Trying to settle

Friday, September 11, 2009

Now that I am the one taking and picking up the kids more often, I have a chance to catch up with the other parents and teachers a bit. I had a few lively conversations with teachers who now know me after the trauma workshop I led last term. Some of my friends had heard through the grapevine about our car being stolen so they wanted to hear more about that. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that I felt more comfortable at Lechwe than in years past and little by little, am making friends.

Brendan heard that he won the Merit Award for his class again last year but we were gone for the awards ceremony so we didn’t know. This is the highest academic award given, calculated by adding up all his end of year test scores. I honestly didn’t think he would get it last year because, due to a fluke with his computer, he flunked his IT exam. His teacher was very understanding when Brendan tried to save his work and it all disappeared but gave him a failing grade anyways. So Brendan must have done super well in all the other subjects to still have gotten the merit award!

Brendan and Jason are both back playing soccer at Lechwe. They play on different days now since Brendan moved into the older age group. Brendan began piano lessons with Mr. Banda at school and Jason will take lessons with me for the time being. Two different nights I was back at Lechwe for “Meet the Teachers” night. With all these activities and meetings, I was very thankful to have access to a car.

I must say, though, that Max’s car is quirky. The key gets stuck in the driver’s door and there is no hope of getting it out so I have to unlock the passenger door, crawl through and unlock the driver’s door and then go around to get in. There are automatic locks when you hit a certain speed but the passenger door doesn’t respond so it makes a click, click, click until it is locked manually. The most challenging aspect of this car is that there are cockroaches in it. I am often able to fling them out the door when I am parked but if I do that, then drive when it is dark, I think I feel them crawling on my feet, even though they probably aren’t. On the way home from school one day, Jason says to me, “There’s a cockroach back here on the seat . . . (pause) I squished it with my finger but it made a bit of a mess.” As thankful as I am, I am left wondering when our new car will be ready.

It seems that whenever we have mouse problems, I am in the middle of reading a book to the boys that has a mouse as a hero. Last time it was “Ratatouille” and this time it is “The Tale of Despereaux.” As lovely as Despereaux may be in the story, it is hard to fully appreciate him when there is a real live mouse wreaking havoc in my kitchen. Every morning, I find a different place it has made it’s mark. This time the mouse chewed through the bottom of a juice box which made a big mess in my cupboard.

In addition to cockroaches in the car, and a mouse in the kitchen, we can add a boil on a butt. Jason has a very painful boil on his posterior so I took him to the MEF nurse who popped it and gave him antibiotics. At first we thought it was a pootsie fly but there was no black center (the larvae) so it seems to be just a run of the mill boil. Poor guy.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Our dear friend, Julie Justus, from our days in Prague, has come to visit. She brought along her boyfriend, Rich, and the two of them will stay with us this week. Then they will go down to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls and go on safari. Unfortunately for them, their luggage didn’t arrive with them. They were able to go with the flow and didn’t seem to be too bothered by it. Thankfully, it arrived this afternoon so all is well. They brought along a puzzle that we can all work on together which will be fun!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
By early afternoon, I had several experiences that were so typical of my life here in Zambia. First, I stopped at a police checkpoint right outside the MEF gate. I’ve seen one of the police that stopped me quite often and he has a very gentle demeanor. He asked if I could give him a lift, along with his fellow officer, back to the police station. The police here don’t have access to vehicles and so rely on civilians to give them rides where they need to go. Since it was on my way, I gave them a lift. The kind officer asked where our other car was and I told him how it got stolen. “Oh sorry, sorry, sorry,” he replied. It can’t hurt to make a friend in the police department. Who knows when I will need it? Second, I went to my favorite old mama in the market who sells pineapples. She handed her grandbaby to me while she dug money out of her bosom for my change. I had a bit of mushed banana left on my shirt but it was sweet little baby. Then, as I was leaving Shoprite, the security guard who checks our receipts to make sure we paid, asked me how I was doing. I said I was fine and asked how he was. He responded that he was terribly thirsty. He obviously wanted me to buy him a “drinky” but why should I? Just because I am a white person? So I told him that I was very thirsty as well. He chuckled a little and I went on my way. Finally, on my way home from school with the kids in the backseat, I heard Jason talking to Annika about what was on her shirt. In Zambian English, a “y” is often added to words that I don’t think need them, like “drinky” and dropped on words that I am used to seeing end in a ‘y.” So Jason points to Annika’s shirt and says, “Hey, it is Tom and Jerr!” No “y” on Jerry. So Zambian!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
It was a frustrating morning. The mouse struck again. There is another boil on Jason’s butt. I have a low grade “running stomach” that won’t go away. The internet is down still at MEF, because the bill hasn’t been paid, something that seems to happen quite often. And still no word on our car. I am trying to focus on the positive, like the ten strawberries we got from our garden today and how fun it is to work on the puzzle with Rich and Julie but I’m not always succeeding.

