaving and none to replace them as yet we'll all be doing more making up for staff that aren't around anymore.

Traffic jam in Zambia!

We went with the 3 6th form students to have dinner in Garneton which is about 40mins drive away from Amano, we left at 18:00 and arrived about 22:30! as you may be able to figure out we were stuck in traffic for quite a while. In Zambia when the traffic in front of you goes slowly you don't  figure there is a problem ahead and just stay in a queue. You drive on the left and right of the road and get as far forward as you can. Unfortunately in this situation traffic from both sides was blocking traffic from the other side from getting through.  So although the main issue of an accident of break down (we never found out) would have caused a bit of a blockage the Zambian driving technique meant we were stuck for ages! However we still had fun as the general thing in Zambia when stuck in a traffic jam is to get out and have a chat with people who are about, and everyone is fairly relaxed and chilled out about the hold up. Which makes it weirder that they're in such a hurry to get places that they cause such a long hold up in the first place.

So for the next 5 weeks we're house sitting for the Cracknells in musenga, they have a bigger house than we do with a nice garden which is nice! Also they have a swimming pool which is definately nice when its so hot! It'll be nice to have somewhere Rich's parents can stay with us rather than being somewhere else! Also we're Cat sitting for well someone we don't know but they're cat is only 12 weeks old so is still very cute apart from when she decides to try to scratch and bite we're looking after her for another few days!

Sheeba!

Change

Suddenly everything's changed, its even going a tiny bit green and we can again buy many mangos or possibly many mangoes, I'm not sure what the plural or Mango is if you're not sure what is going on. So it rained!!!! about 2 weeks ago it rained a bit and then this week it rained like it was out of fashion... which it kinda is seeing as its only about the 3rd rain since sometime in April! Suddenly its getting humid round here.... not very humid but there is when you've been used to no humidity its noticeable. Although I have to point out that it's not got that hot it's not been above 35 degrees and certainly hasn't been as hot as we were both expecting which it turns out is very welcome!

Cholwe Giving his testimony

So whats been going on round here? Since last blog, the main thing thats happened is the baptism which happened a few weeks ago. There were 9 students getting baptised which is very cool. There were quite a lot of people about so it was good. It was very cool to hear the testimonies and hear how their lives have been changed. As i think i said in the last blog many of they are orphans and are supported to be at Amano which does help understand why we're here for free as otherwise they couldn't afford to be here.

We travelled down to Lusaka for a weekend of training. Rich went to Lusaka International community school for iGCSE maths training course ran by Cambridge international examinations which was really useful expecially as he's never taught maths before he came to Zambia it gave him a better idea of what is expected. Lucy went to a ISAZ teacher training day thats held every year which was at the American international school which was also very useful. It was as well it was all useful as it was a long weekend we left school at 1:30 in the friday afternoon and rich drove  to lusaka after dropping people off it was 21:30 so a long drive and too much of it in the dark. Then on the Sunday after a morning at his course rich drove us all the way back only doing the last hour in the dark this time and managing to do the journey in under 7 hours which is decent these days!

We had the primary dorm girls round to make some cup cakes, they had made a scarecrow to keep the birds and monkeys off our small plot so we thought we ought to invite them over to say thanks. It was good fun, but we have been finding hand prints on our walls since but no matter it was all good fun!

Girls in our kitchen making cookies (in Zambia its not swearing honest)

This week was half term which was supposed to be a rest but has turned out to be a slightly less hectic school week, with practical exams to set up for A'level physics and invigilating of other exams. We were supposed to go to Lusaka on Wednesday but Rich wasn't well so we didn't go, which was a good job as when we would have been flying back was the huge rain storm, not being a small aircraft pilot i'm not sure but i don't think small 8 seat planes are designed to fly through storms. So we would have either not been able to fly or had a rather bumpy flight! Hopefully we can go next week instead!

 Yesterday we were invited to Musenga youth group, which was very cool we played games with the guys who turned up and Rich once again showed that being tall doesn't mean being good at basket ball, and Lucy once again showed that being small doesn't mean you're bad at Basketball! we went on a scavenger hunt as well which proved to us that the plot that Lucy used to live on was big. At the end Rich spoke, which seemed to go down well. Well at least they were all awake at the end! When we finished we got talking to a few of the youth who remembered Mr Clive and even some who remembered Matt and Luke! It was good fun and good to get out and see people close by who are outside of Amano!

Rich speaking at Musenga youth

Our next half term is only 5 weeks which is nice as the last one was 7! which means we're very nearly finished our first year. We've spoken to different people and have decided to stay here at Amano until December next year so we finish off the next academic year, but we're still planning on being back in August.

Also its Rich's birthday a week on Monday which is very important.

