Operation Rock

Today we spent most of our day in Choma. Choma is a larger town north of Kalomo. Many of us were sick that morning but still wanted to visit Choma. We all passed out the drugs/vitamins and positioned ourselves close to the doors as needed, and we were on our way. Our first stop was to get gas in Kalomo, and then make the hour bus ride to Choma. Once we left Kalomo the tire was making a consistent clunking noise. We all thought the worst at first and assumed that there was a flat. We quickly pulled over and Ian, Hayley, Dr. Tullos, and Dan all got out to inspect the tire. They found out that there was a rock wedged in between the tires, which was a relief, but there was no way to get to the rock with our hands and we were worried that it we left it, it could eventually tear a hole in the side of the tire. Dan grabbed some sticks, and Dr. Weaver rolled the bus forward and magically the rock popped out. Hurray! The rest of the trip I was asleep on the long trip to Choma.

Once we arrived in Choma. Dr. Weaver dropped us off near the markets and we were set free with instructions to meet at the museum at 12:30 for lunch. My group consisted of Ashley, Lindsey and I. It is much easier to get through the markets in a smaller group. We went to the fabric store that we hit up last year, but we were disappointed this year. Last year they had alot more interesting fabric patterns. After that we headed straight into the thick of the market. We ended up walking by this family in the middle eating breakfast.  An older woman yelled out to Lindsey and Ashley asking them how they were. And then she yelled to me, "masanqua!" which means boy. I then pointed to myself and said "Masanqua, and then pointed to her and said "Musimbi" which means girl. She smiled really big, and the rest of her family laughed. It's nice to have a little extra vocabulary this year.

Once we were finished in the market, we headed to the Spar, which is a popular grocery store in Zambia. I bought some strawberry cream cookies that I fell in love with last year, they are so good. Then we walked the rest of the way to the Museum where we had a picnic on the lawn and ate chicken and fries. The fries were just as soggy as last year. I thought they were disgusting, but Kara loves them....gross!

The museum was great. I didn't buy anything this time, but many of my classmates bought lots of stuff. Afterwards we drove back to Kalomo. Again I slept the whole way back. For dinner Saturday we had macaroni and cheese, and I must say it was the best macaroni and cheese I have ever had in my life. I don't really like macaroni and cheese, but this was great, probably because it had bacon and lots of cheese in it. It was great.

After dinner a group of us played nertz, I won...again. : ) The rest of the evening involved talking with Webster and Justin until I went to bed.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Our group's health has improved greatly! We are doing well. God is good!

Ben