52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 32

The weekend of my birthday, I went to Sugarbush with some mates.

And as always, the call of Jackal & Hyde was too strong for me to ignore.
I couldn't decide between a lovely little red bag,
and a very large brown computer bag.
I loved the red,
but the brown was more practical.
That's when my mate,
and I can't remember if it was Betti or Val,
suggested I order the large in red.

Don't I have smart mates?

This weekend Betti, Craig, the kids and I went back to Sugarbush.

Ethan and Cyana were thrilled to get up close and personal with the horses.

And I got to collect my....
.... you guessed it...
new bag!

Happiness is my new red bag!

The Boys of the Food Network Challenge

I have to admit. I love watching Food Network Challenge.

Seriously. Check out some of these cakes.

But if I'm perfectly honest,

my favourite episodes don't have so much to do with the cakes,

as it does with the pastry chefs.

I don't know what's yummier...

the cakes

or these boys.

What's even sweeter,

Joshua John Russel and

Jason Ellis

are best mates in real life.

Now don't you want to watch?

You get twice the eye candy.

Delicious cakes.

And amazing boys!

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I was recently told by a dear mate, that my blog is too PC. Too PC??? What does that mean? Well apparently I'm too nice. She wants the scoop. Not sure what scoop there is to tell, we're all really enjoying it here. But I thought I'd please my mate and introduce you to The Good,  the Bad and the Ugly of living in Lusaka.

The Good

Before leaving Dar to come here, I met someone who asked me to quickly name 3 things I knew and loved about Lusaka. Well that was easy. Ethan and I had just gotten back to Dar after a month in Canada, and there were all kinds of power issues. So my three things were:

1) No power issues

2) No water issues

3) The roads are paved.

Well you'll need to scroll down to the Bad to learn a little more about the power issues. I have to say, we've yet to have any water issues (quickly need to go touch wood). And while I have come across some unpaved roads, it's really not a big deal.

Lusaka is great. In the 2 months that Ethan and I have been here, we've managed 2 weekend getaways. And we're planning a trip to Ndola later this month. 

Work is great. I love the school. It's a smaller one than the one in Dar. Everyone gets along. There's no one trying to show off. I love how the school really invests in their teachers. I'm being sent for PYP training later this month. We had a Maths trainer come from the US to train all us new teachers on the Maths program. I have literacy training. The school uses First Steps, and they train teachers instead of giving them a program and expecting the teachers to figure it out.

Every Friday at school, we have our very own farmer's market.

I find we're eating healthier here. I think the fact that I don't have to spend $10 on a red pepper helps.

I've made some great mates.

Kilimanjaro Cafe and Sugar Bush.

The Dutch Reform Market.

The Bad

While we haven't had many power issues, the power did go off last night around 2am. It's not as hot and muggy here as it is in Dar, so it wasn't too bad. However, when I woke at 6am, the power still hadn't returned, so I had to shower in the dark. The power did come back. but went off again around noon, and only came on now (6pm). 

Ethan's social life has taken a hit. I don't really know the parents' of his classmates, so he hasn't had many playdates. And while I love the school, I tend to be there until 4 o'clock most days, which means Ethan and I don't spend as much time together. I feel like I'm neglecting him. 

I miss the beach.

I miss my mates in Dar. And it's sad to say, we have not all kept in touch like we promised to.

I'm not use to the weather here. It's cold!!!!!!!

The Ugly
I'm putting this is both the bad and ugly, and it's my busy schedule. There are days I feel guilty that I'm not home as much as I use to. Also, a lot of my mates in Dar were moms of Ethan's mates. So if I met with them, Ethan came along and played with his mates. Here, I either leave Ethan behind, or take him, and he's the only child.

I have had a few bad days at school. I have a lovely, yet challenging class. There are days I wonder what am I doing.


So there's the scoop. Life in Lusaka is lovely. I'm not trying to be PC. There's just not a whole lot to complain about.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 31

Our social committee organised an afternoon on the Kafue Queen.

We left shortly after school on Friday, and took the bus down to the Queen.

All aboard!

The Queen took us down the Kafue River.

It was an afternoon/evening filled with good friends, 

and drinks.

Happiness is a Friday afternoon, on a boat, with some great mates.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 30

Elections were last Tuesday.

Thursday Scott wasn't feeling well, and came home early.

Thursday, there were also riots in town, so school closed a little early

Friday, a new president was announced.

And the town went crazy again.

School was cancelled.

And Scott came home sick again.

We decided we needed a weekend away.

So we packed some clothes, and headed out.

Ethan and I were in our camouflage gear.

To get to the Protea Safari Lodge

you get to drive through a amazing forest

and see animals hiding.

We  reached the lodge, 

to find it's there,

right on a lake.

We spent most of the weekend by the pool,

only to learn we weren't the only ones to love it.

Saturday morning, we made our way to see the lion enclosure.

Before heading out on Sunday,
we decided to take a drive around the park
to see what we could see.

This place would look amazing during the rainy season.
For now, it gave me small reminders of autumn.

We did manage a couple glimpses
of some beautiful animals.

Happiness is a beautiful, relaxing weekend away.

Room - Emma Donoghue

OMG! Talk about heartbreaking. What a fabulous book this was.

A couple weeks ago, a colleague of mine told me about a book she read when she was flying from London to Lusaka. Her connecting flight in Jo'burg was delayed, which she appreciated, as it allowed her to finish the book. All she told me was that it was called Room, was a story written in the perspective of a 5 year old who's basically grown up in a room and everything is his friend (ie the Table and Dora).

Jack is 5 years old. His mother was kidnapped 7 years ago and has been locked in a room ever since. Jack believes their Room is the world and everything Outside is like TV. Jack's mother realises they need to escape and comes up with a plan. But the plan depends on her 5 year old being the saviour.

Heartbreaking.

Once they escape, the book continues as Jack begins to see the World as it truly is. It's big, there are people everywhere, some things on TV are real and some things are not. He must learn to deal with these changes, including the changes in his mother, who missed the world and is trying to cope with the changes being away for 7 years has done.

Jack is a typical 5 year old in that he is curious and inquisitive. He doesn't understand why Room was bad. He misses the simplicity of life in Room. 

And after reading Room, I made sure to give Ethan some extra hugs.

Once Dead, Twice Shy - Kim Harrisson

This was one of those free or 99 cent books offered through Pixel of Ink. You've got to like that, because you get to read a book you probably would never have found on your own. And what's even better; when you enjoy it!

Once dead, Twice Shy is the first in the Madison Avery Trilogy, but when you start reading it, you almost wonder if it's the second book, or even if you've missed the first few chapters. 

The book opens with Madison telling you how at her prom, she was killed. Sorta. She was scythe by a dark reaper and when he came to take her soul, she stole his amulet and now she's got the impression of a body. This is where I wondered what I missed. It wasn't made clear, at least I didn't think so, until further in the book that the dark reaper has her body, her soul now has the amulet which gives her the body people see, so although she's dead, she's not! Follow?

Because she has the amulet, she has a light reaper by her side. He's there to help and protect her. When it's learnt the amulet belongs to the dark timekeeper and not reaper, a guardian angel is also sent to guard her. As I type this, I realise it's beginning to sound complicated which is it, until a few chapters in when you get more information.

There's even a cute budding romance. And we all know I love those romances. teeheehee.