Students who were baptised
(with Youth workers Jarrett and Kerry)

Baptism service

Sleeping in the Bush

Students playing games with children in the village

So its hot here... and the general view amongst people who've been here longer than we have is that its gonna get hotter for the next month... which isn't a prospect we're looking forward to. Its not crazy temperatures but this morning it was about 25 degrees at 8 in the morning, it's just going down now having got to over 34 degrees which isn't anything too crazy but its definately hot enough. In the last few weeks its definately warmed up considerably so if it continues as promised we could be very toasty by  the time the rains get here in about a month or so. As you can imagine teaching in the afternoons is a rather warm experience and not pleasant for anyone involved. Handily the houses are designed for it being hot so it not too bad inside, that being said its still a cool 29degrees in the house so, we don't have too many layers on. If you prefer measurements in farenheight then look them up.

Other students playing games with children in the village

Students and Rich after a long morning digging

So apart from being hot whats been going on recently. Back a few weeks ago Rich spent the week with Grade 10 and 11 in Masaiti which is a district where a group FCE (foundation for Cross-cultural education) have a training center. They are rather cut off from everywhere but it was a good experience for all helping them in the school both teaching and working on their playground as well as helping in the farm. Although it wasa good time it was hard work and that came as a shock for most of the students who aren't used to doing hard work themselves! We were all given 5 kwacha and dropped off at the market and told to buy lunch, This wasn't quite the lunch the students were used to and making the money go far wasn't on all of their lists as coke and crisps was on some of their lunch menu. However most of them got together with others and combined their money to make their lunch money go further. A lot of Zambians have only 5kwacha to last the day so 5 kwacha for lunch is still a lot of money but it gave the pupils an insight in to how some zambians live. After the market we went to a local church and helped the FCE workers lead some games with local children. The kids couldn't speak English so, pupils who could speak Bemba we're given a chance to shine.

We also spent a night sleeping in the village, the students were only told about this a few hours before heading off and it was definitely fun to watch their expressions as they were told. Rich slept in what was essentially a lean to and was very fortunate to have a matress, most of the pupils slept straight on the floor although some did manage a proper bed! They definitely found it hard and a very educational experience learning again how other people in their country live when most of our students have a relatively comfortable lifestyle and certainly do while they're at Amano. 

Rich's bed in the village!

Otherwise its been a relatively quiet start to the term, exams proper are starting from around the 7th onwards and next weekend we have 9 students getting baptised, along with that Lucy has her first fixture of the term with a football match on friday afternoon, can't quite imagine what playing football in 35 degree heat will be like but, thats whats been arranged.

Oh also we managed to get our tyre fixed very simply which was very good news so we were really thankful for that, we could do with a few new front tyres as well so we're saving up for them!

Holiday Advenures

Its been a while since our last blog and we've been up to a fair bit. So here is a summary!

So, last blog was about the end of last term which all went off fairly simply. The first day of the holiday Rich spent under our car as he changed the oil and made sure it was likely to get us to Livingstone and back later on in the holiday. Then we got on with project number 2 which was to paint our lounge which we managed simply and it was good. We then tried to wash our hall and decided that washing it wasn't working, so we painted it as well! So now we have a hall and lounge that are clean and don't have scuff marks all about the place and lounge doesn't have what looks like smoke stains at the top of the wall in the corner! Also we got some gloss paint for the "woodwork" bottom of walls is just gloss paint on to the wall (better for mopping) and the door frames are made of metal. So now these are a nice colour rather than the institutional grey that they were before! So we were happy with our few days work painting!

Us at the Victoria falls

We also installed a bird net over our little plot, this seems to have been a success as we now have lettuces that were eaten by birds as soon as they got green before! Other things harvested include lot of onions and a few carrots! Hopefully soon we can start growing more exciting things as rains will soon be here so hopefully the local wildlife will have heaps of food! I dunno if it'll work like that but, we can hope!

We also kept on doing bits and pieces for school to make sure we were planned and ready for the new term.

Half way through the holiday we took a flatbed truck over to Musenga mission (4km on dirt) to pick up a heap of boxes including the new school PA system that Rich helped order back in April. we brought that back and then went through and ticked off everything and it had all got itself over from the UK! Then spent abit of time putting it together and my fears that it wasn't loud enough were unfounded which was good. There is lots of kit, we now just need to get it so it can be stored properly on hooks and shelves. But so far its all worked coming all the way from the UK (well i guess china to the UK) via dar es salam and then on the back of a lorry from there, its quite a journey!

