Family :)

What a blissful, wonderful, exciting, adventurous three weeks! It's hard to believe that my visit with Dad & Kristi is already over.  But there was SO much joy in those three weeks that I have to admit that I'm not too sad that it's over. As I saw Dad off a few days ago, I had this thought of feeling a little more grown up. It felt like as if I were living back in the States, on the other side of the country, and Dad and Kristi had just come to visit.  They have jobs to get back to and so do I and that's okay and good.  I was beyond happy to have time with them, but I'm at peace with us all going back to our "normal" lives.  It also really helps saying goodbye this time knowing how frequent we can communicate.  Before leaving for this adventure there was so much unknown about how often I would be able to keep in touch with friends and family.  After 16 months here I know that I can easily get in touch with people back home.  And that's a comforting thought, and one that made giving those hugs a bit easier.  By now I'm sure you're all eager to hear about this blissful, wonderful, exciting, adventurous three week trip...

Week 1:
     We spent the first day in Lusaka seeing the Sunday Market, where they sell touristy souvenirs, and having some good food and just relaxing after Dad and Kristi's long flight.  Monday we spent the entire day going from Lusaka all the way to my village! It took a 12 hour bus ride, which was enjoyed as they soaked in the scenery, and then a two hour car ride to my hut.  We reached it in the dark, but really enjoyed sitting around in the candle light unpacking a bit and just chatting about the day.  My host family LOVED meeting them, as much as Dad and Kristi LOVED meeting them.  Tuesday was a busy, but good day.  We woke up early and headed off to school.  We met the staff and then taught grades 5 & 6.  It went really smoothly with Dad working with one small group, Kristi another and me my groups as usual.  The pupils were a bit distracted at first, but they settled in and had a really good time.  After the lessons the school surprised us with some traditional performances.  They danced, did a sketch (a short skit), and a poem.  It was so good to see the school come together and welcome my family so well.  And the head teacher wrote a beautiful speech to Dad and Kristi that he had even written out a copy of for them to take home.  A beautiful morning indeed.  The afternoon we relaxed at the hut making lunch, taking turns with naps and going into the field for a bit.  And then the meal commenced! We had a wonderful traditional Zambian meal with my family, complete with Kristi helping to stir the nshima.  I loved seeing my families together enjoying a meal that was only complete after the roasting of marshmallows :) On Wednesday we went to Mbala (my closest "town") and showed them where I get my mail and do my errands.  We also took a two hour taxi ride out a very bumpy dirt road to see Kalambo Falls.  It's the second tallest waterfall in Africa and breathtakingly beautiful.  I had been there 6 months previously and there wasn't much water because it was dry season.  So to see it again just after the rainy season was really spectacular.  And it was just one more place that I got to share with Dad and Kristi.  The local tour-guide was wonderful in telling us all about the stories/legends behind the Falls.  That night we stayed at a lovely place in Mbala just on a small lake, Lake Chila, and shared a yummy fish dinner.  Oh, and Kim came to stay with us (and had also been in Lusaka with us their first day) which was so nice to have her meet and spend time with Dad and Kristi.  They all hear about each other so much that I was nice to have them get to know each other.  Thursday we headed down to Kasama (about 2 hours on a bus) and I got to show them the Peace Corps house.  The house is my second home here so it was really special to be able to share it with them.  There were a few friends at the house and we all sat down for a nice family dinner before the three of us went to the lodge in town that we were staying at.  We woke up really early (4:45am!) the next morning to get back on the bus down to Lusaka.  It was another fun adventure full of site-seeing, reading, dozing and chatting.  (It was SO nice to just be able to talk with them whenever I wanted and not have to wait for a phone call, e-mail, etc.) We stayed in Lusaka the next morning, went to another local market, then got on a bus to Livingstone in the early afternoon.  It was about 7 hours and more beautiful scenery.  We crashed when we got to the backpackers (JollyBoys) after so much traveling.  Sunday was Victoria Falls; it was gorgeous.  I have seen it once before in January when Danielle came to visit, and it was just as breathtaking seeing it again.  And of course Dad and Kristi loved seeing it and taking a ton of pictures.  We even got to walk across the bridge into Zimbabwe, where we of course took pictures to show we had been there.  The afternoon that day we went to the Royal Livingstone to have high tea-what a treat! It's a beautiful, 5-star hotel with animals such as giraffe roaming, and a lovely afternoon spread of bite-size treats.  It was bliss.  After a pasta dinner that evening we crashed early back at the backpackers. That ended the first of three wonderful weeks.

