Updates from Zambia.... Again not really brief :-S

Now lets see, What’s been going on…

I think I left you before Christmas and 2016 didn’t I?
I was not looking forward to the holidays as some of you knew. I was afraid it was going to be lonely and to be completely   truthful is it was often. Luckily there were also fun times. I don’t want to remisce on the occasions that I felt very far away, very insecure, very stupid for having left all of you behind, lets focus in this blog on the positive things that have happened.

My first flatmate (Liz) was beyond awesome but that you already knew. Shortly after she left for her Xmas break I found out I was going to be able to rent a room in a heavenly shared flat. (Initially they had promised it to someone else but that didn’t work out so I got to step in).

The colleague I am replacing has been beyond nice to me. She and her husband actually helped me move into my new place the day before Xmas. I found out about 30 min before I moved that I was going to have a temporary flatmate (called Sid) and that he had organized a holiday party in the house that very evening because he didn’t know I planned to move in.

I came into the house filled with people (about 50 I’d say), with a caterer and a rather professional soundsystem. It was lovely to unpack all my summer clothes, it has been very very hot and I have lovely build in cupboards. After that I wondered downstairs (Sid had checked up on my (very considerately) several times) and got to meet some of his many friends, he is quite a character but very thoughtful. One of the girls had actually lived in Belgium for quite a while. I hardly slept (music continued quite late) and the next day at work felt like a decade. I was alone in the office very often during those weeks (everybody took leave) and it has been hard to have a desk job, I am used to being physically active, especially after lunch I have a hard time sometimes and also my body sometimes aches and it is a struggle to find a comfortable position. But anyways.

On Christmas eve I was invited to Veerle’s house, I made vegan chocolate cake with avocado chocolate frosting (I’m loving the avocado’s here). She had invited a lovely mixture of people, some from work, others friends. They made it such a cosy evening, we even had funny little xmas elve hats. I am so grateful for her kindness.
Xmas day I sunbathed by the pool and read. Sid woke up late and we had a fun chat which ended in us playing Machiavelli and getting Ethiopian food. It was quite a nice day really, the cherry on the cake was a cheesy ;-) skype call in the evening (love you guys).

Briefly after (although when I felt lonely it didn’t feel like briefly at all) I met up with the girl of the party and her peace corps friend or a dinner. In Spanish tradition I made tortilla de patata. They are super nice and we arranged to meet for games.

Veerle (again my guardian angel here) got me on the invitation list for a quite big Dutch new year’s eve party in the middle of nowhere (aka outskirts of Lusaka) they were very very friendly people but I still missed home a bit that evening. It was good to meet some people on Skype the next day and to have some sweet emails o start the year with. The first week of the year was extremely busy (as was the end of the year) at the office. We were organizing a major workshop and the ministry letters went wrong and then there were finance issues due to the end of the year etc. The first  workshop that week was tiring but pleasant. I quite enjoyed facilitating some sessions on mentorship even though I felt a bit insecure. In the evenings I got to bond a bit with my colleague Hanne who works at the other VVOB office. I find it a pity she is that far away, especially with Veerle leaving it would be great to have her nearer. I hope to learn much from her, and to one day be as good at what we do as she is.
the second workshop which was on the lecturer’s guide and I was meant to support some of the participants who stayed on with adding to their subject lecturer’s guide. It involved a different sort of coaching or assisting and I have not really found my way in that type of capacity building yet. It was especially confronting because many participants were not very motivated to do the work, especially the last day. Many would openly do other things (facebook, the newspaper, disappear) instead of contributing to their group and that while these participants are paid an additional per diam (on top of their normal wages) to be there to do their planning which they ought to be doing anyways… sigh. Many challenges still lie ahead.

I insisted returning to Lusaka that Friday after the workshops because I was meeting up with the peace corps girl (Eleanor), the girl that lived in Belgium (Dai) and some of Dai’s friends, we went to a nice outside bar with live music and traditional dance. Highlight of the evening was when Eleanor (who has been stationed in a village for most of her peacecorps assignment) brought the house down with her traditional dancing skills. It was really pretty amazing, my hips will never learn how to move like that!
She reminds me of the lovely peace corps/VSO people I have met in Addis.

