Round 2- Sports/ watching sports

Oh we Canadians love our sports, don’t we? Al & I had a blast catching (or participating in) several sporting events.

We had our first "Wii" experience (Thanks Tommy!) I'm about as good at Wii bowling as I am at real bowling- priceless.

Here I am on the Wii Fit trying to Hula Hoop, Al is heading the soccer balls.






























We travelled to Saskatoon to see my Gran's new abode and for the "boys" to go fishing...despite the cold weather the guys had a blast & literally caught buckets of fish (there are photos to prove it- no fisherman tales there). We had a delicious fish fry with loads of family after they spent the day on the lake. Here's my fisherman with my Grand-Uncle Neil.
















Catch of the day:-)















Dear Carly took us out for true blue Canadian Football!! Eskies versus Roughriders pre-season game- what a blast.












































Tom, Dev & Trevor decided an afternoon trip to the driving range would be a good idea. Fabulous fun I say. Here's our very own Zambian Tiger!
















Al's first love it basketball...he played every chance he had. I couldn't' help but giggle when he played with a sea of Asians (see photo below). Unfortunately I can't find the photos from the "International Basketball League" game we attended. It was actually really fun, those of you reading this from Edmonton should go out & support the "NRG"...Energy...

Friends from Lusaka

I'm going to try to post some more highlights from our trip back to the Motherland. In no specific order. Round 1.

Al & I had several mutual friends from our time here in Lusaka to catch up with back in Canada. Here are a few of the candids- we were so thrilled to be able to re-connect with such wonderful people!

Our dear friends Kel & Claire happen to be living just outside of Edmonton- & Claire just happened to have their first child while we were home! It was so exciting to seem them both & meet their beautiful baby Cruz.












































We passed through Ottawa on our way to Edmonton to catch up with family (they'll come in another post)*grin* & two of my former colleagues & dear friends.

There is nothing better than an ice cream date...















My generous cousins hosted a feast & welcomed Julie, her hubby (who's name escapes me at the moment...something terribly English. Jon I think) & Marilyne- again, completely overwhelming hospitality & love!
















We couldn't resist this one...
















Toronto (on both ends of our time in Edmonton). Sarah T baked her famous pineapple upside down cake for my spoiled husband (well...I suppose it was his birthday)*grin*
















Our good friend Kieran- who we got used to seeing in Lusaka about every six months- alas, now he is back to work in Toronto & we will have to steal time like we did en route back to London. We even had the chance to meet his lady friend Claire...















From left to right- Naomi (who I met my first year in Lusaka- we climbed Kilimanjaro together so it was a trip catching up with her after 4 years or so), then there's Mike who's Christine's boyfriend. Christine has come to Zambia a couple of times for research- we were lucky enough to befriend her, & see her in TO!















Christine actually introduced us to Emily (in Lusaka) who is also a star! We spent a lot of holidays together- like Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays- & our get togethers always included feasting & perhaps a little too much wine or sangria. Naomi again on the right.

One of my favourite holidays…

It’s Canada Day again! Weeeee. There’s nothing too exciting happening here, but I am looking forward to a pizza lunch with my workmates, and a game of Canadian Cranium!

Hope you all have a good one (even if you’re not Canadian)*grin*

Back in Lu...

I kept telling myself I’d update my blog nicely- with photos & tales in chronological order…but then I surely wouldn’t post anything. So let me start posting some of the highlights (with the fear that I may miss something, or offend someone who made time for us- horrors- along the way).

What a trip. We ran from the time we left Lusaka & I enjoyed every moment! I owe sincere thanks to so many people who hosted us, visited us, & went out of their way to ensure that we would enjoy our trip back to my Motherland.

My folks were gracious enough to host a BBQ for me one Saturday. Friends came from near














& far
















Gloria (above) & her hubby drove up from Vernon, & Marty (in photo below- far left) came up from Calgary).
















- many bearing gifts (yeah Anna!)- to catch up. Crazy to think that so many people freed up their Saturday to say ‘hello’: good friends came, former colleagues, even parents of my friends made time to pass through. It was a miserable day (see me & Al in a wet SNOW flurry...though you can't really tell)















but that certainly didn’t stop anyone from having fun. I’m so thankful that so many people were able to make a bit of time for us; I also have to apologize for not making time to see many of you again!! (Honestly, that was the fastest 3 weeks of my life)- but home is always home & we’ll be back again before anyone will notice that we’re gone.

