Yesterday we went into Choma, which is a town about 45 minutes away from the misson. We shopped at the market and also visited a museum. They had awesome handmade items at the museum gift shop and I ended up purchasing a bunch of stuff to take home for gifts for family and friends. Super neato! I’d tell you what they are but I don’t want to spoil any surprises! ;) After visiting the museum, we had an awesome picnic lunch on the museum's front lawn.
Dr. Weaver went and got all of us chicken and French fries and we ate before heading to the market for some more shopping.
Kaylee, Rachel, and I roamed the market together and found some more awesome fabrics for chetinges. Everything is so cheap here. One US dollar is equivalent to about 5,000 kwacha. We were all so excited after visiting the ATM because our account balances made us all look like we were billionaires. Haha. Good stuff!
pic of 20,000 kwacha (4 american dollars)
The market in Choma is a lot bigger and way more INTENSE than the one in Kolomo. We experienced some pushy sales people and actually got to bargain with some of them. I traded a pen and a few thousand kwacha for a chitenge....and Kaylee and Rachel traded a couple bic pens and pony tail holders for a machete. Hilarious! Always an experience in the market! The only downside of shopping in the market is the horrible smell. It will literally make you sick. They have millions and millions of raw fish for sale piled up on the ground. Needless to say we did not purchase any of this! Grossness!
lady at the market.... her shirt says it all. "No money, no honey!"
After getting back from a day of shopping, we went straight to Ms. Mono’s house. She is a sweet little lady that lives on the mission and can literally sew anything you want! FOR CHEAP! We put in our orders for some really cool stuff! Everything she sells helps pay for her children’s schooling. She is so welcoming and sweet and it is always fun to go visit her. I got an awesome dress made and also a few more items for gifts. (secrets!)
The famous Ms. Mono
Today we got to go to church on the mission. It was the most amazing experience worshiping in Zambia! Because their primary language is English here, almost all of the songs they sing are familiar songs that I have grown up singing in my hometown church. It makes me feel like I am at camp kurios.
During the morning service, a few of us got to hold the babies from the Haven. I had the most adorable little baby boy in my lap. The church service lasted over two hours, so you can imagine the type of wiggle worms we were dealing with. We all brought smarties candy and goldfish with us for the kids. They all loved munching on them during the service. So we practiced saying the “m” sound in “more”(quietly of course) and also saying please and thank you and using a few prepositions while playing with toys (aka pony tail holders, Dr. Weaver’s watch, or sunglasses) . We seize the opportunity for language enrichment any chance we get around here! Haha. I was so shocked to see how well the children here share. When they were eating they would gladly hand another child a piece or two or share their toys) with each other…..which is so unlike most selfish kids in America. My child in particular was obsessed with my hair and played with it constantly. Sooooo adorable!
kaylee, jaimie, and I with our kids during church
After lunch we got to have a whole afternoon doing whatever we wanted to do. It was amazing to lay in my bed (under my mosquito net of course) and just read. I read 160 pages of my book. Haha. I just might finish the whole bookshelf in the hall before I leave at this rate!
After a relaxing afternoon, we went to dinner and then church again at 7. This time they had two groups of special singers. It was so neat to hear them sing in Tonga. We had no idea what they were saying of course, but it sounded so pretty. During the service two stray dogs walked into the chapel. They must of enjoyed the singing too! ;)
I tried to get a pic of the two doggies, but it didnt turn out so great.
Next Sunday I am bringing my phone so I can record a video of it for sure!
Tomorrow is our first day of work/therapy at the Haven. We are all so excited. Each day we rotate out between the 3 havens doing language enrichment, swallowing studies, or tutoring kids at the schools. It is going to be an awesome learning experience with the swallowing, since none of us have had our swallowing class yet. We will get a head start on next semester thanks to our handy dandy swallowing expert, Caroline!
We are also excited to have another SLP on our team, Marja. isn't she gorgeous? can we say america's next top model? haha.
Both of these girls are helping supervise while Dr. Tullos and Dr. Weaver are teaching class and we are thankful to have them!
Please pray our first day is a success and we don’t have any “situations” haha.
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1 comments:
Wow!! I love the pictures!! I am dealing with swallowing issues at my off-site as well!! We should be prepared maybe for our upcoming class!!
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