That Sunday we also got together for games including my by then ex-roomie Liz, it was a lovely afternoon (you’ve all seen the pic on Facebook). I also met my new “housie” Julia that weekend when she came home from her Xmas holiday.
It has also been nice to play games with some individuals from time to time, like Eleanor on her own and Peter (the friend from Ghent that Nele introduced me to) and also once with Peter and his wife, the ones that took me to the 80s party that I told you about last time, so slowly but gradually I am building a life here.

 I also had a rather funny afternoon with Eleanor trying to shorten my bike chain (we mucked up big time) which ended in a hilarious night of playing “cards against humanity” with some friends of Liz. One of these friends then took my bike home and fixed it for me and it has been more reliable since.

However I haven’t been using it as much as a colleague lives near my “new” home and I can ride with her in the morning. Transport is a real issue here which is why I decided to get my license and I have bought a car!! (an automatic RAV4). On January 24 Michael (Veerle’s husband) dared to give me my first driving lessons ever!! It was quite ok, I went forwards and backwards and did some circles on the parking lot of the church in my street. I should write the noisy church because their live gospel wakes me up every Sunday (not in a good way if I may add).

The evening before was their going away party, it was a lovely night in their stunning garden. I will miss them terribly. The party was great though, so many nice people. I chatted the whole night with various EU people that were native French speakers but whom also spoke Spanish. The plan to start a conversation table here in Lusaka was met with enthusiasm and we have our first session this Wednesday!! I can’t wait!

Last week I went to Livingstone to finally begin to experience what early childhood education (ECE) is like in Zambia. Phew there is still plenty to be done.  I was introduced to several teachers whom I will be coaching. It was lovely to meet the kids and I couldn’t help myself to play with them during their recess. Some teachers approach these little darlings so academically, sometimes I am even bored listening to them let alone these young learners. They also seem to spend ages waiting…
I saw one very passionate teacher and I could recognize the proud look in her eyes that I used to get when someone visited my ISG class. I look very much forward to working with her, she seemed very eager and had these students engaged with their learning in an awfully tiny classroom (2.5m by 7) even if her activities were teacher-centered the whole morning. Sadly enough while filing her with my laptop one of the staff was not careful and made my laptop (my personal one as the work one was not yet available for me) fall from about a 1.5m high. Cross your fingers the damage will be fixable or that at least I can get my data off of it… It broke my heart a lttle.

One of the evenings me and Maimuna (the other female colleague that joined for the visit) went to the Vic Falls. I was in awe.
Nature is really very impressive at times. Just before closing we also bumped into some monkeys there, even with a baby one. We ended this lovely evening with one of the most scrumptious Indian meals I have had in my life. OMG it was beyond tasty.

As we were about to leave it began to rain, if in the UK they say it rains cats and dogs then here it rains lions and elephants. When it rains it poors doesn’t even come close to what that rain was like. I told the taxi driver we were in no hurry and that safety was our priority. The roads were flooded badly.

The next evening we had dinner with some ministry officials at a restaurant overlooking the Zambezi river (before the falls), it was an amazing sight to see the sun fall out of the sky (it is also fast here like in Addis and NOT like in Belgium where it can go very slowly, you literally see it going down, impressive).

On Friday evening we got back. My car was parked for me on the parking lot and Veerle had left all sorts of goodies and leftovers for me in the trunk. It was Sinterklaas all over again. Later that night one of the French girls from Veerle’s party invited me to a 90s party at her house. Again I was chatting away the whole evening this group of friends is going to be great for my French and my Spanish!!

On Saturday the painter whom made the painting I used as a Christmas card and who turned out to be a distant friend of my sweet ex- Ghent-roomie Tjorven took me to me some of his friends at a very local bar. It was fun seeing this other side of Lusaka. I actually messaged him on Facebook to say I knew Tjorven and that I was interested in art and if he wanted to give me some culture tips and/or hang out. He’s fun to talk to but not very reliable when it comes down to appointments.
Sunday the 2^nd housie moved in and now we’re complete It will be Julia, Wesley and I. I just prepared vol au vent for them and we may make the appointment to eat together regularly on Mondays. That could be fun.