Monday, September 21, 2009
We spent the weekend in Lusaka having MCC team meetings. Julie and Rich rode the bus with us down to Lusaka. It was very hot and stuffy but we got to at least sit together. The bus filled within an hour and it only took five hours to get there so we survived. Julie and Rich left Saturday morning for Livingstone and another seven hours on a bus. We then turned our attention to our team. Our MCC team has expanded, adding two SALTer’s from the US, Bryce and Heidi, and two people with the YAMEN program. YoungMi is from Korea and Mario is from Indonesia. Mario instantly became SuperMario to all the kids. We had meetings all day on Saturday and Sunday afternoon was spent at the waterslides at Adventure City, celebrating Talya’s sixth birthday. I came home a bit early so that I could meet with Issa to talk over a few business items. He asked me to lead a trauma awareness workshop for the teachers who run the Peace Clubs in the schools. So we were hammering out details on that so I can begin to prepare.

On Thursday, we had heard that our car had been released so we were hopeful that we would get to drive it home today. It was true that it had been released by the Ministry of Finance but now it is being held by customs. So we had to take the bus home which was disappointing to say the least. We left the MCC Guesthouse at 6:45 a.m. and got to the bus station by 7 a.m. We were swarmed by guys lying to us, trying to get us to go on their bus. We knew which bus we wanted but they were all telling us that the EuroAfrica bus we were pointing at was going to Livingstone not Kitwe. We were grabbed and pushed toward another bus which they said was EuroAfrica even though it said RK Motorways on the side. By the time we freed ourselves and got to the right bus, it was completely full and we couldn’t get on it. We were the first ones on the next EuroAfrica bus so we could choose the seats right up front. But then we sat for 2 hours waiting for the bus to fill. We were slightly consoled to see that the RK Motorways bus next to us still hadn’t left by the time we pulled out so that was a good decision. Then we had another six hours of driving time with bad Nigerian movies playing and the distorted sound of the movie mixing with the radio that the bus driver was playing for his own enjoyment. So 8 1/2 hours later we are back at home, double the time it would have taken us in a car. When they were unloading the suitcases from under the bus, they pulled out 8 HUGE bags of kapenta (little dried fish) that was quite smelly. I have reason to believe that our suitcase was in close proximity to these bags because it now has a nice fishy smell. The boys did really well considering it was hot and cramped and long. I now affirm their decision to buy gameboys as that kept them in a pretty good mood during the trip. I should have bought one too to improve my attitude.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Last Thursday night, after Brendan and Jason had entertained us with their disco dancing to “Crazy Frog,” I attempted a sore imitation of Jason’s moves and managed to catch my big toe nail, the one that had come off three years ago. Since we were leaving for Lusaka in the morning, I put a bandaid on it to keep it from lifting up anymore and tried to ignore the pain. This morning I knew I had to get it taken care of so I quickly went to the market to get what I needed for the week then headed to the clinic. I consulted with the lovely older Zambian doctor who had removed Peter’s suspicious mole. He said it was infected and he needed to remove it. Not having enough cash on hand for the procedure, I quickly went to get more then returned to the clinic. As he was prepping my toe and poking the needle in it to numb it, we talked about mental health in Kitwe. He doesn’t know of any counselors or psychologists in Kitwe and jokingly said he would start referring to me. But then he commented that most Zambians don’t need counselors anyway. I guess his point was that they don’t know about it so wouldn’t benefit from it. The conversation ended then as he grabbed my now numb toe and yanked off the nail. I couldn’t look while it was happening but saw the nurse flinch and turn away. So now I have a big bandage on my toe and I will try to keep it clean and keep the boys from stepping on it accidentally. I hope it will feel better by Friday when I do an anger management seminar for the teachers and staff at Lechwe.

Right before I left California, my mom warned me that this could happen, which it did to her when she was visiting us here last summer. Just for the record: Mom, you were right.

Cockroaches are annoying, mice even worse, but ants I cannot abide. And now they are all over my kitchen ceiling. Peter sprayed them and now they are dropping to the floor, some dead and some alive. One landed on my plate of curry that I was taking to the table for lunch. What’s next? Is there anything left?

We are doing our best to settle in but I must say that the transition back has been harder than we thought. Peter and I both appreciate our routines but we have had to remain in flux since returning and that is wearing on us a bit. It seems the only things settled in our home are the insects and rodents!