Hello my adorable thinkers!
This week I am bringing you another email from when I was in Zimbabwe. I am working on some writing some other things soon. Let me know in the comments if you would rather I finish this series before I start something new, or would you like to see a bit of variety week to week?
Here is the third of the eight emails I sent out while I was in Zimbabwe.
I have been asked a few times if I have done anything exciting yet. I have indeed! Here is what I have been doing for the last few days.
When I came to Zimbabwe I brought three games. Anomia, Chess, and a deck of cards. Most evenings are spent attending a teaching until around 8 and then playing games until 9 when Emily needs to go to bed. The teachings are very interesting and vary in topic (so far with what I have seen) from learning Hebrew to teachings on the Torah portion. Ishmael (Emily’s boyfriend) catches on to games very fast. He didn’t know how to play chess, anomia, or Egyptian rat snake. So we taught him to play and now he can beat us in all but anomia.
During the weekdays Ishmael goes to work and Emily and I stay at the cottage to clean, cook, do laundry, and work on the projects that each of us brought to do. My projects are sewing a dress, writing an essay on Midwifery for school, writing a document on Purity, and writing a document on how Paul’s writings are scripture. I have also picked up a few other projects while I have been here and I will have to see how well they turn out.
Last weekend Ishmael took us into town to see more of Harare. That was very cool! It was interesting in the difference of perspective between me and Emily. Emily had just come from a country that is not as developed as Zimbabwe. So she was talking about how amazing everything was. I also found it amazing, but not because of how much more developed it was. I was amazed at all the architecture and culture that is so prominent. It is fascinating to watch how people interact. I am learning not to look at people’s faces a whole lot because that attracts attention here. I did not realize how much I watched stranger’s faces until I tried to stop.
It was amazing to see all the shops and such in town. We went through one market and that was a bit crazy. People were calling out their wares, some people would even use speakers to sound louder. There were so many people that nobody had any elbow room. It was thrilling to see the craziness but I was constantly nervous that I would get separated from Emily and Ishmael so I was glad when we got back on the street. At the time I couldn’t remember where I had seen a market like that. Later I realized that it probably reminded me of when I went to Mexico for an afternoon.
The other exciting thing that we did this past weekend was when Ishmael’s brother came and visited us. He has two children who are about my age (the girl 21 the boy 19). I got along really well with the girl and she invited me to her birthday party this next weekend at a nature reserve near Harare. We talked for several hours before they had to go. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone my age who had a similar upbringing as me.
So that is all that has happened so far. I am very excited about the party this weekend at the nature reserve. We will see many animals and there will be a braai (a Barbecue). I just have to figure out a present to give the birthday girl before Shabbat.
That is the third email. Until next time my adorable thinkers! ~ The Pondering Panda
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