visit to a student's church (2)

Yesterday we visited a small village congregation.  One of our students, Peter, planted this church in a village very close to the College which didn't have any place of worship.  He has been laboring faithfully in outreach and evangelism in this village, preaching the Gospel and looking after his flock.  This was our 3rd time visiting his congregation.  The first time we went, they were meeting in the shade of a gigantic tree!  The second time we went (last year with the Woods who were visiting from Scotland) they were meeting in a grass shelter which also serves as the school building for the village.  This year they had a slight upgrade - the grass shelter now has a sheet of plastic over the roof to provide protection during the rainy season.  We were very glad to receive another invitation from Peter who is anxious for his congregation to benefit from Biblical preaching.

Peter's church

You may be wondering, what is a typical village like?  Well, we have found that some villages have  mostly brick houses with tin roofs, and other villages are mud huts with grass roofs.  This particular village is made up of mud buildings with grass roofs.  Some of the huts are circular and some are rectangular.  The huts are mainly used for sleeping and there are separate shelters (without walls) for cooking, again with grass roofs.  Cooking is done over open fires or braziers.   The areas around the huts are kept hoed and completely clear of grass, so each village is a large expanse of good red Zambian soil.  The villagers do this partly to guard against snakes, because you can see them coming a lot further away when there is no grass to hide behind!  Through the villages, pigs, chickens, goats, dogs, and cows wander freely.

Although the village is within walking distance (it takes about 30-40 minutes to walk there) we chose to drive because storms can blow in so quickly at this time of year.  We were joined by Jairos, another student who assists Peter in the congregation, who helped us load a few benches into the back of the truck to provide extra seating in the church.  We were also joined by Kawaleka, currently our oldest student and pastor of a church in Sinda (half an hour drive away).  He had been invited to teach the Bible study before the service. We left a few minutes before 9 and arrived just about 9:15, having driven the 'long way around' to avoid the shortcut which is generally impassable during the rainy season.  When we arrived the congregation was finishing a time of prayer, and they began the Bible study.  Because Kawaleka read and taught in the local language, I'm not 100% sure of what he was saying, but I think I gathered that he was reading from the book of Joshua and teaching about the Israelites' attack on Ai, possibly.  I was wishing I could understand what he was saying because it sounded interesting!

David sat at the front with the church leaders next to the pulpit and Marjanne and I sat on a bench at the back of the shelter with the children, on the women's side.  The women and children sat on grass mats on the floor and the men sat on a collection of tree trunks and benches.  The shelter was made of grass for the roof and walls, held up with various size sticks and logs, and there was a dirt floor.  The grasses are getting a bit 'tired' after more than a year's worth of use, so there are cracks in the walls through which Elijah was fascinated to watch the village cowboys driving the herds of cows along and other scenes of village life!  (When we met under the tree the first time we visited, the cows walked through during the service!)

the choir performing

After the Bible study, which didn't last too long, the service began, first with a time of praise and worship.  First the choir marched in, and sang a few choruses at the front.  Again, this is very typical - most churches have at least one choir.  This one was mixed, men and women.  Afterwards the Sunday school children marched in and sang two songs very nicely, with a lot of clapping and excited ululating from their proud parents.  Then the congregation sang some choruses, led by two women at the front.  They ended with a time of mass prayer again as mentioned last week. Although the Pentecostal churches claim this as a mark of being Pentecostal, you will find it is quite common across the spectrum of Zambian churches including the Reformed Church of Zambia and other denominations.

students sitting at the front - L to R, Kawaleka, Peter, Jairos

Then there was a short time of announcements, and welcoming visitors.  After that, more singing of choruses, during which Elijah escaped from me and wet his pants outside!  Then it was time for the sermon. David was preaching from Ephesians 2:1-7, about the state of man in sin - that all are dead in sin, but we can be made alive in Christ.  Unfortunately, Elijah who had managed to do fairly well, though not excellently, up to that point in the service, welcomed the first words of the Bible reading with a wail and I had to usher him out for some discipline.  More unfortunately still, said discipline failed to have any effect upon my stubborn little boy's behavior which continued to decline rapidly.  He just simply didn't want to be in church, and was determined to fuss and misbehave incessantly.  Pretty soon it became obvious that I would have to take him out because he was being so disruptive.  Ketzia was doing quite well considering that she normally sleeps around the time we were leaving for church, and didn't get any morning nap.

David and Peter reading from the Bible before the sermon

Elijah ended up howling so much about being disciplined that I eventually gave up on staying in for the service.  I got my chitenges (chitenges are useful multi-purpose pieces of cloth which are used here as wrap skirts for the women, or for carrying children or anything else on the back, or for sitting on, or for tablecloths, etc.) and escorted both children out to a nearby tree, where we sat on the ground in the shade for the remainder of the service.  But Elijah still didn't get to play as he had hoped - I made him sit next to me on the chitenge until the service was over.  Sadly, I didn't get to hear the sermon because I was so distracted by disciplining children!  But I am having to accept that this is the stage of life I'm in just now, and I don't get to hear much of the service when David's preaching.  (I don't know what I'll do when I have 3 children... I hope that Elijah has greatly improved by then!)

sitting outside the church for misbehavior

At the end of the service we rejoined the others in time for the closing announcements and closing prayer.  Then everyone filed out and we all shook hands in a line, the normal Zambian greeting.  The men helped load the benches back into the back of the truck.  Peter asked us to come back inside the shelter where he provided each of us with a cold bottle of soda as refreshment.  He doesn't have a family, and so is not able to invite us for a meal, so this was a very kind way of welcoming us and thanking us for our visit.  We are so honored by the generosity of these people!

waiting hopefully for soda

After enjoying our soda, we greeted everyone a last time and headed home.  It was a very enjoyable day despite Elijah's misbehavior and we look forward to our next visit to Peter's congregation in the future.  This village is our near neighbor so we try to keep our relationship with them strong.  Praise the Lord for the work he is doing in these villages and all the people who will be reached by this faithful Gospel witness!  And please pray for Peter as he continues to study and learn and grow in grace himself, so that he is better enabled to shepherd his flock!

Peter in front of his church

visit to a student's church (1)

During this year I've decided to write blog posts about our visits to different churches in the area to try to share this glimpse of our lives with you.  So this post will be about our 1st visit to a student's church this year, which occurred last week.

Visiting the churches which our students are involved in is a very important aspect of David's role here at the College.  It is one of the ways in which we mentor a student (because of the personal aspect of a visit to their church and home and spending time with them outside of the College campus) but it also is vital for maintaining the College's relationships with these varied churches which are sending and supporting our students.  It is also a valuable experience for our family because each visit is a chance to learn - we learn something new, we see new aspects of the culture, and we develop our relationship with our student even further.

So last Lord's Day we visited the church of Wilson, a student from the local area who lives in the 'boma' (the colloquial term for the town - Petauke).  He is the pastor of a Pentecostal congregation which meets in one of the classrooms in a large school complex in Petauke.  Our family, joined by Marjanne who often likes to join us for visits to students' churches, left home a few minutes after 9am and arrived in time for the beginning of the Bible study period which began at 9:30am.  This is quite a common thing you will find in churches here - they generally have 30 minutes to an hour of Bible study immediately preceding the service.

