Day eleven.

I had booked the 06:00 bus home. Oscar needed to be at the airport by 07:00. We all woke up early. Adam came with us so we could borrow some money due to the flight change. We stopped at the ATM, got money, Adam got out and Oscar and I went to the bus station. I arrived at the bus station with minutes to spare but it wasn't a problem. I found Jahtay and friend already seated. I joined them.

 We were on our way home and Oscar was on his way to the airport again. I was just 90 kilometers from my hut when Oscar called with confirmation that they put him on the next flight home. Everyone was safe. Thankfully the big bus is used to me and knows my small village. They let me off right at Mikunku. As I was walking down the bush path home, Mr. Phiri found me and gave me a ride to my place.

 I was tired and hungry. As soon as I reached home, I started making mac & cheese. I promised I would visit Casey. It was her last day in the village. After lunch was finished, I did just that. I biked over to Chankomo with Indie in tow to say goodbye. Little did I know that I would get roped into stay until after 23 hours. The village had a lovely party for her. I was happy to be the photographer. 

After it was all said and done and tears were she, they drove me home. Indie threw up in the car right before we reached. Luckily there were no hurt feelings. I said see you later to Ba Casey and slept until 09:00 the next day. I have never slept that late in the village. It was awesome.

Day ten.

We grab breakfast. The boys clean out the car. Mom and I clean out the hotel rooms. We checked in all our luggage at the desk and head to the mall. As we are waking down the mall we stop to get Oscar new specks. Mom and dad check out the shoe and book stores. I run into the car guy trying to find mom and dad. We all meet up in the glasses store. Dad and Oscar clear up the car stuff while mom and I clear up the glasses business. 

We meet them outside. The car man is so shady. I did not like him at all. We pay. He dropped us at the hotel. Mom and dad got a taxi and headed to the airport. Just like that. Hug. Kiss. They were gone. Oscar and I remained. We also got a taxi and went to the mall to watch a movie. His flight wasn't until 19. We watched Batman VS Superman. It was so long. In the middle, I took a break to pick up his glasses. 

As soon as the movie was over, he got in one taxi and I got in another. Again. Just like that. He was gone. I was alone going towards Adam's house. I reach Adam's house in time for Oscar to call and say he missed his flight. I read it wrong. At 19 he was leaving from his layover in Rwanda not Lusaka. He came to join us at Adam's place. We went and got Indian food with Jahtay and his friend. We came back home. Adam and I made banana bread while Oscar made a few phone calls. I got tired and needed to sleep. We all fell asleep. 

Day nine.

We woke up in time for breakfast. Knowing the condition of the car, the boys took it to the gas station to tune it up with everything needed. Mom and I stayed behind to organize the last few things. The boys returned. We peed one last time and were off. We were making great time until just past Kalamo when the tire decided to crap out on us. We had to drive back the 17 kilometers and get the wheel replaced. 

They took less than an hour and we were back on the road. Jokes on us. The tire again went flat. Luckily I am good at being tourist and accidentally got a picture of the phone numbers of the place. We called and an hour later they were roadside helping us. They put on a doughnut but to our dismay we had to return to Kalamo to get the wheel replaced. After hours and three wheels later, we were back on the road. I made sure I got a direct number for the guy who was helping us in case we have another problem again. 

We were not going to make it into Lusaka until after dark but we made it. Dad and Oscar both didn't feel good. The car guy was using my number very freely and had declared his love before we reached the hotel. Oscar was eating it up. We ate right at the hotel. Dad looked like death. We sent him to bed. We finished up and all crashed. Tomorrow they were all going to leave me. 

Day eight.

Our first adventure started at 6:20. We were up and ready. The bus came and got us. We arrived at Mukuni Big 5. The first order of business after waivers were signed was to watch the cheetahs run. They walked us to an area where they have a machine. This machine rotates this object around a course. The cheetahs like to chase the object. One by one they brought out the cheetahs and they chased the object until the jumped on it. It was amazing to see how fast they got.