Gramps speaking at Bethel Chapel

Later on in the 3rd week of the holiday we headed down to Lusaka ready to pick up Rich's Grandad and Uncle. We picked them up at 6:30 or something on the Saturday morning and then spent the day at the flight house enjoying watching tv (well we did as we don't have tv, they'd come from the UK so weren't bothered) We went out at lunch and then had a meal out for Lucy's birthday. Sunday morning we were up again early to head off to Livingstone, which was about 8 hours due to about 10-15km having to drive on dirt roads while they fixed the tar one. We spend the monday walking round seeing the falls which was very impressive, it didn't have much water but was nice to be able to see how far down the falls go! in the evening we went on a sunset cruise on the zambezi and saw crocodile's hippos, some monkeys and some kinda on antelope (Lucy made friends with a 2 year old called Luke so missed them, and as our resident safari guide meant we weren't able to tell exactly what type of antelope they were).

Lucy and Gramps on our Zambezi sunset river cruise

The plan from there was to drive back up the next morning, but Rich was up most of the night being sick (which was the first time he's been ill since we were here) and was hot so, we went to a clinic in the morning o check that it wasn't malaria. Which is wasn't however that wasn't the end of the story.  Rich went in and they did a malaria test and took his temperature before seeing the doctor. taking temp involved putting a thermometer under his arm, it read 35.7 degrees and well, it was wrong, but no matter it wasn't high. We then went and saw the doctor who did her best to diagnose rich with all sorts of things (rich dared to cough and was immediately questioned at length), and decided that they should keep me in for a bit to check up on me. As we'd found out that He didn't have malaria Rich wasn't quite sure that this was worthwhile, they gave him an injection to help keep food down but when they tried to put him on an IV fluid drip he wasn't convinced and just asked for water (which is the same stuff ay) then by this time was getting rather bored so text lucy to pick him up and when Lucy (with gramps and andy) arrived told them he was leaving, and just had to pay £50 for the privilege. The NHS does get a bad press but, please, before you complain about it come and visit a clinic in zambia and pay for the privilege of treatment especially when you need it, if you still feel you can complain then go ahead. After the Doctor had seen Rich she kept Lucy (who was tired and a little upset being 1000km from home with an ill Rich) She decided to give lucy some marriage advise which wasn't appreciated but Lucy did well to display Christian love and didn't get up and punch her in the face.

Victoria falls, looking across into Zimbabwe

We went back and he guesthouse owner (who drove us around to find a clinic) found us a few extra rooms to stay in for the day and rich slept and dozed most of the day while others read and generally enjoyed doing not that much! We got up the next morning and drove back for Lusaka. However Andy wasn't well so rich and Andy were in the back of the car asleep for the first 4 hours of the journey while Lucy enjoyed the open roads and got us 350km in 4 hours. Rich felt better so drove the rest of the way but due to pot holes and diversions the last 150km took us about 3.5 hours! We got andy to a bed and left him there til the morning when he was feeling a heap better and then we got back to chingola which took us a long time. The excitement for that day was that Rich got caught speeding and got a K100 fine (£12) for doing 111km/h in a 100km/h zone.

We got back (1996km since we left) to find a bulge in our rear tyre so had to replace that, and just found the tyre we got to replace it which is a brand new goodyear tyre also has a bulge on it before its even been fitted to the car.  We barely had enough money for 1 tyre so please pray they realise its a manufacturing fault and replace it free of charge. You'd not think it a big deal back home as they'd replace it no problems but, this is zambia so you're never quite sure.

Roadworks in Chingola, this is exciting for us!

Any way we've now been back at school a week and its much school and work is throughout the world it seems. A lot worse to think about but when you get back to it you realise why you do it. This term isnt as busy as some in terms of sports fixtures as there are iGCSE exams and all the leavers things at the end of term so, we'll not be bored looking for things to do!

2 terms in!

Hello

Secondary Students waiting at the finishing line.

So, We're now almost 2 terms in, we've just one week to go until we're done, so, we're getting a little tired! We had sports day today which was hectic but a really great day, it was held on a saturday to help more parents to come and there were quite a few about which was really good. It is still amazing to see how talented the Amano students are and there were 2 scouts from the local athletics club who were very impressed with what they saw which was good. Its not exactly ideal to work the last saturday before a break as everyone is tired but, its a really good witness to see how well the pupils behave and get to events and to see how well the event is run, its good to be able to put on events in the school and do them to the best of our ability all for the glory of God! (which it says in the bible somewhere - although i don't think they were talking specifically about doing sports days!)

Primary variety race

Rich was in charge of high jump which seems to be his athletics event after doing the same event at the ISAZ primary 10steps event last month. And Lucy was in charge of putting on the whole primary event so was kept rather busy. Sports day was ran as a house event and Luano (our house) won, which was obviously very good for us!

Primary results

Other things that have gone on, we now have our permanent zambian driving licence, which is card type thing that looks much the same as the UK one, but its green as this is Zambia! So we don't need to go and get a stamp on our temporary one anymore which is good news, and its handy as it fits in wallet/purse rather than just being a crumpled up bit of paper.