I didn't notice how long the Bible study lasted because I was rather distracted by the form of the Bible study itself.  Unfortunately it was led by a man who was acting as assistant to the pastor and who had no Bible training himself.  All he knows about preaching and teaching is what he sees on the television - televangelists and all sorts of nonsense.  That is such a harmful influence on the churches here!  He was posturing and prancing (David described him later 'like a peacock') and literally SCREAMING at the top of his lungs.  The Bible study was supposed to be about the beginning verses of John 14, but really he was screaming things about the gifts of the Spirit, and other things that didn't have anything to do with the text.  Every phrase - not just every sentence- was punctuated with shouts of 'Amen!'  'Hallelujah!'  Sometimes it was rather amusing, like when he started a story... 'I was trying to get a lift from a lorry driver, AMEN!'  But overall it was just saddening.  He was using the words 'Amen' and 'Hallelujah' the way a lot of unbelievers use swear words - to punctuate and add emphasis to his sentences.  The screaming was so intense that I fairly quickly had to 'tune him out' - I just couldn't focus because of the raucousness of his speech.  Elijah was really disturbed by all the shouting, so I was busy trying to keep him from getting upset.

kids sitting on the floor during the service

Eventually the screaming ended and the service began. It was a typical service, with singing, prayer, and preaching.  They had an AMPLIFIER, but thankfully it wasn't cranked up as loud as it could have been!  The only element of anything 'Pentecostal' in the service was simply the 'chaos prayer' as we have nicknamed it - the whole congregation praying out loud simultaneously, in a cacophony of noise (again, some people screaming and repeating names of Christ over and over again at the end of every phrase).  I noticed with amusement that Ketzia, when she heard 'Let us pray' obediently folded her hands and bowed her head as we do in family worship.... and then stared around her in shock as this great hubbub arose.  Strange that a 1-year-old knows about reverence in prayer than those around her...

Then David preached on the first verse of Jude.  It seemed to be well received.  I was a bit distracted during the service because Elijah manged to sneak away from my restraining grasp while I was helping Ketzia with something, and was wandering on the other side of the congregation. Most churches have a 'women's side' and a 'men's side' and that was the case here, so he was wandering around on the men's side.  As usual, when faced with a dilemma like this (which is fairly often when David's preaching) I always have to weigh whether Elijah is causing enough disruption to warrant the disruption of me getting out of my seat and crossing the church to collect him.  At one point he strolled to the front of the church where there was a flower arrangement bedecked with fake apples and oranges, and before I could move a muscle he had yanked one of the oranges right off!  I grabbed him and smacked his hand while making him sit down next to me, but one of the ladies grabbed my hand to stop me from smacking him and smiled 'It's all right!'  Sigh.  So much for parental authority.  It's good to know that they're not bothered by misbehaving children, but...  :)  Part of David's sermon, Elijah was sitting with Wilson, our student, at the front of the church next to the pulpit.  He got a bit bored and Wilson didn't restrain him in any way, so the next thing I knew Elijah was walking back and forth next to the wall behind the pulpit where they had hung up decorative cloths to form a nice backing.  He was between the cloth and the wall walking up and down shrouded in lacy sheets.  Thankfully he was behind David's back so David couldn't see what was happening and get distracted!!  Now you know what my Lord's Days are like when David is preaching...

Elijah sitting with Wilson

After the service we drove a short way into the nearby neighborhood to Wilson's house to join his family for lunch.  This is very traditional for them to invite their special guest to share a meal with them afterwards.  Wilson and his family live in a very simple tiny 2-room house in a triplex of 3 houses stuck together.  They have a front room which is a living room, and a back room which is a bedroom.  There is no bathroom or running water.  There is electricity, which allows them to use the crowning feature of their living room - the massive flat screen TV complete with DVD player, etc.  It is so funny to see how Zambians prioritize their money!  The ladies were cooking outside over charcoal braziers on the front step. (The meal was delayed a bit because when we arrived it was pouring rain and they couldn't start cooking until the storm had passed!) Elijah was fascinated with the TV (of course) so they obligingly turned on a DVD for him which unfortunately was left playing throughout our meal, making it very difficult to concentrate on conversation!

Wilson and his wife Miriam have 7 children and when we arrived at their house we immediately realized that Miriam was heavily pregnant with #8.  Zambians do not talk about pregnancy or expecting babies, and Miriam had not been at church (Wilson said 'she was sick' - again another very Zambian way of describing the situation - when a Zambian woman goes into labor 'she is very, very sick, a matter of life and death!').  It was obvious that she was imminently due!  We found out on Wednesday that she gave birth that night!  :)  What a fun story.

Wilson is not originally from this area -he was born in the Copperbelt province of Zambia and raised in Lusaka, so in our conversation over dinner he was sharing that living in Eastern Province has been a learning experience for him, too.  Just like us, he has faced cultural differences and even challenges with the language (a different language is spoken in Copperbelt and Lusaka than in Eastern Province).

Three of Wilson and Miriam's children are living in Lusaka, and the rest are still at home where we were introduced to them one by one during the meal.  The ladies brought in bowls of nshima, chicken, and vegetables which we shared together.  It was a very tasty meal.  One of the interesting things that Wilson shared with us during the meal was that during the afternoon service at his church they often have 'deliverance' services to cast out ancestral spirits and heal diseases.  This is a poignant reminder to us of why the College is here and why it is SO important to train these men in the Scriptures, so that they will have the discernment to turn away from these unbiblical practices.

It was all in all a lovely visit with a student and his wife, and enjoyable fellowship with their congregation. Apart from the Bible study, the service was quite normal and we pray that it was edifying to all.  And it is always a privilege to get to see a little bit of how Zambians live their daily lives in their tiny little homes without many of the comforts that we take for granted.  And of course, sharing a meal of tasty nshima and chicken is always a nice thing to fellowship over!  :)

with a portion of the congregation after the service

blessings

Finally I have a chance to blog about our adventures at the beginning of the month.  March 'blew in' with a bang for us... literally! 

On Saturday 2nd March we had a massive thunderstorm and lightning struck the College transformer.  I was sitting in the living room reading my Kindle and cringing at the lightning strikes which were VERY close. David was cuddling with Elijah in the bedroom, who was having trouble sleeping because of the storm. The rain was bucketing down -- until you've heard an African rainstorm on an African metal roof, you truly cannot understand how LOUD the rain is -- so loud you can't hold a conversation and you can't hear yourself think.  Honestly I've listened to the rain at times and wondered if it was physically possible for it to rain ANY harder.  Unbelievable.

But suddenly as I was sitting on the sofa I heard a very strange noise which was loud enough that I could actually hear it over the bucketing rain -- it was a pulsating, humming, buzzing noise.  It filled the whole house. I immediately jumped up, not knowing what to think but I think part of me wondered if maybe something on the roof was on fire.  I ran into the kitchen and saw out the window the entire sky was lit up with a glowing blue light.  So I quickly went into the bedroom to alert David, 'You need to come quickly, something's really wrong!'  I ran out the front door (which faces the direction the transformer is in) and saw one of the scariest things I've ever seen. The entire horizon was exploding!  It was a bright blue, glowing, pulsating light and you could hear the electricity just pulsating through the air.  It really was freaky.  I had never seen a transformer explode before, but David had, so he knew immediately what was happening.  Within 30 seconds the light faded and we were left in darkness.

