Wednesday 27th July 2022

 Written by Josie.

Hi everyone at home. I can't believe I am currently considering an 8:00am wakeup a lie in.  My family knows how utterly unrealistic it is for me to be up by then. Breakfast was at 8:30am. I tried the oatmeal for breakfast, and I would not say it was as described by Iris and Anouk, but it was still nice. After, we had a break, until coaching, so everyone sat in the sun for a bit.  During which, everyone looked at the dinner menu. My order was Kudu stew. For those of you who don't know, Kudu is antelope. Its supposed to taste like venison, but I am not some meat connoisseur or anything. 

My group left for coaching sometime after 10:30. I now understand why everyone complains about the back row of the mini bus and how it is bumpy. I thought I was going to fly out the roof. When we got to the school, the view was beautiful, and the dirt was like the sand from a beach. The kids were lovely as well. They knew the rules really well, and were delightful to coach . Although they might have known the rules a little too well. One of the girls kept refereeing for others, but they always kept it under control, and made sure the children only listened to their calls.  After a while of us all refereeing, in the blistering heat, we left to go to the second school.  We had to walk.  It was supposed to be half way, but we got picked up after 20 minutes of walking and lugging kit bags - it could have been much worse.  
By the time we got to the next school, most people had drunk their water, so we re-filled it.  We went in the school, and started to set up the 3 pitches.  42 children came (so 7-a-side games).  The children all nodded along when we asked if they already knew the Tag Rugby rules, and had played before.  They had not.  They stood still and just passed amongst themselves, due to this, we played games to teach them the rules.  It ended up going pretty well.  Somewhere along the way another group joined us to help out. 

Once the coaching was all over, we walked the 5 minutes back to Fawlty Towers.  We were all told that the water and power would be off a while.  Everyone moaned that they couldn't have a hot shower, it was made up for by lunch being pancakes.  Mine didn't have a puddle of lemon juice on it for once.  You know who you are this is aimed at you, it might be a while till you read it though.
We all rushed to makes teas and coffees as well, as the hot water  would soon run out.  After lunch, many of us went shopping.  It looked like it was 85% full of people wearing Esher High shirts.  By the time we all got back, the power still was not on, after multiple card games, reading, talking and just sitting around in the dark, the lights came on.  Everyone simultaneously wooped, no matter where they were.  A little while later, a bat swooped down and scared the living daylights out of us.  I then got asked if it was as scary as my passport.  That was so embarrassing, and I will not be going into it now.  One of us commented it was as big as a magpie, so we started to count them to see where in the rhyme it would land.  It was slightly unsatisfying once the number got over 7.  The 25th bat came a little too close for comfort.  I felt the air whoosh over my head.  In total, we counted 26 bats before we retreated to the warm, light bar.  I managed to step both feet into the bar before I was told they were out of Kudu.  Seriously, I really wanted to try it.  I am never going to be able to say I have tried antelope.  Never mind I got a Hawaiian pizza instead, although the looks I received from students and teachers (except Miss Perks - it's the one thing I can agree on) were a little scary.  
After sitting at the bar with my roommates we left for the restaurant.  The sky at night is so beautiful.  The stars are so defined, and the colour of the sky has such a contrast.  I then walked into a wall.  
The walk to the restaurant was very short in comparison to earlier.  They lit candles as almost everywhere has lost its power, the lighting is actually really nice though, the service is great too.  We got drinks very quickly and the food is coming out even quicker.  The portions are also perfect.  The pizzas aren't too big, the burgers are big and everything else is just right.  Also, Miss Youngs kebab looking thing is nothing short of magnificent.  When my food came out, it looked great, it was a little too cheesy but was the ultimate comfort food.  As soon as I had finished, all the lights came on, and the chorus of cheers from earlier was repeated.  The candles might have been nice, but it's even nicer to see who I am talking to.
While we were chatting, we spotted a black cat.  There are so many cute cats here, give Jackie for example (named by me, after Michael Jackson, as my family guessed if they haven't skim read past, this is getting pretty long) so fluffy and chill.  The 5 of us are now partly watching the women's semi-finals between France and Germany.  That was cut short due to us needing to leave.  Went home and to bed.

P.S
Missing all of you.  Love you all, hows Molly? Also, Mum, have you killed my plants yet, or did they survive?

Written by Luke

Hello to all readers and family.  I woke up at 8am for breakfast at 8.30am, where I had 2 lovely sausages, 2 bits of stale bread and scrambled egg (I like them now with salt).  I then had a luke warm shower and then relaxed before the Young Leaders arrived.
Then we went to the first of our two schools for the day.  It went well but we had to make more pitches as we had 80 children (too many).  We then walked back to Fawlty Towers, which wasn't as bad as it sounds.  We then waited for our next instructions.  
At our second place it was more controlled, we had 2 coaching groups as the school down the road was closed.  This helped us as the school sent out nearly 90 children.  James Jr led an amazing passing drill (James Jr is James' son, the President of Tag Rugby trust in Zambia) we all love him.

The children weren't very good but learnt very quickly.  We got back and sorted out equipment, then traded in some money to go to the shops to buy all the different fanta and Fruiticana with snacks.  We then went to a small shop down the road where I brought a small wooden knife (not sharp) with an elephant on the end for a handle.

We then all jumped in the pool and sat there for a while because the power was out, so we waited for that and played Cheat, Go Fish then we went off for dinner, for a nice burger.  Although, I don't think it would be as exotic as the crocodile that I had yesterday.

Make sure you show Boston pictures of me so he doesn't forget me and I'm bringing him back a toy.  Hope everyone is ok, lots of love to Mum and Dad.

P.S.
Nathan, Louis, Toby, Isaac, Lucas and Bro-dog (Brodie) want to say hi to their families.