A few weeks ago we had Amano's first careers week which seemed to go very well, we had a careers fair on the tuesday afternoon where students could talk to representatives from different careers to find out what does on. And then on Thursday afternoon the grade 11's (year 10) went and did work experience at various places in town. A few were more like being given a tour of a place where people worked but it was a good experience anyway, and Rich took a few to the Protea hotel and had to stay there for the afternoon while they were busy. It just so happened that the cricket was on so, he sat in the bar and watched day 1 of the Lords test on the TV while drinking a coffee i should add!

Students at the protea (after their work experience visit was officially over)

We've only 1 week to go until the holidays, we've got a few things planned and have Rich's Grandad and Uncle coming out onthe 24th of August so, we'll be taking them about the place at the end of the holidays which we're both looking forward to. 

Hope that everything is going well with everyone who is reading this! and the weather is still good with you!

6 months in.

Hello again

So i just realised that its exactly 6 months since we were on our way to Heathrow to fly out here. That also means that our initial term of 18 months will be up in 1 year! Although i suspect we may end up staying until the end of the  term, but whatever that's a years time, if your reading this your are probably more interested in what we've done in the last few weeks than what possibly might be happening in a years time.

ISAZ athletics at Olympic Youth Development Center in Lusaka

So since last blog things have been fairly busy but a half term holiday helped keep things a little chilled! The Friday we broke up for half term we headed down to Lusaka after school and after Amanda had plumped up the cushions in her house. its a long way to Lusaka and despite what people tell you 6 hours is the quickest you could not too illegally do it in. Its about 400km err 240miles ish so, not too far but with traffic and only about 30miles of dual carriage way it takes a while. Next morning we got up early and took Andy, Amanda, Sam and Joe to the airport and said goodbye. From there we went to the ISAZ national athletics and Rich sat and cheered and helped keep pupils organised (luckily they were happy doing that without me) and Lucy ended up judging the shot put. The main excitement was lucy's as a girl running the 1500m decided not to run any more and collapsed right near the shot put, so lucy's first aid came in handy as the girl had fainted but also seemed to not breathe very often which was all slightly concerning, but eventually she was taken to the hospital and was seen later in the day so, must have been sorted.  Amano did very well and won several gold medals and broke a few records which was very pleasing. One guy Chigo managed to win both 1500 and 800 by 5-10 seconds and set a new national record in both which is decent!

After the event finished we went and had food in town and realised that Zambia were playing Lesotho so it was all a bit noisy apart from in shops where no one was doing everything as everyone was watching the TV. We spend the evening and Sunday relaxing and then headed back to chingola on Monday morning and made an exciting stop in Ndola which involved debonairs pizza for lunch and shopping at pick'n'pay. I have no recollection of what happened during the rest of half term. I suspect it involved fasting and praying and such.... Ok maybe  not. Probably school work, sleep and the odd game of age of empires (for Rich)

Us With Eli at Nsobe

The first monday back at school we had a team from Sakeji come for a few sports fixtures. Lucy was a little in two minds as to who to support but seeing as she teaches them PE she really couldn't cheer on anyone else than Amano. It was a good event and the guys from Sakeji were very good competition for the Amano guys especially good as there are even less in a year at sakeji than there is at Amano!

Last weekend was busy, Lucy was ref of u14 hockey tournament  here at Amano on saturday morning. There were boy and girl teams from 2 other schools at U14 and just 1 other school at U19, the Amano pitch isn't the most carpet like so hockey is a bit of a challenge some of the opposition seemed to not appreciate the bumps and divets about the place but its the same for both sides ay! Then on Sunday we went to Nsobe Game park the other side of Ndola, its about 10km off the main road so, we were stating to wonder where we were going to end up. But we got there and saw our Friend Eli who was over seeing other friends from around Chengelo. So that was exciting, also she brought with her skittles and chocolate which was very exciting.

Inter-house hockey

On Monday Rich drove to Ndola again to pick up Brian and Deirdre Davies from BSE, they were on route to Congo to see the place they lived a few years ago 1968-1978 i think they said, anyway they'd not been to Zambia since 1974 so things have changed a little since they were last here.

So it was fairly busy last weekend, Handily this weekend is a long one as we've got Monday and Tuesday off as well. Which is nice as it means we get a chance to write our reports!

Also We had inter-house unihoc (for primary) on Tuesday and Boys hockey (seondary) Thursday which Luano (our house) won which was very good news. 

I thought i ought to show you some of the construction projects that are going on at amano at the moment. The new Technology block is on its way up, unfortunately the saw mill are slow at getting us roof timbers (we chop down a tree, take it in to town and then bring back lots of bits of 6 x 2 well that kinda size). So currently we're just waiting for more of those so they can finish the roof and then get the insides sorted. It looks great inside as its so big! all the old container classrooms are fine but very small so are very cramped with 16 pupils in. The other thing that's going on is constructing a new field. to make a nice flat field we've been given a bull dozer by one of the businesses in town to use for 10 days. Its quite a job, there was just under an 8m difference between one corner and another which translates in to a lot of dirt. Steadily its getting there, its on another job on Wednesday so, hopefully it'll get it  fairly well level by then!