After we finished there, we were off to see the lions. They took us down a bush path and there was two lions just laying on the ground. We were allowed to pet them and touch them. After a lot of pictures, we took them on a walk. To walk lions, you hold their tails. Oscar was terrified of the lions. Dad grabbed life by the balls and was the first one to go to touch them. After the lions, we went back to visit the cheetahs. This time they were laying down. Just like the lions, we got to touch them, take pictures and walk them. Oscar was obsessed this time. I think a cheetah is his spirit animal. We picked the sexist cheetah that only likes males. Mom and I were definitely not loved by this feline like she loved Oscar and Dad.

 After the cheetahs we were done. We were supposed to go on an elephant ride but due to wild elephants in the area, we couldn't go. I was most excited about the elephants. From here we went back to the hotel and got lunch. We were able to rest a little and get in a little tourist shopping before we headed out on our safari. We shared the safari vehicle with a cute family with 2 boys. The safari was nice. We saw lots of animals. Now mom, Oscar and dad can say they have been on a safari. The coolest thing that we saw were the white rhinos. Because of poachers, the rhinos are guarded 24-7. It makes it very easy for the safari people to find them. 

After the safari, it was time to eat. Leah and Cara had arrived in Livingstone that day. It was the perfect opportunity to met up with them for dinner. We agreed on Indian. We walked there just to find it is closed. We continued walking to Zambezi Cafe again. It was just as good the second time. We enjoyed conversation and being together. Snaps were taken and we departed our ways. 

Day seven.

Everyone is feeling good. We get breakfast at the hotel. Our first stop is Victoria Falls that morning. We gather our things we think we will need and head out. At this point I am pretty sure I told at least Oscar to bring a jacket. There are no problems getting there and in the gate. We start walking towards the falls and it is soaking wet. I had my rain jacket. Oscar left his in the car. Mom and dad... My bad. We press on. We all get soaked. It was so fun! Victoria really out did herself. We walk up and around and down. We took lots of pictures. We walked over to the top of the falls. It is crazy! Last time I was here, I could walk across the top. Now, the falls is gushing water. 

Next was to walk to the bottom. Oscar, dad and I were going along when we came to large baboons in the road. Oscar left us and after sometime, dad and I passed it. We hiked down to the boiling point. It is beautiful. It is mostly straight up and down. Coming back up is a little rough. Dad and mom did some shopping and I bargained for the items.  We go back to the hotel. Dad really wants to go ultra-lighting with Oscar. They book it the second we reached and have less than an hour before they headed out. 

Mom and I are just hungry. The hotel's restaurant is closed. The desk says we should go to Zambezi Cafe. They book a taxi for us and we go. The desk was right. The Cafe was SO good. Mom and I might have ordered dessert multiple times. The boys finished their adventure and met us at the Café. They came in beaming. They both had an incredible time. They saw elephants, giraffes and the whole bit from the sky. Oscar even got the chance to fly the ultra-light. The boys ordered the largest plate of meat I have ever seen and swallowed most of it. The night had come and we are tired. Earlier in the day we had planned the next day. 

Day six.

We took it slow in the morning. We ate breakfast at the buffet. It was delish. We packed up the car again and headed South. The road was so full of potholes. I was scared a tire was going to blow. In Choma we stopped for a pizza lunch and gas. As Zambia is Zambia, only one station had gas and huge lines. We waited. 

In the next boma we filled up on oil and ice cream. We get to Livingstone and it is very dark. I pop the hotel into the GPS that mom booked. It is in Zimbabwe. I check again. Mom calls Kerianna to check. It is definitely in Zimbabwe. We drive to the boarder. I forgot my passport. We probably don't have enough USD. We can't cross. 

We are all a little on the edge. I Google and book the Protea. Dad is driving and we get lost with the bad GPS directions. We need to eat. We change drivers. We get to Olga's. It is delish as always. The waiter tells us how to get to our hotel. After dinner we head there. We need sleep and to rest. 