And now, coming back home to Lusaka (yes, this will be confusing because I feel like I really have two homes now)…I had a little bit of a rude awakening.
It is cold season here- while everyone back in Canada is revving up to full-summer gear, it’s chilly in the mornings & evenings and the days are SHORT! (Oh what a change from the long summer days in Edmonton).
I splashed on my lip-screen before heading out the door to work Wednesday morning & had apparently forgotten about all the dust. When the wind blew a cloud of dust adhered to my shiny lips- nasty when I absent-mindedly licked them:-)
Otherwise, first meal back home was nshima & chicken & it was lovely! And the power cut this morning (which didn’t really faze me because I’d had my warm bath already)- but did distinctly remind me that we’re not in Canada anymore*grin*

Yay!

My brother got married- Weeeee!!

Congrats Tommy & Dev




































Cutting the cake at the after party in my parents backyard- it was a perfect day

Auntie Sarah

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee, Alvin's young brother & his partner Ethel had their baby girl on Saturday! We're all happy that both mum & baby are doing well. It is obvious that the baby has come from basektballers- she's got the longest baby fingers I've ever seen! I suppose it's either basketball or piano for this little tyke*grin*.

Here are a happy mum & dad

Our good friend Kolo came to visit the baby as well- clearly she's much more comfortable with newborns than Auntie Sarah...

Trouble-shooting Friday

The water disaster lives on. Gah. For the past few days we’ve had a problem with our hot water tank (when the Lusaka Water people put in our separate metre they apparently did not re-attach the supply to our hot water tank properly). That resulted in a number of baths where the warm water would not even cover my thighs, which led to washing my hair under the cold water tap. Boo. (Especially since it’s getting to be cold season here & the evenings and mornings are frigid). Finally Alvin convinced the Lusaka Water guy to come back & resolve the situation. What do I find on Wednesday? A hot water tank that is overflowing. Imagine. They start charging us by consumption and then ensure that water is being wasted. Of course we couldn’t let that situation persist for a few days, so Alvin sourced another plumber guy to fix the connection between hot water tank & regular water supply. Last night was heaven- a full steamy hot bath*sigh*. Only to wake up this morning with NO hot water. Turns out the guy stopped the leaking but left us with only that tank of hot water. Cheers to boiling water on the stove this morning and bathing in a bucket. Oooh the hardships…& Friday no less.
The funny bit- one of my girlfriends who I met in Lusaka is now living back in Canada & I was explaining to her about our water fiascoes. She simply said “You know, those are the things you miss when you live in Canada”.
This morning I’m thinking “Right, girl- just like a toothache”.

The good news is that it’s a Friday leading to a long weekend- Happy Africa Freedom Day!!

Flowers & other bits & bobs

Isn’t my newly planted nasturtium beautiful!? I hope that it’ll fill out in the coming weeks (I think my composted soil looks better than before- though that could simply be my optimism shining through). I think I’m one of those horrible people that smiles at the simplest things; this photo will become my new screen saver…I wonder what will happen if it ever flowers*hahahah*

Of other note I feel like I should boast that I finally made it through Bill Bryson’s renowned “A short history of nearly everything”. I have to confess that I’m not a big fan of Mr. Bryson- but this book did have its share of fascinating tidbits. In fact, the only parts I suffered through were the ones reminiscent of grade 10 chemistry (which I never did pass)*giggling*.

I’m going to leave it at that because really there’s not too much exciting happening with me. I’m counting down for my trip home, trying to focus on school so I can relax while home, and still enjoying my coaching (three BSA players have officially made the under 16 National team- we’re so proud)!!!

Trains, planes, & automobiles

Right, I know it's a bit pathetic to be so excited about booking our train tickets from Toronto to Ottawa- but I'm thrilled! The trip is actually coming together. I'm looking so forward to the visit to the Motherland. Countdown's on.
xo.

Mosquito dive-bombs

I think the most annoying sound in the world is swarming mozzies dive-bombing your head when you’re trying to rest. Horrors. Early this morning the power cut & the hungry mozzie sounds woke me up at 02h19. With the fan off, no longer able to blow away & drown out the mosquito humming, I was fit to be tied. I slept -& sweat- under a heavy blanket (that the mosquitoes can’t bite through) & Al sprayed the bedroom in hopes of wiping them out for the few more hours of rest we needed. I made it out of bed this morning for my cold bath (still no electricity) unscathed- I can’t believe it! But now I’m told the water has also been cut as Lusaka Water is installing new pipes- which in the long run is a good thing, but no water & no power- it’s another crazy Monday.

