The Avant Gardist
May 26,2010

Bocar Wane, 7^th grade math, Geometry, is currently presenting at the e-Learning Conference: Africa in Zambia. His presentation is entitled Anywhere, Anytime – Lessons to Be Learned from an Online School in Hawaii. He will be sharing information about Myron B. Thompson Academy, and how we operate in a virtual setting. Bocar will also be researching some new trends in online learning.

May 24, 2010

Bocar Wane, Myron B. Thompson Academy, USA

Dateline: Lusaka, Zambia

Day 2: The day started very early for me. I got up at 5 30 am and I went for a 5 mile run in the streets over Lusaka, a city that I barely know. The morning was nice—some people were walking on the street, and some Zambians and foreign nationals were running in the early dawn. On my way back from running, mundane activities started to pick up and the sun was shining a little more. The morning was brisk. We had continental breakfast near the lodge’s swimming pool.

After breakfast, we went to Cairo Rd, the main business district. It looks like downtown Queens, for those of you have been to Queens in New York City. The streets were busy with people although today was a holiday in Zambia, Africa Freedom Day. Most of the shops were closed. The food businesses were however open. There were lots of unregistered taxi drivers and people with various merchandise standing on the sidewalk trying to get business out of you. We decided to eat at a Lebanese restaurant. We both had a shwarma sandwich, which was good.

We then went to Arcade, a shopping mall where lots of activities were happening in celebration of Africa Freedom Day. Local and traditional dance, bands, and flea market—were all entertaining many people in the shopping mall. We sat outside of a cyber coffee shop listening to the performers playing and dancing music while catching up with our emails. We then went to the Kabwata Cultural Village, a craft market about 3 to 4 miles from where we were. There we found beautiful local crafts in soapstone, wood, and fabrics. The market is constituted of several huts where the goods were displayed. We bought a few things that we really liked.

We went back to Arcade to witness the final hours of the holiday festivities. We then had diner at La Gondola, an Italian restaurant. The T-bone steak I had was so lean that you wonder if there was any meat in this cow let alone fat! We however enjoyed the atmosphere in the restaurant made up of locals and foreign nationals. The service was good. We went back to the lodge to gracefully call it a day.