Return to no-man's land

My trip to Italy was fantastic despite the cold and the occasional rain. I would comment more, but seeing gas this is a blog about Zambia, I will leave out the details of my trip except to say that the return part of the trip was less than wonderful. My flight out of Pisa was cancelled due to a flat tire and they had to bring another plane from Milan to take us all to London, but by then I had waited all day in the small Pisa airport and missed the once a day flight to Joburg where I was supposed to connect to Lusaka. by the time I got to London I was tired and bored and slightly annoyed, but i was given a hotel room for the night with a late check-out because my flight wasn't until the next evening. Luckily, they were able to put me on a direct flight to Lusaka that left at the same time as the flight to Joburg but saved me about 7 hours from not having to go out of the way and transfer. I enjoyed the hotel, watched tv, slept well, ate well (meals were included) and walked around in the brisk London weather. All in all it wasn't so bad and because I got into Lusaka in the morning instead of the afternoon I was able to go straight back to Central Province instead of spending a night in Lusaka as I originally planned. So i actually wasn't set back in time and it was better to spend the night in a nice hotel in London than on a couch in the volunteer lounge at Peace Corps office. In fact there was a nearby bowling alley and since i had almost 24 hours in London I could have gone and done something fun except that I had no money aside from Zambian Kwacha which cannot be exchanged outside of southern Africa and i couldn't find an ATM to get money for a bus or anything. Also, I've decided (yet again) thats its not really fun to do things like bowling, eating out at a restaurant, touring a town etc, on your own, in fact it's rather lame. Regardless, I did eventually get home to Zambia. Since my return I have been hiding out in the village, there's not much to say about the past 2 weeks. I have been bored out of my mind, it rains a lot of the time and when its dry and sunny, the roads are so flooded that its difficult to travel anywhere. I have read a lot, Don Quixote, a Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre etc. and slept a lot. I think it's worse now because almost all the other volunteers are on Vacation as are the commercial farmers that live near me, so i don't even have anyone I can visit. Still, I'm not sure how I'll make it through the rainy season if this continues. For once people are actually working in their fields because they have to plant and weed and tend their crops. Considering no one came to meetings back when they practically had nothing else to do, I know no one will come during the rainy season, plus they all hate getting wet and try to avoid being outside when it is raining or could rain soon, which is most of the time. I still like my village, but I hate not having anything to do. The only possibility i have of work is with the schools that open in January, so I'll see how that goes, otherwise I have no idea what to do. For Christmas I'm going to the house, I don't know if anyone else will be there, but I am looking forward to making Christmas cookies and a cake and listening to my christmas music and hopefully finding a church to go to.

Thanksgiving

I returned from Lusaka last Friday and spent the night in Serenje. Then on Saturday morning I woke up fairly early and after the morning shower ended I hitched out to Chalata and walked the 12km back to my village because I was still a little too sore to bike on the bumpy road. I was really excited to see my kitty, who was also super excited to see me. I only spent 38 hours there and most of the time I was lying down in bed with my kitty. I still wasn't strong enough to carry water or things so I couldn't stay long on my own. I left monday morning to go back to Serenje, walking 12km again, for our semi annual Provincial meetings. Everyone was there by Tuesday and we had our official meetings on Wednesday. In a way it sucks to have 26 volunteers staying together in the same small house, but it was nice to see everyone and catch up. On Thursday we just cooked and baked and finished by 7pm for our wonderful thanksgiving dinner. We had 2 turkeys (one frozen from Lusaka and another one live that had to be slaughtered and prepared,) green been casarole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn bread, apple bread, banana bread, mac and cheese, pumpkin pie, apple pie and cheesecake. It was delicious and we had a lot left over. I left the next afternoon on the PC bus headed to lusaka, where I am staying with a different host family until I fly out tomorrow morning. It worked out well because there is a monthly market at the church near the pc office and it just happened to be today so I was able to go there and buy the rest of my Christmas presents. The prices were pretty high and because there were so many rich white people it was difficult to get good deals but it was still cheaper than shopping at the Joburg airport. Also, a lot of the people actually make their own things whereas the Sunday craft market is mostly imported things from Tanzania, the Congo, Zimbabwe, or South Africa. I can't think of anything else to say except that I am so excited about going to Italy in the morning!!!! (Although I do feel a little bad because except for the 38 hours I will have been out of my village for 6 weeks straight.)

counting down the days

Still in Lusaka although everyone that has been here has gone back and other people have come and even most of them have already gone back to their villages, but me, I am still here. Good news is that the chiropracter says that everything looks good, I have the strength back in my right arm which means that my collarbone is completely fine now. My nexk and back look good and even the muscle tension is getting better so really i'm just left with soreness around my sternum. Since the problems have been adequately addressed it is now just a matter of being patient and letting the rest heal on its own. It's still a little painful, but i am now only taking over the counter pain killers instead of the really strong ones and I'm able to do some stretches and work on getting my strength back. Overall I am feeling much better and I am looking forward to getting back to the village, although I will only be there for a few days before I leave for our semi anual Provincial meetings and then straight to Italy (yay!!!)