Technology block

So thats how things are with us, hope things back home are good with people and your enjoying the sun which i hear has turned up recently!

May, a hectic month!

Hello

So, its been about a month since the last blog and a heap of stuff has happened since then it really has been crazy busy around Amano. So, we're all just about hanging on for one more week before half term arrives.

Last blog was a quick note to say we can drive! which has been really useful and really good to not have to be waiting at RTSA for hours and hours so that's nice as well as being able to just head places if we want to rather than having to wait for lifts in our own car.

Waiting for Duathlon prize giving.

So, just after the last blog i think was the Duathlon which was a PTA event, there weren't many taking part so it was a bit of a disappointment from that point of view but, it was good fun. There was a 5km run followed by a 13km bike ride which was done in teams of 4. There were 3 change over points on both the biking and running so you could split it up as you like. Rich did the first half of the bike ride and managed to keep ahead of Jo Grove (PE teacher) so he was happy about that. Unfortunately our tactics weren't great and with hindsight rich really should have done some running as well.  While we're talking about running rich did his cross country personal best last week with 19 mins 11 seconds beating Mr Kirk... its the last one this week so, hopefully i can just get in to the 18 min mark. But anyway back to duathlon, Rich's team came last. But we didn't ever expect to win, and when winning isn't really an option its the taking part that counts.

Sleeping in the bush!

A week and a bit later Lucy went off to Ndubaluba which is an outdoor activity place with grades 5-7 (years 4-6). They were there all week and were pushed a lot in the hope they would be able to bond as a team, they certainly learnt a lot and time will tell if it helps them get along long term! They had a faith pole (10m telegraph pole) which had wooden blocks nailed to it so they could climb and them stand on the platform at the top, they were obviously harnessed up and such but still its a wobbly pole a long way off the ground. There were lots of team activities where they had to learn to work together in order to accomplish a task while racing the other team. They'd planned to go canoeing but due to health and safety (which exists a lot more in Africa than people like you to believe) they couldn't go (they saw a crocodile in the water)And on last night they slept under the stars with just mosquito nets above them. Its currently cold season in Zambia, before you feel too sorry that means it gets down to about 10 degrees which is i dunno 50 Fahrenheit  for those of you who still measure temperature in Latin. Which is a little chilly to sleep out in if you're used to frosts and snow but from the sound of it is actually like sleeping in snow for some people in Zambia. It turns out a Zambian talking about cold is like an Eskimo talking about hot. Its cold season and its still 29 degrees outside as i write so, basically like a lovely hot end of/early summer  day back home. Cold in the morning but lovely by afternoon.

School Fair

Anyway back to what we've been doing. So Lucy got back on the Friday and Saturday was the school fair... another PTA event. All the secondary grades had stalls out as well as a PTA one with food and others that people had paid for.  Again it wasn't that busy possibly as it'd only been a few weeks from the last PTA event. But was again good fun but a busy morning/ afternoon. Then on Sunday evening we had borders christian fellowship, so we were  along there  with rich playing guitar as they sang random songs they picked. Its good fun, but i'd be nice if there was a chance to practice some songs and put a little more dynamics as they end up all sounding the same, but, they seem to enjoy themselves so, i guess it must work well!

Primary athletics at Ndola Trust school

 Then the week gone by we've been busy setting exams for next week and then yesterday we got up at 5:45 (yes on a saturday) to take a primary athletics team - (u9,u11,u13) to Ndola (about hour and a half away) to take part in a tournament. There were 4 other schools and the amano team was by a long way the smallest, which became very evident during the relays when the fact that basically all of our eligible pupils were taking part rather than the 4 best meant we struggled. But despite having no under 9 boys team at all we came 4th out of 5 which we figured was a decent effort by those competing.  Rich was given the tricky task of deciding the 5th place person for the races, which was generally nice and easy as he just found the person with no place card!

Next week we've got exams set for every year in every subject, so very little planning for this week and just invigilating a few exams and then of course marking them when they're done. Also we have to head to RTSA to pick up our driving licences (we currently just have temporary ones that last a month it can be renewed easily but our permanent ones should be(might be) there! Next weekend we're off down to Lusaka to drop the Kirks off at the airport and  then go to the Olympic youth development centre to watch the secondary compete in the ISAZ national athletics competition.  followed by the inevitable trip for a coffee at mugg and bean and a steak at spur and possibly a film if there is anything good on. Then back next Sunday ready to enjoy a well deserved week off as it'll be half term!! 