The next morning the damage was accessed.  There are 3 lines from the transformer -- one is our line to our house and then to the Zulus; one is Phil & Marjanne's line which also serves the College buildings, and one is the Farm line.  Our internet uses all 3 lines to function, and so does the grinding mill at the Farm.  Of the 3 lines, 2 were badly damaged -- the Farm line and ours.  Phil and Marjanne's line was slightly damaged but still functioning after the lightning strike and quickly back to 100%.  Our line was the worst damaged - the fuse box at the transformer was actually charred black.  The power company was very quick to respond, since it was major damage on the main line through Eastern Province, and everyone except ourselves had their electricity back on well within 24 hours!  But our line had suffered other faults as a result of the lightning strike, and so the electrician spent the whole day on Monday fixing all the burnt-out fuses and everything else.  In the end, we were without power for 2 days.

MEANWHILE... on Saturday morning, the same day of the lightning strike, the water pump had mysteriously stopped working and we were suddenly without any water!  Phil was scrambling to troubleshoot the problem.  Thankfully the powerful storm that evening meant that we were able put put out all our buckets and basins to catch the rain water, which was then used to wash dishes (after being boiled) and flush the toilet, and wash our faces before bedtime.  But drinking water was severely rationed.  When the water ran out we had only THREE 2-liter bottles in our house for the four of us.  We managed to make it last until Monday afternoon.  All the staff were sharing with each other to get through -- the Zulus were sharing with the weekend students, and we were sharing with the Zulus, and so on.  On Monday David was able to go into town and buy a case of bottles of drinking water for each family on staff, and for the students.  This got us through until the problem was finally repaired on Tuesday afternoon! 

It turned out that the underground pipes which bring the water up from the borehole (powered by the pump) were starting to disintegrate.  There was no water pressure anymore because of some large holes in the pipes.  With the help of a man from the water department in town (not the water COMPANY -- they don't supply water, they just oversee dams and lakes and well/borehole projects and things), Phil was able to get the pipes pulled up and replaced with new ones.  It was a very tricky job and we were so thankful that it went without any complications.  On Tuesday afternoon, we at last had clean running water once again, after 3 1/2 days without!

This was a good reminder to us of how blessed we are to have a regular supply of electricity and clean drinking water.  True, it would be impossible to run an educational institution without these things... just having a water shortage of 3 days duration, with 7 staff families and 22 students dependent on the failing water supply, was ample proof of that... but they are nonetheless blessings.  And in this part of the world, these blessings set us apart from many of those around us who are not so fortunate.  It was a healthy and gentle reminder from the Lord not to take these things for granted.  We are serving Him and we are thankful for these good gifts that He gives us, and for caring for our every need!

chickens

I now have 5 hens! They arrived here on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, my dogs immediately manifested a propensity to view them as fast food.  Why is it that some dogs seem genetically predetermined to eat chickens, and other dogs would never dream of even chasing them?  Anyway, we're working on getting the dogs to recognize for good that these tempting, clucking creatures are NOT a succulent mouthful to supplement their diet.  The chickens are living in the extra room in the shed.  I've been letting them out into the garden each morning with the dogs tied up, so that the dogs will learn their lesson.  Today was a bit of an adventure, because this morning one of the hens managed to fly over the top of our fence!  She disappeared into the bush area at the back of our house, and I wasn't about to chase her through the bush, so thought maybe I'd lost her.  But then again, I knew she might just come back because they already know where their food is. Sure enough, just after we finished dinner I heard the squawking of a chicken and she'd come back... It took a few minutes to chase her into the shed, avoiding the jaws of the dogs on the way, but now all 5 are back safe and sound.  Tomorrow we're going to clip their wings so that they can't fly over the fence anymore.  So far they seem to REALLY enjoy the tasty treats found in my garden!  I am hoping that our tick and flea problems are solved now. Do hens eat ants too?

baking class

Recently I was asked by Violet, the wife of the pastor of the local Reformed Baptist church if I would be willing to teach a baking class for some of the ladies in the church.  They wanted to learn how to bake some 'goodies' so that they can have a bake sale and earn money for the church, which is trying to build its own building.

I was more than happy too, but it meant I had to do some homework.  I had to find recipes that would work with ingredients that could be found locally -- i.e., no special ingredients that I had to bring from Lusaka.  This meant that I couldn't use recipes calling for baking soda or vanilla extract, or special spices like cinnamon!  In the end I decided on 8 recipes.

Our baking classes were scheduled for the first two Saturday mornings in March, starting at 8am.  The first week the ladies were on time -- 6 came along, which wasn't quite as many as the 10 I had been expecting, but a few of them had been too late to catch a ride that morning.  Violet had asked me to lead a short Bible study, so we began the morning by reading and talking about the story of Hannah at the beginning of 1st Samuel, and the importance of prayer.  Then we moved on to baking class!

The first Saturday morning we started by making 2 loaves of banana bread.  While it was baking we made a batch of flour tortillas (which are more commonly known in Africa as 'chipatis' - chipatis are very similar to tortillas but they are thicker and usually cooked in oil).  While waiting for things to finish baking we enjoyed a cup of tea together in the living room and chatted.  We ended the morning by making a 13x9 pan of brownies.  Everyone got to taste what we made and then each woman got to take home a sampling of 'goodies' to share with her family.

The following Saturday morning we met again. This time only 2 women were the same from the group that came the week before -- and there were only 5 women total.  But everyone got a copy of all the recipes we learned whether they were there both weeks or not.  This time we got straight to baking because our time had gone too quickly the week before.  We started by making 2 loaves of lemon tea bread.  Then we made the dough for sugar cookies and put it in the fridge to chill.  Meanwhile we made a batch of buttermilk pancakes.  The ladies also worked together to cleverly construct their own set of 'measuring cups' cut from the bottom of different size plastic bottles!  It is amazing how resourceful they are!  When the bread finished baking then we made a double batch of buttermilk scones (more commonly known in the States as buttermilk biscuits).  Again everyone got to taste what we made, and then each woman took some 'samples' home. I was hoping to have a chance to make some oatmeal cookies but we ran out of time.  However, I gave them the recipe (which is really easy) and some of the ladies had tasted them the week before because we had some with our tea. 

So, in all, the ladies were sent home with 8 new recipes to try and a whole bunch of new ideas for ways to raise money for their church!  It was an enjoyable chance to visit with these women and be able to teach them something that I felt marginally qualified to teach.  I genuinely hope that these baking classes will be of great use to them and that they will be able to use these skills to benefit others.  Also, the conversations we had were really interesting - ranging from how long do Zambian women typically breastfeed their babies, to when do babies first eat 'nshima' (the staple Zambian food), to one older woman asking me how can she help her children learn if she herself does not know how to read or write?  Can you imagine?  I encouraged her that it is never too late to learn, and that she should try to find someone in her village who can teach her how to read!  It was a really lovely opportunity to visit with these women!

We had a productive weekend.  The vet was supposed to come between 8 and 9am on Saturday morning, to 'spay' our dog Tuppence. But early in the morning a torrential downpour started, and he didn't get here until just before 12 noon as a result.  Our local vet makes house calls using a motorbike!  Poor man came in dripping wet - he was well-equipped with rain gear and wellies, but still soaked to the skin. 