As much as I was looking forward to getting back to the village I am a little nervous and hesitant now. One reason is that I will not be there long enough to really do any work. I do need to drop of some papers and make sure that the 2 girls and mentor that were chosen to attend Camp GLOW (a camp for girls empowerment) have all the information they need so that they can get to the camp because I won't be around to help them with that. Another thing is that my host father has been calling Peace Corps to complain about me, he is mad that I have not been around. And he mentioned that when I was around I was not working in the village very often (He is right, lately I have given up on my village because they are to lazy to come to meetings or try new ag practices, and I have stared working more in nearby villages where people seem eager to learn and improve their lives.) My host father also said he was offended that I no longer eat with them (for the record I ate with them 3 times, the 3 times that they invited me, all in the first month I was at site, and I should say that one of those times I got food poisoning so I don't really care to eat with them again, but if they asked I would be polite and eat a little at least. Funny thing is they haven't invited me and it turns out even in Zambia it is not polite to show up and sit down for dinner if you were not invited or offered food. Personally, I think they want me to "eat" with them now because they sold all their maize for cash and now they have no food until their tomatoes can be sold for cash and they can buy maize back, at a higher price. Planning and budgeting is not big here they want the quick cash to get drunk immediately even if it cost more in the end. So now that they have no food, I bet they want me to show up for dinner and provide dinner for myself and their whole family, which I refuse. I hate to be unsympathetic, but I told them not to sell all their maize because then they wouldn't have food. So really it's their own fault if they are starving, and regardless, I don't get money to feed all of them in addition to myself and certainly not all the other families that would inevitably find out and start demanding food as well, even if they weren't starving.) Another issue he has is that I don't greet them enough or try to talk to them very much lately so he thinks I might be mad at him and his family (well you did eat my rabbit so I would have a pretty valid reason to be mad at you, but seeing as I'm no longer 5 years old I don't just start ignoring people if I am mad at them. In fact even after the rabbit thing I still greeted my family the same as always until I left and seeing as they don't have cell phones its not possible for me to greet them when I'm not there. It smells like a guilty concious to me. He did assure PC that he would look into the matter and find out who killed the rabbit which is what he told me almost a month ago!)Sorry for the rambling and tangents, but needless to say, I'm a little annoyed about this whole thing. And my host father has made it sound like the whole village is mad/disappointed in me and they don't really want me around anymore, even though they are mad that I am not around? I guess I will know more after I go back, but part of me is dreading going back and having to deal with this conflict and in another language at that. Anyway thats pretty much what has been going on with me. I have an 8:00 appointment tomorrow and then I should be able to leave and go back to Serenje, where all my stuff is. Then Sat morning I plan to make my way back to the village (even though I'm supposed to stay at the house and rest.)

This morning I listened to one of my favorite Starting Line songs "counting down the days til California comes." Although, this whole time I have been counting down the days until I could go back to my village, I'm suddenly not so excited about that (I am still super excited to see my kitty and I hope she doesn't get too lonely and run away because that would make me really sad) and I am definitely dreading provincials when all of us volunteers will be stuck together in the relatively small house. Instead I am now counting down the days until Italy (yay again!) 10 days until I am on my way!!! (For those of you that haven't heard, I am meeting my momma in Italy in just 10 days after not seeing her for almost 10 months!)

PS I apologize for all the ! because it usually annoys me when I read stuff with a lot of !

