Wow, time is really flying. Two weeks
have gone, since I went back to my African life and work. To be honest, I have
to admit that the first days weren’t that easy. I really had to get used to
everything again and the heavy rain didn’t make it easier. It’s not that I
don’t like the rain… Everything just gets a bit more complicated :D No taxi
wants to drive me home to the compound, since the roads are too bad, my roof is
leaking (we are about to fix that :)) and worst of all, nothing gets dry.
However, the thunderstorms are amazing!!! I’ve never seen so incredible
lightning and heard so crazy loud thunders! Although it's a bit exhausting that the heavy rain and thunders are
quite good at keeping me awake during the nights :D And yeah, those who know me know that
I’m more a sun person than a rain person :D However, I’ve fully adapted again and
enjoy being back :)
One thing I really enjoy at the moment
is my bike!!! It’s soooo nice to cycle again :) However, every single ride is
quite an adventure as well :D The roads are so bad – full of mud and crazy
bumps – children are running after you and are trying to jump on your porter, and a
lot of people call so many things after you :D However, I really enjoy starting
my day with a 7km ride to work (despite all the sand and mud :D). I feel more free and am happy that I don’t have to spend so much time walking and taking shared
taxis. However, when I want to go home and it's dark already, the adventure
starts again :D (I’m not allowed to cycle when it's dark). Just have a look below, how I managed to bring
my bike home one evening :)
Initially, the driver tried to get my bike to fit on top of the backseats :D Well, I told him it wouldn't fit. Then we put it into the boot instead ;)
The government placed the stones and sand to reform the bad roads. However, no one feels responsible to actually spread the stones and sand :D
This is one of the better roads on my way home
However, the rain season has also its good things. I
really enjoy the “new” Livingstone and its surroundings. Everything is so green
and there is maize everywhere!!! And you should see the huge avocados!!! They taste amazing :)
So what have I been doing in the last
two weeks apart from cycling and getting used to the rain?
The first week, I spent my days with working
at the office from 8-16 hours, evaluating the activities from 2012 and
developing the new work plans for 2013. It’s quite nice to have an influence
on, which activities we are going to do and develop a strategy for how we can improve the sports
department. Besides this, I’ve spend some time with working on my exam paper
and with some nice workouts at the gym :) After my first workouts, I really could feel that I had enjoyed my holidays :D
In addition to that, I’ve had two surprises during my first week. One really good one and one, maybe not
so good one :D
Just have a look at the two pictures below
and guess, which is the good and bad surprise :D
Yep, it's a rat!
Nice parcel from Germany :)
Yep, you are right! The rat in my water hole Tuesday morning, when I wanted to get water for my shower, wasn’t the
nice surprise :D
No, it definitely was the parcel I
received Thursday!!! A big thanks to Janna, Hannah and Eva for providing me with
rye bread and sweets :) juhhhuuuu!!!!
Saturday the 19th of January the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 finally started and since Zambia is the defending champion, people are quite excited about the cup! Unfortunately, they haven’t played that good so far (only 1:1 against Ethopia and 1:1 against Nigeria). Hence, the big match is going to be on Tuesday the 29th, where they have to win against Burkina Faso.
But let me go back to Friday, where they
played against Nigeria. The match was quite equal and no team played
particularly good. When Nigeria scored in the beginning of the second half,
Zambia kind of had lost their faith. However, when they got a penalty in the
last few minutes of the match, the belief was back again! However, one thing no one expected
was that they wouldn't see the goal! The power went in the whole town, just right before the goalkeeper was about to shoot the equalizer :D It was crazy!!! The power didn’t come back right away,
so everybody ran to the few places in town, where they had generators to see the last two minutes of the match :D T.I.A!!!
Before the match started
After the match
Besides watching a lot of football,
working and writing my exam paper (it has to be finished on the 10th
of February), I’ve spend two evenings with going to salsa classes (I LOVE
it!!!) and two evenings with playing volleyball :) Since, the sun finally was shining last Sunday, there had to be some time for enjoying it at the pool and also for enjoying some sunset drinks at rapid 7 :) It was the perfect ending of a nice week!
Playing volleyball
Enjoying the sun and an ice coffee :)
Lovely sunset
What is going on this week?
Work wise, I’m going to have several
meetings with the community volunteers and the sport captains in Kwenuha, do some more
specific planning on the activities in 2013 and on Friday we are going to have
the first club competition of the year. I really look forward to getting all
the activities started again and working in the field :)
Besides work and finishing the exam
paper, I’m going to dance salsa, play volleyball, watch football and hopefully I'm also going to have the opportunity to enjoy the sun a bit :)
(muzungu = white person)
Rainseason is too looooooong.... iiiisch :P
SvarSletLeon