So, Andrew has shared his typical day with you in his e-mail update (send me an e-mail if you want to be added or comment below)…. now it's my turn! So - here's what my Monday - Weds. looked like for me.
Monday
7:30am - getting ready for the day
8:30am - getting my stuff together to go into town. Flashdrive to print, papers to photocopy, my bin with my workshop in it to show off.
8:45 - almost ready to leave. Going to try to photocopy and laminate and print before my meeting at 9:30 with the Education Secretary. (He said 9 at first, looked at me and said 9:30…. I double checked… "9:00 Zambian time. 9:30 Canadian time right?!")
9:00am - Andrew traps one of the dogs, Mango…. plans change.
9:05am - I quickly finish getting the kids ready for the day
9:10 - out the door with the dog in the back and me squished between the kids and our gardener up front with Andrew.
9:15 - they drop me in town at the internet cafe where I print my papers from my flash drive and try to buy internet. The machine isn't working right now. They don't have change. I do get my papers printed. I tell them I'll come back in a couple hours and maybe I can pay then when I buy internet. No problem. They know me. I'm in there frequently!
9:30 - Make it right on time for my meeting and the education secretary (he's in charge of all the Brethren in Christ school that I work with and reports to the lady in charge of the government schools: we call her the DEBS and I don't even remember what it stands for!) - as our schools are government schools run by the church… that makes sense right?! Ha!
-We greet each other and then I show him what I've been working on for a literacy workshop. Get his help to clear our workshop dates with the DEBS, hand him a report I was given by a head teacher. Show him iPad screen shots of information online about Edcamps and get him on board. Pretty short meeting. I think he liked my ideas because he told me to bring the workshop bin to the DEBS when he introduces me (even though I've met her once).
9:50 - I lock my bin in my office and walk into town.
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| My 8 literacy workshop bins - all done! |
10:00 - walk down a narrow hallway where I've found lots of copy shop type places and enter into my (new) favourite one. They take my photocopying and start working on it. Heat up the laminator and start running through the papers I want laminated (BINGO callers).
10:30 - realize I'm going to be short some money so I excuse myself while they are finishing (they know me well enough now that this is okay) and I go back onto the main street and almost next door to the bank. I withdraw more cash. (Yes - a bank account! It's great! It took us about 5 hours in the bank over 3 days to open the account when we got here though!)
10:40 - I'm back waiting for my work to finish itself. They even sort it all nice (I bring my paper clips!) They charge me double for the photocopies. I say, it was half that price last week. They change my bill. I buy a stapler and staples too.
11:10 - I've loaded up my papers into my backpack. I call Andrew - can you come pick me up at the internet cafe again in about 20 minutes? (I'm carrying all these papers and soon my bin!)
11:15 - I pick up my bin that I locked in my office and keep walking back to the internet cafe.
11:20 - Buy my internet vouchers and pay for my previous papers.
11:25 - sit at a picnic table outside and make a phone call to a head teacher (principal) that we're all waiting to hear from to confirm a date for our workshop. He answers and I get my answers. I phone the education secretary and let him know.
11:30 - Andrew picks me up, bringing the kids with him of course.
11:35 - I unload my papers and the kids into the house.
11:40 - have some lunch and lots of water (that photocopying shop was HOT with 2 machines working and a laminator and a computer, etc. in a small space!)
12:00 - go into my home office and start sorting out the papers I printed and photocopied. Cutting up the BINGO callers I laminated and adding them and papers to my bins. Realize I still need 2 more papers photocopied to finish my bins. I start putting beans into bags (for BINGO chips). It's POURING so decide not to go into town to photocopy just yet.
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| The amount of water we had on Monday turned our yard into a lake! |
2:45 - I make more calls, send text messages. Hear nothing back today….
3:00 - I emerge from my office, drink more water, and decide to take a good break since I remembered I have a work SKYPE call later in the evening.
3:00 - We load up the kids, my two papers to photocopy, our empty water bottles, my keys to my office and we head out to the other MCCers house on the other side of Choma. We stop for gas and the pharmacy and continue on. Andrew fills up water bottles and our pail again (so we have good drinking water. The stuff in town we filter but it doesn't taste very good so we get water from them…. they are just outside of town and on well water - that's safe to drink from the tap!) I take the kids next door to see missionary friends, Julie and Sara. I give keys to Sara - she has recently arrived to Zambia and is helping teach / tutor street kids - and they use the same space as my office. (Which I rarely use - I prefer my home office unless I'm meeting someone). Then I walk over and talk to Jan in her office (she's an MCCer). She's coming with me to Macha when I go Friday. So we discuss that.