Yesterday I read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" which has prompted me to apologize for the gramatical and punctuation errors that I'm sure abound in my previous blogs. And unforunately I cannot even promise that future blogs will be any better, they will probably be the same. I seriously apologize because gramatical mistakes do annoy me and I find myself counting the mistakes in every book I read; however, with limited internet time I type as fast as possible and don't even re-read anything I write. Anyway, I highly reccommend the book, it was vey entertaining and I found myself having to supress laughs a few time (my sternum hurts pretty bad when I laugh, sneeze, or cough.) The punctuation discusion reminded me of a sign that I recently saw in Zambia. We were on our way to Eastern Province from Lusaka and just before the road curved there was a sign beside the road. It was a white triangle-shaped sign similar to a yield sign in America. The border was a burgandy color and in the middle of the sign was an exclamation point, also in burgandy. When I saw it, all sorts of crazy things ran through my mind. I was filled with suspense and even some anxiety as to what the sign was supposed to be saying. Was it warning that something dangerous was right around the bend or was it saying there was something really cool and exciting just around the corner. Those two possible meanings alone are very different and then I was worried that maybe the sign was telling us to do something, but how would we be able to follow its instructions if we had no idea what the sign meant? To add to this, we were driving really slowly to it took a long time for us to round the bend and see what was on the other side. As it turns out they were repairing a section of the road (which in itself invokes the surprise and excitment of the exclamation point because it's so rare in this country) so the road was detoured around it and I assume that was the reason for the exclamation point sign, but overall it still perplexes me a bit.
Other interesting signs that I have seen:
*Germstone Restaurant (yes germstones)
*Layer Hens for sale cheep cheep cheep-which I found rather clever until I figured out it was probably just a typo
*Please flash the toilet when your finished-your not you're and yes some of us volunteers comply and flash the toilet on our way out
*Similarly another public toilet says "no monkey style please" still not really sure what that means???
*God Only Knows Take Away-I don't feel comfortable eating something if only God knows what t is
*Time will Tell Transport-I really don't want to wait until time tells me what will happen with he transport, if it will break down, crash, just decide to stop for 3 hours etc.
*Finally: as we were driving through South Luangwa National Park we came to a sign asking us to slow down because we were at a wildlife crossing. Yes that one particular spot was an authorized wildlife park despite the fact that we were in a national park with wildlife everywhere and they don't know where the one crossing is or don't care because they cross wherever and whenever they wish.

This is just a small selection of interesting signs that I can remember, but I have seen o so many in this country.

Exiled to Lusaka

On Monday I was sent down to Lusaka for medical. My sternum is still really sore from the car accident and there was concern that I may have gotten a hairline fracture or something. I was able to see the doctor monday afternoon as soon as I arrived (a doctor at a private clinic that PC uses) but he said my lungs were clear and I didn't have any broken ribs so I should just rest and if it's not better in a few days come back for a chest xray. Meaning I had to stay and rest in Lusaka, and if I haven't mentioned this before, Lusaka is lame and I don't particularly enjoy being here, especially alone. It turns out 2 people were at the PC bunk house in Lusaka for medical and 2 new volunteers that were evacuated from Guinea and sent here so its not completely empty here but still not too exciting. PC has a bed and breakfast program for volunteers where American families that live here open their homes to volunteers so that we can have a free place to stay when we are here for personal reasons. We are only allowed to stay at the bunk house, located at the office, if we are here on official, medical or program days. So last week when we were on our way back from the game park we arranged to stay with a family on the B&B list for the night and head back to central in the morning. Well the family we were assigned to is wonderful and so hospitible and they said we were more than welcome to stay with them anytime or for as long as necessary. So I called them when I got in town and asked if I could stay with them in a real house with a nice bed and a kitchen plus they cook dinner and they always have delicious cookies. They kindly said yes so at least I've been able to stay with them instead of being at the office. As much as I don't like Lusaka it's not so bad just hanging out at their house and resting. I've read 3.5 books in the last 3.5 days and i've slept in took a few naps and enjoyed sitting on the swing by their garden. Also, another girl from my intake came in yesterday and stayed with them for the night so it was nice to see here and hear how things are going for her. I told them I thought I would leave tomorrow but now it looks like i'm staying to hopefully they are not sick of me yet otherwise I'll have to move to the bunk house. Regardles of my enjoying their hospitality and the chance to rest and relax I still miss my village and I really want to go back soon, plus I miss the ability to bike, runa and exercise, not to mention I'm a little over the pain itself. I went back to the doctor this morning and they did a chest xray since the pain is still the same. On Monday I did get stronger pain meds whihc help and the pain is much more bearable now, but as soon as they wear off its just as bad as before. The chest x ray looks fine, no visible fractures which is good news. Then he sent me to a chiropracter/physical therapist right away hoping that I could at least get some exercises to do and head back to Serenje at least. However, the chiropracter says that my right colarbone is a little out of place which puts stress on my sternum plus my neck and back were a little messed up. He realigned my spine today and said I have to come back tomorrow for another adjustment and maybe even next week although I'm still hoping to go home by Saturday plus a cruiser is going then so I wouldn't even have to hitch. It all depends on tomorrows appointment. But seeing as I'm in Lusakaland and have access to free not quite as slow internet I can update again sometime again so stay tuned.

