lake party

Off to the lake with the Veitch’s again. It was Renier’s (the second son) birthday last week and his party was to take the boys in his class to the lake. James and I left at 12 on Friday to pick the boys up from school. We got the 3 youngest boys and 5 of Renier’s classmates. I took the driving from the school to the lake as James was on some medication for infection in the leg that had gotten pierced when he tried to stop a fight in the village on Wednesday night. The last part of the road is sand but I made sure not to stop (or we’d get stuck)…hit a big bump but just kept going and made it no problem. there are two little houses at the lake…the boys were getting the small one and we would get the big one (with the kitchen so we could cook). They entertained themselves all weekend long, building forts, making fires, setting up shops to sell and trade…I think it was great to have 9 boys…except when we started water fights…I seem to hold up to 8 boys in the water (as I am still alive today) but whew it was close for a little while. (I still think that I might have won in the end). Louis went to Reinette and asked her to help me against all the other boys because if you pull on someone enough you can break them and if a person breaks they can die. So sweet.
Bonfires, fireworks, Risk, Guess Who, great food, good weather, a wonderful weekend. On the way home Reinette, Amanda, Jamie and I stopped to buy pots and at the woodmarket…but before we left we sent the boys off to be returned home…the bus (that I drove in) was squeaking a lot and it didn’t sound good. I was worried about that bump I hit…oh I was hoping I hadn’t broken the bus…turns out it was just sand that we blasted it out with an air pump and all was ok again. Relief flooded thru me…

group arrival

The group from Presbytery of Western NC arrived after a long couple of days of travel…but they looked good and it was good to see them. Dorothy McKenzie is back to visit and help again at the school. She brought with her a friend, Agnes, from Covenant Village (retirement community, she is 80+ with a broken thumb). Teresa, Tom, and Becca came back again and there are 5 more visitors. They are working around the hospital on various projects and at the school—reading with the kids, rearranging classrooms. Great to see them all and very exciting to get a care package from home (choc chips, craisins, tweety bird, and taco seasoning!)

movie nites

Borrowed the projector for some movie nights…the selection is limited to what we can find on hard drives that people bring or dvd’s but that is tricky because they are sometimes formatted for different regions of the world and can’t be played on all computers. The first we watched as a pretty large group was the American with George Clooney…very slow and yet we didn’t turn it off. Next we watched the Vow…better, a Nicholas sparks type romance. And the latest one (back in the cottage) was Ocean’s 13…on a dvd with about 12 other movies so the quality wasn’t the best but fun to have a crowd and a good excuse to have popcorn.

sunrise

There was a crew from the Guest house that was going up the mountain the next weekend. I was invited along and didn’t see any reason not to go…and many reasons to go. I love getting out and being up on the mountain is great. And the girls are very entertaining. 6 medical students (5 english and 1 dutch). We started up and everyone’s bags looked quite large but they were carrying their own so I wasn’t going to say anything. One of the girls even brought her tent-mosquito net to sleep under. It actually sprinkled a little bit on the way up but I couldn’t believe it was possible as we are supposed to be in dry season and really 5 drops don’t count…we watched the sky change colors and set up the fire to cook our sausages and marshmallows. 2 bags of marshmallows and they were kind enough to share and even didn’t mind that I won’t eat the pink ones (eww!). I don’t think we stopped laughing all evening…and even after crawling into our sleeping bags (overstatement—sheets and maybe blanket)…so much fun. It was a cold night so no one slept all that well but it was still very hard to get up at 430 so we could try for the top for sunrise.
Worth it! at the top again it was cold…we were all huddled under my sleeping bag and chitenjis. Sitting as close together for warmth and yet we stayed for a long time because it was peaceful and beautiful.

job opp

to get new teachers for next year!! this was put up at the African Bible College in Lilongwe where (i think) there is a teacher's college...hopefully we get some good applicants!

more strategy

More teaching strategy…maybe…I’ve noticed that often in a family if the parents are calm the children are more calm…if the parents are louder so are the kids…kids really do learn and mimic what they see (nothing new). I think that pets do the same (roughly)…calm owners often (not always) have calm pets…I’m not quite as sure on that one…but there is a puppy that just does not seem to be learning and is in a quite high energy family…anyway..to school. I have noticed that when I start the day quietly—with energy but still calm and collected in class it seems to go much better. The kids pick up on that. Of course I then I lose my temper and it really doesn’t help…to raise my voice just seems to make the class louder. So now I am trying to keep that in mind and I would have to say this last week was much better (though I was still very glad that it was a short week).
A way to help me stay calm I’ve noticed is walking in the mornings…early early but a walk around nkhoma on the tar road with Reinette really does good for my mood and I seem to stay calmer longer throughout the morning…

exhaustion

Teaching is exhausting. Not that this would be news to most of you…but really after my morning (7-12) and then plan till 1 I am beat…home for lunch and then I usually crash for as long as I feel I can…I try to get into the hospital to help but some days it just doesn’t work. Early to bed and early to rise…but I’m not feeling all that wise…just want to say thank you for all those who teach and have that energy!