I worked from home today but had severe internet issues (it drains internet like crazy and I do not understand how) with the work laptop. Let’s hope my own laptop is fixable and that these issues with the work laptop disappear quickly. Internet is very pricy here, I have spent 30 euro on 4 GB and blew it all in less than 36 hours I didn’t even stream anything, just emailed with this expensive amount of airtime… I hope it gets fixed soon so I can skype again.

And oh yes, I’ll be home from 5/03 to 28/03 keep a hole for me in your planning. On 11/03 I’d like to have a drink in some bar in Ghent with anyone who feels like joining me that evening. More details will follow but for now just save the date please!

My first blogpost on Zambia (became a bit too long)

Moving to a new country is always intense (to say the least) so it feels like soo many things have happened since l left Belgium about 10 days ago… Of course it started off with me losing my phone about 5 min after Karen said goodbye to me at the airport. I realised at the gate so I ran to some info desk for help but they just told me to go back to the security check (where I expect I left it) failing to mention there is no way to get there. So I see 2 escalators going down and a lift I get in press the button the doors close and nothing. So I press again still nothing, I press a button to open the doors … nothing. At which stage I half panic thinking I’ll miss my flight and connections plus I will have lost my phone and now I’m stuck. Thank god for the alarm bell. I press like crazy, signal to people out there and soon the doors open and someone helped me to get into a different elevator which gets met to security. There there is no sign of my phone and I get a pamphlet, I ask them the time and my flight is due to leave in 5 min. So I rush away and when I (panting) arrive at the gate the stewardess looks at me and says, she’s here you can stop looking for the luggage and allows me in. No music on the plane for me and my 30 free airtime in Joburg are used on lost and found BXL airport. I got picked up (exhausted) and dropped at my new home. Liz my roomie stayed in for me and turns out to be absolutely lovely and so helpful in my settling in process. She took me to the bank/supermarket and finally to dinner as we had no power at home. First day of work I get told what they had in mind for me and it is FAB! I get to work directly with some teachers (those of the demo schools and some others) to build their competences and hence establish more Zambian examples of “good practice”. Everyone is nice and welcoming. They'd also arranged for me to be able to visit a couple of schools before they close entirely for the holidays. The new school year starts in January. Especially the special needs school made quite an impact. This teacher (a seemingly dedicated and motivated woman) has physically and mentally disabled students in the same class, she "solves" ADHD by locking students in her version of a “home corner” and she checks “art”-work (meaning copy the picture the teacher drew in a small A5 ruled notebook) by drawing a red ballpoint stripe through the drawings. Students’ names are listed in class next to their disabilities so you have a name and then "retardation" for example. A picture of a tree shows who is doing well academically (1 at the top, the kid with the physical disability) and who is NOT (several kids at the bottom of the tree). Needless to say I was blown away by just how much there is still to be done. Nonetheless there were definitely good things going on in that classroom and in the school, for example they try to empower parents to deal with their children’s special needs and they run a home schooling project for children who cannot attend classes. The week flew by, and meanwhile I was trying to get a sim card, get internet through a USB modem and basically survive! On Friday I had a late meeting and my first minibus trip! Everyone was so eager to help me find my way, people are really lovely, especially the women. On Saturday I discovered _during a Skype conversation with my mum_ that roached here are humongous (seriously 4 cm or something) and can fly. Good thing my mum did not die of a heart attack when she heard me shout! These roaches have too much attitude, I swear they look at me and say: “so I’m here_ in the corridor that leads to your bedroom, what’re you gonna do about it, huh?”