“T.I.A. – This Is Africa” our new slogan for the trip. When something doesn’t go right we just remind ourselves of the slogan we learned from a man sporting an I love New York hat in the airport the last time we were there, which was this past Tuesday when we went to get one of Tricia’s bags, one more is still lost in airport craziness somewhere. Its been a relaxing past few days as we’ve gotten back into our routine. We spent Tuesday catching up on sleep, emails and some food shopping since it was a holiday here. On Wednesday (Happy 4th of July America) we were back in action at the hospice. We rounded with Doc Betty as usual and after finishing I headed outside to play with the kids. I had a fantastic time giving piggy back rides and running away from some of the boys as they tossed a dead large chameleon at me and other screaming children. I’ve never been chased with a dead chameleon wielding child before and wouldn’t be disappointed if it doesn’t happen again, but it made for a memorable morning.
Since it was the 4th of July we could
n’t go without a little celebration, so we convinced our Swiss friends that we should have a barbeque and we promised not to sing the national anthem or celebrate America too much. We did some shopping before hand and prepared an excellent dinner of hamburgers and fries, and if you know me well you can probably guess that I didn’t have a hamburger, but my own personal BBQ favorite…a chip and ketchup sandwich! It was almost like I was at home, ok not rea
lly, especially when we tried to make s’mores and found the marshmallows were strangely flavored, we had made a mistake by choosing to buy the cheapest chocolate, and biscuits are no substitute for graham crackers, but it was still a pretty good time.
Thursday we were back at the hospice and did the morning rounds so we could choose which patients to present to Dr. Tim. He comes for just a half hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we were responsible for finding the patients that most need to be seen before he arrives. We chose the patients and then spent some time helping out in the kitchen. I attempted to grind some peanuts for a couple minutes, but was not very successful so the cook shoed me away and took over again. We had a brief lesson in Shima making and stayed warm by the fire until Tim arrived. We presented the patients to him and everything went very smoothly. We are beginning to get the hang of things at the hospice. After he finished we headed out with him and back to Chachacha. Nancy and I decided it was a perfect day to catch a movie, so we headed to Arcades, one of the two shopping malls. We went by bus and arrived at the perfect time to catch the next showing of Ocean’s Thirteen for 9,000 Kwacha, sounds steep right, nope that’s about $2 for a new movie, quite a deal! We had heard reports from the boys that the movie wasn’t very good, but we both enjoyed it and were glad we went. We headed home by taxi, perhaps going with the first offer wasn’t our best option, and after a minor breakdown and quick repair along the way, we were safely back at Chachacha to get all bundled up in our beds, to catch some sleep for one more day at the hospice before an exciting weekend of chatanje shopping (the fabric that people use to make clothes and women use to carry their children on their backs) and maybe some fun with Dr. Tim and Tiny Tim if we’re lucky!
Since it was the 4th of July we could
n’t go without a little celebration, so we convinced our Swiss friends that we should have a barbeque and we promised not to sing the national anthem or celebrate America too much. We did some shopping before hand and prepared an excellent dinner of hamburgers and fries, and if you know me well you can probably guess that I didn’t have a hamburger, but my own personal BBQ favorite…a chip and ketchup sandwich! It was almost like I was at home, ok not rea
lly, especially when we tried to make s’mores and found the marshmallows were strangely flavored, we had made a mistake by choosing to buy the cheapest chocolate, and biscuits are no substitute for graham crackers, but it was still a pretty good time.Thursday we were back at the hospice and did the morning rounds so we could choose which patients to present to Dr. Tim. He comes for just a half hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we were responsible for finding the patients that most need to be seen before he arrives. We chose the patients and then spent some time helping out in the kitchen. I attempted to grind some peanuts for a couple minutes, but was not very successful so the cook shoed me away and took over again. We had a brief lesson in Shima making and stayed warm by the fire until Tim arrived. We presented the patients to him and everything went very smoothly. We are beginning to get the hang of things at the hospice. After he finished we headed out with him and back to Chachacha. Nancy and I decided it was a perfect day to catch a movie, so we headed to Arcades, one of the two shopping malls. We went by bus and arrived at the perfect time to catch the next showing of Ocean’s Thirteen for 9,000 Kwacha, sounds steep right, nope that’s about $2 for a new movie, quite a deal! We had heard reports from the boys that the movie wasn’t very good, but we both enjoyed it and were glad we went. We headed home by taxi, perhaps going with the first offer wasn’t our best option, and after a minor breakdown and quick repair along the way, we were safely back at Chachacha to get all bundled up in our beds, to catch some sleep for one more day at the hospice before an exciting weekend of chatanje shopping (the fabric that people use to make clothes and women use to carry their children on their backs) and maybe some fun with Dr. Tim and Tiny Tim if we’re lucky!
2 comments:
sounds like things are a bit better and you are falling into a routine. Where are all the photos?
Chip & Ketchup sandwich sounds like one of my favorites. What a way to celebrate the fourth...annual tradition for us. HAPPY FOURTH!
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