(This is what my laundry looked like during that torrential downpour!  The rain started so quickly, and was so heavy, that I thought, "I'll just leave it - otherwise I'll get soaked, too!  A little rain won't hurt it, right?"  Well, after close to 7 hours of steady bucketing rain, as you can see, my sheets were dragging in the mud AND the mud was splashing up onto the sheets from the force of the raindrops!  They ended up COATED in splattered mud and I had to bring everything straight in and put it right back in the wash!!)

This vet is the same one who performed the neutering procedure on our other dog Merry last year.  On both occasions he has used our dining room table as an operating table!  Here is a photo of Elijah and Ketzia eating their lunch at one end of the table while the vet 'preps' Tuppence for surgery at the other end...

While we were waiting for the vet to arrive, David did a wonderful bit of jerry-rigging.  I bought a Winnie-the-Pooh pop-up play house in Glasgow for £3, which was missing one of the PVC pipes which prop it up, but I figured we could easily find another piece of PVC pipe to substitute.  Well, that particular size of PVC pipe has been impossible to find so far, but David figured out that he could dismantle an old child-size camp chair of Elijah's which was broken, and use the detached chair legs -- which were the exact diameter of the PVC pipe needed, and just long enough, too! So David spent the morning knocking the chair apart and figuring out how to rig up the play house with the substitute pieces.  I'm so glad to have a 'handy' husband!  Not a great photo, but this gives you an idea of the kids playing in it...

In the afternoon we had a Chichewa lesson, which merely assisting in showing us that we need to review a few things...  At least we've now gotten started filling out the flash cards to aid in memorizing vocabulary. 

Today we waged war against the fleas in the garden.  The vet had already applied a flea treatment to the dogs themselves (which seems to have been successful) so today's agenda was to treat the grass and the sandbox where we knew fleas were living in abundance.  I bought a bottle of poison from the vet which they use to treat cows against fleas, etc. which was diluted in water and our gardener, Besek, spent the morning spraying the mixture all over the garden. Meanwhile Nelson obligingly boiled a large amount of water which we poured into the sandbox to kill the fleas there (not wanting to use poison where the children play every day...).  Our hope is that this has wiped out the flea population... and to keep them from coming back, I'm planning to get a few chickens!  They should be fabulous at roaming around the garden and eating lots of undesirable bugs.  The first step will be to buy a few village chickens - the second step will be to train the dogs not to eat them!  Hopefully we won't have too many casualties.  At least chickens are cheap here -- about $2 each!

Now to deal with the swarm of bees that has taken up residence in the roof at the end of our house....

2013

Well, what do you know!  I'm actually posting on this blog.  After months of either having no computer, or no internet access (capable of blogging), OR no time... I finally have all 3!

Let me try to catch up.  We are back home at the College, since the 22nd of January, after 3 months away in Scotland.  A lovely 3 months... seeing so many dear friends and making so many new friends.  It was truly encouraging and refreshing.  But it is good to be home!  Elijah is so, so, so, happy to be back home in Zambia again. He is glad to be back in a familiar place surrounded by familiar people, food, and environment.

Elijah is growing up so fast - he is now 2 years 8 months old... he'll be 3 at the beginning of July.  I can't believe it!  Suddenly my baby boy is walking around the house serenading his sister, building train tracks and having make-believe play with his toy animals.  And Ketzia seems bound and determined to catch up to her brother in everything.  She is 14 months old but so well-developed -- already running at top speeds, totally stable on her feet, and very clever.  She can understand everything I say to her even though she isn't talking yet. 

I had the students ROARING with laughter while I told them stories about Elijah in Scotland...  Like our first week there, when Elijah told me, "Mama, I'm going to buy eggs now." (In Zambia we always walk to the farm and buy fresh eggs there - Elijah gets to help by carrying the money.)  So he walked out of the living room and shut the door, and down the hall and shut the door. He came back about 20 seconds later and said, "Mama, it's too cold to buy eggs!"  Another day I overheard Elijah pretending to talk on the mobile phone (which had notoriously bad reception) -- "Ullo!" he said, "Ullo!  Can you hear me?"  Then with a sigh of disgust he said, "The signal's gone!"  The students absolutely loved hearing of his exploits.

We have about 24 students this year, and the term started smoothly (we're halfway through week 2 at present).  The first month or so David is lecturing every morning, so he's very busy just now but enjoying teaching.  We are glad that our colleague Phil returned from his furlough last week, and look forward to seeing our colleague Marjanne return from her furlough at the end of this week!

We have a new internet set-up here which is (so far) working MUCH better than last year.  It is faster, which means we've even been able to talk to family using ooVoo (like Skype except we've found it works much better than Skype...) a few times which never worked last year!  The internet is still having a few issues, it's not 100% sorted out yet, but we are very encouraged.  Hence, my ability to post on the blog.  Last year I could barely ever get this page to load!  What a blessing!

At the moment I am struggling with a huge flea problem... we came home to find both our dogs happy and healthy and well-fed, but crawling with fleas!  We've given them a couple of flea treatments but nothing has worked yet.  Then we found that the new hut which was built in our garden at the end of last year was SWARMING with fleas - so they were flooded out with loads of boiling water (hopefully they are still gone). But there are still fleas in the grass outside the hut, and now there are fleas in the children's sandbox because I can't keep the dogs from lying in there in the heat of the day!  So poor Elijah and Ketzia have been told that they can't play in the sandbox for the time being (they keep ending up covered in fleas).  I don't really know what to do to get rid of these pests!  And I'm so worried that they will end up in the house and then what am I going to do?!

train travel through Europe, part 1

On Monday evening 22 October 2012, our weekend with friends in the Netherlands was nearly over.  We had dinner with Bart & Alida and Herman, and then loaded up in the car.  Bart & Alida drove us to Utrecht train station to catch the CityNightLine train.  This is an overnight train to Munich, Germany.  We got to Utrecht with plenty of time so Bart & Alida insisted on treating us to Starbucks.  :)  They really went out of their way to make sure that we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves!  We are so grateful for their generosity towards us.

It was pretty easy to find the right platform to wait for our train, with Bart and Alida assisting us. The train was about 5 minutes delayed.  Throughout our train journeys we found that when things got a bit ‘sticky’ was when we had to board a train which would be pulling out again within just a couple of minutes.  Boarding with all of us and our luggage took a lot of pre-organizing, and teamwork, but by the time we’d traveled across Europe we were getting the hang of it!  Besides the two children, we had a stroller, which was foldable but not entirely collapsible (bigger than we had wanted for our trip, but it was the only collapsible stroller for sale in Lusaka when we left… so we made do!), two very large rolling duffel bags, David’s backpack, my carry-on size bag, usually a plastic bag of food and oddments for the journey, and sometimes Elijah’s Pillow Pal or our winter coats if they didn’t fit in the duffel bags.  So it was too much for both of us to carry on board the train in one trip, thus we had to figure out ways to transfer everything in stages without leaving the children OR the bags unattended. Utrecht was our first attempt, and thankfully Bart was there to help shove our things on board. The train seemed to leave in a great hurry but thankfully there we were, everything intact, on our way!  Waving to Bart and Alida out the window.  It was an abrupt end to our delightful stay in the Netherlands, but now we were on our way to Munich! 