. My colleague had asked me whether I wanted to be “zwarte Piet” at the “Sinterklaas” celebration the tiny Dutch school here was organising. It was a fun way to meet new people and also odd to dress up like “zwarte Piet” and drive through the streets here. I was baking Piet dressed in blue and holding a pan most of the time (see pic below). Again everyone was super nice and it was lovely to actually celebrate “Sinterklaas” here on my first weekend. (Annelies/Roosje I also ate your chocolates and thought about you. That evening I met up with Nele’s friend Peter and his wife Johanna who also live here for dinner and the last bond movie. Sunday morning I bought doom spray that kills instantly before Liz took me with her to a brunch with her friends. In the late afternoon I was expected at work to leave for a workshop on mentoring which meant being on the outskirts of Lusaka for the rest of the week (see pic below). It was lovely getting to know my colleagues informally over dinner and after dinner chatter, the area was very beautiful and I got to eat a lot of different types of local food. (lots and lots of meat _pork, chicken and beef and some vegetables: mostly boiled leaves but also a lovely bitter aubergine related plant). While talking & planning I got involved in a project with LUCA school of arts (formally known as St Lucas Ghent) which involves a visit of some of their lecturers whom will facilitate a workshop here. It’s going to be FUN! I will also contribute to a Zambian lecturer’s manual for early childhood education based on their new curriculum about which I will also facilitate a workshop. So All hands on stuff which I think I will enjoy and which will undoubtedly keep me very busy at work! My second weekend started with Indian dinner with Liz and her South African boyfriend. Saturday’s mission consisted of buying a bicycle. I took a minibus into “town” instead of going to one of the many malls which are filled with chain- stores and shiny stuff. I found my way in between a hustle of locals doing their Christmas shopping towards the market. It was filled with nice looking fruit, gorgeous textiles and smiling faces. I was not hassled, followed or robbed and peacefully walked around until I found the bicycle section. My new rid weighs a lot and is an Indian made-men’s bike with those fluorescent balls on the spokes like we had when we were little). After buying it, it still had to be properly composed (such as breaks, light, tyres) so I sat and watched this friendly man who was recommended by the shop prepare my bike for me. By the time he was done it was 14:00 and I had only had breakfast. My first bike ride was hellish: not enough energy, the heat burning my skin, driving on the wrong side of the road and in the gutters filled with stones and bumps because there are no sidewalks and cars don’t respect cyclists on the road. I was exhausted when I got home and decided on a power nap. When I woke up strange noises where coming from the cupboard where I had stored the mountain of chocolate I took from Belgium… I should have kept them in our small fridge. Luckily for me Liz her boyfriend volunteered to be my hero (they even especially came home after I called them to ask what I should do). The mouse/mice or perhaps even rat(s) had a clear preference for the white chocolate with tiramisu filling. Most of my chocolate remained untouched and is now stored safely away from rodents. Mice traps have moved up on my “to-buy-list”! Peter and Johanna invited me along to an 80s party (I was glad I packed my MC hammer trousers and my badges) upon arrival I see a familiar face: my only Belgian colleague with whom I taught in Addis has been teaching in Zambia for the past 3 years, it was fun to catch up with Rene (Rozemarijn yes the one that knows your auntie) in addition there were many Dutch people whom I had also met the week before. So it was fun chatting with different people. Now it’s Sunday afternoon, the power has just gone (first time this weekend we were very lucky) and I think I’ll try to go for a swim somewhere!

