When I spoke to Al at lunch yesterday he had informed me that he’d gotten pulled over by the cops & had to pay a whopping fine for not having paid road tax or something (this was a work car, not the Pajero). I guess his day didn’t start out great…but as our Mondays wore on things just became funnier & funnier.
I was walking home from work & had just told off this very drunk man when I tripped and realized my sandal broke. Gah- karma. I thought for sure I had been too mean to this drunkard who maybe just wanted to say Hi. Right. Well in any case when I pulled over to change my shoes (yes, I was carrying heels in my bag- no comments girls) the drunk guy moved on. I had a laugh with a guy who found it awfully funny that I should have back-up shoes. And onward I hiked…only to find the yard full of Al’s friends; turns out Al also had a flat (this time in the Pajero). Al was not impressed with his day so I decided my adventure earlier in the afternoon would cheer him up. No, not my broken shoe…another ridiculous event.
It was actually beautiful yesterday, so I had switched on the fan in my office. (We have these high-tech air conditioning systems that are attached above the windows in our offices). I hear this awful “chika-chika-chika” & I’m thinking- what the heck is wrong with my air con now. As I look over my shoulder something spits out of the air con & lands on the ground with a crack. I think it’s a leaf or a branch or something & as I get closer the thing scuttles away- apparently a gecko had gone into hiding in my air con. I thought that was the funniest thing ever.
Flying geckos & flat tires…Monday Monday*grin*
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Finally
I think that running a half-marathon has been on my “goals” list since 2004. I remember well training for that with Jen’s Cody; I blew my ankle about a week before the race & cheered Cody on from the sidelines*smile*. Saturday my running partner & I finally just said- “Let’s do it”. It had been postponed since Easter weekend (first him then me). Here’s a brief rundown of our Saturday morning.
We met at the usual spot, usual time. We set off on the route I had mapped out to cover the 21 kilometres. About 5 km’s in Coach wants to take a different route & after a couple of seconds of confusion we realized a minor miscommunication. But no worries- coach could do 21km’s in his sleep, so he agrees to running the 21km's. Nothing of interest happens until I pull over to do a bit of stretching- that was around the 16km mark. (My goal was to run until about 15-17km & then catch my breath & stretch out a bit) so I was quite chuffed to have reached that point. At 17km I rolled my ankle which was no big deal because I do that all the time. By 18km I had a stitch that wouldn’t go away but I certainly wasn’t stopping. Then I got grumpy & said “Coach, this isn’t fun anymore. I think I max out at about 18km”. Then we started with the psycho-babble: “We’re so fortunate to have our health”, “It’s not supposed to be fun the whole way through- just think of how good we’ll feel after” & the like. With about 1.5 km’s to go I stopped to stretch again & just tell my brain that this was it. And off we went! And I did enjoy the last leg of the run. I had hoped that Alvin’s basketball game would finish earlier so that he could catch photos across the “finish line”. No luck. The best I can do is to include a photo of “the aftermath”. I think my feet were hardest hit because I spent the rest of the weekend as usual- except that I was busy telling anyone who could hear that I completed my half-marathon. (Oh, & we did it in just over 2 hours which I think must be a pretty slow time- but I don’t care)*muhahahah*.
I don’t think I’ll sign up for another for a while…but this bragging bit is great!
We met at the usual spot, usual time. We set off on the route I had mapped out to cover the 21 kilometres. About 5 km’s in Coach wants to take a different route & after a couple of seconds of confusion we realized a minor miscommunication. But no worries- coach could do 21km’s in his sleep, so he agrees to running the 21km's. Nothing of interest happens until I pull over to do a bit of stretching- that was around the 16km mark. (My goal was to run until about 15-17km & then catch my breath & stretch out a bit) so I was quite chuffed to have reached that point. At 17km I rolled my ankle which was no big deal because I do that all the time. By 18km I had a stitch that wouldn’t go away but I certainly wasn’t stopping. Then I got grumpy & said “Coach, this isn’t fun anymore. I think I max out at about 18km”. Then we started with the psycho-babble: “We’re so fortunate to have our health”, “It’s not supposed to be fun the whole way through- just think of how good we’ll feel after” & the like. With about 1.5 km’s to go I stopped to stretch again & just tell my brain that this was it. And off we went! And I did enjoy the last leg of the run. I had hoped that Alvin’s basketball game would finish earlier so that he could catch photos across the “finish line”. No luck. The best I can do is to include a photo of “the aftermath”. I think my feet were hardest hit because I spent the rest of the weekend as usual- except that I was busy telling anyone who could hear that I completed my half-marathon. (Oh, & we did it in just over 2 hours which I think must be a pretty slow time- but I don’t care)*muhahahah*.