imbasela

In Zambia there is something called imbasela which in bemba means free and it usually refers to a gift. For example: if you go to the market and ask how much a pyramid of 5 tomatoes cost, they will say 1000 kwacha and then you say ok I will buy one (that is if you don't want to bargain with them, generally i bargain to get the best deal and because it leads to friendly conversation but now that i've been here so long I know a few women at the market that I don't have to bargain with because they always give me a good price to start off with). After agreeing to buy the tomatoes and handing the woman one pin (1000 kwacha) she begins to put 5 tomatoes in a bag then picks up another tomato shows it to you, says imbasela and puts it in with the others. It's really a fabulous system, I'd say it's the one thing Zambia really has going for it. I mean sure some marketing schemes in america have tried similar approaches, such as creating a package of 4 razors with an additional one in a separate package attached to the first one. I guess it's supposed to make you feel like you're getting something extra for free. Or some shampoo bottles advertise that you now get 33% more in the bottle as if this were all free when really you pay more for it because it's now a bigger bottle. The strategy doesn't seem to work so well in America maybe just because everything is pre packaged. Whereas here you really feel like you are someone special and they are giving you something extra for free just because you are such a good customer and giving them such good business. Of course they factor the imbasela into their prices and because it's so common I've learned to expect it and sometimes I buy less because I know i will get a few extra imbasela items. And if they don't offer an imbasela it's perfectly acceptable to ask for one and even to request a particular item such as a lolipop for the imbasela (this works out well for me because they have delicious lolipops here that i used to buy occasionally but now i just wait til I go to Chalata for bread, powdered milk and other essential items then I request a lolipop as my "gift"). Honestly I walk away feeling wonderful after getting an extra gift whether its a lolipop or just another tomato.

I think I had my best imbasela experience last week as I was traveling from Serenje to Lusaka. About 100km south of Serenje is Kapiri Boma which has a petrol station with a fast food place. They sell all kinds of things, but they have a delicious schwerma. Our driver asked us to go in and buy him a coke and he gave us 30000 k saying we could get ourselves one also. (Zambians are so friendly and not only do they often give us free rides around the country but many times they will buy us drinks or even lunch on the way). We decided that he had been so friendly and was already giving us a free ride so we bought him a coke with our own money as a gift and we also ordered 2 cokes and 2 schwermas for ourselves. I paid the chasier, took the cokes and waited in a separate line for the food. Somehow they must have been confused that we ordered 3 drinks and only 2 schwermas and they packaged up an extra schwerma. We took the food to go for lunch when we reached Lusaka so we didn't even notice until later. Of course this was not an intentional imbasela but still it was pretty exciting to get an extra one.

Birthday fun?

Quick update: I made it back to Serenje, yay! In Lusaka, we stayed one night with a homestay family and they were so sweet! Two other volunteers were also staying with them and they always open their home to PCVs plus she was a volunteer in the past and currently they both do development work here so it was great to talk to them. Not to mention they cooked us a wonderful meal and I had a dr. pepper which you can’t find in this country. After breakfast we headed to the office and then hitched a ride to Kapiri Mposhi. The police stopped us along the way trying to get a bribe by telling us it’s illegal to hitch in this country, which isn’t true. I refused to pay so I spent close to 30 minutes kindly explaining that we were only volunteers without a salary and that we just wanted to return to our villages so that we could help more people. Eventually he gave up and let us go so that he could hassle others for bribes. O how corruption frustrates me! From Kapiri we took a semi to Mkushi, it was slow, but safe. It began to pour as soon as we arrived, but these guys that service the MTN cell towers gave us a lift into the BOMA from the turn off and said they were just stopping to get diesel on their way to Serenje. I said we are also on our way to Serenje and just stopping to get our mail, do you think you could take us the rest of the way to Serenje. They quickly agreed and made room for our bags and the 4 huge packages I picked up at the post. The line was long because everyone was filling up 50 gallon drums because fuel isn’t always available these days what with the mini crisis here. Still I was happy to be almost back and looking forward to opening all my packages. The guys were really nice and took us all the way to the door of the PC house. It’s a good thing too because otherwise we would have had to take a taxi because it was getting dark, it was wet, and I couldn’t carry all the packages because they were so big. A few friends were at the house and they had bought a Pepsi and put it in the fridge for me and they baked cookies and wrote happy birthday Leann in purple icing on them. Then I opened my packages which were full of all sorts of goodies (Thank you Sherry, Vince, Laurie, Andy, mom, dad, Ann Marie and Andy) talked to my parents and then stayed up chatting with Mary. Despite being on transport most of the day, it was a pretty good day and I had cheezits, cake, brownies, etc. to enjoy for the rest of the weekend. I’ve been stuck at the house all weekend because medical said I shouldn’t bike so soon after the accident. It’s relaxing but I really miss my village, my own hut, and of course my kitty! Hopefully, I can go home tomorrow. Finally, I made a very close replica of a cosmic Karma: it was an expensive but heavenly adventure (for those of you who don’t get this mellow mushroom reference, I feel very sorry for you.)

