Luckybeans

Thank Heavens

We are all still here instead of on a plane today. Simon's departure has been postponed until the 28th, which is much more human.

Since several people have emailed me and asked what Simon does, here you are:

Simon works for the Education Development Centre (sorry, CentER), which is a Washington, DC based NGO. His project is taking the national elementary school curriculum (grades 1-6) and adapting it for radio for children who are unable to attend school, for whatever reason. The project also runs a mentor training program to enable people to run "classes" without having to rely on finding a qualified teacher. It has been incredibly successful here, and so he is being asked to replicate it Malawi. Ok?

Right. Simon leaves the 28th. The house is packed out on the 30th, we move in with Grandparents until the 15th, and then we fly out to visit my parents in Oregon for the summer. I am dreaming of berry juice sticky on my fingers and dribbling down my chin, of oceans and forests, paddling in the creek, the smell of the fields around my aunt's farm, and drinking tea in her garden... Of quilting and toy and ice cream stores, of late summer evenings and watching stars from a glacial rock... Of staying up too late talking with treasured family, lingering in libraries and whizzing down slides...

In the meantime, I am sure you can imagine the chaos. For example, my work-in-progress pile as I sat on the patio this evening looked like this:

I have a tote, purse, two softies, two quilts, a patchwork pillow, baby booties, handmade stickers, three art smocks, three placemats and a nursery redecoration (complete with decoupage and murals) for a friend in process. Will I finish it all? Of course not. But I'll enjoy trying, and it's a darned sight better than sorting through the thirty boxes of Simon's papers in the office (don't even toy with the thought I might be exaggerating. I. am. not).

Shoes After a Walk in the Bush

*Thank you all for your understanding and encouragement. I think I will be taking a bit of a verbal break, and revert to mostly photos for a little while here.

Much love,
Katurah

Shifting Reality

My apologies for the eratic pattern this blog has taken recently. It is not my intention to neglect it, but I am having difficulty writing these days. I had intended to continue carrying on as normal, documenting daily life. However, things are not normal here, and that always takes it toll. We have found out that we are moving-- another country, another house, another school. I know that to most people living overseas, a shift from one country to its neighbour is not a big deal. But to us, Zambia is home. It is hard to explain that, but when you have grown up moving, your concept of home is defined somewhat differently from many people.

Home is your family, your own memories, and the space you create in your house and your heart and your children. Home is a quality of sunlight, the smell of dust, a readiness to smile in the people around you. It is a culture whose values you respect (at least for the most part), and whose humour you understand. It is having cousins and knowing the patterns of the seasons, and having the ladies at the till in the grocery store tease you when you dress up for a bank meeting. It is happiness and comfort and safety, and a faint feeling of disbelief that this, this, is your life.

For the last five years we have been incredibly blessed living here. We have grandparents, many aunties and uncles and cousins, friends, a wonderful school, and a way of life I would not have dreamt possible.

And now we are leaving. My heart is trying to come to terms with what my head knows to be true. I am in grief, I think, and shock. I am trying to process this, and not shed daily tears, and find bright opportunities on the horizon. Our abilities are more needed there (in Malawi), I will have time and space to write again... Slowly, I am sure I will greet the change with acceptance, and hopefully a bit of grace. But right now I am still reeling.

One day, this sadness will all seem small and fleeting, and I will look back on my time I have had in Zambia as a gem and a gift, and it will fill my heart with joy, and bring a smile to my lips.

(that is an ostrich egg, by the way, yes).

Victoria Falls, Part 2

As promised!

As soon as you get down wind of the mist surrounding the Falls, the vegetation changes dramatically. All around the ground is hard, the bush is dry, the grasses are bleached pale golden by the sun. And then--

Lush, green, tropical foliage everywhere. The path becomes damp and moss works its way into crevices. The closer you get to the Falls, the wetter it gets. There are flowers, grasses, ferns, shrubs and butterflies that are found only in this tiny micro-climate dependant on the mist.

Mind you, when I say "mist", "full-blown gale" is more appropriate. Simon took this picture of  me washing Asher's feet off in a puddle. Note he is in his swimming  costume, and I am looking quite wet myself, and this was before we got into the actual misty bits.

Water was streaming through everywhere, making small streams and waterfalls. Asher made the most of it.

It was so strange and beautiful, especially as it was in such dramatic contrast with what was to be found only a few steps away.

The other thing I really loved were the trees. African trees are pretty wild to begin with, but the ones I saw here were truly impressive.

This one had twisted and merged with a vine.

And this one grew like this, clinging to a pile of rock.

I wish I could have managed more photos of some of the wildflowers and butterflies-- they were stunning. But alas, it was---   yes, too wet.

