Oh hey, I'm still here

So about this blog thing...  It's really hard sometimes compress everything I experience in this country into a nice tidy post for people to read.  I guess that's why I've fallen off the map a bit in the last year.  And it's been about exactly a year since I've posted.  Oops.

Path to my house

Path to my house

I've been up to a lot in the past year.  Since I last posted, I took over teaching Grade 8 English (now Grade 9 English) full time at my school in Chimupati, visited Livingstone over the New Year, had my MIDTERM (!!!) conference in May, and am trying to start a community library project at my school.  I've been out of the village quite a bit because the community has been repairing the post-rainy season damage to my mud hut and re-thatching my grass roof. Currently, I'm on term break from school until September 9th when Term 3, the final term of the school year, begins.  So the timing works out well because I don't have to worry about missing school or a lot of work. 

Balloon fun in the village

My school

It's hard to believe that so much time has gone by here.  I only have about eight months left!  Time is completely different.  The days seem to go by so slow, but large chunks of time fly by.  It really feels as though August just started and it's nearly over. 
I feel like I have no time left to do the things I want to accomplish in my village.  Term 3 starts in a couple of weeks and it will be my last term teaching.  I'll be continuing to work with my same class, who are now Grade 9s.  They will be writing their Grade 9 placement exams in the beginning of November, which will determine whether they will be able to continue on to Grade 10 next year.  So there is a lot of pressure to try and catch them up as much as I can and work on teaching them standardized test-taking skills, which pupils are not taught.  I am also hoping to start a community library program at the school.  I have recently completed writing a grant through Peace Corps in attempt to raise money to build a library block for pupils to use for independent learning.  *SALES PITCH* If you would like to help create a safe space for pupils to take ownership of their learning, you can donate to this awesome cause and really help my community.  I will post the link to my community project in a separate post with more information (and maybe pictures if the internet cooperates), where you can read more about the project and donate if you so wish.  My community and I would really appreciate the help!!! *END SALES PITCH*  Making things happen in the village can be very slow and frustrating a lot of the time, so it feels really good when I have a good lesson with my pupils, or when I motivated my school to work with me to complete prep needed to complete and submit my grant.  I am really hoping I will be able to work with the village to make this building happen.

I'm spending a lot of time trying to maximize the time I have left here.  Currently, I'm in Lusaka spending some time with good friends who are about to COS( Close of Service), or finish their contract and go home.  It seems like it gets harder and harder every time a group of volunteers leave because you get closer to these people the longer you have to spend with them and it means that I'm getting closer to leaving here as well.  This time I'm trying really hard not to think about the fact that the next group to COS will be my group...

Well, this post has been scatterbrained enough, so I think I will end for now.  I'll be better about writing more consistently.  I promise.  I'll leave you with one of my favourite Zamsongs.  This came out a bit ago, but still, so, so good.