February Update

Thank you for your continued, faithful support. I do appreciate it very much.
February has bought the rains. During this month it has rained a lot. Almost everyday it rains. Some rains are very heavy and short, and everything floods for a short time. Others are lighter and last for two or three days. Now everything is green and the maize is growing tall. The harvest will start soon.
The days in which it rains are pretty slow at the hospital. The number of patients is greatly reduced and no one else goes outside. Yes, even the maintenance department is pretty slow. Myself, along with the other two maintenance workers, sit around and talk. We try to figure out what we are going to do next. We also tend to tell a lot of stories to one another. Dennis and Elisha tell me about Zambian culture, history, and even the latest on what is happening in Zimba. I have mentioned a few of these stories on the blog. Then they ask me questions about snow, bears, ice fishing, and sharks, among other things. Some of our conversations get pretty interesting.
Zambians, I have noticed, have a great sense of humor. The ones I work with at the hospital laugh lot. Their humor is not quite the same as the west, but once one catches on, it is funny. I also laugh a lot. Elisha had a cold last week and his nose was stuffed up and then it would run. He said that his “used brain” was coming out. He had been thinking too much. We all laughed a lot.
February has also brought Tonga school. It is a four week course to teach us the basics of the Chitonga language so we can come back and continue to practice with the people around Zimba. The first week was pretty good. We learned a lot of culture and basic information. This included education, past history, politics, and how the Tonga's culture is transitioning from what is was to what it is now. It was all very interesting. Toward the end of the week the actual language part started. I hope I catch on. It is going to be a lot of studying.