Our First Big Day in Zambia (6/19)

Muli Bwanji (Hello, how are you?) blog world!

This morning we woke up to mooing cows, crowing roosters, chirping birds, and  a barking Scrumpy!!! Toto, we’re definitely not in Seattle anymore!  After a VERY restful night, Sam and Jack were up early enough to see the sunrise (“megs jello!”-Emma*), which according to their pictures, was gorgeous. Alice, Emma, Josie, and Carly woke up and took some much needed showers in the beautiful, outdoor-ish shower room. Gabe was the dish washing ringleader as we cleaned everything up from the previous night’s feast. While the now senior girls sleep in the big cabin with Mercy and Sonja, the juniors, Gigi, Reed, and Grace spend their nights in their private chalet (“Omg! Double jello!”-Emma*). Upon arrival, the junior girls had a memorable incident: in the room there was a spider the size of a pancake! With stripes on its legs! But have no fear, Tommy, the arachnidbane came to the rescue, bearing Insecticide.  Huzzah!

At 10:00 am, the bus from Munali Boys School picked us up and took us to the Birdland School. The Birdland School was so much fun! We first met the pre-schoolers and the kindergarteners. We were all taken aback by their cuteness. And Izzy exclaimed that the kindergarteners had better handwriting than many of the people we go to school with. We then moved on and met the rest of the grades; the Birdland school holds grades pre-school up to seventh grade.

After meeting all the classes, Olive and Mercy gave us permission to split into pairs and ask to sit in each of the different classes and hang out with the kids.

Leora and I (Alice) visited the third grade class. The teacher, also named Alice, was so kind and let us freely walk around her classroom and talk to the kids. All the students were welcoming and fun. The students gave us more drawings than we could carry.

After many years of exchanging letters, I (Emma) finally met my Birdland buddy! Sandra, my buddy, and her classmates loved getting their pictures taken and showed me all of the drawings they made. At lunch they taught us all of the games they play and songs they sing.

We also met with the seventh graders and presented them with books, created by Sonja’s eighth graders, which explained how to write short stories (Shout out to Delaney Flood. I gave your short story book to Betty and she loved it. Nice work, Pipsqueak!). The students are all very excited to start writing their own short stories. They also loved all of the stickers in the back of the books.

After our exciting day at Birdland, the bus picked us up at Munali High School. Before we got on the bus, we hung out with some of the students. Jack, Sam, Izzy, Josie, and Alice were taught some traditional Zambian dancing, which was followed by a group sing-along of Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’. The girls swooned over Jack’s Justin Bieber-esque voice as he belted some Disney classics.

We made the 3.5 mile long trek to Pioneer Camp today. Along the way we met many children that lived in the nearby villages. They were just as adorable as the kids at Birdland! Many of the children did not speak English, but this was not a setback as they were thoroughly entertained by having their pictures taken.

Once we arrived to Pioneer Camp, we hung out, talked, and repacked some donations. A spectacular dinner was made by tonight’s dinner crew, lead by the FANTASTIC chef Mercy. As Emma and I type this blog entry, our entire group is gathered at the Bar watching England and Ukraine play in the Euro Cup.

Can’t wait for tomorrow. Shout out to the Floods and Yuh Colemans! Woohoo!

Xoxo

Alice and Emma

***Key to Emma’s Vernacular***

Megs= mega

Jello= jealous

Omg= Oh my god!/Oh my goodness!