After shuffling around awkwardly (after putting our stroller and our gigantic bags on board there wasn’t much room for maneuvering in the corridor area at the end of the train car) we found our way to our compartment.  We traveled ‘economically,’ that is to say, in a couchette compartment.  These are kind of the equivalent of dorm rooms on a train, except that being train compartments – they are a lot more cramped!  There are two choices for couchettes: either you can book a 6-bed compartment, which is the cheapest option, or you can pay a bit extra for a 4-bed compartment if you want a bit more space.  The 4-bed compartment still has 6 beds in it, but the middle 2 bunks are left folded up so as to provide the 4 occupants with more space.  Since we were traveling with the children (who would be sharing our bunks - if you want a bed for a toddler you have to pay the same fare as an adult) we decided the extra space would be VERY welcome, otherwise we could end up sharing a compartment designed for 6 with 8 instead – two being very squirmy children.  This was a very, very good decision.  :)  The compartments are incredibly, almost unbelievably small.  There is enough room between the bunks on either side to stand up, but not more than that. 

There was a luggage rack above the compartment door, where we put the stroller.  Our two duffel bags managed to fit under the lower bunk (on this train – I don’t remember if they did on the next sleeper train) as well as our shoes and carry-on bags.  There was a ladder against the far wall (not that it was far away!) which reached to the upper bunks.  Each bunk was provided with a complimentary bottle of drinking water and also a reading light.  There were 2 types of locks on the compartment door for security.  The attendant came in to collect our passports and check our tickets.  The passports were kept by the attendant overnight, ostensibly so that we wouldn’t have to be awakened during border crossings (although sometimes they will still wake you – it is completely inconsistent) and returned to us in the morning as we approached our final destination.  After that, we never saw the attendant again – so hope that you never have an emergency or a situation where you require some assistance, because we couldn’t find the attendant afterwards.

It was past the children’s bedtime, so we focused on getting them settled and getting some sleep.  Elijah slept on David’s bunk, and Ketzia slept on mine.  Each bunk was equipped with a sheet, a blanket, and a pillow.  It was helpful to have the 2 extra blankets from the unused middle bunks since there were 4 of us. The bunks were nothing fancy – just flat, padded bunks which doubled as seats during the daytime. 

We were informed by the attendant that there would be a couple joining us around midnight for part of the journey - the occupants of the 2 upper bunks.  So it was an interrupted night!  Don’t choose a train journey if you want a peaceful, blissful night’s sleep (unless you pay for a first-class compartment and travel alone – and even then nothing is guaranteed). But it was definitely worth it for the experience.  Poor Elijah’s dinner didn’t settle and he woke up and vomited on his pajamas and the compartment floor.  That was when we couldn’t find the attendant to get something to clean the floor up with.  So we ended up using baby wipes and then covering the floor with one of the extra blankets.  After that Elijah was fine and went back to sleep peacefully. But that was one of those moments when you think, ‘Wow, our first family train ride, and my child just vomited! Is this a sign of things to come?’  Ketzia was teething, feverish and restless during the night.  She must have nursed almost the entire night.  Our companions, an older couple, came in a bit after midnight, took a few minutes to get themselves and their luggage (which had to be left standing up in the crevice between the bottom of the ladder and the compartment wall) arranged, and then climbed up to their bunks.  They came climbing back down about 4 hours later, to disembark at their destination. Since it was the middle of the night it wasn't exactly a good time to strike up an acquaintance!

During the night there were also police on the train at one point – dealing with some drunk people, at very least, who we could hear further down the corridor.  I think someone might have gotten taken off the train.  During the border crossing into Germany the police/guards tried to open the compartment door (which was on the chain) and when I quickly cautioned, ‘shhh, the children are sleeping’ (just so they’d be aware!) they closed the door and left, and didn’t come back!  So I guess they weren’t too worried about us.  They had our passports anyway.

So yeah… it wasn’t a terribly restful night, but at least we did get a bit of sleep. We had been forewarned anyway.  If I remember correctly, we arrived the next morning in Munich around 7am or so.  We made our way through the train station to the upper balcony area overlooking the platforms, where there was a café.  We ordered coffees and ate breakfast from the travel food we brought along with us.  Had a chance to change the kids’ nappies and clothing for the day of travel ahead.  And got a real good idea of the hustle and bustle of Munich Centraal during early morning rush hour on a work day!

It was now Tuesday, 23 October – my mom’s 50^th birthday.  My family was already in Italy, where they had arrived a few days before, and were settled in the villa we would be sharing, awaiting our arrival late that night.  But first we had a full day of travel ahead… from Munich across Austria to Bologna, and then down through Italy to Naples.  Our train left Munich around 9am for the long ride south.  This time we were in a normal traveling car with comfortable seats and small tables.  It wasn’t a full train so we could use the empty seats next to us for the children.  What did we do on a long train ride with the kids?  Well, like riding on an airplane – we got them to sit still when we could, with a variety of things to keep them occupied – toy cars, puzzles, coloring, reading books, DVDs, snack food, etc.  But sometimes you just have to move around, and thankfully they could easily walk up and down the aisles.  Meanwhile, the scenery outside was FABULOUS!  We were passing through the Austrian Alps during the middle of the day – a sunny, clear day with gorgeous views of the mountains.  The train went through the Brenner Pass which is just stunning.  David spent a lot of time trying to get photos from a moving train – which wasn’t entirely successful, but at least we got a few shots to show that we were there.  :)  We ate our packed lunch as the train sped along (sausage bites and cheese bites from the Netherlands!) and just enjoyed the experience of traveling through somewhere we might never be again! 

It was a long train ride – we didn’t reach Bologna in the north of Italy until about 4pm.  We had a bit of time before our next train left for Naples, so we went looking for food.   We found the Bologna station a bit of a challenge because it was not exactly clear where we should go – and there were lots of steps up to each platform, so what to do about the stroller? And the rolling bags?  In the end, I think we found a lift.  Then we were looking for food, so that we could get an early dinner, but there were no cafes or shops in the station as far as we could tell.  Eventually we found that there were vending machines scattered throughout the train platforms, selling not only snacks but also sandwiches and paninis, so we got a few things to count towards ‘dinner’, though it wasn’t a proper meal.

Now it was time to catch our next train, one of the brand-new high speed Freccarossa line!  These sleek ‘designer’ trains are carving up the time it takes to travel the length of Italy.  We were very interested to see how these high-speed trains compared with the normal trains we had been travelling on.  It would be about a 4-hour journey from Bologna south to Naples.  These trains travel at speeds reaching higher than 300 kilometres per hour! 

Interestingly, we found that these trains (at least in the economy section) were the least comfortable of all the trains we traveled on in Europe.  The seats were high-backed and the tables were very, very tall, so tall that if you dropped something you couldn’t reach it off the floor because the table was in the way.  It all felt very tight, cramped, and claustrophobic.  The children had to sit on our laps the whole way because the train was booked full, and because the tables were so tall, that meant the tables were practically in the kids’ chests.  So it just wasn’t comfortable.  We did have to deal with a bit of unhappiness during this leg of the journey.  Thankfully, even children get tired of fussing after a while and just ‘zone out’ (helped by the DVD player) or go to sleep.  It wasn’t exactly a fun or relaxing ride, but it was an experience whizzing across the Italian countryside at 300kph! 