3:45 - I gather up the kids and head back over to Andrew. He's on his way to see what happened to us.
4:00 - we stop in town. Andrew takes Malachi into the grocery store. I take Kate into the Book room. I photocopy my papers and buy her more sticky tac to put up her sight words and her art. We buy bananas on the way back to the car, drop our purchases and head to the grocery store.
4:30 - Andrew spots pizza slices in the bakery area. I buy 2 for supper for the kids and I. Still waiting for the store to have cheese again to make my own. They haven't had any cheese besides processed cheese slices since we've been back after Christmas break.
4:50 - arrive back home. Unload groceries and kids and water as it starts to rain. Put the groceries away. Cut the pizza for the kids and I. Should have known - made with processed cheese. Oh well. Still good. Won't buy it again though. (Dough was under cooked too). Kate didn't even eat hers. So I found some leftover pasta and squash for her.
5:30 - Clear the table. Change into jeans and socks and reapply mosquito repellant.
6:00 - read a book for awhile. Check my e-mail to make sure my meeting is at 7pm or if it's at 6pm. It's at 7pm. Browse online a bit. Make sure everything is working, type in the new Skype name, etc. Read new e-mail. Keep reading my book.
6:55 - sign in online. Try to group Skype but doesn't work so the one person phones the other and can hear us on speakerphone. Chat about hosting an Edcamp and the challenges that come up and how those could be magnified by being in Zambia (with African time and all). Encouraging and nice to know they are around to support me. Surprisingly both of them have visited Africa. One even to Zambia!
7:20 - Keep browsing the internet since I'm online anyways….
7:40 - Better go help Andrew put the kids to bed. The kitchen is clean and the vegetables and fruit have been washed (and bleached). Yeah Andrew! I finish up the bedtime routine and get at least one kid to bed. Andrew puts the other one in bed.
8:10 - start reading my book again. Kids interrupt at some point before 9pm. Both of them.
8:30 - I get a "page" - a one-ring phone call. Means someone wants to talk but doesn't have the money for airtime. It's a number I don't have in my phone book but I have an idea who it might be so I call them back. My Zambian friend Carol. We chat a couple minutes.
9:00 - Kate eventually falls asleep. Malachi still going strong - he did nap today. We just ignore him and he plays by himself.
10:00 - Malachi goes to bed. Us shortly after.
Now- since it's already Thursday and I haven't posted this yet…. another day!
Tuesday:
8:00 - let in Memory (house help). She starts sweeping, laundry, and cleaning the house after we greet. I finish getting the kids ready for the day.
8:30 - the kids are watching a movie on the computer, I go outside to make a few phone calls. The reception in our house isn't the greatest. It's hard enough to understand between my Canadian English and their Zambian English without a bad connection. The first call is answered. One workshop is now planned for Feb. 14th. I text the other two schools involved with the confirmed date and time. Another head teacher I can't get ahold of. He gave me two numbers - the first one tells me that that number does not accept incoming calls. Okay. Strange. Call the second number. It rings one quick ring and hangs up on me. Is he out of range? Or is he aborting my call because he's in a meeting? No idea. My last call is about my meeting tomorrow. I call. He's in a conference and quickly tells me he'll call me later. Done.
9:00 - I start sorting out the last bit of photocopying I finished yesterday. Put the last bag of beans together and put them all in my bins….. they are done! Now to get them to the schools. I try calling the out of range head teacher again. Nope.
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| Putting the last papers and beans into the bins |
9:45 - I start getting "tea" ready. When Andrew's not around it's more of a coffee break. Hot water, instant coffee (both Memory and our gardener like this better than tea - but it took me a month to figure it out!), bread, peanut butter, chairs. I set it out on the porch. The kids are all underfoot trying to help AND they are hungry. They call to the gardener "Lwiindi time for tea." He washes his hands and joins us.
10:00 - we sit together at our table on the porch, I pray for the "meal" today. Then I help the kids get peanut butter and banana sandwiches and they drink their juice. I decide to have a cup of tea today instead of coffee.
