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!!