The 10 Commitments and Bond Notes

We have entered into an uncertain period in Zimbabwe (well I guess life is always uncertain here, but now a little bit more so) with the introduction of bond notes on Monday. Already there is a disparity in price for fuel, with the supposed 1:1 exchange with the US dollar not valid. Some people are saying one should stock up on essentials as the shops may not be able to continue importing things. The danger in this is if everyone does it, panic will set in and there will be shortages. The queues at the bank are horrific today as people try to get some cash out. It feels like one is living in a bubble that is about to burst any moment.

My library job came to an end last week but I have a new student, an Israeli IT specialist. He doesn't seem terribly interested in learning grammar but rather concentrating on pronunciation of English. A bit of a challenge but thank goodness for the internet and its resources. On Monday he referred to the 10 Commitments - I think he was joking. I continue with 4 year old Runbo who pretended he was going "out to the space" in a rocket made out of an upturned chair.

I was supposed to go help with painting with patients in the psychiatric unit at Parirenyatwa last week but we were told we had to get clearance from the head matron and sign forms saying we wouldn't press charges if we were attacked by the patients. I hadn't quite thought of that. We will try for the beginning of next year.

Fired by a four year old

Have now finished filling in as the librarian at Convent after 3 weeks. Went smoothly and I managed to get the hang of it alright. Will now need to fill my mornings but there is a possibility of some conservation work. Won't be paid but will be something to occupy me and will be nice to be using my educational background a bit.

Bond notes come out Monday. Been trying to suss out who will accept them. Take aways will but for my lithium and other medication which are all imports, only US dollars in cash will be taken. This is going to be a serious problem if my students' parents can't pay me in US. Not sure what we can expect with all of this but a bit apprehensive.

So about being fired by my four year old student Runbo last Friday. I went round as usual to give Runbo his English lesson. Half way through he decided he wanted to cut up one of his pictures from play school. When I said no, he looked at me and then just screamed blue murder. He went to his granny in the kitchen to tell her in Chinese what I had done and then not getting much sympathy from her picked up the phone and told me he was phoning his daddy to fire me. I tried not to laugh and was impressed he could say this in English (although I haven't taught him that). At the end of the lesson when I said would I see him on Monday, he replied, "Maybe not". I did go on Monday though and when I asked if I was still fired he just gave a wicked laugh - cheeky monkey!

I did a city tour for two visiting French travel agents on Sunday afternoon and evening. I had been looking up some vocab and trying to brush up on my French but I did slightly over esteem my level of fluency and it was a little embarrassing trying to scrounge around in my mind for words. They seemed nice people though and if I can maybe go to Alliance Franaiseçaise and practice a bit more it could be fun. We first drove through the city centre, then went up the Kopje and went to Mbare market (which incidentally doesn't really have curios as I thought, more traditional medicine). We went on to Avondale Flea Market and then as they fancied a traditional Zimbabwean meal I took them to Gava's.

We had  a trial run of having my depression support group on a Saturday morning and it got a bigger turn out. People said they preferred to keep it informal rather than having topics or speakers. I went and had tea with a teacher from my high school who had come and sat with me when I was in sick bay and listened when I first started experiencing depression in Form 3. She said she can see I've come a long way since then. Was interesting to hear that from someone who had known me back then and is only reconnecting with me now.

I went

So I did go in the end to my sister's wedding. It was not easy and the week's before I was in a lot of anguish. I did a lot of work on it with my therapist and decided not going would be worse. I had a few dips when I first got to England and felt excluded. I also had to psyche myself up to see some people. My sister then made an effort to include me and I think our relationship has improved. I can also now tell I had not previously been at all well mentally.

This week I've started working as the Convent seniour librarian for three weeks. I went in to be briefed on Monday and it seemed like a lot but thankfully today was quite quiet and I could find my way slowly. My instructions even include what to do should there be a riot or bomb scares, with the riot including to close all the windows if there's tear gas. If bond notes come out this might be something I need to know, who knows.

As a committee member of the Convent Old Girls Association I am helping with the annual old girls lunch on Saturday at Alo Alo. On Sunday another friend is getting married at Wild Geese and next month I'm organizing a friend's baby shower. There's a meeting on the water crisis in Harare and the wetlands tonight at 5.30 but unfortunately I'm teaching.