Safari time!

As I mentioned in the last update, I went to Mushroom Lodge in South Luangwa National Park for three nights and it was wonderful. We arrived at the lodge at 16 hours, just in time for the evening game drive. Just driving into the lodge we saw elephants, impala, a monitor lizard, monkeys and baboons. We were greeted at the lodge with cold wash cloths and juice, we quickly left our things and got back in the vehicle super excited for the game drive. Luckily we were the only people staying at the lodge that week so we could do anything we wanted for the drives. We were exhausted from the crazy travel day and we still had not slept in close to 36 hours so we decided to come back a little early for dinner and bed. Still, the first thing we saw on the drive was a pack of 5 wild dogs which are very endangered and difficult to see because the move around so much. They were beautiful and we very quickly forgot all the craziness of our travel, from then on we could only think of how amazing everything was at the park. We saw elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebra, various antelope, and then after dark we saw two spotted genets (small cat-related things), some hyenas, a civet, and some hippos coming out of water to forage for the night. Dinner was delicious plus on each drive you stop somewhere for drinks and a snack and the first night’s snack was chips and salsa: not only delicious, but greatly appreciated by our hungry stomachs that had not seen food since 5 in the morning when we got to the PC house in eastern and raided their left-over Halloween treats. After dinner we went straight to bed and woke up at 5 the next morning. I immediately opened the blinds to enjoy the lovely scenery as we prepared for the morning drive which left at 6. Right outside the window was a hippo walking back towards the water for the day. I had never seen a hippo out of water before and it was pretty neat. Not a bad way to start the day. At 5:30 they have tea, biscuits, toast, cereal, and juice: just a quick snack to get you through the first two hours of the drive, before you stop for another quick snack. They definitely kept us well fed and rice krispies was one of the cereal options so that was exciting enough on its own. (For the record at markets you can generally only get corn flakes, which taste fine, but I miss the cereal variety in America. There is one store in Mkushi Boma that sometimes has special K and/or All Bran that is more expensive but a nice treat every now and then.) With the morning light we were able to see everything better so we stopped to watch some of the giraffes, elephants, and zebras. Our guide assumed that like most other tourists we just wanted to see something take a photo and move on, but we quickly explained that we both enjoy just watching them, even if they seem not to be doing much. We saw several huge crocodiles, some pretty birds, these cute squirrels, mongoose, and a bunch of buffalo. The buffalo were hilarious- at first we saw about 15 and it seemed like they were in line for a breakfast buffet. We slowly drove by them and realized the single file line went on for about 2 kms. It turns out they were headed to the pond for water and for whatever reason they had formed a single file line for their journey. They don’t have ostriches in Zambia which is odd because they can be found in most of the countries around Zambia, but we did see crowned cranes which are beautiful, storks, weaver birds, fish eagles, and many other beautiful birds that I can’t identify. Our guide took us back really early which was disappointing but by the time we realized we were back at the lodge we thought it was too late to say anything, not to mention he was not very personable and always made us feel like we were inconveniencing him (as someone who formerly worked at the Breakers, I’m not really sure why this man still has a job at such a fancy safari lodge.) After that we decided we just had to demand what we wanted because we were paying customers, even if it was the discounted rate, and he needed to do his job. Back at the lodge we rested a bit, then had a huge brunch before moving on to the pool deck for the rest of the afternoon. We swam, tanned, and watched the antelope, birds, primates, zebras, giraffes, etc. the wandered by in the empty river bed in front of the lodge. It was a perfect relaxing afternoon. 15:30 was tea time and then off on another evening drive. This time after dark, we saw 2 leopards! Our driver was the first to spot the large male leopard by the river and we got pretty close to watch him for a bit. He was beautiful with very dark rosettes and his tail actually curled which is unusual but pretty. We were about to leave when we noticed another leopard, that I assume was a female. Leopards are very secretive and they are rarely found together. In fact they only meet up for mating and then the female stays with her cubs until they are weaned and trained to hunt. Therefore, seeing the two together was fairly unique and a really neat experience. We also saw more hyenas, and another civet. Cats are by far my favorite animals and I had never seen leopards, genets or civets in the wild so it was awesome. And if this weren’t enough we saw a porcupine on our way back, it was pretty far away and we didn’t stop to observe, but it was still cool. After another delicious dinner we went to bed. I woke up in the night and was covered in sweat because the park is a much lower elevation, in the hottest part of the country and the hottest part of the year. I decided to sit outside where there was some breeze and I could read under the porch light without waking my friend up. After a little while I heard a lion roar in the distance and I got pretty excited. In the morning, we headed a different direction for the drive and we saw hundreds of elephants- they were everywhere! Apparently they often go in towards