Week 2:
     Monday we got on another bus back to Lusaka and spent the evening relaxing at Kaingo Lodge (an amazing, quiet, well-staffed lodge-I highly recommend it!).  And Tuesday, off we went again.  This time in luxury.  We had been spending so much time on buses that we knew we would need a break so we decided to fly.  It was a quiet one hour ride to Eastern Province where we were greeted at the airport by the staff from the Flatdogs Safari.  The place was perfect.  We stayed in a luxury tent, with a real toilet and shower!  We were overlooking the river which was full of hippos that we "got" to listen to all night.  By night two we turned the fan on high :)  The first night Dad and Kristi went on an evening drive, while I decided I needed to stay back and have some time for me.  They had a wonderful time, as did I with a great dinner and a glass of wine.  Wednesday morning we woke up early again for our first morning drive.  We spent 4 hours in the park seeing so many beautiful birds (the Lilac-breasted Roller was my favorite), a leopard, giraffe, elephants, impala, hippos, zebra and I'm sure a lot of other animals that I can't remember.  Luckily Kristi kept a really good list of everything we saw each day.  The night drive that day was incredible! We saw 5 lions! From 15 feet away! It was incredible.  I've been on safaris in 3 different countries in Africa and I finally saw lions! I couldn't believe they were sitting right there, and they seemed so docile.  But as peaceful as they looked it was still pretty scary being so close.  Thursday was the same, two drives with a nice long nap in-between.  I've never napped so often in my life. It was lovely.  Friday our plane didn't fly out until the evening so we enjoyed a nice lazy day at the camp sleeping in, a nice breakfast and then stopping at a local textile "factory" before getting to the airport where we flew off as the sun was setting.  We went back to Kaingo, where they greeted us with smiling faces and by name.  Saturday we decided to just relax and enjoy a day together before Kristi had to fly home.  We did some shopping, had a nice lunch at The Deli, relaxed and packed in the afternoon and then went out for a nice dinner in town.  Though it was out at restaurant in a very different culture, it felt like I was back in Madison sitting around the table sharing a meal with Dad and Kristi.  It was really nice.  Sadly the next morning we had to head to the airport to send Kristi back home to Madison.  But again, it was such an incredible time that I was still so full of happiness that I wasn't too sad.  I was excited that I could say "I'll see you in less than a year".  But Dad and I did still on the steps to watch as long as we could before she went through the doors to the waiting lounge.  Dad and I spent the rest of the day bumming around Lusaka, which again made me feel like we were back in Madison running around to get things done on the weekend.  I liked the familiar feeling and getting some time with just Dad.  We crashed early that night because we were starting the next week on the bus again.

Week 3:
  Daddy-daughter time :)  Monday we took the bus up to Kasama and then Abraham drove us to the village.  It was strange getting to the hut without Kristi but nice to catch up just the two of us.  We made some popcorn for dinner, which is one of our favorite foods.  Tuesday I went off to teach while Dad relaxed at the hut.  He came up for a bit to paint on of my boards with chalk-board paint so that I can have another teaching station in my classroom.  It was really nice carrying on with my every-day routine knowing Dad was back home in my hut.  I loved being able to have lunch with him, fetch water and just show him my every day.  We both really enjoyed it.  And Dad really enjoyed getting to spend time with not only me but also with my host family. He even spent the next morning out in the field gathering maize while I was up at school teaching.  Wednesday was one of my favorite nights in the hut with him because we had a nice dinner together and then sat on the couch playing scrabble together on his iPad.  Oh the joys of technology :)  Thursday we decided to just stay in the village another day instead of traveling somewhere.  We made pancakes for breakfast and then went for a nice long two hour walk through the village.  Dad really got a good understanding of when I say I can walk for an hour and see maybe 2 people.  We saw about 5 :)  But he agreed that though it may be really spread out, it is a very beautiful landscape.  And it gave him a good sense of the layout of where I live.  Friday morning we headed out early for Dad's first African hitching adventure.  It was much better than I could have hoped for.  A missionary family that we found out lives just up the road (okay, about an hour bike ride) from me ended up picking us up.  We had great conversation and they dropped us right at the lodge.  Dad and I came to the PC house for a few hours to make lunch and pick some things up, then we took the rest of the afternoon for just the two of us to hang out back at the lodge.  We enjoyed a nice, peaceful, quiet afternoon sitting outside our room while Dad taught me how to play another new game on his iPad (I'm really looking forward to learning all this technology stuff when I get home).  It was a perfect last evening in Africa together.  We had a good fish dinner and then packed the last of our things.  We went to bed early again because Dad had to take a bus down to Lusaka.  We decided that it didn't make sense for me to go back to Lusaka with him just to spend a few hours at a hotel and then see him off early the following morning at the airport.  I got to have a relaxing morning to myself after I saw him off on the bus and then came back to the PC house where it was familiar and I had friends to be around.  And Dad and I even got to Skype that night once he had reached the lodge in Lusaka.  And again Sunday morning while I was doing laundry and Dad was outside having breakfast at the lodge we Skyped one last time in the same country and time-zone. 

As I write this Dad is over the ocean on his way back to America.  He's been sending update e-mails from each stop, which is really nice to know that he's reached each play safely.  And I've been having a great time here at the house, catching up on e-mails/FB messages and just relaxing with friends.  I'm looking forward to getting home to my hut for a few days.  Then I'm off to South Africa for a week or so to have my wisdom tooth taken out. Oh the adventures never end :)

I pray that this LONG update finds you all well.  I'm looking forward to the next 10 months that I have left here and all of the joy and adventures that I know will find me in that time.  Oh, and hopefully pictures will be posted soon on Facebook so you can see all of the wonderfulness that I wrote about.  Love to you all!