Arrival...how did I forget....

We got here to Livingston on Wednesday in 2 shuttles.  I was assinged the first shuttle so we left Namwianga around 9 and headed to Livingston.  We got here and got our hotel rooms and then went and ate at Olga's (an Italian restaurant).  It tasted amazing then we came back about the time the second shuttle made it here.  We got together and went to the Royal Livingston which is located on top of Victoria Falls for high tea.  It was beautiful and fancy and I felt like royalty in a T-shirt and jeans.  We then went Victoria Falls to see the moon bow.  It is where the moon creates a rainbow at night over Victoria Falls.  Breathtaking is the only word that comes to mind.  It can only be seen in a few locations in the entire world and we got to see it. It is God's beauty on earth.  We walked over the bridge in the dark and got soaked.  It was so cool. 

Well we are about to head back to Victoria Falls to get ready for our sunset cruise, so I will post tonight, so until then...

Much love,
Shanna

I sat in the middle of 4 countries

Thursday we got to go on a safari (both land and river) which was amazing. We saw giraffes, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, codoos, African fish eagles, appalas, monkeys, lizards, lots of birds, and I’m sure I missed some, but some were so close that you could see their eyes. It was pretty awesome.

We got picked up at the hotel and taken to Botswana so we had to get our passports out and stamped to enter in. We then got on a little boat that took us across the river and we got to sit between 4 African countires. Amazing! We got to the other side of the river and loaded on safari trucks and headed to the lodge. After we got to the lodge, we loaded on a booat to start our water part of the safari. The boat had 2 decks which several of us took advantage of. We got to see elephants, hippos, birds, crocodiles, some kind of huge lizard, and some other land animals. After the water safari, we headed back to the lodge for lunch. They served goat along with chicken and fish for meat and several different side dishes and desert. The deserts weren't great and the sauce for the goat was gross but the worse part was that I got stung inside of my mouth by a bee and Reagan dug to get the stinger out of my cheeck.  After lunch, we loaded the safari trucks and off we went. We entered into the land reserve in 3 different trucks and began our journey. Each truck had a guide that told everyone about the animals we saw. We saw elephants, giraffes, monkeys, appalas, codoos, birds of all sorts, hippos, carcasses of dead animals, and I’m sure I left some out. After the safari we headed back the same way and made it to the hotel. Some people separated for dinner and activates for the night.  I ate at Olga's Italin Cousine that took a long time but it tasted great. 

Today I am going shopping and then back to Victoria Falls for a sunset cruise this afternoon.

Until next time...
Much Love,
Shanna

Lunch and Dancing

We went to the Kasebe church today for church and a celebration lunch with Lenard. It was amazing. After church, we went to lunch where there was a band and dancing. I danced with a 3 year old boy who was better than me.

Also, today Anna learned sometimes white people scare African children.

Much love,
Shanna

It's been a while...

Hey Everyone! Well it is Thursday morning and I am up and dressed an hour early which isn’t abnormal. Well I am trying to think about what all has happened since the last time I bloged. The pharmacy students that were with us left yesterday for Livingston and will be back on Sunday to finish packing and will then be headed home. Reagan (Dr. Weaver’s daughter who is an OT), Ashley (OT grad student), Tammy (Dr. Weaver’s friend), the film crew, and some Harding professors (Stockstills & Hoppers) all got here on Tuesday, so it’s been a packed house which is fun.

The Havens have been great. There has been a lot of improvement with the kids both with language and with feeding exercises. It has been fun working with my group of Tessa, Ben and Jill. This week we are doing language stimulation therapy all day.

It rained on Tuesday a little which was the second time it has done so since we have been here and here lately it has been really cloudy. Dr. Tullos has been taking pictures of it because he said that he hasn’t seen weather like this any of the times he has been here. This is suppose to be their dry season and is suppose to be cool. It’s still hot in my opinion. Other people say it must be in the 70’s and 60’s which I do not believe. I think it’s more like mid to high 80’s during the hot part of day and high 70’s to low 80’s when the sun is down which I know is cooler than Arkansas, so I am not complaining J Yesterday, some people in our group saw a snake and said it was a Cobra, but Ian corrected them and it was a large green garden snake. I don’t really care for poisonous snakes and until now I haven’t really thought about it too much. You have to get the anti-venum for a Cobra bite quickly and there is no anti-venom for the Maumba bite.
Today is Ian’s birthday and he is 14. We get to have a party tonight for him.

Anyways, I am going to head out…
Much Love,
Shanna

Sunday

Yesterday was Saturday and we went into town. I was walking with Dr. Tullos for most of the market and he lead us through an indoor market that was selling a lot of dried fish and I could barely stand the smell. Their market is so different and they sell such a variety of things. The first time we went to the market, I was not expecting to see Miley Cyrus bags and US Presidential memorabilia. After we got back, we played soccer the fun way which is only half field and one team plays offence and one team plays defense for 5 minutes and then you switch. I scored another goal which was a lot of fun.
Today we went to church and I went to children’s church and lead “In the Beginning” which apparently they like a lot. On Sundays we cook for ourselves so breakfast is usually ceral or instant oatmeal and we are divided into 2 groups for lunch and dinner. One group cooks and the other cleans and vice versa for other meal.

I can’t believe it’s half way over. Zambia is such a cool place to be. That is about all I can think of right now, so until next time…
Much Love,
Shanna

Great day for Quityn

Quityn rolled over today!!!! He rolled from tummy to back and then sat in the bumbo seat and was able to keep his head up. I didn’t have to give him any extra support. I am so proud of him. I walked him around after he rolled over like he was a champion.

GOAL!!!

Today therapy was great.  Quityn was turned completely on his side and had his leg propped over the bed next to him.  Leo crawled all the way across the floor and that was his first time crawling.  It

So Liz and I scored a soccer goal against Zambian's yesterday.  It was pretty awesome!

Limited internet, so that is all for now...
Much Love,
Shanna