Day five.

Dad was up and going. Blessings (my cousin) promised to show dad around the village in the morning. Maybe he was excited about that or something but he was ready to go. I finally rolled out of bed and helped him start organizing a bit. I also called Blessings over to whisk my dad away on their adventure.

 After they left, mom, Oscar and I hightailed it into action. We sorted out all the bags mom brought. We cleaned the house. We put away all the extra bed stuff. I cleaned the kitchen and made a snacks bag. We were packed and ready to go when dad got back. He was in good spirits. As he was walking up, dad was telling the story of The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. They went everywhere. It was perfect. Just what the doctor ordered. Blessings lost the soul of his shoe as they were walking. When they reached home, dad took off his shoes and gave them to Blessings. 

We took a few pictures. We said our goodbyes and headed to the Mukula's for lunch. Madam Mukula was very ready for us when we reached. Mom (American mom) made the nshima and we started eating. Dad's hands love nshima. I don't know why it sticks so bad to him but we sat and made fun of how un-African he is.  As soon as lunch was over, it was time to head back to Lusaka for a night. We thanked Madam Mukula and headed out. We desperately needed to stop in Kapiri to fill up with gas, oil, air and ice cream.  Oscar had been talking about the ice cream for days. 

After that pit stop we only had one hiccup of a ticket and we reached Lusaka. We went straight to get food for the hangry. I took them to a PCV favorite spot and got Mint. We went back to the hotel after and crashed. Oscar and I only crashed for a little because we promised Adam that we would go clubbing with him. At midnight we found ourselves at Hollywood. Oscar was still tired. He was just enjoying sitting and listening to the music. I was surprised to find lots of PCVs there and ended up dancing and catching up with them. 

Day four

I still had to give exams back to the pupils. It was a rush in the morning to get to school before the kids really scattered but we made it in ample time. As soon as we got to school, the kids rushed mom to show her how well they had learned to make the boondoogles. Everyone was proud of their work. I called the grade 8 class in and handed back their papers. Next it was time for grade 9. I am so proud of that class. 98% passed. I handed back their exams too. The head teacher came in as I was just finishing to talk about how these kids are my babies and how far we have come together. I love my grade 9s. After that, I was called to assembly to introduce my visitors to all the pupils. I introduced mom & dad. I introduced my friend Oscar and lastly my dog India. Of course when they were translating into Bemba they said Oscar was my fiance. (This is not an announcement.) The kids cheered. 

After the kids went home, we also made our journey home and swung by the clinic. They were able to see my pupil who got bit by a crocodile earlier that week and all the wonderful staff/volunteers we have. At home dad put new fabric on my couches with the staple gun he brought. Oscar and I took a short snooze. Mom took a long snooze. I made curry for lunch while everyone was busy. 

As soon as we finished eating curry I heard, "Odi?" A pupil's mom had also made us a full Zambian lunch. Oh geeze. She wants to sit and watch us eat it. As the girl in the house, I had to prepare the eating area and get seats for everyone. Of course all Zambian culture went out of my head. I told my parents we were going to eat on the ground. This poor bamaayo was disgusted by me when my dad plopped himself on the ground. "Ba Megan! Bataata balikala panishi? Awe! Balikala pa icipuna!" Quickly I made sure mom and dad both had chairs to sit on and gestured for Oscar to join me on the floor. I was already stuffed. We washed our hands and it was go time. Oscar and I made a silent pact: if he ate all the chicken, I would eat the nshima and veg. Mom and dad have to pull their own weight. This time Oscar looked like he was going to explode. He and dad literally made comments about how they aren't on missions anymore and aren't blessed with stomachs that can continually eat. I kept pounding back the nshima and veg. We ate enough that she was satisfied.