Now we can drive in zambia!

So this should be a quick blog to inform you of our triumph today of getting zambian driving licences!! Its taken a long which but finally we have them. I even have a picture but, decided that i didn't ought to put that up without taking out a few bits so some randomer on the internet can't copy it.

So last week we turned up and got our provisional licence, and today we turned up about 9:30 and waited while the manager was at the bank. Then waited some more once she got back. And then got sent to payment booth with instructions to pay for our driving test, and the desk clerk was told to book our test for today. Then back to the manager who then wrote on the test paper that we were getting our licences converted. and also asked for more photocopies of all the documents that we'd photocopied to get our provisional licence. So we were glad we'd spent half an hour yesterday making sure we photocopied everything we own. Then we went and paid for the licence and came back to the managers office to get our nationality changed from British honduras to Great Britian. Lucy's was happy but the computer maintained that Rich was from british honduras and wouldn't change it so, the manager gave up and said she'd work on it later. But if not rich just has to remember he's from British honduras acording to RTSA in zambia!

Anyway,

Thats the big news for today and probably the next few weeks, we're planning a visit to kitwe to go and buy pizza and go to pick n pay mainly just because we can now drive in Zambia and we miss eating pizza.

back at school

Just a quick blog to let you all know we're still here!  Now at the end of the easter holidays and as always we've not got as much done as we were hoping but, thats the way it goes we are a heap more prepared for term 2 than we were for term 1! so thats handy!

Currently we've still not got our driving licence we've got our medical done and we have our theory test tomorrow morning so i'll tag a bit on at the end explaining how we got on.  But basically its been a bit of a mission to get this far as the lady at chingola wasn't there to trnsfer licence over so, we tried kitwe and got told lots and decided we were best waiting for lady to get back to chingola which she is now so, on thursday we booked out test for this thursday and we'll see how we get on, We've learnt the 10 basic rules of the road and as many of the signs as we can so, we just have to hope the test is nice and simple!

Other than hanging round rtsa we've got a heap of work done which is always good, there is always more to do at any school but at Amano its particularly the case with lots of people coming and going and not leaving any sort of plans so, we've been looking through that and trying to sort out our respective areas a little more than they were before and we're getting there!

Mindolo Dam

Mine truck being transported on the way down to lusaka

Having a drink at mug and bean (very exciting for us!)

Also we've been relaxing! We spent a day at mindolo dam (lake left over from an old mine) which was lovely, it was very nice and relaxing and we had 4 nights down in lusaka. We stayed at a backpackers for 3 nights and treated ourselves staying in a hotel for the 4th night.  It was just s well it was only 1 night as it cost the same as the 3 nights at the backpackers! Lusaka has developed very quickly since rich was there 5 years ago and so was quite a shock to both of us to see big new shopping malls and extensions to old shopping malls meaning that they'd be worth a visit in most cities in the UK it was quite a culture shock coming from little amano near little chingola! We also went to the sunday market at one of the shopping malls which was good fun with a lot of crafts were being sold and it was fun going round talking to the locals an bartering with them. Other excitements were sitting in a coffee shop (mugg and bean) and having a coffee which tasted very good having not been to a coffee shop since december and going to spur steak house which was very very tasty but rich had an ulcer on the joint of his top and bottom jaw which made chewing painful, so, for the first time ever, lucy finished eating before Rich and had to help him finish off which was very upsetting for rich as it was a very juicy and tasty steak, in fact its making him upset just thinking about it.

Just a quick driving licence update, been in to rtsa a few more times, we now have a provisional driving licence. We thought we should get a full one, but no, so we have to go in again in a week to see the manager who we hope will then change our licences over to a full licence..... but, who knows exactly what will happen, we may still have to do the driving test, although we think and hope that it is just a matter of the manager ticking a few boxes on the computer and then we'll be done, however, this is zambia so, we'll wait and see!!!

Also, our provisional driving licenses have a few mistakes on them, we're both from British Honduras which is quite funny, but especially as the country no longer exists, its belize now and has been since 1981! Also Rich's birthday is 04/11/04 which makes him 8. Lucy's is 24/08/1998 which makes her 14. Handily the manager says she can change these when we see her next week.

Easter!

The last few weeks of school were hectic as you would expect with reports and what have you going out, the school sends out reports at the end of every term which is ok if you teach a few classes quite a lit of the time but, if you teach lots of classes once a week then it becomes quite hard work. Handily we didn't have it too bad, especially when compared to some. The last day of the term school finished at lunch and then after that we had a parents afternoon especially for boarders its a chance for parents to come and check up on their kids at the same time as they pick them up, as always talking to parents is quite fun talking to parents explains quite a bit about why the kids are like they are.

