International Women's Day

Today was our day off! I slept until 8:30—what a treat. I woke up to the sound of kids screaming and playing outside. Not a bad way to wake up. After getting ready, Erika and I decided to head straight into town to have our “fun” day before we came back and planned. It was really convenient today because right as we stepped outside the seminary gate, one of the bigger, nicer minibuses was driving past. They asked where we were going and said “hop on!” For a while we were the only 2 on the bus and the driver and his money collector enjoyed chatting with us. The driver proposed marriage to Erika! Haha…

We picked up more people along the way, until the whole bus was full eventually. The excitement of this ride was that because it was Women’s Day both lanes of the Great East Road that lead into town were closed. It seemed like hundreds of different women’s groups had gathered outside the University and were marching into town. I felt so bad for the cars that got stuck on the highway with no way to escape. They must have been sitting there for hours. Luckily, the bus driver knew side roads to go to avoid the traffic stand still. However, this provided for a true African driving experience. At one point we were completely perpendicular to the flow of traffic in a mass confusion of cars, minibuses and trucks. It was absolutely crazy! I wish I could draw you a diagram of how crazy it was. Erika and I just laughed and enjoyed the whole thing, praying we would get to the Arcades eventually. Well, 50 minutes later, we did. The drive would usually take maybe 10 minutes. Once again, it provided a good story.

When we got to the Arcades we got to watch some of the women’s parade because the Great East Road runs right in front of the shopping strip mall. I got some good video of some of the church groups singing. I wish uploading video wouldn’t eat so many of my internet minutes otherwise I’d upload it for you to watch. After watching for a while, we waited for a little gap and then dashed across the parade so we could get to the mall. There were a few stands of the curio market set up today, which we were expecting, so of course being the softies that we are, we bought some more curios and paintings. I have not once regretted one thing I have bought. I am so excited to decorate my future apartment/house with these things!

We also decided to watch a movie today, so we had about an hour to kill before our 11:30am movie. That’s when we did the curio shopping and we also got some lunch at Wimpy’s. We had an awesome server name Emmanuel. We both got these absolutely delicious chicken, sweet chili wraps. By the time we were done eating it was time for the movie. We saw “This Means War” and let me tell you, it was such a bizarre experience watching an American movie in a theater in Zambia. The theater was nicer than the one in Beaver Dam! The only slightly weird thing was that the speakers must have been cheaper than ones in America because the sound was kind of weird. While watching the movie I completely forgot I was in Zambia. We did a little grocery shopping after the movie to tide us over ‘til the weekend then caught a minibus home. This minibus drive was rather uneventful although more packed than usual, especially with all our bags of curios and groceries.

We got home mid-afternoon and had a couple hours off to do some planning before heading over to Dee and Dave’s for a braai (barbecue). The planning didn’t go so well. We ended up just talking and watching Friends, but at least we got Friday’s lessons figured out. At 6 we walked across the street for the braai. It was so fun to spend time with the missionary families and Dave and Dee’s friends! We had delicious chicken and brats on the grill, pasta and potato salad, veggies and baked beans, and for dessert an apple cake with ice cream. Very American food and it was so good! The power went out during the meal so we ate by candlelight and had a good conversation about missionary life etc. It was fun hearing stories about Grandpa Wendland. It’s comforting, that even though I’m thousands of miles away from my family in Wisconsin, I still am surrounded by family—Aunt Margie and Uncle Ernie, and the missionary family. We didn’t stay too long because we knew we still had to do some figuring out for tomorrow, plus we need to get to bed at a decent hour because we do teach again at 8am.

The power situation is weird here. There can be power out across the street at Mathiak’s, but on at the seminary grounds, and vice versa. So luckily we still had power when we got home so we could do some work on our computers. The night ended uneventfully with some chit chat, blogging and last minute prep work.