Victoria Falls, Part 1

In Zambia, Victoria Falls is called "Mosi Oa Tunya", or "Smoke That Thunders." An apt name, although it doesn't lend itself to nearly as many terribly punned jokes on the Fall of Vicky or the Queen's Rain when things become damp. Which they inevitably do, especially in April when water levels are at their highest. This year was particularly wet, with the river (that would be the Zambezi) 2m higher than usual.

We could hear the water long before we could see it. Then from about a kilometer off, we could see a cloud of mist rising, and from five hundered meters we could smell the cool wet of river water.

We approached the Falls from upriver. Here we are paddling in a calm pool amongst the rocks in a dip in the Zambezi about 500m upstream from the Falls.

Also known as "giving grandfather heart failure", as a few meters away, the water looked like this:

The sheer force of water rushing towards the Falls was stupendous. One of the men at the hotel told us that two weeks previous to our visit, a grown elephant had been caught in the current and was swept over.

As we walked towards the Eastern Cataract, we caught this view of the Falls from above, and our first rainbow.

The water was, indeed, amazing. This part of the canyon was completely dry when we last visited in Dec 2005.

In fact, there was so much water, we only managed to take the camera to the very edge of the small bridge crossing the gorge to the main Falls side.

The following is a picture of the main bridge/road spanning the gorge to Zimbabwe.

The Falls empty into a "Boiling Pot" in the bottom left of the screen. When we visited this site the next day, we saw someone bungi jumping off here. Better him than me.

This was an amazing experience; if you ever have the chance to visit, take it without hesitation. On the second day, Simon and I got to visit sans enfants, so we crossed the little bridge to the main Falls side. The bridge itself was a miniature waterway, and we waded across it in water halfway up my shins at points (I was going to say up "our shins", but then realised that if that were true, I would have been swimming as halfway up Simon's shins is very deep indeed). The mist blowing off the Falls was so heavy we were drenched within seconds, and so thick we could see nothing but a white haze a great deal of the time. The mist was directed by the wind, so there would be moments when a gust would clear a view of tons of water plummeting 90m down, sparkling with fully circular rainbows. Then it would disappear into a wet, cold, cloud again. I have never been so very wet or exhilerated.

Part 2 coming up, about the micro-climate surrounding the Falls.

Hey, Look!

That's a sculpture of a bum!

So quoth Isabella after spying this, erm, interesting piece of artwork in the "peace park" next to Victoria Falls.

This isn't a real post, for the record. This is a "I'm popping in to reassure you that I am alive" post. We left for Victoria Falls on Thursday, got back late Sunday night, spent Monday rushing around getting visiting family fully burdened with assorted goods and packed for the trip home before taking them to the airport by 6:30 this morning. Bella also got a stomach flu with raging fever and many bodily fluids erupting where they shouldn't, and I had to get back to preschool.

But the Falls are amazing, and I do want to do them justice, so I will be back soon. Hopefully showered.

Int he meantime, for pure amusement's sake: the sign I especially enjoyed (bearing in mind this is posted inside a wild game reserve next to deadly gorges with no railing over the largest waterfalls in the world):

Let's just keep things in persepctive, shall we?

Tea in the Sub-Sahara With You

We were back out in the bush yesterday. The cousins and grandparents are staying at the local safari lodge for a few nights, so we trekked out for a day visit. Asher has the scones and tea bit down.

The kids always have a marvelous time, and so, for that matter, do I. It is terribly difficult to hold on to residual stress while sitting under a thorn tree on a sweeping green lawn overlooking the water hole. The birds chatter and sing, the scent of water and grass blow in, and antelope wander about. The kids saw this bush buck in the, er, bushes by the dining room.

We swam, ate, and spotted things, and took a walk to look at the lions in their enclosure. They seemed relaxed as well.

Ana reports we saw the following:
4 hartebeast
5 kudu
1 bush buck
2 waterbuck (bums anyway)
3 monitor lizards
And lots of birds, but we forgot our bird book at home.

And for my own amusement, here is a picture of what Asher and Ana dressed themselves in for their day:

Mmmm hmmmm.

Oh Dear.

This past week has been a bit of a fiasco in the internet department. Hopefully, things are sorted now. Simon is back from his week in Dar es Salam, so surely all things technological will behave themselves now.

I hope all of you had a wonderful March 21st! Happy Naw Ruz (Baha'i New Year), first day of spring, or simply Wednesday. We celebrated by going to a small game reserve in Chisamba with a number of Baha'i friends.

We got to visit our pachyderm friend, Mphamvu again.

Asher fell in deep adoration of Eoin, and would not let him out of his sight.

And Bella lounged near the lion's cage.

Ana was also quite busy designing and assisting in the making of this placemat for her cousin who is arriving for a visit (all the way from Canada) next week. She wanted him to have something special at Grandma's house.

Today we are off to visit the cousins and celebrate Naw Ruz some more. At Anisa's request, I made five little felt bunnies from One Hour Crafts (sorry, too lazy to link the book). They are so tiny!

Ah, it's good to be back.

