I’m still alive :)

First of all, I’m very sorry for taking so long time with this update. I’ve been so busy in the last days that I even barely managed to get a good night sleep.

However, it has been a positive bustle :) As you maybe remember, Bela has been visiting me in Livingstone from the 5^th of October to the 14^th of October. We had a fantastic time together and you can’t imagine how nice it was, to have a piece from home down here :) I really enjoyed her company, showing her my African life (we stayed both at my place in the compound and at the backpackers) and doing all the crazy activities. Yep, we kind of lived on the edge to death almost every day :D Okay, the club competition Friday the 5^th of October and the boat regatta on the 6^th of October were quite calm and just great fun.

Here some impressions from the regatta:

Bela, Ben, Lockard and Anna

the other teams

4 teams competing against each other

Bela and me

The more risky activities started on the following Sunday with the full day rafting tour on the Zambezi River :) It started at the boiling pot underneath the Victoria Falls Bridge and continued with 25 rapids, which all were in the range of level 2-5 (6 is the worst level). Even though it was great fun and just amazing, I have to admit that I in some moments were a bit afraid :D For instance for hurting my teeth while we were crashing into some rocks :D (I think most of you know how much I care about my teeth :))

Here some pictures:

Before we walked down to the boiling pot

Right before tipped over

Enjoying the calm water

Us trying not to tip over

Monday afternoon after work, it was time for the most life threatening activity. Yep, we did the bungee jump!!!! Let me say it like that, it was CRAZY both in a positive and negative way. It was great fun but at the same time also the most scariest thing I’ve ever done! I’m not sure if I would do it again :D (hmmm…I’m actually going to Cape Town in December and there you can do the highest bungee jump in the world, 216 meters…well that is just a thought :D we’ll see!)

Here some pictures (I’m still working on the video):

Me before the jump

Bela was a good support :)

Can I really do this?

Okay, I can!

Me jumping

Me bouncing up and down

Tuesday and Wednesday it was time for us going on a safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana. Now you maybe think that this is not life threatening at all! In some way you are right but on the other hand, when the lions and elephants were less than a meter away from us and Zinka our guide said: “Don’t move! Just stay…” (he didn’t finish the sentence because of the lions’ unexpected movements), you felt a bit like playing with your life :D

However, it was AMAZING seeing all the animals!!! And I just went crazy with my camera :D you should have seen me :D

Here some of the best pictures (it took me ages to decide which to chose :D):

A crocodile

Hippos with a bird on the back

a nice bird :)

Elephants

A baby elephant. Isn't it sweet :)

Elephants on their way to Namibia

Elephants kissing

Another nice bird

Another nice bird

Impalas

Another nice bird

A dead buffalo

Funny hair :)

More elephants

Female lions

A giraffe, wild hogs (mum and child) and an elephant

Giraffes

Another

Another nice bird

Wild dogs

Monkeys

A buffalo

A wild hog

Fantastic sunset

Zebras

Female and male lion

male lion

female lion

Okay, he is awake

Nice teeth :)

An eagle

A leopard

A leopard eating a baby elephant

Another nice bird

"Zazu" from the Lion King

Male impala

hmmm...I can't remember

Giraffe drinking :)

Me taking pictures

The party bus

Thursday afternoon after work, it was time for us to visit the Victoria Falls and the famous Devil’s pool :) and yep, now I know why it has this name :D It is quite crazy and a bit scary, jumping in to the water and being so close to the edge. I think I’ll just let the pictures tell:

Bela and me at the Victoria Falls

Ready for Devil's pool

On the way to the pool

Titanic :) On the way to the pool

Still on the way to the pool

Still on the way to the pool

Finally arrived :)

Me jumping into the pool

The landing :)

Bela and me in the pool

Lying on the edge

Lying on the edge

So yeah, Bela and I were having a great time together :) However, to make the time perfect, we also needed some crazy dancing :) So, we went out both Thursday and Friday night and had a lot of fun :) However, on the following mornings when I was on my way to work, I kind of regretted one or two Mosis (the Zambian beer) :D But believe it or not, I managed to get some work done :)

Saturday it was time for me to let the touristic life behind and say “hi” to the African life again. We were having another sports day :) I really looked forward to it, however I should kind of have known that it wouldn’t be the best experience :D

When the sports captains and Doreen met for planning the sports day last Thursday, I had to represent Kwenuha at another meeting in town. Hence, I didn’t know what was planned or not. Well, Friday I was told that everything was ready for the sports day and I only had to show up at the sports field Saturday morning at 9 hours. Okay, when I arrived at the sports field at 9 hours, the field was full of children. My first thought was “what??! They are all on time? Nice :)”. After a more exact look at the children I saw that they didn’t belong to Kwenuha. So what was going on? Did we actually book the sports field? Hmmm…since Doreen was in town collecting the food, I didn’t know. And since the power had gone the whole night and morning all over in Livingstone, the food wasn’t ready and Doreen arrived at 12:30 hours (we finished at 14 hours). So yeah, what was happening? Did the sport captains know which activities they were responsible for? Not really…citation: “we didn’t plan anything. We just waited 3 hours for the other sport captains to arrive”. And why did only 4 out of 12 teams show up? Well, no one knew!