We finally reached Naples around 8:30pm… after a full 24 hours of travel by train across Europe!  But our journey wasn’t over yet.  We disembarked the train and were met on the platform by my dad and my brothers Ezra and John, as well as my dad’s friend Tom who lives in Naples.  So there were plenty of hands to help with bags and tired children.  My family had been in Italy for several days already and had been visiting with their old friends Tom and family (who work with a Christian outreach to servicemen), and when Tom heard that we were arriving in Naples late at night and would need to travel by train a FURTHER hour to the Sorrento area where we were staying, he offered to give my dad a ride to the train station to pick us up, and then drive us all to the villa where we were staying!  This was SO kind and generous of him and we were very grateful.  We all piled into his minivan and took off through the congested, crazy streets of Naples.  This was the only glimpse we got of Naples, really – it was after dark and Tom was driving with great experience, so we didn’t have to worry about anything.  But overall, Naples is not a great city.  It is very dirty, and not exactly nice.  There were hookers on the street corners looking for business (mostly from sailors as there is a large Navy base nearby).  I was glad that we were spending our holiday further away from the filth of Naples.

It was about an hour’s drive to the villa where we were staying, which was in San’t Angello, a small, quiet village very close to the bustling, busy tourist town of Sorrento.  It was close to 10pm when we arrived.  Tom dropped us off and we got our bags and baggage sorted, and there we stayed for the next 9 days….  :)

our weekend in the Netherlands

So on Thursday, 18 October, our family was in Lusaka.  We had said affectionate farewells to our amazing super-nanny, Sarah Moriah, the night before, after she and I returned from our crazy whirlwind girls’ outing to Vic Falls.  (She was staying on in Lusaka for another week or so with another friend.)  We had repacked our luggage in what we hoped was a semi-sensible fashion for our upcoming crazy days of travel.  In the afternoon we drove to our friends the MacDs who had invited us to come for dinner before our flight.  We would be leaving our truck parked at their house during our 3-month absence from Zambia, and our colleague Phil who was also at their house would be giving us a lift to the airport that night.  We had an enjoyable, relaxing dinner with everyone.  Afterwards there was time to put the children in their pajamas before heading to the airport - it must have been sometime around 8:30 or so that we left for the airport.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:45pm, an overnight flight direct to Amsterdam.  (Direct flights are so nice!)

The flight arrived as scheduled in Amsterdam the following morning around 9am.  By the time we got through immigration, collected our bags, and found our way around the airport to the meeting point, it was past 10am. We had arranged to spend the weekend with old friends of my family’s, a Dutch family whom we’d known since meeting in California in 1997.  Way back then, the father, Bart, was in CA on a business trip and brought his wife and 3 young children along.  We met them when they visited our church one Sunday, and really hit it off.  During the remainder of their stay we got together several times – going swimming together, going on picnics to the redwood forests, and going to the beach are some of my fond memories. The amazing thing was that all of us kids got along really well even though they didn’t speak a word of English and we didn’t speak a word of Dutch… we had great fun.  After they returned to the Netherlands, I kept in touch with their daughter Hanneke by email. As she grew our correspondence became easier, because she learned English in school. Originally our letter-writing consisted of a process whereby I dictated an email to my dad, who typed it up for me and sent it to her dad, who translated it into Dutch and gave it to her!  As we grew older we could write letters directly to each other, and her English improved year by year!  We have not been in close correspondence in recent years, but remained friends on Facebook, and Hanneke’s parents have remained in close contact with my family.  When my parents traveled through Europe on their way to visit us in Scotland in 2010, they passed through the Netherlands and spent a couple of days with their family.  At the time I was very sad not to be with them visiting my old friends!

So when it turned out that we would be traveling through the Netherlands ourselves I contacted Bart and Alida and asked if we could visit them for a weekend. They welcomed us with open arms!  When we arrived at the airport on Friday morning the 18^th of October, we were met by their eldest son Henk – who was a lot taller than I remembered him as a child of something like 5 years old!  He brought us from the airport to their home in a small town about 30 minutes from Utrecht.  As soon as I walked into their garden I felt peaceful.  :)  It was so beautiful and quiet, with lovely flowers and shrubs.  They had a pet duck (whose name I’ve forgotten).  We were warmly welcomed by Bart and Alida with a cup of coffee sitting in the sunshine in their garden.  We managed to visit during some lovely weather for the Netherlands – beautiful, spring-like, sunny weather.

They truly made us feel at home for that weekend!  We stayed in the 3^rd floor of their house, in a large room. They had beds for the children, which had belonged to Alida when she was a child.  They had gotten high chairs for the children and car seats for us to use that we could take outings in the car.  They even installed a child safety gate at the top of the stairs specially for our visit!  (That was nice because it meant the kids could play on the landing with a big box of lego and other toys and we didn’t have to worry about them.)  They did everything to make us feel absolutely comfortable, and it was a lovely way to begin our holiday.  We had such an enjoyable visit with them.  On Friday we rested a bit and didn’t do much other than visit.  Bart took us for a short walk into town, to see the nearby canal and the shops.  We stopped and got gelato – the first gelato of our Europe trip, but certainly not the last!  :)  Henk was home briefly and then went back to his own apartment. Their 3^rd child, Herman, was around and we probably saw the most of him.

On Saturday they took us on an outing to Utrecht so that we could see a Dutch city.  We strolled around for a while, and then Bart and Alida took us on a boat tour of the canals, which was really interesting.  It was fun to get the feel of our first European city – the different architecture, the canals, the bicycles everywhere, the open-air cafes.  On our way home we picked up Hanneke who is a student in another city.  She came home for 1 night, so at least we got to see her briefly – I hadn’t seen her since she was 7 or 8 years old!

It was so fun to stay with Bart and Alida and get a taste of Dutch culture.  Enjoying Dutch treats, yummy coffee, Dutch cheese, Dutch sausage… mmmmm.  Listening to their family playing music together in the family room.  Chatting.  Resting.

On Sunday we went to church with Bart and Alida and family.  We were impressed by the warmth and friendliness of their congregation.  It was a restful day.  In the late afternoon Bart and Alida took us for a short drive to a park with nice walking trails and woods, and we had a peaceful walk with the children. Alida brought a plastic bag so that Elijah could help her pick up horse chestnuts under the trees.  It was a beautiful evening and felt like autumn.  We walked across a large grassy meadow covered in beautiful autumn leaves – the only true glimpse of autumn we got that year!  They were huge, crisp leaves.  Elijah and Ketzia had a fabulous time crunching through them.

David and I absolutely loved the idea of going for a family bicycle ride along the canals, so this morning (Monday the 22nd) Bart and Alida made arrangements for us to borrow bicycles and bicycle seats for the children, and off we went!  We had a seat clipped behind David for Elijah, and a seat clipped in front of me for Ketzia.  Alida went with us to lead the way and show us around.  It was SO MUCH FUN.  I think it was the most fun day I’ve had since I got married!  The weather was stunningly gorgeous – sunny, cool, and refreshing, and the countryside was beautiful.  It was so enjoyable to bike along somewhere that didn’t have lots of ups and downs!  The kids had a great time, and Ketzia even fell asleep in her seat.  :)

After lunch the children went down for their naps and David stayed with them while I went to the shops with Alida (on our bicycles).  I needed to buy nappies and food for our train journey, and also wanted to get a Dutch memento to give to my mom for her birthday which we would be celebrating in Italy that week.  Then it was time to re-pack our bags for our train journey tonight…

Europe! (an introduction)

This is the first post in a series about our travels in October-November 2012.  I am posting these belatedly (in March 2013) but putting them in their proper chronological place on my blog so as not to disturb the current flow of recent blog posts.