Harrar

It has been a long time yet again Although many of you have undoubtedly heard me complain about the masters and the workload being crazy etc etc.
My Fabulous school had the full 3 weeks, yes eat your heart out Belgian teachers, but off course two of those were spent in my pyjamas with greasy hair in front of my books or laptop. Yeah =(
The third week however I allowed myself a break and Mika and me went to Harrar, a muslim city in the east of the country. There is a friend of his living there, her name is Sylvie and she’s ½ Ethiopian1/2 Belgian. She was raised here in Addis, left when she was 16 to Brussels studied there a multitude of things amongst which philosophy and has now returned to teach French at the university of Haramaya. Trust me I’ve seen Haramaya town and it’s not big, like 1 street, so she decided she’d live in the nearby Harrar. It was great staying at her place! We cooked talked about French music, Brussels, life and of course about teaching. Besides Harrar is a great place, It has this Arab feel to it and the old walled city is a labyrinth of alleys. The houses are painted in white or something very bright such as green, pink etc. The people are also colourful in every sense of the word. These Muslims are known mainly for their use of “Tsjat” a leaf that if you chew it for long enough is supposed to give you a certain buzz. Judging from the red eyes some have it certainly does something to you but I am not a cow that likes endless chewing so I haven’t really had the Tsat experience yet. I tried it once, it’s food like, what did you expect??? But it tastes awful so that was it for me, I’ll drink some Amarulla to have a nice taste and buzz, thank you!
Anyways 10-year-olds carry the leaves around in the breast pocket of their school uniform. WEIRD!
Some of the highlights of the trip? Feeding hyenas on the outskirt of town with Pepe Yosuf who has been doing so daily for the last I don’t know how many years. I counted fingers and toes and he amazingly still has them all! Besides the “doro wot” the Ethiopian dish although I don’t really get what they like about it so much , is considerably better there. They cook it longer in Harrar which makes the onion caramelise and gives a certain sweetness to the taste, furthermore I had an esprice,( several layers of fresh juice which equals heaven in a glass, it even beats the Amarulla _almost!) with a new fruit called ambeshock or something!!!!! We actually had that juice after a very extraordinary afternoon. Throughout the city I had seen colourful girls with strange make up. They were not Harrari I was told but Argoba. We had decided to go to the bus station that day and ask for a minibus to an Argoba village. The bus was extremely packed and everyone around us spoke Oromo leaving Mika and Sylvie as much in the dark as myself. After an interesting very much nauseating ride we arrived in a dusty area and were told the village was just up the road. This was about noon the sun was burning down on us and the up the road turned out to be an hour walk or so. It was well worth it, don’t get me wrong there was hardly a village but all the kids didn’t know what hit them 2 whitish ‘ferenj’(=Foreigners) in their village. Soon we were surrounded by curious eyes and as we had gone there to watch people in the first place it didn’t bother us at all those were watching us back. It’s very refreshing not to be asked for money for a change. Some spoke a mouthful amharic or 4 words of English but most communication was nonverbal. They were fascinated by my sunglasses, so I took them off to let the kids try them on. Very funny pics of these cute kids with my big shades on. The fact that I have blue eyes really freaked them out and the little ones hid behind their friends and only dared to take a sneak peek. After sitting for about an hour or 2 on a tree trunk in the “centre” of the village and attention we decided to return… All of them came behind us waving us goodbye. Very strange feeling to be treated like a celebrity. Sylvie told us her guard had told her he was raised in what she believed to be a similar village and how he had said with much enthusiasm “ and one day ferenj came!!!” What an experience, remind me to show you the pictures this summer, uploading them with Ethiopian internet is really impossible. Furthermore I discovered camel meet is tender juicy and tasty and Ethiopian movies are really crap! On the bus they entertained us with what could have been a Shakespeare tragedy. Full volume through the speaker: the most annoying thing ever: can’t understand the movie, can’t sleep (too loud), can’t listen to your MP3 ( still too loud)… grrrrrrr.
No honestly the overall experience was great, I have 2 colourful enormous scarves draped over my single armchairs to remind me.
Back to school and in the lasts weeks of module 1 was tough! Especially since some books still hadn’t arrived and were therefore brought back for me by my colleague Anna who went home for X-mas. This did mean still tons of reading to do. It hasn’t been an easy couple of weeks, I’ve been absent from school twice , what a great thing that my 2 teaching assistants can then take over, I feel so lucky! The assignment is due tomorrow I’ll reread it one last time in the morning (Sunday) and that’s it. 6 weeks later they’ll let me know the verdict, on Monday I start module 2.
A New Zealand friend told me that what I do is illegal back there, doing 4 modules a year for an MA of 8 is considered full time studying and you are not allowed to do that on top of working full time. Did I mention the 2 Dutch schools I teach at, So yes it is still busy. And I want to take part in the vagina monologues again this year and rehearsals have started last week (I had to cancel but will go next week!)
On the brighter side my tutor did say the next module involved less reading so I am hopeful. The books have now all come so that can’t hold me back this time…
Big hug to you all!