We've had another house event, primary football, again won by luano (our house) we are it seems very handy at football having won the secondary one as well. The primary football wasn't quite as high  standard a the secondary and even included some attempts at netball. It was getting quite loud with all the secondary's  cheering their house on and i don't think that all the primaries appreciated it but it was a good afternoon especially as we won. We also had a secondary house rugby event which Luano lost, and it rained quite heavily and it was rugby so i didn't see much of that, but what i did see suggested that most of the guys should stay clear of a profession in rugby.

In other sports news the girl u19 netball team came 3rd in the ISAZ (international schools association zambia)  competition in Lusaka which is a mighty effort for a small school.

Teaching has been going well, getting better relationships with pupils which makes things easier although it will take a while to build up as strong ones as were left behind when you've been teaching for 3 years at the same place, plus there is still a little bit of a wall up from some students which makes it hard. I think i have found all there is in the science lab and found any experiments that are about. But while there is a fair bit of equipment there is very few class practical's so, i've been making steps to rectify this buy buying and making some new experiment equipment.

Also the school needs to buy new PA equipment now it has a large hall and more people their old stuff isn't loud enough and has too little capacity for the number of people that it has to deal with so, i've been drawing up an equipment list as well for that, and it turns out its fun spending other peoples money! The school has put a amount of money side to buy PA Stuff and so its good to be able to put to use all those years of setting up PA systems and get them a decent set of equipment at a decent price.

Hopefully soon we'll get a newsletter out, if you've been following the blog then there really isn't going to be much new appear on that but if we can i'll try and attach it to the blog if i can remember how to!

Registering a car in zambia... and other news

Hello again.

Seems like quite a while ago that we last did a blog, think that was 3 weeks ago, things keep on going we're in routine now so that means that just like any school the days goes by quickly and the weekends go by even quicker!

Car registering (this is long so avoid if you're not intereted in a story of incompetence, and time wasting)

When we wrote the last blog we had just bought our car, which has already been really useful in carrying people in to and out of town and on friday taking grade 1's swimming because all the school busses were being used or don't work! The main use of the car has been to take rich in to town to try and get the car registered as ours which back home is about a 10 min job filling in the form and then chucking it in the post. In Zambia it's not that simple, I honestly think they have devised the most complex and long winded way possible to encourage people to either not own a car or be corrupt and just pay people to get the work done.

The first step you have to take is to go to the police station where you have to fill in a form and get the previous owner to fill in a bit and sign it. However when we went there they weren't there so we had to go back another time. I went back another time ans still  noone was there so went back to school, came in a 3rd time and someone was there but they were off to see a football match so didn't have time to help and also i needed a photocopy of everything. The next day, 3rd time and a week later i was successful! The idea of seeing the police is that they check the car with their records to ensure its not been reported stolen, but they just see that the car exists and then fill in their form and stamp it. You then have to go to rtza (road traffic safety authority i think) You have to present them (who ever you find who wants to talk to you, no discernible queuing system exists you just wait until something happens) Then they told me to go and pay for a vehicle inspection so you go round the back and get a recipt to show you've paid then you wait a bit more and the guy gets bored looking at you and asks to see the car, he asked to see under the bonnet and was dissapointed when there was no engine (its under the front seats) He was looking for the engine number which i said was under the front seat so he decided he couldn't be bothered anymore and just filled in the form!

Next step ZRA (Zambia Revenue Authority) I don't know why we need to see these guys, but you have to. I went there straight after RTZA with the hope that we were just a few steps away from completion! which i think we are but this was a week ago and we've not progessed past this step. They looked through all the forms and as is the fashion gave me a new one to fill in which i did. But they wouldn't accept my forms as i didn't have proof i had money to pay for the car. I explained that having already paid for the car finding proof that i had money was tricky as it had gone on paying for the vehicle. But no deal, so go away come back. So i went back and got told i didnt have copies of the correct documents so i headed to the studds house down the road got the copies and went back, He looked through them and didn't look very happy that i was asking him to work at 4 on a thursday afternoon so said, this is all ok.... come back on monday afternoon it might be ready then. So welcome to zambia, its fine as long as you don't go anywhere or expect to get anything done.

Other news (welcome back those who couldn't be bothered to read our car registering exploits!)

Crowd as Luano house won the final football match

In other news Amano had its first house sports afternoon on thursday, there are 3 houses  named after local villages, We are in Luano house and needless to say we are the best, this was proved by us winning everything. Turns out the pupils got really into the afternoon which meant there was a really good atmosphere about the place. The idea of bringing in the house system is to give them a bit more practise of competitive matches in sport as well as other competitions throughout the school such as the sciece fair and other events that take place. If the first event was anything to go by it looks like it will be succesfully adopted by the staff and students!

