Is that a real snake?

So we are well and truly into the second half of this term... and what a great few weeks we have had here at Amano!
We ended half term with a staff braai on our veranda. Thankfully the storms held off and we were able to enjoy our burgers in peace :-) Was really great to have all staff together in one place at the same time! The terms seem to slip by with most staff being extremely busy so to all gather at once is a real treat!

The first weekend back was our 'annual cook off'; based on the idea of TV programme 'Ready Steady Cook' the grade 11&12 boys and girls go head to head in preparing and cooking a main meal. They each get a list of the same ingredients which they can choose from. The boys were cooking at Mr Jarrett's house and the girls a combination of the tiny trailer kitchen and the banana house with Miss Kerry. They each had 2 hours to cook and then we all joined back together to enjoy each others cooking and let the judges decide!

The evening was filled with lots of yummy food from both teams but in the end the girls won it again with their creativity, appearance and taste!

This term, the girls dorm have been busy busy trying to fundraise for a Girls dorm day out! They have been busy baking cakes to sell at school and cleaning staff houses to add up the kwacha for a trip out to Nsobe Game Park in Ndola. They worked extremely hard and raised enough to go on the weekend!
We set off nice and early at 7am for the 2 and bit hour drive. We had a great morning of snake viewing (and handling!), canoeing and swimming. Followed by lunch in the restaurant of burgers and chips. Then we had a rather non-eventful game drive around the park (although there was fierce competition between the male staff and girls of who could spot the most animals!). To put the icing on the cake we stopped off at local shopping mall for an icecream! Such a great day out and a real treat for the girls (and staff!) to get off site and have a treat :-)

Jon and I are both healthy and happy and enjoying life here at Amano :-)

Half Term

I watched a brilllliant film last night with a friend called 'Simon Birch'. Such a brilliant, laugh out loud, unexpected tears, crazy ending kind of film! There was such a poignant quote in it which pretty much sums up this term so far; 'Time is a monster that cannot be reasoned with. It responds like a snail to our impatience, then it races like a gazelle when you can't catch a breath.' 

So crazily 4 weeks have already passed and we now have half term, it weirdly feels too soon but of course is nice to 'catch a breath' :-) Jon is busy catching up with lesson plans and trying to get ahead for next term (and playing lots of computer games ;-))Not much to report as been mainly working and chilling. We had a lovely night staying at a friends house on Saturday in town. Played darts, watched movies and had a great time catching up with them. Seen other friends and eaten too much!! 

Last night I took some time to make a 'photo wall' in our dining room (I say room...I mean area...lol). We took the pictures down when we moved but it's really nice to have familiar smiling faces down on us as we eat our supper again :-) Reminds me of how blessed we are to have such awesome friends and family both in England and here in zambia too!  
Thought I would also add some pics of the inside of our lovely new trailer :-)


 

Lounge Area

 

Teeny tiny lovely bathroom

 

Kitchen area

 

Bedroom

It's small but cosy and we really feel happy here. Not only that but it's sooo great having the veranda and being able to sit out there and watch all the wildlife and all the spectacular storms.
Not much else to report but thought I would share this funny photo from youth group before we broke up. We came up with a 'photo caption game'. So Jarrett and I gave the young people who were in groups 7 different headline captions. They had to then take a picture of themselves to represent the headline. We then showed them and chose a winner. Some of the headlines included 'Crowd horrified as man gets ngwee (coin) stuck up his nose', 'Half Term', but the winning team won with this picture for headline 'People shocked as lady gets leg bitten off by lion!!haha!
Jon and I have now booked a safari in April for when my Mum comes out to Zambia. Let's hope this headline doesn't make any reappearances! eek!