It’s been ages!
It seems I did sort of get carried away with taking on the masters the 2 Dutch schools one of which is at times ridiculously demanding on top of my full time job. I love the students I have at Sanford: 1 of them didn’t show so I have only 13 now. The one that bit me is a real cutie pie with an extremely expressive face. His dad says he talks a lot about me at home and he’ll cling to my legs and give me kisses which is super sweet. And there are others that are a lot of fun, This is the first year that I start a kindergarten class full time and will also finish it and the bond I feel with my kinds is amazing. The others schools are also fun and so is the MA course it is just a lot. That’s the reason none of you receive mails lately or that this blog isn’t updated often. Even at weekends I don’t do all that much, trying to study and sometimes this leads to wasting time. I had forgotten what a terrible student I was.
Nonetheless I have been doing some things. A colleague of mine was really miserable after the summer holiday, she fell in love with living in Turkey and was doubting about leaving. Me seeing how Melissa felt told her that if she was going to be unhappy here she ought t leave with her daughter. She did and it turned out to be a big mistake. It sucked because she was also missed.
Besides a new nursery class was started in September and the new colleague there, Linda, is very different from me and Anna ( the other nursery teacher) and collaborating doesn’t always go smoothly. Anna and me have a ball though, we were the wicked fairy’s in the school pantomime for primary students ( after our kids had left) and were so scary that we made a year 2 student cry. Hihihi. It was loads of fun. We made the kids do aerobics such as stirring the cauldron on Snap’s “I’ve got the power”.
Since the beginning of December a new teacher arrived taking over what Melissa left behind, called Louiza, she was volunteering in India before, is 27 and I believe she may become a good friend.
When Louiza arrived teaching assistants were swapped because I had a real lousy one that many teachers before me complained about but she is close (= goes to the same church as) some people in administration and is therefore impossible to fire.
It was especially bad because she brought a tension to the class atmosphere. Some of the annoying things she did were: not taking proper care of the kids art work, pasting things in or cutting them out crookedly, not dating them properly, an attitude that felt like spying on me, talking to parents and colleagues in Amharic which I do not speak whilst this is against he rules, reacting defensive towards feedback etc. As a result I had even more work because I could not delegate it to her which added to my stress level. I addressed the issue and was told to document everything and then when Louiza came I would get another assistant. This has happened in the mean time and although Elsie is not the quickest I am incredibly relieved.
Linda, who is in many ways very American, organised a thanksgiving party for whoever wanted. My first time celebrating this holiday was really nice. Mika showed up with his new hairdo: one inspired by a minibus driver Nele, Karen and I saw: braids and a curly Mohawk in the middle! I taught it was quite funny for him to meet my colleagues like this for the first time.
We’ve also hosted a couch surfer, Oliver, I met him the day after GYA fired me ( more than a year ago) and he’s been travelling ever since. He has seen the whole of Africa on motorbike: from South Africa, Capetown to the very north, next he’ll go to India and then around Europe before returning to London. He’s living off, renting out his flat in London, good thing the rents there are high. It makes me feel like travelling even more! A friend of TJ’s( = friend in Belgium who just moved to Jo’burg) in South Africa visited us as well with a delicious portion of pork meat she sent!!!! Yummy I do miss pork here!
The Christmas holiday has just begun but it seems I won’t be doing much more than studying. Hopefully I make enough progress so I can visit Harar just after new year. I’d love to get away for a while.
Nothing left to say but to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy 2011!

Still coughing

Who thought Africa’s air would be cleaner? No way. As it turns out I have another infection of my airways, just like I did last year around this time… PFFFFF
This weekend was Meskel or the finding of the true cross which is why on this Monday I can stay at home and write my blog =)
It was quite cool yesterday, there was a huge fire on the main square which was absolutely packed with people. Especially at sunset when candles were handed out and you saw all the little lights around the fire which was lit shortly after. Pretty. The legend is that the smoke of such a bonfire led them to find the true cross. Now the direction in which the fire falls says something about the harvest for the year to come. ( should be good)
The government decreased the value of the birr (by about 20%) which will make many regular people even poorer. There are some reactions in the newspapers but no real riots about it. To me it makes me feel so sad, so many people have a hard life as it is and now it will be even more difficult for them with all the prices going up… I don’t know much about economy but don’t see the benefits for people not involved in export or another foreign currency paid job. Nobody is getting a pay rise. Thank goodness I am ‘international hire’ by now otherwise I’d earn much less then last year.
And I’ll need my pay his year seeing as I start my ( pricey) MA course next week. It’s got me quite excited and a little scared. I hope I didn’t take on too many things this year.
The Dutch embassy school is quite ok but loads of work. I am finding it hard to be told by a method what to say and how to teach and enjoy my freedom at Sanford even more because of it. I’ll see how it evolves. Enjoy Meskel day!