I thought it would be fun to post about our travels in Europe and the UK for two reasons: firstly, because it was a fantastically fun trip and it's fun to remember (and I was disappointed not to have the chance to blog at all during the trip), and secondly, because I thought you never know -- maybe someone out there will be inspired or encouraged that it is possible to take crazy trips when you have small children.  (Or maybe they will just think we are crazy. :D)  Or maybe someone will be motivated to see the beauties of Europe while they can still get a student fare on train, or a discount advance fare.  Or maybe people will just enjoy reading our adventures.  :)

There is one blog post which you should read before this one: the Pre-Journey: the Girls Go to Livingstone.  :)

Now you may be wondering: why Europe??  How could we afford it?  Why did we decide to go there?  Well, the main reason we decided to go there was because my father, who is retired USA military, is able to fly for free to any USA base in the world, on military transport planes.  He can bring all his dependents with him, too!  My family traveled this way in October 2010 when they came to visit us in Scotland -- first flying to a military base in Germany and then from there taking a budget flight to Edinburgh.  This awesome military benefit means that it is affordable for my parents to travel - but also to bring their 4 dependent children along with them!

So David and I had always been talking about taking a family holiday in Europe, back when we lived in the UK - because it is so easy and so inexpensive to get across to the Continent from the UK.  But it didn't happen while we were living in Scotland, and now here we were living in Zambia.

However, we knew we would be returning to the UK for the break at the end of the year, so we decided to arrange a couple of weeks of holiday at the beginning of our 3 months in Scotland.  BUT... our flight back to the UK had a stop-over in Amsterdam.  The idea finally came to us (thanks to our dear friend Mairi who was quicker to realize than we were!) that it would make a lot of sense to just get off the plane in Amsterdam, skip the final leg to Glasgow, and instead travel wherever we wanted to in Europe!  We picked our destination in Europe based on where it would be easiest for my family to meet us, because we really wanted to see them.  It's sad living so far from grandparents!  There is a large military base in Naples, Italy, which was why we picked Italy as our destination.

Our flight was directly from Lusaka to Amsterdam, and from there we would be traveling by train across Europe to Italy.  We looked into flying budget airlines, but budget airlines are actually only any good if you are flying during peak times of year!  Our holiday time is 'off peak' and it's so much cheaper to do things that way... except fly.  No holiday airlines are going to Rome, or anywhere else in Italy, at the end of October.  We did research for months.  What if we flew from Amsterdam into a different European airport and then took a shorter train ride?  Nope, that didn't save any money.  If we flew a big airline like BA or KLM, we had to pay for our children.  Train travel across Europe definitely saved us money because we didn't have to pay ANYTHING for the children (most train and bus companies in Europe won't make you pay for children until they are 3-5 years of age, it varies obviously).

So much of our research was done via via the amazing website seat61.com which we found absolutely invaluable.  Check it out!  This website is the way we found out about booking advance fares on trains to save a ton of money!  You REALLY have to jump - we booked as soon as the 90-day window was open and still missed a couple of the cheapest fares, so we did end up paying a bit more than we had been hoping for, but we still got fairly good fares.  (If your travel dates are completely flexible, you can get awesomely good fares - our dates were only a little bit flexible because of the dates my family was available to meet us in Italy, which meant we did have to take the more expensive options to get the tickets we needed on a couple of occasions.)  And even better, seat61.com gave us the confidence that we COULD actually pull off a train trip across Europe, as complete novices to Europe, with two small children.

So that's an introduction to Europe -- how we managed to afford it, and why we chose to go there in the first place.  Maybe I've missed a detail you want to know about?  If so, share it in the comments! The next post in this series is Our Weekend in the Netherlands.  :)

the Pre-Journey: the Girls go to Livingstone

We wanted to do something special to thank super-nanny Sarah for coming to help us for nearly 3 months.  :) Sarah and I had tossed around the idea of taking her to see Victoria Falls, which is about 6 hours south of Lusaka (11 hours from where we live).  In the end, it worked out for us to arrange a whirlwind trip to Vic Falls at the beginning of the week that our family was scheduled to fly out of Zambia!  We couldn't afford to drive down as a family because of the cost in fuel, so it was decided we would travel to Lusaka together (since we had to go anyway that week) and then Sarah and I would travel by bus the rest of the way to Livingstone.  Here's how it worked:

1) Pack everything by Saturday night, 13 October 2012, and get it loaded into the car.
2) Clean the house frantically for weeks leading up to this weekend, so that everything is finished on time.
3) Eat all the remaining food in the house on Sunday.
4) Load everyone into the car, close up the house for 3 months, and leave at 6am on Monday morning!

So we drove to Lusaka on Monday morning the 14th of October.  It's about a 5-hour drive so we were there just before lunchtime since we left first thing in the morning.  We drove straight to the bus station so that Sarah and Ketzia and I could catch the afternoon bus to Livingstone.  Unfortunately, we got there too late to catch the 12:30 bus (because they required you to buy your ticket 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure) so we had to wait for the next bus which left at 2:30.  This meant that we had time to get back into the truck with David and go to the nearby shopping mall for a bite of lunch and a spot of air-conditioning!  :) 

We went back to the bus station to board our bus around 2pm.  We were sitting together at the back of the bus, which had no air conditioning.  But it wasn't dreadfully hot with the windows open!  And off we started for the trip to Livingstone.  Since it takes between 5-6 hours to drive in a car, I was expecting the bus journey to take about the same amount of time.  So imagine our surprise when we realized it was about an 8-hour bus ride!  :)  Because of the number of times it stopped in the towns we passed...  Anyway, that was fine.  We were flexible.  :)  Ketzia was perfectly content because she was traveling with her mommy, who was an unfailing source of nourishment.  (It's so much easier to travel with children when you are breastfeeding!)  A large portion of the trip was after dark, and we dozed.  There was a bit of rain and a thunderstorm at one point, but overall the trip was uneventful and we arrived in Livingstone in one piece, although a bit stiff... and much later than we had hoped.  It was after 10pm!

Sarah and I were planning to stay at Fawlty Towers, a backpacker's place in the center of town, not too far from where the bus stopped.  But since it was after dark and we were 2 girls traveling alone, we couldn't walk there, so we had planned to take a taxi.  But we were not expecting the greeting we received when the bus stopped.  As we disembarked from the bus, we were met by a pushing, shoving, shouting swarm of men at the bottom of the bus steps - mostly taxi drivers shouting for fares, but also some hangers-on.  It was after dark, and I was unsure of myself, and quite frightened by their behavior.  Just desperately wanted to find a taxi driver who would take us to Fawlty Towers! The first man I asked acted like he didn't know where Faulty Towers was, so I asked another man because I did NOT want to get into a car with a man who didn't know where he was going.  We collapsed into the car feeling very anxious but the man assured us he would take us to Fawlty Towers.  He zipped us up the road and we were there in 2 minutes, to our great relief.  But imagine our consternation in the morning when I was speaking to the receptionist at Fawlty Towers and describing our experience!  She asked, 'Was it a blue taxi?'  I said, 'No, it was just a normal looking car.'  She said, 'Yes, those are illegal taxis!  Only the blue taxis are legal.'  So, that was that.  Now I knew something I hadn't known before.  I was just so thankful that we arrived safely the night before, and still a bit shaken by the experience!

