first year of teaching

I finished my first year teaching! I can recall the first time I literally broke down in tears and left my class because they were being so awful. I can also recall moments where I didn't want the time to end because they were being so wonderful. Teaching is quite the roller coaster and you never know what kind of day it is going to be. I am so grateful for this opportunity to have taught and to continue teaching. I have discovered that I actually like it a lot. I will miss it when I finish in August.

The water project is at a stand still. To be honest, the problem is that no one is donating. Kerianna and Jacob are the only ones so far. They have a straight ticket to heaven. If you have any ideas how to fund raise this better, please advise. I am at a loss.

Right now I am at Provs. It is a meeting for all the PCVs in the same province to get together and discuss things about Peace Corps, the province and share ideas. It is the first time I am going to meet the new volunteers. It will be great. We will prepare Thanksgiving together. The day Provs ends, I
will be headed to a boy's camp called ELITE.

After ELITE, I will be in the village for less than a week and then turn around to go to a girl's camp called GLOW. After GLOW, I will be jumping on a plane and headed to Mozambique and from there I am going home! I am so excited to go home. It is just for a visit. I don't finish Peace Corps until August.

It is time that I have a break. I feel like I just need to refresh and reboot and head back. I am feeling a little burnt out. I am excited to become part of a crowd for a short time and not always be that person who sticks out constantly. Like my nearest neighbor Graham put it, "I can't wait to be anonymous again."

Days after I return from America, I will start teaching a new year. I am split between if I want to teach the same rascals or a new class. Maybe I can do both? We will see.

Oscar came and left. It is crazy how fast time flies. Now the village is 1000% sure that I am pregnant. They are going to be very disappointed when there is no baby. They love him. They always ask when he is coming back. January?

I guess that is all the updates I have. Any questions?
I also just listened to grandpa's funeral. It was perfect.
And it is starting to be rainy season.

church

I had some awful experiences with the church here in Zambia for the first almost year and a half of my service but things are turning around. I finally feel like I am part of the community of members here. I am not just a tourist. I am a human that belongs. 

It took a long time to get here but I found a ward that I feel good and apart of and a bishop actually from another ward that has taken me under his wing. He WhatsApps me weekly to check in. This is what I wanted from the beginning. I guess it is better now than never. 

I am glad that I won't leave this country having bad feelings about the church here. I guess I just ran into a bad bunch of people at the beginning. 

I lost count of how many times I have been to church now. It has been 3 in the last month. I think that is a good sign. Within the first year of my service I only went 2 times. I doubt I have been more than 10 in total but maybe before I finish I will reach 20 times. 

Who knows what the future holds?

visitors

Kaleigh and Cassidy came. 

Oscar came. 

Peace Corps came. X2

(This was an accident.They were not supposed to come but I burnt a hole in my water filter.)  

Oscar is coming right now (on the plane as I type). 

It has been crazy. I was writing in my journal and I had a constant companion for almost 2 months straight. It was this person and then right after it was the next or camp or meetings. I never had alone time. So, I just had a month all to myself and it was weird. 

Cassidy and Kaleigh came the last day of MTC (Mid-term Conference). I have passed my 1/2 mark and I am on my downwards slope. It is so strange to think that. We went clubbing the night they came in and then straight to the vil at 06:00. I can't even tell you what happened during that time because it was all such a whirlwind especially the time Cassidy was there. Somewhere in there we fit in time to visit Jeremiah, paint a mural, have a water meeting, fetch water, wash, teach and dance. We had to break into teams sometimes because there was just too much to do. 

Cassidy and I sat down and made a plan for the mural. She had no idea what to do. It just came to me either mid-shower or mid-squat.... I don't remember. The theme is Gender Equality. She drew 6 children; 3 boys and 3 girls. Each of these children are doing jobs that normally the other sex does. At the bottom of the mural it reads, "If you can dream it... you can do it!" 

Perfection.