I don’t think I’ll sign up for another for a while…but this bragging bit is great!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wonderful weekend
I felt so special over the weekend because Jen's Aunt Donna came to visit by way of Tanzania. Aunt Donna was volunteering in Rwanda with her lovely friend Helen & then planned a small tour of countries moving Southward. Lucky for me & Al they made Lusaka a weekend stop. We really didn't do anything exciting (they met my basketball team & co-coaches, saw Alvin's girls play, hit the local favourite fabric shop & spent Sunday picnicking at a zoo/botanical garden). Oh, & we ate lots of good food & drank a little bit of wine. And beer. But mostly I think we talked and talked & talked.
Unfortunately I only took one photo so when they post shots on their blog I'll steal them & post them here. What a blast. We LOVE company!!
Unfortunately I only took one photo so when they post shots on their blog I'll steal them & post them here. What a blast. We LOVE company!!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Easter Weekend
It's been a beautiful long-weekend in Lusaka! My boys won their basketball game on Saturday, the Zambia basketball Association hosted an opening tournament which offered some exciting games, and Easter Sunday saw to the annual Easter feast at the farm (Al's Grandmother's farm).
Here is me (yes, not my most flattering shot- I even look diseased) with my mother-in-law. I had to share since the photo cracked me up!
Two month old baby Andre took leave of his house for the first time! Mother Mutale was a bit nervous but Andre was ooh'ed & ahh'ed over for most of the afternoon- so cute.
Here's Al with Aunt Jose (who I discovered is my Aries sister).
My personal favourite part of the afternoon/ evening (apart from the heartfelt rock-out to Whitney Houston) was when the whole family joined in the African-ized version of the Electric Slide. (I know all my fellow Albertans remember learning the Electric slide- makes me think of Mr. Babiuk & elementary school gym class- horrors)! So this dance is almost the electric slide, which I find endlessly amusing, & everyone thinks it's funny that I should know the dance. Little do they know I come from the heartland of line dancing; maybe I'll try to teach "slapping leather" next year. Thankfully this version of the electric slide does not go together with Billy Ray Cyrus...I think it's an instrumental song- & seriously folks, this is a huge hit at the bars! Priceless.
Here is me (yes, not my most flattering shot- I even look diseased) with my mother-in-law. I had to share since the photo cracked me up!
Two month old baby Andre took leave of his house for the first time! Mother Mutale was a bit nervous but Andre was ooh'ed & ahh'ed over for most of the afternoon- so cute.
Here's Al with Aunt Jose (who I discovered is my Aries sister).
My personal favourite part of the afternoon/ evening (apart from the heartfelt rock-out to Whitney Houston) was when the whole family joined in the African-ized version of the Electric Slide. (I know all my fellow Albertans remember learning the Electric slide- makes me think of Mr. Babiuk & elementary school gym class- horrors)! So this dance is almost the electric slide, which I find endlessly amusing, & everyone thinks it's funny that I should know the dance. Little do they know I come from the heartland of line dancing; maybe I'll try to teach "slapping leather" next year. Thankfully this version of the electric slide does not go together with Billy Ray Cyrus...I think it's an instrumental song- & seriously folks, this is a huge hit at the bars! Priceless.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Toad Scat
Yep, that's what I googled after Al & I found these enormous poops in the house (one awfully fresh & one dried out). A whole bunch of "mysterious poop" stories came up & I got the giggles. Turns out toads have enormous oblong poops; so there was no mystery in my house, rather a sigh of relief. When I first saw the poops I thought that the little toad we have in the house could not possibly release such a huge poop, but one quick google search enlightened me. I was worried we had another housemate that would be less tolerable than a mere toad. Pheoof.
Happy Friday!
Happy Friday!
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