the village at night so many of them were returning to the park in the morning and others were just foraging nearby. Chelsea would have loved it. We soon came across a pride of 17 lions all together lounging by the river where there is more of a breeze. It’s not very common to find them all together when they don’t have a kill. They were all females and juvenile males, no small cubs or adult males. The guide said the males never stay with the females, but I’ve seen males in every other pride I found on previous safaris. Regardless, they were beautiful and I was so happy to watch them. After a little while the guide would start to turn the engine back on and say “ok we go now” and I would say “wait one more minute” but one minute always turned into longer. I knew he was bored and wanted to go, but I just couldn’t tear myself away from the beautiful lions. By 7:00 they started to get up and move into the shade and they walked right by our vehicle which was a completely open cruiser with just a shade covering on top. It was more difficult to see them lounging under the trees but I still requested we watch them longer. Finally the guide convinced me to move on by saying that the lions wouldn’t leave the shade until dark so we could come back on the evening safari and watch them some more. So we moved on and found more of all the animals we had been seeing and we went to see a really old baobab tree that was huge and beautiful, it even had plenty of green leaves at the time. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much a repeat of the day before, relaxing by the pool, enjoying the water and the scenery. As promised we went back to visit the lions first thing on the evening drive, but there were only 5 or 6 still hanging out in that area. Still, they had left the shade and moved back near the river so it was easier to see them. We drove around a bit, but didn’t see much that night, then after dark we went back to the lions, hoping they would make a kill. All 17 were back together but they were just lying around, with no sign of a hunt for the night. We knew they had killed a buffalo just a few days before, but we still wanted to see them make another kill. After a bit of coaxing them to get up and kill something for me I jokingly asked our guide how I could make 17 sleeping lions get up and move around. Even if they were too lazy to kill anything they should at least move around so I could have more to watch. Instead of answering me, he made a nearly perfect buffalo call. Immediately, all the lions got up and formed a single file line and began heading out on the prowl. Unfortunately, there were no buffalo in the area, but there was a nearby hippo we thought they would go after. They soon noticed the hippo, but apparently they weren’t hungry enough to kill the hippo and they were only craving buffalo after hearing the call. Sadly, they were only slowly moving out as it was time for us to return for dinner, so we didn’t see them kill anything, but it was still great just to watch them. Originally, we planned to leave early on the morning of the 4th, but after the ordeal we had getting there and the fact that even at the discounted rate this vacation was definitely a splurge (although well worth it and I would love to go back again before I finish my service) we decided to stay for the morning drive and leave immediately afterwards. In hindsight, I am super glad we stayed because it was the best morning. We woke up early, packed our things and walked outside to enjoy the last views of wildlife from our porch, then we noticed 3 elephants eating the marula fruit off the tree on the other side of our chalet. (I think I need to add a tangent about our chalet which was spectacular. It had a table and chairs outside on the porch, large windows on two sides looking out at the river bed, a sitting area inside with a couch and two comfy chairs, a big desk and chair, two nice soft beds which they turned down every evening while we were out on safari, a small fridge, two rotating fans, indoor and outdoor showers, not sure why we needed both, and a big tub. Seriously, I could have just moved in and never left this place, it was so perfect even with the ridiculous heat throughout the night. It at least made me appreciate that in Central province even in the hot season it gets cool at night.) We were so happy that the elephants came right up to our lodge, it was a perfect goodbye. Then on the drive, we saw the same pack of wild dogs again and because they are so rare, even our guide didn’t mind watching them for awhile. We went back to the lion hangout but sadly, they were all gone. We drove along the river and saw some local fishermen in their dugout canoes, the wild dogs headed that way too and we saw them again briefly on their way towards the river. We stopped by the baobab tree again for our snacks and drinks which was beautiful enough on its own, but also we found two bull elephants nearby so that made the view even better. On the last little part of the last game drive we found the lions again in a different spot. As usual they were just lounging around like the lazy cats they are. I took some more pictures and after about 10 minutes we started to leave when we heard a loud and intense roar as if a lion were defending a kill. We drove around behind where the lions were and found two young males finally enjoying their chance at the killed buffalo now that all the others were clearly satisfied and more concerned with resting in the shade. We couldn’t stay long because we were in an open safari vehicle, off road next to two lions that were already roaring and showing their canines as they ripped into the buffalo, but it was so awesome, a perfect ending to such a wonderful vacation. I know I have used the words perfect, wonderful, awesome, amazing etc. repeatedly in this update, but there’s really no other way to describe this vacation.

