mango mango tree

Today reminds me of Sundays at home with Chesley. Movies, Frisbee, naps, and good food. Our first week of therapy was a success.  Oh, Charissa brought a pedometer and it turns out that each way to The Haven is 1.55 miles.  Therefore, I have been walking at least 4.65 miles a day.  All of which will help maintain weight because Leonard’s food is so carbalicious (no complaints though!) 

I think we have about 30 hours so far, including Monday and Tuesday’s diagnostic hours.  Kara lead Wednesday’s lesson, Cari lead Thursday’s and Tessa and I lead language enrichment for Haven 2 on Friday.  We sang Mango, Mango, Tree which is consistently stuck in my head now. The aunties sing it to the little ones, so naturally they enjoy it.  We taught them body parts and clothes.  Emma loved this lesson; she sang along with some of the songs and gestured during some too.  Anna took great pictures of our lesson.

I forgot to mention, Wednesday night Dr. Tullos (Triple D) and BWeave spoke to us about the possibility of a death at The Haven.  BWeave explained that the funeral is the day of the death and we must prepare ourselves because it is different.  The women wrap the baby in a cloth and all the men take turns covering the baby with rocks and sticks.  There is a section behind The Haven 2 designated for babies that pass on.  Dr. Tullos mentioned that in many villages, if the mother of a child dies, they burry the child with the mother.  The idea is that the child dies quickly rather than starves slowly.  BWeave also said that the day after, life is back to normal.

Saturday was my favorite day we have had here, thus far.  We woke up early, ate some breakfast, and drove an hour in Khaki Jackie to Choma.  Choma had a market spread out over about 3 acres with roughly 200 stands.  A stand is typically made out of cardboard….  Like I said earlier, the markets remind me that I am living in a third-world country.  I bought six chitangees, four of which I will use for a quilt.  After the market we all met at Spar, a popular grocery store in Zambia.  While waiting for everyone, I saw MANY kids digging through trashcans. Lauren bought two bags of chips and the second she went to grab one, two teenagers rushed over and begged for them.  She handed them the chips and they fought over them for a couple minutes until Lauren told/gestured to them they had to share.  I saw another kid with one shoe on and ALL of the kids had holes in their clothing. 

Lunch was fried chicken and French fries from Spar.  We all walked over to the Choma Museum and had a picnic.  Oh, and we had some Eat Some More cookies for dessert.  I wish we had fun names like that in the states.  After our picnic we walked into the Choma Museum but didn’t get past the crafts store.  We all spent at least an hour in there.  I bought gifts for Haley, Mom, Chesley’s mom, Ryder, and myself!  I got Ryder the cutest baby spoons EVER, they have little giraffes as the handle.  The actual museum part took less than 5 minutes. 

When we got back Lauren, Naiveen and I went to Mona’s to get skirts made out of our chitangees.  I saw a huge bucket of potatoes and asked what they were for and Mona told us about a big wedding going on at 2pm.  We were all invited so we immediately told BWeave.  Everyone changed and walked over to the church to experience our first Zambian wedding!  I have plenty of videos that I will post as soon as I get back to the states.  The entire wedding party danced down the aisle many times (all choreographed).  Finally when the bride came down, I realized she was looking down at the ground and never looked up.  I was wondering if this marriage was arranged but BWeave clarified that the brides are supposed to take the day extremely seriously.  The groom would laugh when his friends jumped up and danced around him but the bride never cracked a smile.  Towards the end, they would play songs and all the bride’s family would get up and dance.  Kara and Charissa jumped up to go dance with them, so naturally, many followed.  I stayed behind to take videos and pictures.  The entire wedding and reception was about three hours.

After the wedding, a group of us went to play ultimate Frisbee.  Thanks to Chesley, I was not too bad! Breezy kept calling me a beast… thanks babe for all the practice. :) After Frisbee, we all played some card games which Ian and Brain dominated.