 I am so grateful for her kindness. Stories were shared. We had to hurry to visit another pupil who also probably had food waiting for us. We parted ways with this bamaayo. At least we had a little walk to digest the food we just in took. I warned the pupil before hand that we were already full. I can't torture the parents or Oscar anymore. I make sure that I take my parents through the market to see my people there. Dad was handing out jolly ranchers like hotcakes to the kids. At the Daka's house mom and dad are given chairs, Oscar is given a stool and "Ba Megan, panshi" (The floor). I have been demoted. It is okay. The second dad sits down we hear a noise. Maybe he broke the chair? Nope. Wait. He ripped the back of his trousers! Mom and I are rolling with laughter. If Kaleigh was there, I would have had to step outside. 

The Dakas have 2 boys that I have or do teach. To encourage their English skills I made them translate everything. They were being typically teenage boys distracted by their phones. We talked with their mom. She brought us chikanda (African palony) to eat. Oscar took one bite and looked like he was going to throw up. I had to finish it for him. Too much chicken? Mom and dad downed it like champs. We made conversation and headed back home. Oscar and I went to the school so he could play football. Mom and dad went home. We decided to eat nothing for dinner. When we got home water was going again. We showered. We stayed up and talked a bit about the sisters and how we all fit together. What a weird bunch we are. Oscar shared stories about life. Only one extra bed was made and we crashed.

Day three.

Schools close. I needed to finish marking and recording for my three classes. I only had each class partiality done. The job was a big one. I woke up before everyone. I fetched the water, started the fire and got dish washing ready but marking was my priority. It took forever. Everyone else woke up and finished what I had started. Mom and dad helped me mark. Oscar cleaned up the extra bed. Dad made breakfast. The rents washed the dishes. I wasn't finished but we needed to get to school before the kids left. I wanted to have grade 9 finish an essay project.

 As life is sometimes, we were too slow but my babies were there. The grade 9s were busy cleaning up Mr. Chilufya's new house. As mom & dad approached they were shouting and cheering about Bamboya (gma) and Bashikulu (gpa) baleisa (are coming). Each of the kids wanted to greet them individually. It was probably really overwhelming but just another day in the village. Madam Mukula told us we need to greet the head teacher.

 We found him at his house. Soon we had all gathered in his office. Dad and him told stories for a long time as I popped in and out giving back exams to the pupils. With encouragement from mom, we cut the stories short and headed home. We needed to make lunch and prepare for after school clubs. For lunch we had mac and cheese. Mom and dad attract quite the crowd. We ended up cooking for double the size of our party. After cooking and eating, it was time to head back to school. We gather the supplies and walked on over.

 The kids were already gathering when we got there. First we stopped and gave the head teacher 2 Hawaiian shirts from Kaleigh and a bag of pistachios because the last volunteer, Kara, introduced them to him and he has been an addict ever since. With help from the other kids, we rounded everyone up and headed to the field. Dad explained the game. You have a tail made of string. You tuck the tail into the back of your bottoms. You are trying to step on others' tails and not let them step on yours. Of course the kids got 81% of what he said. When we said start, they spirited across the field and back stepping on each others' tails. They were supposed to stay just within the boundaries we set. We explained again with a demo this time and they got it.  They loved it. Shadrack, my counterpart, came as we were playing and jumped right in. Mom taught some of the girls who weren't playing how to make boondoogles. Everyone was happy. 

Shadrack and dad explained how the game relates to leadership and then we turned it over to Shadrack to play an HIV game. We taught the kids with that game that you can't tell if someone has HIV by looking at them. After everything was finished, we did a kilo, gave the kids balls and sent them away to play. Shadrack loves smores. I made sure my parent brought him stuff from America to make smores. He was so stoked. He was even wearing the socks I got him for Christmas covered in smores. He is the best counterpart. Mom & dad headed home from there. Oscar already got himself wrapped up in a football game with the team he always plays with when he visits. I needed to head to the market to get some things. We split in three directions. Idah, a pupil, came with me.

