Our fortieth day in African and it ended in a brilliantly funny and strange night out so once again I’ve left in until the following day to write this (I’m now back in Lusaka). So much happens each day it can be hard remembering what happened to write this blog (and 7 or 8 Castle beers don’t help). The day started a bit late for Kaoma at about 10. Dan was still feeling unwell so he more or less spent the day in bed again. I had a number of things like drawings to finish so I spent the morning sitting in the gazebo drawing. We weren’t expecting to get dinner and they needn’t have bothered as it turned out to be the horrible half cooked sausages and metallic spuds. I ate the spuds and left the half cooked sausages (I didn’t fancy spending a day on the shitter). After dinner I made a quick dash to town to get some credit and found it hard to get 10000 kwatcha ( I could have got 10 1000’s but it’s really annoying entering them all). Once I got back we decided to head to Leonard house to say goodbye to the small babies. They are so funny, once you pick up one kid they all fight to be picked up shouting Makua at you. I had loads of kids fighting to be picked up. I picked up one kid and he fell asleep in my arms. He was hugged into my chest and was sound asleep and as he was heavy I decided to sit on the ground with him. All the other kids crowded around me pulling at my hair and cloths trying to get the camera and phone from my pocket. I gave one kid my phone and she somehow managed to ring home from it. Another kid was pulling at my pocket trying to get my camera. He was trying for ages and when he got it I had to take it back (they drool all over it). Everytime I took it back he started crying I felt so bad. I felt so bad whenever I stood up because all the kids I wasn’t carrying would start bawling crying. After about an hour their carers took out packets of biscuits for them to have, the kid asleep in my arms jumped up straight away when he heard the packet. As they were all distracted we decided to sneak out (we didn’t want to go but when we leave they all start crying so we taught we’d sneak out while they were distracted). It was sad leaving but on a good note some of the kids that had been there before had returned home to the families. Once we got back to the guesthouse we sat and had a long conversation with Sr. Mollie about our time here and how much we’ve enjoyed it and how we’d love to return someday. During our conversation Timothy came in and asked us if we were ready to go out so we said goodbye to Mollie and got ready. Dan wasn’t feeling well enough so it was just the three of us, Timothy and Masi. The first place we went to was called “The Backyard Niteclub” and it was a bizarre place it was basically a shed but was done up nicely. The place was small and it was also quite dead. We went to the bar and ordered our drinks (castle beer was the only choice which didn’t impress Áine) the women behind the counter just stared back at Áine after she had given us the drinks and didn’t give Áine any change. A strange staring standoff followed with Áine asking for her change but getting no response. Eventually we found out that she had no change so instead we had a tab at the bar (ok if you’d just say so love it would help). The conversation was a little more awkward at first than last time (the shite music of Shane Ward played 3 times and also James Blunt didn’t help). There was no one on the dancefloor and it was very dark but eventually the conversation started flowing (isn’t it amazing the way alcohol solves all awkwardness). I needed the bathroom and eventually found it down along corridor it turns out the place was much bigger than I thought. The bathroom was bizarre, it was one small shed with a small trench for the piss (don’t even suggest a number 2) all the time I was there a guy from Swaziland stood there talking to me (talk about stagefright). After around four rounds (us buying for them everytime). They decided we should try somewhere else. We went down the road to a small club which was the size of an average kitchen in a housing estate. The walls were white with mirrors and the floor was black and white tiles. The DJ was the barman who had a TV on the bar counter with music loaded on it, there was gaps between songs and the music stopped when he went the bathroom. When we arrived the place was quite so we ordered another round and started to dance to the Venagboys (it was bizarre we all sang the song at the top of our voices it was one of those strange stories I’ll never forget). Eventually the place started to fill until the dancefloor (the whole pub) was packed. It was strange doing our bad Irish dancing among all people who could dance well (although we did show them some Irish dancing and me and Timothy were dancing together Irish style it was really funny). One couple came in and the guy introduced himself and said the woman was his girlfriend, to make chat I said lucky man he said “thanks” and then started dancing provocatively with me while she did the same with Jamie. Eventually other guys and girls started dancing provocatively with us it was weird but apparently it’s just their culture. We kept dancing all night to the same 10 songs on repeat (vengaboys, cher and a local song that we’ve heard everywhere called Sawa Sawa). When we ordered another drink the barman kindly said if anyone was bothering him to let him know. Nobody bothered us really though (I would rather not have guys dancing like that with me but again you just have to say T.I.A this is Africa). The bathrooms here were once again an experience with women having to pass through the guys jacks to get to the ladies toilets, also the door didn’t quite close meaning people on the dancefloor could see you in the jacks. Around 1.30, with the place still hopping, we decided to head home. It was one of the best nights out I’ve had, it really was so funny, that even this description doesn’t do it justice (I think Áine has some pictures which I’ll get and upload). So that was our last day in the Western Province and our last day as volunteers, it’s sad to leave but Lusaka and Livingston are next.
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