4 October 2008

Well it has been a crazy week in the Fritz hut-hold. As Bev reported earlier this week, Andy was in an accident on his bike on Tuesday. He was cruising along on his bike when a woman in a car swerved to avoid hitting a goat and got his back tire. He went off the road and was able to tuck and roll, fast thinker! The bad part is that he rolled right into a tree. Fortunately he had his helmet on. He hit his head and shoulder on the tree. He chipped two teeth, sheared off a molar and hurt his shoulder. Two lessons we all can learn: There are women drivers everywhere and you are always second place to somebody else's goat.

Andy was able to ride a good distance home where I am sure he scared Ashlee half to death. They called the forestry department and three hours later someone arrived in a vehicle and took them into Kasempa. When I heard from Ashlee she said not to worry because she has his teeth in her purse....alrighty then. They went to the hospital where their American doctor friend came out of surgery to examine Andy. He thought that he was fine but needed to x-ray his shoulder and get his teeth repaired which required traveling to Lusaka. Their friend insisted that they stay with them that night.

Ashlee said their PC contact was awesome and she was in touch with them every 30 minutes to an hour that day to check on Andy. She kept asking Ashlee if Andy was acting strange. Ashlee said, "Actually, yes, but I assure you that is quite normal." The same lady made all their arrangements for doctor's appointments and a hotel for them in Lusaka. They stayed a night in Solwezi at the provencial house on the way to Lusaka and that is when we first heard from Ashlee. The next day they took the bus to Lusaka.

They had three doctor's visit on Friday. Ashlee had a funny side note. She said that the doctor's offices had a lot of American magazines and so she grabbed one to catch up on some gossip. She looked at the magazines and they were all from 2001 and 2002. She said that reading material is like currency there and American writings are highly coveted. They had Andy's shoulder x-rayed and found out that he needs physical therapy for two weeks. They saw a dentist that said that Andy's molar was sheared off but is still alive so they will be able to crown it. So Andy will need to stay in Lusaka for the next two weeks and get treatment on his shoulder and the new crown on his tooth. They didn't say, but I would guess also getting his other damaged teeth repaired. Ashlee will travel back on Monday or Tuesday as she has a meeting to prepare for and present this week and they are expecting a PC friend, Kersey, the end of the week. So for the second time Ashlee will have male company while Andy is away. She was sure the village would be talking about that.

They are currently staying in a Chinese hotel in Lusaka. There is another PC couple there for medical treatment. The husband has a bulging disk in his back. Unfortunately they do not have the treatment he needs in Lusaka, so he will have to travel to South Africa for treatment. Andy was fortunate with his tooth as they thought he may also have to go to South Africa.

It was Ashlee's birthday 26th on Saturday. Kinda of a stressful way to spend your birthday, but they did have a nice day. They went out for a good breakfast and had cappuccino which they were psyched about. Then they went to a movie with some other volunteers: House Bunny. Didn't sound like they would recommend it, but did say there were some funny lines about PC volunteers that made them all laugh. When we talked to them yesterday they had just returned to the hotel from the movie because Andy was not feeling well. He was sick to his stomach and had a fever. Ashlee thought that he was just exhausted. He was going to lay down for a while and if he wasn't feeling well later Ashlee was going to order some Chinese food from the hotel and stay in. Hopefully some rest has him feeling better.

We talked about the weather and their plans for their garden. Ashlee said she may get started on that when she gets back to the village as the rain will soon start. The have built up the grave like beds of soil for planting their wide variety of plants. They have waited until now as hauling water would be very difficult to keep the plants watered but they are considering hiring a village boy to carry water to the plants when the dry season comes around again so they can have more fresh veggies all year. When they left home Ashlee said there were hundreds of thumb sized mangoes on the trees in their yard. That will be fabulous when they start to ripen! I am sure they will eat themselves sick.

Ashlee said they received two packages last week: The birthday box that Bev sent and a box from her coworkers from Portland. She was very excited to get everything and said to tell everyone thanks! They had to leave them with a friend as they have not been home since they picked them up. All the clothes fit and the games and food were great. They said that they enjoy doing the puzzles. Ashlee would like some easy puzzles of all types and Andy would like medium difficulty crosswords or sudoku. They also love to get reading material! Andy likes mystery/action novels and Ashlee likes historical fiction. They both like sports and political magazines and Ashlee said she can always ready some gossip magazines, so feel free to throw your old magazines in your next box. I think Andy should have pretty regular access to the Internet while he is in Lusaka so be sure to email him in the next couple of weeks as he should be able to respond and Ashlee will have the Internet phone and will also be able to receive your messages and calls.

Let's all send out a prayer that Andy has a speedy and complete recovery from his injuries and Ashlee is safe and at ease as she travels back to Kasempa and while Andy is away.