Outsmarting the Zambian sun

In preparation for the Youth Basketball League’s opening tournament (Saturday & Sunday March 1st & 2nd) I thought I had all of my “protection against the sun” methods in place. I had my SPF 15 sunblock, SPF 20 lipscreen, my baseball cap & my long sleeve ‘quick dry’ t-shirt.
As always, the sun got the last laugh. My ears are a fiery red, and the backs of my hands are still giving off heat. I was apprehensive to go out of the house at all on Sunday…but I had to submit an assignment on line, so was forced to be seen in public. The burns are not as bad as they could have been…but after 3.5 years I should have a foolproof plan for long hours in the sun*sigh*
Burning aside, I am still beaming from watching our little under 12 boys play. It was priceless…the most exciting bit being that they’re really quite skilled. This year the YBL has extended to include under 12s in the league!

Funnily enough, the BSA team that performed best was the newly formed under 12s*grin*. The under 18s lost both games (I’ll have to sit down with them & re-group), & the U15s fared very well, taking 2nd place. The girls were barred from playing because they need to prove to me that they’re ready. I’m glad I didn’t sign them up because not one of them pitched up to watch the games (I was disappointed). But I’ll be at the courts today & get excited over some small thing so that my inspiration will be back in line!
Here’s a photo of the U12s warming up…with the Youth Basketball League’s brand spanking new scoreboard. Pretty sweet if you ask me:-)














The only non-basketball related piece of news is that Alvin went to visit his grandmother & came back with bags of maize and chibwabwa (pumpkin leaves). I really wanted to prepare the chibwabwa (pronounced like those hideous little dogs- Chihuahua) but didn’t have much confidence in my abilities. I invited over one of my colleagues & we had a blast preparing a hearty Zambian meal. Delicious!
Note that Zambian cook with a fair lot of o-i-l…YIPE.














Oh, I also had a haircut last night much better than the last one I had in Long acres market*hahah*. I decided to pose by the bike…I never posted a photo of the 'new bike' (we've had it since before the India trip). Somehow Alvin managed a swap of sorts, & got this brand spanking new bike for the same price as the second-hand one that had the problem with the pedal (like every time I took it for a ride the whole arm of the pedal would fall off). So this is the beauty I’ll be cruising on…I wanted to go for a ride this morning but slept clear through my alarm. I’ve got a date tomorrow morning though…I’ll let ya’ll know how that goes*smile*. And for those friends of mine who are really into bikes…this is like the Cadillac of bikes in Lusaka, & yes, it’s about the equivalent of a cheap Canadian Tire bike. But for all it’s worth, I couldn’t be happier.