mid-march adventures

This week we cut John's hair! We bought scissor and trimmed as close as we could and then John used a razor on the rest (Ruth touched up the hard to reach places). He looks great and it is much cooler! The only downside is that he has funny tan-lines on his head from wearing a hat... which is much better than a burnt head!

One night we were laying down getting ready to go to bed and we heard a rustling in the corner, it was getting loud so john gave a "HEY!" shout and it stopped for a moment and then started up again! Ruth gave a BIG SCREAM! John got up to investigate... only to discover a frog that was hopping around on the plastic bags! Oh! what a laugh we had at that!

Thursday John went into town and purchased some starter plants (rape and cabbage) we are starting a garden around our house. We also have plans to grow pumpkins, beans, sweet potatoes and carrots! We will have lots of extra that we can give to our neighbors too!

On Friday we went to Anna Marie's Paradise, a local restaurant in Mansa town, for lunch as a special treat with our Finish friends Mari and Maree. We had delicious Bream, which is a large fish with nshima and a relish. John choose to have his with chips (he is not a big fan of nshima). The fish was gutted but the head and bones were all there.

On Saturday Ruth went to the ladies gathering at church where she conducted a pizza-making demonstration. The pizza turned out fantastic despite not having any measuring equipment or real baking sheets! The ladies also made beef stew with nshima and cassava leaves, it was a delicious meal and Ruth learned some traditional dances, how to tie the chitangy, and how to cook their traditional foods on coals. Many people still use coals because the electricity is not reliable. Even though it makes it smokey!

On Sunday between church services we went to the Peace Corps house. We met two fellow Americans and visited and talked with them there. The house is located in Mansa, the capital of Luapula so that all the peace corps folks who are in the area can go there to rest, and get money and supplies they need. They lent us a Bemba language book, but we found out that they have a 2 month orientation where they learn the language for 4 hours a day! I don't think we have that kind of time... but we will learn what we can while we are here. I think the Peace Corps experience is more about the living/cultural experience and their projects are secondary; I think the Fulbright is more about doing the project and the living/cultural experience is a secondary emphasize.

It was such a busy weekend that I didn't have time to clean and we are starting to get an ant issue. So, I spent a couple of hours this morning sweeping, scrubbing and mopping and relocating the ant-delicious food. I guess ants are not such a bad pest, they are little and you know they are after: the sugar. They sure are better than roaches, but I still don't like it when they get into the food and on the table. I am hoping this cleaning will keep them at bay for at least a few weeks.