Transport: it's a problem

Transport in Zambia can always be a problem, but lately it has been worse than usual. The oil refinery in Zambia has to shut down yearly for maintenance, only they never think to stockpile fuel in advance or to arrange for imports. This year, the refinery happened to close at the same time the wheat was ready to harvest, and wheat is mostly grown by commercial farmers that use tractors (therefore a lot of fuel) to harvest. A lot of places were completely out of petrol meaning that less vehicles, mini buses, taxis, etc. were on the roads. The past few times that i left the village I was forced to wait much longer for transport. Then some companies finally started importing fuel from Tanzania to solve the crisis, but the prices were very high. (Actually even though things are getting better the prices are still a bit high.) In other words now is not the best time to travel, but seeing as I already had a trip planned I decided to go anyway and hope for the best. Well, we hitched to Lusaka just fine, in a nice safe, free, and quick ride. From there we had some difficulties...we waited a while before flagging down a canter truck that seemed to be going fairly fast. They offered us a free ride to Nyimba which is half way from Lusaka to Chipata (where we arranged to spend the night in another peace corps house). Well, the started going really slow and stopping a lot so by the time we got to the bridge we realized it was getting late and we didn't want to be stranded in Nyimba after dark so we switched to another truck going all the way to Chipata. We were able to sit in the cab and again we didn't have to pay, but it was a little cramped. Also, even though they were going pretty fast they stopped so much and for so long that we didn't arrive until 5 in the morning. It took us about 16 hours to make the 6-7 hour drive from Lusaka to Chipata. When we arrived we thought we lucked out because another girl was headed to Mfuwe airport right near the game park so we agreed to share the taxi that she had arranged and our lodge offered to pick us at the airport. It all sounded perfect and we were more than willing to pay for the convenience of a taxi after a night of no sleep in the back of a truck bed and them cramped in the cab with many other people. The taxi wasn't leaving \until 10 but that still gave us plenty of time to get to the park before the evening game drive. Well, as I am constantly reminded we are in Zambia and Zambia always wins. The taxi was an hour late and then it had to stop for petrol before we could start the journey. The taxi driver started discretely drinking beer from a sprite bottle, but it was obvious that it was beer and i double checked later just to be sure. Less than half way we started having problems with one of the wheels and it turns out it was missing a part or something so that the wheel didn't stay on tightly, it wobbled around and we couldn't drive anymore. We were completely stuck, the drivers, did not apologize or offer to help us find another ride. There were no cars on the road at all, it was dead and we were stranded. Finally a safari company bringing guests out to the park stopped and offered us a ride. Sometimes I feel bad that people here are so racists that they wont stop for Africans but they will stop for us; however, we need the rides so the guilt doesn't last too long. We got to the airport then eventually to the lodge, but not until 16. Since this blog is about transport, I will save the vacation part for another blog and skip to the transport home. We hed the lodge drop us at the road where we could hitch a ride into Chipata and after an hour and a half we finally had a car drive by on their way to there. It was a swiss couple in a rental car and the stopped and squeezed us in. We were so excited that are luck was improving. It was a nice vehicle with air conditioning, enough space for us and they were going a fast but still safe speed. After a while the driver slammed on the brake and we realized the road we were on just came to a T with another road, of course there was no sign or warning. We weren't able to stop in time and these gravel roads have water drainage ditches along side them. So we crossed to the road that was perpendicular to us (luckily no cars, bikes, cows, children etc. were in the way) and hitch the ditch. We actually got pretty high off the ground despite the weight of the vehicle and landed back upright. Naturally, we were very thankful that we didn't spin, flip, or crash into anything, and that we had seatbelts which is a rare luxury in this country. Regardless, it was painful and my sternum is very bruised from the seatbelt not to mention how sore my neck and back are! We spent the night in Chipata again and I am happy to report that after about an hour we got a ride to Lusaka this morning, it was safe, comfortable, fairly quick and we only paid the equivalent of $4 so thats not bad. Hopefully we will have good luck on our way back to Serenje tomorrow also!

*I must add that the crusier was perfectly fine after the accident so we just backed out and kept going, no more being stranded on the side of the road.
*Also I think you should all know that South Luangwa National Park is directly east of Serenje district which makes the whole crazy transport situation even more frustrating. Seeing as this country only has 4 real roads we had to go all the way around to get there when theoretically we could have driven straight through the park to not only get there quicker but to see more of the landscape and wildlife. It's a bit frustrating when you think about it. I hate that it's so difficult to go anywhere in Zambia, especially without your own all terrain vehicle.