Koolaid Chameleon

I was cleaning out the pantry and found a package of Koolaid. That may not sound exciting, but I have categorised it as One of the Greater Mysteries of Life due to the facts that a) it is not sold on this continent and b) we do not drink it anyway. But I couldn't simply toss out one of life's mysteries, so the children enjoyed it. A lot.

We also recently found another chameleon in the garden. It's stomach was enormously distended, and we all suspect it was about to go lay its eggs. That, or it had had one hell of a lunch.

Strangely, both of these things brought back a flood of childhood memories. The only time I was ever allowed Koolaid was at my Aunt's farm. She would serve it to us (she had four kids of her own, too) ice cold in coloured metal cups. You had to sip carefully as the metal rim could cut your mouth, and the sides of the cups would numb your hands and become wet with condensation. We would sit on the front porch, shaded from the gold of an Oregon summer sun, kicking the boards of the deck to keep the porch swing in motion. The scent of hay strong from the fields, a subtler smell of old cedar from the porch, and the happy energy of six kids sticking out koolaid tongues.

My mum used to bring chameleons into our house from the garden when we lived in Kenya. She would lead my brother and I into a room and say, "Look high, look low, wherever you go!" And we would know it had tucked itself away somewhere and we had to find it. Chameleon hunts and koolaid tongues... such important parts of childhood.

The Preschool Tour

So this is what I do,  a couple mornings a week, with eight two and three year olds. A friend is letting us use two (tiny) rooms at the back of her place. They are great because they have their own entrance, and an outside play area, and also a loo and sink (ahem-- these are toddlers). They are just small. The main room has the toys and books and is where we attempt to play on rainy days. The back room has just enough space for the table and chairs and a cupboard for arts and crafts supplies. I don't know how interested any of you are in this, but I thought I would show you what we have and use. I really love this space, and the other mothers have been great in letting me do exactly what I please :)

1.
This is the kitchen area, directly on your right as you enter the room. Sees plenty of use, although the dolls to the right are largely ignored. The cupboard under the unit is stocked with wooden food and enamel tea paraphenalia.

2.
We love books. Whenever my kids pretend to be "Ms Katurah" at home, it generally means reading stories and passing out play dough. Heh heh. We start and end each day with stories (one they choose, one on our theme), songs and fingerplays.

Our found treasures are lined up on top of the book case, and the pillows in the corner are dragged out and arranged for circle times.

3.
The TOYS! If you are actually interested, keep reading. Otherwise scroll down. From left to right, top to bottom:
A wire helicopter, suitcases that hold magnetic marbles and wooden lacing beads, simple wooden puzzles.
Musical instruments (Bella has temporarily run off with the tambourines), vinyl animals, tissue (hey, let's be accurate here).
A tractor, shape/size/colour sorting tray, stacking ring, shape and colour sorting pegs, elephants with numbers on them (that one a parent brought in).
Two baskets of blocks (some locally made, and some fabulous Haba ones), wooden cars and a wagon of... more blocks. We like blocks.

In the left of the picture you can see the door into the art room. Okay, the table room. That's pretty much it in there.

All right, there's this, too:

4.
Arts and crafts supplies, and other miscellany.  I am not listing all the pom poms and what not. Although I will mention the kids have a deep and abiding love of glue sticks. So: craft supplies. Also, first aid, tools I need (scissors, glue tack, etc) and snack supplies. Everyone has their own cup and bowl. I keep games here, and the play dough with rollers, hammers (ha!) and cutters. For art I keep loose paper, coloured scrapbook cardstock, crayons, and lots of paint! We've got high quality primary coloured watercolours and paper, finger paint, acrylic paints and poster paints. I almost never use poster paint. It's just unsatisfying. But I inherited it, so we try it now and then. Watercolours and fingerpainting far prefered, however. Also, each child has a Waldorf exercise book.

5.
Back in the mainroom, opposite the books is the dress up. Actually we could bung the whole lot out and just keep that giant basket of scarves. Oh well.

6.
The car garage! Used as a jumping off point for intricate cities of block houses and wild roadways. Their first co-operative play...

And the balls and sidewalk chalk. You need those.

Not pictured are a set of giant rubbermaid containers, bubblebath, small cloths, measuring cups and small buckets for those days when everyone is hot and bothered. So much mileage. I also got them a wiggly sprinkler attachment, but we haven't tested that out yet.

Yes. So that's my little preschool. We keep it small and low key. I choose themes for each week, planning books and core activities accordingly. I make sure we cover: language, movement/dance, gross and fine motor skills, art, craft, science, nature and math. I also try to make sure they are aware of appropriate behaviour and language. That sounds silly, but I'm shocked by how reticent some people are to bring it up. The other mums rotate through as helpers once a week, and drop off our snacks. Oh, and I bring my iPod round for music.

It has been such a great little school for all of these kids. And I rather enjoy it, too. Feel free to ask me questions if you have any.