 So yeah, after swallowing some frustrations, I tried to find a solution for this situation. After two hours waiting, we finally got the sports field and we started our athletics day (which I quickly had planned in these two hours) :) I can only repeat myself. I really learn to be flexible and think quickly :)

Here some pictures:

Some of the boys

The relays

Saturday evening was Bela and my last evening together here in Livingstone. So the perfect ending of theses lovely days, was of course a sunset cruise :) We enjoyed it a lot and had great fun, thinking of all the activities we had done that week :)

Sunday it was time for me to say goodbye to Bela…I have to admit that I was a bit sad. We just had such a good time :)

But yeah, with cleaning my room and baking dark rye bread, I managed to distract myself :)

What is going this week?

Compared to last week, this week is quite calm. We are having a workshop on “Kicking Aids Out” the whole week and right now, I don’t have any plans for the weekend. However, the workshop is really good :) The facilitator is doing a great job and the girls are really motivated, so that’s nice :)

That was all from me! Have a lovely week :)

You learn to be adjustable :)

Do you remember that I at the end of my last post was looking forward to the meeting with all the sport captains? I was well prepared and really eager to get some changes done. Well, as usual a change of plans waited for me, when I arrived at the office Thursday morning. ;) Instead of having the monthly meeting with all the sport captains, we had to have a SOCAT meeting. What does that mean? Yep, I didn’t know either and actually no one was able to tell what the letters are standing for :D However, it was clear for most of the people that we had to analyze the organization and all the activities we are running. SAT (Southern Africa Aids and Trust), one of the sponsors, was having a workshop at and with Kwenuha this Monday (1^st of October) to Wednesday (3^rd of October), to see how the organization is doing and where it has to improve. That’s why we had to review our activities and strategic plan ;)

So yeah, here we were. 26 Africans and me, analyzing the organisation and all the activities. Well, since no one knew about this meeting, no one was prepared (e.g. had read the strategic plan) and this means, the meeting finished after 5 hours without a break. It has to been said that the work could have been done in 2 hours :D So yeah, as you maybe can imagine, I was quite exhausted after all the hours and very hungry. My patience had really reached it’s end :D But yeah, it was good work!

Friday it was time for another club competition. Since all the previous competitions had been kind of a disaster because of misunderstandings, I was quite surprised, when after 1 ½ hours waiting time at the sport field, some teams actually showed up! So yeah, I had to change my evening plans, since I instead of knocking off at 16:30 hours, went home at 18:00 hours. However, it was worth it ;) It was a great tournament and the children enjoyed it a lot ;)

Here are some pictures:

This boy just fascinated me! He had so much fun with this damaged ball ;)

The winner team

The team, which lost..

Later that day I went to another Happy hour but this time at the Livingstone Backpackers ;) It was quite fun and I met a lot of new people. You can actually do a happy hour tour, where you start at the Waterfront Hotel (happy hour is from 17:30-18:30), after that it continues at the Livingstone Backpackers (20:00-21:00) and then you can finish at Fezbar. Maybe Bela and I are going to do this tomorrow :) Yeahhhh, tomorrow Bela is coming!!!! I’m so much looking forward to see her! Anyway, let me continue ;)

Saturday it was time for me to go to another Zambian wedding :) Believe it or not but this time I actually was invited :D Who got married? Well, the nephew of my host mums friend :D Haha :D But, I was invited! So Miriam and I went to the wedding together. That was really nice and we had a lot of fun together :)

Mirian and me before the wedding :)

 Well, when we arrived half an hour delayed, we saw this:

Women preparing the tables

Hmmm…wasn’t the wedding supposed to start at 14:30 hours? Yep, it was. BUT they were a bit behind the time! Haha :D after more than 2 hours waiting, the wedding finally started.

The tables, when they were finished

The dancers

Some more dancers :)

The bride and just some women dancing

The food (I'm quite sure that I want another dish at my wedding :D)

I just loved the old lady with the red knitted cap :)

Saturday night it was time for me to have another proper night out in Livingstone (I’ve only had one before) :) It has been a small issue for me to stay out until late, since I live 5 km out of Livingstone, I need a taxi we (my host parents and me) trust or a safe place to stay in town and I don’t have any keys for the front door. However, communication was the key ;) Miriam and I found a taxi we both trust and which operates during the night, and agreed on how I’m doing with the door ;) So I went to town and met the some friends for a night out ;) It was sooo nice just to dance and go crazy on the dance floor :D I loved it! And everything went perfect with coming home late ;)

And what is the perfect place for a relaxing Sunday? Yep, the Zambezi Sun hotel. What were we doing? Basically nothing :) Sunbathing, sleeping, swimming and enjoying life :)

Have a look

The view from my chair

 After the relaxing Sunday it was time for me to experience the African stomach and get sick…I knew the day would come :D So yeah, since Monday I haven’t felt so good, have had a slightly fever, horrible stomach cramps, no appetite and hunger, and just no energy at all. Monday I still went to work the whole day (I really wanted to participate in the workshop with SAT) but when my colleagues saw me Tuesday morning, they told me to go home again. So yeah, the last days I have basically done nothing, apart from resting, sleeping and reading. Luckily, I’m already feeling much better and the doctor couldn’t find anything ;) So tomorrow I’m hopefully back to the normal Vivi again :) I just have to, since Bela is coming!!!! 

That was all from me ;)

Oh wait, I had a nice surprise in my room, when I came home this evening!

Yep, a scorpion!

No worries! It's not alive any longer ;)