Life in Livingstone

I have been here for two weeks now and things finally seem like they are normal. Or at least normal for African standards...

Teaching is going really well. I am officially the grade 7 teacher at Linda Community school. I apparently have about 50 kids in my class, although I really only see 30 of them in the classroom. It is so jam packed in there right now, I don't know how 20 more would fit. I love my class though and for the most part everyone is really good and trying hard. It is incredible hard to teach with out any of the basic supplies that we take for granted in the States.

I have three books which I teach from, all of which are approved for use by the Zambian Ministry of education. The three subjects are English, Math and Sciences. The English is a combination of grammar, vocabulary and reading. I find this the easiest to teach to the kids and get a laugh out of it sometimes. They love giving examples for the vocabulary instead of a definition. One of my boys, Moses "the man of love," gave me the definition for advice: "It is like if you go up to a prostitute in the street and tell her stop having sex or you will get HIV/AIDS." I can't argue, it is good advice. Math isn't too bad to teach, but the kids don't seem to be as good at it and just getting basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division correct is a problem more often than I want it to be. I like the math though and it is fun to give examples of how to use it. I just hope that the kids understand. Sciences is quite interesting because everything is focused around Zambia. The other day I taught a lesson on Copper Mining up in the Copper Belt of Zambia. I'm not sure that the kids quite understood it but I'm not too familiar with the subject myself. Physics has been more fun though and the kids seem to like it as well. I'm definitely getting the hang of teaching and it is an amazingly good feeling to know that the kids are learning from me.

I made a deal with some of the kids that I would let them teach me Nyanga. This is the local language and spoke through most of Zambia. I started last week and have a lot of studying to do, but it is nice to walk down the street and be able to have basic conversations with people. Hopefully my teachers don't give me too much homework though.

It turns out that I need to brush up on my soccer skills as well. Tuesday and Thursday Dan and I head over to the Linda school to do sports with the kids. They are all really good with the ball, handling it well and doing some tricks. I'm trying to get better but have a lot of work to do. I think that by the time I'm done here I'll at least be able to get around some of the boys with some tricky moves. For the moment though I feel like a dog just chasing a ball around.

One of the older boys John is actually going to help me with my soccer. John plays on one of the Livingstone Football Club teams. I went to go watch his game yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I arrived at the pitch which is next to the Maramba Market. This is the large local market on the outside of the town. I was definitely the only white person there, but had a really good time. I got to meet John's team and the coaches. They had me stand there with them for the game and explained to me about the team, the game and the players. John's team, the Young Warriors ended up winning 4 - 1 and it was quite an exciting game to watch because African style of play is very aggressive and offense oriented. The field they play on made it even more interesting as the one side was pretty much a sand pit, there is a dirt field and there are quite a few divots and rocks which throw the ball in different directions, there even was a taxi which decided to speed through the field in the middle of the game. There are games here every weekend so this might become a regular event for me, it sure beat the nil - nil ties I'm used to seeing on TV.

I did have a bit of excitement in my life last week. Wednesday night I went out with a bunch of the people on the program for some drinks. As the night progressed, we ended up at Chez Mtemba, the local dance club. I found the place hilarious as almost every wall was covered with mirrors. The locals seem to like dancing, watching themselves in the mirror. I will admit, I do dance like a muzungu and I'm sure I look more goofy dancing next to all the locals than they do dancing with themselves. I was on the dance floor when a local lady bee lined it to me to dance. I had seen her before and realized that she was one of the prostitutes that I see around town. After what seemed like a really long song, I was getting a little worried about this girl dancing with me. I looked over to my friends to come and help, but they were too busy having a good laugh at me. Thank goodness for Ciara because after she got done laughing she did come and rescue me. Only regrets are that there are no pictures... sorry.

We also have two new people in the house this week. We have two rafting guides that are staying with us now. They are quite nice and I get along really well with them. They are going to bring a kayak over to the house so that I can practice in the pool. Hopefully soon I'll be heading down the Zambezi with them. Good thing I got that insurance...

I am finally adjusted to life here in Livingstone. The locals still see me as a muzungu but I am dealing with it a lot better. I now know a lot of people in town and it is good to see them on the street and be able to stop and talk with them. It is a small town and everyone seems to know everyone. I really love it here. Everything isn't perfect, but it is how I remember Africa. It is going to be hard to leave.