Washing clothes in a basin was my first act of the day (it’s impossible to get them clean) quickly followed by cornflakes and full cream UHT (so disgusting it’s like a cow pissed it out). The guys headed off again today to leave me get some drawing done. They were heading for a science competition called JETS in the high school which was due to start at 8 however they arrived back about nine saying it was delayed by a hour (oh Zambian time). On their way they arranged another 3 workshops in another school for next week. That’s about 1000 kids we’ll have thought in Zambia plus the 100 we thought in Ireland (its crazy I never pictured myself teaching let alone being part of a group that has thought that many Zambian children). Around 11 the others decided to head back to the high school so I decided to go with them to get out of the guesthouse for a bit. We arrived in the school hall an hour and a half late and shock horror it still hadn’t started (its Zambian time). There was a few dj’s blasting our Zambian pop music and we stood near the back. One of the teachers came over and shook our hand and the smell of drink off him would nearly cause any bystander to be drunk. He was the angriest sounding and looking man I’ve ever seen. No matter what he said it sounded like and his facial expression made it look like he was giving out to us (I’d say if any women was crazy enough to marry him, when he was telling them he loved them he’d still look and sound angry). We knew we would have to leave in around an hour for lunch so we stood near the back, however Mr Angry Face kicked a load of kids off a bench so we could sit on it. It was almost 4 hours now since it had been due to start and still nothing was happening. We were apparently waiting for some women in black suite (did anyone check Mr. Manenega’s office). Eventually she arrived and after a rendition of the national anthem and a minutes silence for the ex-president she gave one of the most boring and uninspiring speeches since the dawn of time. When she finished they said they were stopping for break and would reconvene at two. We decided not to return despite Mr. Angry Face shouting at us and telling us to return. The afternoon was quite until me, Áine and Jamie decided to head for a nearby pub to buy a few bottles of beer for watching a film later. The pub turned out to be really really nice so we stayed for one drink. It was the first place in Kaoma that’s made me feel like I was somewhere else. It was outdoor pub set right beside a river it was a really cool looking place. We shall be returning there. In the evening we were just finishing up another starchy plain supper, complaining about someone robbing our butter, when a guy came in to tell us the other group of Irish didn’t want the dinner that was cooked for them so we could have it. Oh great more fish or something else horrible. How wrong was I it turned out to be great big lumps of roast chicken and roast potatoes. It was so good, a meal fit for a king. We decided to save some for tomorrow. In the evening we watched Valkari a film about an assassination attempt on Hitler. It was as a reasonably good film. So that’s our day. Good shut eye time.
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