So anyway, here we were in Livingstone -- Sarah, myself and Ketzia who was about 10 months old.  We had only 2 nights there and our schedule was as follows: Monday - travel and arrive; Tuesday - see the Falls; Wednesday - travel back to Lusaka.  We were so tired after traveling the whole day on Monday that we pretty much went straight to bed.  We were staying in one of the dorm rooms since they were the cheapest option, I think they were $10 per person per night.  Basically it was just a big room with three sets of very tall bunk beds, a dresser with individual locking compartments, and a very noisy fan mounted on the wall. We were alone in the room, which was nice.  Ketzia shared a bed with me.  There was a communal bathroom with showers and toilets which we shared with the other dorm occupants but there were only a few other folks around.

On Tuesday morning we got up and had some breakfast and then headed out for our visit to the Falls!  We decided to be as economical as possible, which meant taking a minibus to the Falls.  So we had to walk maybe 10 or 15 minutes to the town market, where we found the taxi and minibus area.  It was a crowded, noisy and busy place but someone immediately put us on board to the correct minibus.  I was very nervous after our bad experience with the taxis the night before, but this went blissfully smoothly and the people were friendly and helpful!  We only had to wait a couple of minutes before the minibus was full and ready to depart. The Falls are about 8 kilometers down the road from Livingstone.  The minibus stopped a little bit up the road under a tree, and from there we had to walk across the road to the park entrance, where we paid the entrance fee and went in. 

The next couple of hours were spent wandering all over the Falls.  David and I had visited the Falls in May with the kids - we camped in Livingstone for a week and had a fantastic time. So I could show Sarah around a bit.  We hiked down to the Boiling Pot which is always worth seeing.  Because we were visiting Victoria Falls in the very height of the dry season (it hadn't rained since March) there was no water coming over the Falls and it was remarkable to see the difference from when David and I were there before.  But lest you wonder if it is worth visiting Vic Falls during the dry season - YES, it certainly was still worth the visit because the view of the canyon into which the falls flow was stunningly beautiful!  You could get such an idea of the scale of the falls.  It was really amazing.

Because there was no water going over the falls, you could actually climb into the riverbed and walk around on the rocks.  I took photos of Sarah who insisted on sitting on the edge of the falls.  She had one rock between herself and the edge, I will give her credit for that! 

While wandering around the top of the falls, you see lots of baboons.  They are quite used to all the people around and are attracted by the food.  It was pretty incredible to see how close we had to walk to them as they just sat around on the walking paths scratching themselves!  Thankfully they were completely uninterested in us.

We had gotten an early start that morning, and within a couple of hours we had done all the hiking and sight-seeing we wanted to do at the Falls and had wandered to our heart's content.  It was getting close to lunchtime so we headed back into Livingstone. This time we decided to splurge and get a taxi - it was SO hot outside we didn't feel like walking back to the minibus area and waiting in the sun for it to be ready to leave.  We got the taxi to drop us off at the Italian restaurant in town, where we got some lunch.  This restaurant, Olga's, is awesome!   The pizza is genuine Italian and cooked in wood-fired ovens.  But best of all, they have homemade GELATO -- for real!  It is exquisite!!  Words cannot describe the pleasure of a bowl of smooth gelato on a blazing hot day!

So that was us having seen the Falls, which Sarah pronounced a success, to my delight (I had already seen them before so I was hoping for her sake that it was worth the trip to her!).  Now we had the rest of the afternoon to relax and enjoy ourselves.  There was a pool at Fawlty Towers so Sarah went swimming and relaxed by the pool for a bit.  I went off to the private Fawlty Towers salon where I had seen hair plaiting advertised!  I had gotten my hair plaited back in 2008 while I was in Uganda, and David has always said that he liked the photos of me with my hair plaited a lot, and thought it would be fun for me to do it again sometime.  Well, here was my opportunity! I was on a girls-only holiday, I only had 1 child to juggle while having my hair done, and I had a free afternoon!  And it really doesn't cost very much at all to have your hair plaited!  I think it cost slightly under £10 - about £2 for materials (I had to get 2 swatches of hair extensions) and the rest for labor - but considering that it took two ladies 3 hours to plait my hair, I think that's very, very cheap!  The girl in charge of the salon walked with me down the street to the beauty supplies shop where I had to buy the hair extensions.  Then we walked back and got settled in and she started braiding my hair.  Ketzia nursed and went to sleep in my arms and slept through most of it!  The rest of the time she played happily on the floor and ripped an old magazine apart!  :)  As I said, it took more than 3 hours for the 2 girls to finish my hair.  It turned out really nicely though, and well worth it. I was so glad I had decided to get it done, and now I had something to surprise David with when we got back to Lusaka the next day!

After my hair plaiting, I decided to get a neck and shoulders massage.  Again, I had a wonderful opportunity and only one child to worry about!  Ketzia went and played with Sarah for half an hour during my massage. Then it was Sarah's turn for a massage!

At the end of such a relaxing afternoon, I had a few minutes to take Ketzia into the swimming pool to cool off.  I can't say as I remember much more about that evening.  I think we had a quiet evening and went to bed early, trying to catch up on rest after our late night the night before.  We had an early morning start-off.  Our bus was scheduled to leave Livingstone at 7:30am, so we had to be there at 7 to board.  This time we had an air-conditioned bus! However, this was to prove to be a real shame, because the bus broke down an hour or so into the journey and the air-conditioning stopped working -- and the windows didn't open!  So, moral of the story: pick a bus with natural air-conditioning (working windows)!

Yes, our trip home was the biggest part of the adventure by far.  Our bus broke down.  And then it broke down again.  And again. And again. And again.  We spent hours on the side of the road waiting for more replacement parts. We left at 7:30 and we were scheduled to be in Lusaka 7 hours later.  Instead, we got to Lusaka at 5:30pm after 10 hours of travel!  At the end, the bus broke down for the final (probably the 7th time, though I'd lost count) time in Kafue, about 20-30 minutes outside Lusaka.  Thankfully it broke down directly in front of the taxi and minibus stance in Kafue.  At that point there were only about 10 passengers left on our bus - most of the other passengers had already gotten off at their stops, or had run for another bus when it became clear earlier in the day that this bus was doomed.  I was concerned because it was starting to get close to sunset and I didn't want to be stranded - two white girls traveling alone, in an unfamiliar town with no money left, after dark.  There was another group of 'azungus' (white people) on the bus with us - a young man and his parents - and they agreed that we should stick together.  In the end the bus employees agreed that the company would pay for two minibuses to take us passengers the rest of the way to the Lusaka bus station.  So we got into the minibus with the other American family and headed off! It wasn't too far to Lusaka.  David had been in touch with me the whole day by text message, so he was at the bus station waiting to meet us, and be surprised by my braided hair.  :)

What a day!  We were so thankful to be safely back in Lusaka, especially after a near-accident occurred to our bus when a lorry ran us off the road as our driver was overtaking.  (The bus nearly flipped.)  It hadn't been an easy day, but what an experience!  We will have many things to chuckle over and remember for years to come.  It was a whirlwind 2 nights away and a  fun and memorable way to end our 2 1/2 months with Sarah as a member of our household.  David and Elijah had survived without me, and we had 1 night together as a family in a guesthouse in Lusaka before we flew out the next day to Europe... :)