♪♫ I’m a Big Kid Now ♪♫

I figured I should probably update this. I wanted to wait until I had gotten more acclimated and able to have a clearer mind while writing. I’ve been here since Thursday, so it’s probably about time I write something. Sorry that this post is a bit long.

Anyway, other than being stuck in the Heathrow airport for twelve hours, the flights were fine. It certainly helped that the guy I sat next to on the London-Lusaka flight was very funny and very good looking and British/Zimbabwean. But his name was Dudley, and that detracts from any of the wonderful things about him, as the only other Dudley I know is Harry Potter’s cousin and that Dudley is a terrible human being. Haha. Sorry. I think I take the Harry Potter books too seriously. : )

Getting used to being here has been a little hard. Though having already been to Africa has helped me get used to being here again, I do have some communication, social, and personal obstacles to get over before I am really comfortable here. But that’s all to be expected and nothing that I’m not moving past. Mom, I hope you aren’t weeping right now, I promise I’m fine. The food hasn’t been as much of an obstacle as it may have been to a younger version of myself, as nshima (made out of ground cornmeal) isn’t new to me and I rather enjoy eating with my hands. However, my lunch today was a bit interesting, as it included tiny whole fish. With eyeballs. And bones. So that was fun with the whole bones-crunching-in-my-teeth thing. Haha. My younger, pickier eater of a self would be in shock at what I ate. Congratulations, Katie Of The Present Day, you are now a big kid and can eat big kid African food.

Other than being able to eat with my hands (haha, I’m kidding), the kids and babies have been my favorite part of being here. The organization is has three houses for the different ages of the children. Volunteers stay at the House of Moses, which is where the babies stay. Anytime I’m not feeling too great (or anytime in general), I go to the nursery and play with some babies. It’s wonderful and I already have some favorite babies. The school I’m planning on helping out in is at the House of Martha, which is where the older kids stay. They are a lot of fun and really great kids. The third house is the Bill & Bette Bryant Crisis Nursurey, which is where the toddlers and preschoolers stay. We visited that, but the babies were asleep.

I’m going to go to sleep now and post this tomorrow. If you are reading this, thank you. When I’ve gone away in the past, I’ve never really gotten too homesick, but I’ve started to have a bit of a healthy amount of homesickness. I’ll post something else soon.