Amano v Ipusikilo in the Hall

On Saturday Amano played host to a group of teams from ipusiliko street kids home. We were supposed to be playing  8-a side football outside but, as if to remind us of home it rained, it rained and thundered the evening before which turned the power off about 5 and then we were woken up about 5 in the morning by a thunderstorm and it didn't stop raining until about lunch time. I would be interested to have a rain gauge to know how much rain falls at times but i wouldn't be surprised if a few inches  fell in the morning, which made the ground outside a little slippy especially as most of the ipusikilo guys play in no shoes or in plimsole type shoes with no grip. So, we played 5-a side in the hall. There were a lot of games and some won by amano some by ipusikilo. its now 3 in the afternoon and we still have no power! so 22 hours no power and counting! (In the end power came back on after about 26 hours off!)

Back to a proper subject rich is  starting to get to grips with what equiptment we have in the science department, back home you would have a lab tech who in my experience, know everything,  so you just ask them if they have..whatever. or if they have any ideas for showing.... whatever else and they'll find you something, or make you something out of bits they have lying about. At amano things are different, you have an idea, search though the prep room for what you want. Obviously the more times you search the more you find so each time it becomes easier! So we're getting there.

In other, other news Rich had a haircut, Its a little  shorter than he's used to but his hair dresser did a very good job and was very cheap. Lucy was a little scared to start with until she realised that she couldn't really make him look much worse than he did already! So now rich doesn't over heat his cross country times have improved from 22:52 on the first go to 19:25 last week. just 20 seconds shy of Mr Kirk who its fair to say is Rich's number 1 target to overtake next week! 

half term already.....

Hello again

Decided that seeing as half term is over now i should update the blog and let everyone know how we're getting on. firstly after a 2 week christmas holiday that involved, moving out of a house, christmas, and moving to Zambia it was nice to have a week with little that had to be done and we do feel a little more relaxed and rested now than we did 10days ago which is really good! Having aid we feel rested we haven't been sitting down wondering what to do or playing computer games all day although we have managed a few hours here and there!

Bethel Youth in the ipusikilo chota

On sunday night we were at ipusikilo street kids home with bethel youth, which was a good evening it was great to see the former street children singing and dancing away when we were singing song out of mission praise! While it was going on we had a huge thunderstorm which lead to power going out so we had a few torch lit accoustic songs while steve found a generator and gave us power back.

On tuesday we went to Ndola to go to Picknpay which is a south african supermarket chain if you're not aware, i'm fairly sure they much be owned by wal-mart or tesco as it seems very asda/tesco ish it was nice to be there as you can get hold of a lot more stuff there than you can in chingola although it wasn't as exciting as shoping in shoprite in chingola where you never know what you'll find. Another benefit of this trip was that at the same mall there is a debonairs pizza so it seemed rude not to get one, especially when pizza and coke was only about £5.  Rumour has it that there is a shoping mall to be built in chingola, i like the idea of debonairs being there as well but similarly being able to get hold of take away pizza to easily can't be a good thing. Luckily this being Zambia its unlikely that a mall will be built very quickly so, we'll probably be long gone before it actualy happens.

Wednesday we moved the School Library, it only seemed a small library until we started moving the books, fortunately there were lots of people on hand, a lot of books were moved and i think mainly ended up in the correct place, i guess we'll find out shortly when pupils try to find things! It took us from about 8 til about 1:30 so were glad of lunch and a drink when we finished, in the afternoon we went to Musenga to go swimming in lucy's old pool! which is deep!

Our new and clean car

Thursday we went for lunch at musenga and phil grove picked us up after having looked at a car which he mentioned we might be interested in so, we went and had a look in the afternoon. We went back on friday with Steve Studd and decided that we should get it! so, we now own a car, all we need to do now is to do all the paperwork and get ourselves zambian driving licenses! which we still haven't managed to do. Exactly what paper work we have to is another thing we have to figure out!

Tomorrow we get back in to routine, school wise things have been good we have had more challenging classes than i think we were expecting, behaviour of the pupils while good isn't quite as you might expect and a few homeworks have not been handed in! Hopefully punishments handed out will mean these problems go away, like always with pupils they are pushing the boundries and seeing what they can get away with. Its still hard to get used to no one wanting to answer questions, being very direct with who you are asking questions of helps but doesn't make the problem go away.

Grade 8 is also causing trouble with constant questions and most of them with rather obvious answers, they are only just a month in to secondary school so i guess its to be expected they'll find thing hard as its a big step up. A stupid question tally has slowed the rate of them down as after 3 have been asked in a lesson the class has a chore to do!

As has come to be normal there are plenty of sporting fixtures coming up and as a result of this lucy will have a busy time. A few primary footbal fixtures one against the boys from ipusikilo. as well as this qualifiers to the ISAZ (international schools association Zambia i think) tournament in lusaka at the end of march. So as is normal in a school it will be a busy 7 weeks until easter. we do have a long weekend early in march which is why half term is so early.