Kaleigh stayed a week and a half longer or even more. I forget. The mural was done at this point and so all we had were a few numbers and letters to throw up in the pre-school and grade 1 classrooms. Easy peasy. Kaleigh and I just did a lot of chilling in the village. She found the river and fell in-love with it. We took a stayaction and went to Kabwe for a few days. It was so fun to just get away and walk around town. I loved the clothes piles and digging through them. 

Looking at pictures I now remember a little better what we did. Kaleigh taught the kids American slang. I still hear the kids using it in their daily vocabulary. If only they grasped other topics which such excitement. She helped me mark books everyday and we made compost. It was a fun visit and the village kids cried when she left. Kaleigh and I thought it was hilarious. 

Kaleigh wasn't even gone a week when we were all surprised that Oscar came to visit. He and I were talking about him coming on Monday and by that Friday or something he was here. It was crazy fast. 

As things always happen with Oscar, I think the village likes him more than me. He was instantly drafted on the village football team as the striker. I arranged for him to play but I didn't know they were going to like having him around so much. 

He came to class with me everyday and we taught. He is excellent at marking books. He even got to class late one day and had to dance for everyone. We had a few extra minutes at the end of class one time and so the kids got to ask Oscar questions. Some of the questions made him feel so awkward. I loved it. 

We didn't do much. It was extremely hot when he was here. He helped me fetch water, cook, mark books, etc. Before he left I came back to Lusaka with him to hang out with Adam. In Lusaka we went to church, mattress sliding, swimming and clubbing. They were all great but dancing was SO fun. Adam and Oscar are the perfect clubbing partners. The next morning I got on a bus while the boys were still sleeping and headed home. Later the same day Oscar got on his plane. 

But now he is on the plane again. 

And for the Peace Corps visits... I put that on myself. A candle dropped on my plastic filter that the Peace Corps gives to us and I guess they are highly flammable. They had to collect the old one and bring me a new one. 

local clean water

Did you know? 

Twice the population of The United States of America does not have access to clean water.

1 in 10 people have no clean drinking water.

Women and children spend 125 million hours a day collecting water. 

And lastly:

Every $1 invested in clean water has a $4 economic return. 

(source: http://water.org/water-crisis/water-sanitation-facts/)

The time has come. The villagers don't need to suffer anymore. The water is running out. The water that they are drinking right now looks like 1% milk. Would you drink water that looked like 1% milk? It is all they have. 

Please help. Please donate. Please share. 

 https://donate.peacecorps.gov/do…/project/local-clean-water/ 

to the man

To the man who:

 I now call Bashikulu

 taught me that it is okay to fall in love with the people you serve overseas. 

when babysitting told me to wait for grandma to come back when I was describing that my lady parts were hurting as a pre-teen. 

made the world's best gravy every Sunday after church. 

popularized suspenders and made them look cool. 

loved my Grandma unconditionally. 

gave me the gift of the Holy Ghost at age 8.

answered the phone at 3:30 am "Good Morning!" when I called after Erina broke my mom's water and left us at the house.

climbed into the attic whenever was hollered at to pull down the hundreds of nativity scenes.

taught everyone all about Idaho farm life.

devoured peanut butter, chocolate covered cherries, honey and peanuts like it was his job. 

told countless stories. 

when laughing would have to stop because he would get into a coughing fit but still continued to laugh.

happily received a circumcision knife from Kenya as a gift and showed anyone who came over.  

honored his priesthood. 

always had an open lap to sit on.  

openly declared that you have to let an island princess live near the water. 

had the thinnest skin that would always randomly bleed on his arms. "What's that grandpa?" "Oh, just another bleeder." 

got countless speeding tickets in the middle of Nevada road tripping to Utah.

put his hands on my head to bless me the night before I left for Peace Corps Zambia.

sent me a WhatApp video just a week ago. 

I miss you. 

I love you.

See you again in heaven.