After the market we came back to the school to collect Oscar. He was still happily playing football and making people laugh with this crazy shirt trick. When we reached home, they had swept, washed dishes and started the bath water. Luckily tonight my bamaayo was cooking, all I needed to do was pump the visitors through the shower. Idah was still around. It looks like she is sleeping over. Good thing I have a big hut. Mom, dad and Oscar finished showering and then we were called for dinner. 

Bamaayo killed and cooked my biggest chicken. Dad ate so much it looked like he was going to explode. Everyone questioned why I couldn't cook the soup as well as my bamaayo. It was a great meal. We were all stuffed. Back at the house, I prepared two extra beds this time.We finished bathing and all crashed. I wonder how well Idah slept that night because I couldn't really. People were up going pee left and right. Jet lag. 

Again... all pictures are on Kaleigh's camera. Here are the two I have. 

Day two.

The car headache begins. Before the day even really starts, the car rental guy calls and says he needs to take it for a check up. This is real life. Everyone else is still sleeping. I bring my stack of exams to the hallway to mark and wait for the rental guy to come. As I am marking, dad joins me. He totally distracted me with talk about life. The car guy comes. We end up switching cars. He promises the new car is in good shape and we will have no problems but he has to wash it first. 

The rest of the crew slowly wakes up and we start to rearrange our stuff to prepare to go. Check out is at 11 and is approaching. I have tried calling all 3 of the lines for the rental guy and nothing works. The room phone rings. His phone was stolen by the people who washed the car. We get the car. We pack it up and head to the store. We ate breakfast and shopped for a week of village eating. Before 13, we were headed out of town. Mom and dad want me to stop for cash one more time before we are in the bush. I go to Zanco and do all the right things at the ATM. The bank ate my card. After talking to the manager, there is no way to get it back but wait a few days. I just had to leave. I was frustrated but it was out of my hands. 

That drive felt like forever and as if there were 70 police check points. In Kapiri we wanted to stop for gas but ended up only getting ice cream. From Kapiri it is only 40ish kilometers to my house. It felt like a country away but we finally reached. At the road I jumped onto my bike and the car followed. We made a quick stop at the Mukula's house to say hello and continued on. We got to my house.

I don't really remember what happened. We unpacked. Dad and Oscar cooked. I prepared the bath water and extra bed. We were all exhausted but didn't get to sleep probably until after 2. There was just too much to talk about. Mom and Dad even went outside and looked at the stars for a little while. This day was also their first time to take a bucket bath. 

There are no real pictures from this day on my phone except for a few early morning gems like this one. The rest of the pictures were taken on Kaleigh's fancy camera Mom and Dad borrowed from her for the trip. 

Day one.

They all came on the same day. Oscar was just a few hours before mom and dad. The night before I slept at, my friend, Moses' house with his wife's family. We know each other from Kenya. Moses and Simon (A Zambian who served his mission in Kenya. I also met in Kenya.) helped me get the rental car squared away and then we were off on our adventure. Because the car stuff took so long, it was time to pick up Oscar. We drove to the airport and waited. 

It looked like 8362 flights landed at the same time in that small airport. As I was waiting, I heard, "IWE!" There is Ba Leah also picking up her sister. Perfect timing. Oscar went through the locals visa line. Leah's sister did the honest thing and went through the visitor's line but it just took a little longer. Now the 6 of us jumped into the car and headed back. We dropped off Leah and Cara at their stay and then slowly Moses and Simon were also dropped off. 

Adam met us at the hotel. We got Indian food and brought it back with us. We thought it would be a good idea to go swimming. Little did we know that we'd have to push ice blocks out of our way to do so. It was so cold. Oscar lasted maybe 3 minutes in water. I guess that is just what we needed to wake us up to pick mom and dad up after midnight. We got to the airport in record timing. 

There is mom and dad in Africa with 6+ bags. This is a site that I never thought I would ever see. Two American tourists that belong to me. Now it is the weeee early morning hours. Mom & dad are excited to show me the bras and everything else in the suitcases. We rumaged through the bags at the hotel and all crashed.