10:20 - Memory starts collecting the dishes and the tea items and helps put everything away and she does the dishes. I push Malachi on the swing for about 15 minutes.
10:40 - I go back into my home office and the kids come inside too (seems like if I'm out they play outside and if I'm in they come in). I sign onto the internet and look at the websites that the EdCamp leaders gave me via e-mail after our Skype call. I add information about EdCamp to MCC's "The Hub" in the education section. The Hub is MCC's shared resources for other service workers. I also check my MCC work mail and my personal mail.
12:00 - start making lunch for the kids. If I keep them well fed they seem to be happier!
12:30 - eat lunch myself. Read more of my book.
1:00 - Andrew is home for an hour for his lunch break. I'm surprised as he stopped in earlier in the morning for snacks as they were heading off to Macha to do some work (an hour away). They must have been done quickly. Chat with him for awhile. Put Malachi down for a nap. He's up within 15 minutes again. No nap day.
2:00 - Andrew leaves again for work. The kids are playing nicely for now. I text the head teacher that was going to call me later. He calls me shortly after getting my text. "Can we move tomorrow's meeting to Monday? Something has come up." Sure. The 3rd time we've rescheduled, no problem. I am in Africa after all. I'm just glad we keep rescheduling!
2:05 - decide I really want Chicken wraps for supper… do the next best thing and start prepping them to have for Weds. lunch. Make tortillas (from scratch). Make some of the them into baked chips - yum! Start brining the chicken (makes it juicer and not as tough!)
3:00 - gardener leaves for the day
3:30 - start telling Memory it's time to "knock off" as she didn't take a break for lunch.
4:00 - Memory leaves (after quickly making sure the kitchen is spotless and the dry laundry is down. She reminds me there is still some on the line).
4:05 - I put the (whole) chicken in the oven to roast.
4:10 - Put the laundry away.
4:30 - start making chips (french fries), from scratch of course. Let the kids play iPad while I do supper.
5:00 - get the kids to put away iPads. Set the table
5:10 - Andrew comes home from work
5:15 - sit down to a yummy meal of chicken and chips (seems like a restaurant meal tonight - that's mostly what we find that's actually ready at the restaurants in town)
6:00 - do the dishes while Andrew pushes the kids on the swings
6:30 - read my book, go online, the kids are playing nicely
7:00 - read stories to the kids. Give them a bedtime snack
7:30 - 8:00 - put the kids to bed.
8:00 - pull out the Scrabble board to play a game with Andrew
8:20 - Kate out of bed. Take her back. Malachi's sleeping good (no nap day!)
9:00 - Kate out of bed again. Take her back.
9:30 - Michelle manages to win by 1 point - but only because of the house rule (that after one player goes out the other player gets one more turn)
10:00 - bed.
Now Wednesday:
1:00am - hear a noise. Sounds like someone poking around the house - by the bathroom window. I lay in bed scared and listening. Hear noise every few minutes.
1:30am - still hearing a noise. Really need to use the bathroom though. Get out of bed. Turn on the bathroom light, see a gigantic cockroach. (At least this is only the first big one to be seen in our house so far). Wash hands in other bathroom because it's too close to the sink in the ensuite. Turn on the lights in the living room and go into the kitchen. Get the fly swatter Go back to the bathroom…. cockroach gone.
2:00 am - finally go back to sleep. The noises stopped. Rain starts.
6:30am - Andrew wakes up to discover that there were thieves around last night - our two porch chairs are gone. Strangely there is a pot on our porch with the lid on (otherwise we'd blame the dog). It ends up being Caleb - our neighbour's pot. Just the 2 chairs have gone missing, The lights I turned on all over the house probably scared them away. All the tools, broom, pail, soccer ball were all still around.
Now to make a storage shed to lock the stuff up in. And figure out how best to move our washing machine in and out of the house as needed so it's secure. And we've been locking up the couple windows we've been leaving open at night. It's hot season when that is so much harder to do! Right now it's cool in the evenings so it's not a problem.
I sleep until almost 9 as I'm tired from my night awakenings.
Since my meeting / workshop has been cancelled I feel like we have a free day. So we do a bunch of errands we've been putting off: take the cat for booster shots, pick up more bread at the store, go to driver's services and get the papers to start getting our Zambian license. Andrew changes the oil and filter on our vehicle. I actually play / hang out with the kids as I don't feel (much) work pulling me away.