We did have a lovely weekend though; lots of visiting, a bit of swimming, & no running. I had zero desire to run so I enjoyed some yoga & swimming & will try to get back on track this weekend. Sure felt good to rest!

See below a photo of BSA’s under 12 basketball team. One of our coaches has an aunt who lives in the UK & she sent over these little blue golf t-shirts for the boys “warm-up” attire. They seemed to bring a bit of luck as the boys beat their opponents (ranked 1st place last year) by one basket- it’s fun to be excited about such little kids playing ball. Love it

Warming up

Pre-game posing

What a Monday

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*

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!

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!!

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.

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!

BSA Teambuilding #1

Hi all,
Each year we try to incorporate some kind of "team building" activity with our young athletes. In 2007 I remember going swimming in the filthiest pool imaginable- but we had a blast. Last year we only managed to do an awards/end-of-year party. And I suppose one day we did some work on the court but ended up having snacks & juice with the kids which could be considered another form of team building. I digress.

This year we had an opportunity to expose our kids to something new & jumped on board. So both our u12 & u15 teams participated in a drumming session. (My big u18 team were not interested- love it)! So here are a few shots of Towani with "Professor Mpundu" teaching the little tykes how to drum. Some of the kids were great; others were bored. All in all we had a great day. Now I just need to dream up a fun event for the big kids!!

Here's the whole crew...with a host of curious spectators



























































This kid- Ben- smiled the ENTIRE afternoon. Cracked me up.

Earthworms & flying toads

I had the fright of my life this morning…in retrospect though, it’s pure comedy! After bathing this morning I headed into the kitchen to snoop for some breakfast. Just at the door to the kitchen I see a critter fly through the air and I hear a “clunk” as this yet-to-be-identified creature hammers itself into the bottom of the kitchen cupboards. My first reaction is to scream and run. As I reach the safety of the bedroom I start analyzing what exactly the creature could have been. I have deduced that our friendly toad is back! Horray! Every year the toad visits our kitchen- I can’t believe it’s waited until the end of the rainy season before showing itself. Unhappily, it appears to be living under our kitchen cupboards…which means there is a lot of water leaking into the flat. For now, I’m turning a blind eye though I may start looking desperately for a new flat pretty soon*hahaha*

As for the earthworms, I checked up on my composting project over the weekend (though I’ve only been doing it for a couple of weeks now) & I am happy to report a marked increase in earthworms! Yay! I’ve convinced myself that this is the key to composting and healthy soil though I haven’t backed that up with any research…

Basketball Interrupted

I have to admit that on Saturday I was pulled away from the courts for some family affairs. Alvin's young brother is now engaged to his long-term girlfriend Ethel- Yay! The whole event was sobering (Ethel is pregnant) & the two were expected to look awfully serious until negotiations had been made (yes, bizarre) & a ring had been put on her finger.

They're a lovely young couple & they're looking so forward to parenthood; I'm quite excited to be an auntie again!!!!

At least the two were allowed to start smiling as a beer was being poured for Chisanga*grin*

More baller shots

I know ya'll are probably tired of photos of basketballers but I'm still excited from the Youth Basketball League's opening tournament. We (BSA) had 3 teams participate; all losing out in the semi-finals. But based on the number of teams that used overage players we are going to have a stellar season (over-aged players will not be able to participate in league games).
These kids just make me smile.
This is my under 18 team in the new jersey they received from Canada
















Here are Alinafe & Kawana's under 15 squad. They got bread & juice for lunch & they were happy!

A greener me

I've started a small composting project & I'm SO excited.
I will have to report on the successes & failures*grin*



Nothing like a little inspiration:

Drinks & drumming

A ladies afternoon with a twist: 1) we weren’t only women, & 2) gossip was interrupted with drums.

Yup, you guessed it. Towani is still experimenting with her business idea (we did drumming & dancing at my “bridal shower”- sorry, photos STILL haven’t gone up here) & she brought over her drums & drum instructor for a little session with us ladies (& Al). I have to admit- I love it! I think it’s fun & well…unlike how I would spend my time in Canada*grin*. So here we are trying to be musicians. We’re pretty terrible; I think the instructor is awfully brave! It reminds me of music class in elementary school when all the kids would pull out their recorders & chaos would ensue.