October

Hello again,
Sorry it has been so long since I’ve updated. Unfortunately the internet is rarely working lately and even today the computer is being super slow and its driving me crazy. Anyway I have been back from Lusaka for about a month now, mostly staying in the village. My cat is still adorable and super friendly and its really nice to have her around to keep me company. Also I now have two other pc volunteers nearby and I just visited the commercial farmers near me this week and its was wonderful. Not only was I spoiled with a hot shower, delicious lasagna, ice cream, cake, and salad, but the company was wonderful and its always nice to talk in English sometimes. The not so good news is that I came home the other day and my family was eating roasted rabbit, Spice, my male. The story keeps changing as to the dogs killing the rabbit, someone poisoning it, or me giving it bad food. But the cage is high so the dogs couldn’t possibly have killed the rabbit unless someone took it out of the cage. I didn’t give it bad food and even if it was poisoned they should have left the rabbit in the cage instead of taking it out and eating it because its not their rabbit, its mine. They were kind enough to offer me a piece of what was left when I returned but I politely declined, said I didn’t believe their stories, said they should have told me the truth and that I was upset that they ate my rabbit. So now I need to figure out how to deal with it because the rabbit was not that expensive but I don’t want them to think they can get away with stuff like this bc that would make the rest of my service living with them horrible. Also I don’t want anything to happen to my other rabbit, Sugar and her baby. The whole point is to breed rabbits to help interested farmers start keeping rabbits. I was going to teach them how to care for rabbits and give them one rabbit which they would them give one of their first litter to another farmer and down the line until everyone had a start. Well, I can’t breed them if my family keeps killing and eating them, and I don’t have money to keep reinvesting in this if I’m just losing money everytime. Its frustrating!
Wonder Gorge: What a nightmare. It took us over 5 hours to get there, all 23 of us volunteers, we got delayed and lost a bit so it was almost dark by the time we arrived. The canter we hired said they had to leave but would be back in days by am. There were wild fires all around us so we took shifts watching all night to make sure our tent area was ok. Then some people decided we should make a fire break around the camp site which I said was a bad idea bc it was dark, very windy, the fires were currently being blown away from us so we would peobably be fine until the morning, we had no water source nearby in case there was a problem, no time to dig a ditch, no tools to dig with, and the people weren’t exactly experienced with dealing with this stuff. (I actually studied controlled burns in college for wildlife conservation). Altogether it was a bad idea but they did it anyway and I couldn’t stop them it did almost burn everyone’s stuff and I’m just glad no one got hurt because basically they were acting really stupid about it. The next day we walked over to a precipice where you could see down into the groge where the two rivers meet. It was pretty but not the best view with the smoke and the fact the most of the vegetation was charred black. WE started hiking down to the river but it was really steep and I kept slipping and sliding and cutting myself and we had to cross another fire and after about an hour and a half I realized we were only half way and I decided it wasn’t worth it just for a river so I headed back with a few others (a lot of people had turned back at the fire and we probably should have to because the second time we crossed it, on the way up, was worse) Anyway it was fun and a good workout and I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t make it down. The next morning I walked out to the precipice again and watched some baboons playing nearby so that was fun. Then we sat around in the heat all day, we had run out of water, and most of the food, and the canter of course was super late. I was so bored I went for a long walk and came back and still had to wait hours until the canter finally came at 16:30 and we got to ATB lodge in Mkushi just in time to eat dinner and go to sleep. I was pretty tired.
Since that trip made me really want a real vacation, and a certain special day in November is coming up I decided to head to south Luwangwa national park for a 3 day safari with another volunteer. I am really looking forward to it and I hope it will be amazing!
That’s all I can think of for now, hopefully it won’t be so long before the next update

I know I have just written two blogs but I have about 30min before I leave Lusaka so I thought I would take advantage of the nice free internet thats slower than America but faster than in Mkushi at least.

First for a list of some of my favorite things:
1. ice cream
2. Showers (hot ones are especially nice some days)
3. my ipod (particularly when it's charged)
4. yoghurt
5. cheese
6. chocolate chip muffins

I guess I'm in a pretty good mood today listening to music and enjoying my breakfast of yoghurt and chocolate chip muffins along with the hot shower. (the cheese and icecream were dinner last night)

I went to dinner by myself both nights i was here and I went to see a movie alone last night. I enjoyed the food and the movie, but i will say that doing stuff like that alone is about as lame as it sounds.

In other news: Over the past two weeks it was really windy at my site and small chucks of grass began to blow off my roof. There is still at least a thing layer of grass covering the entire roof but it's a little disconcerting considering the rains will be here very soon, probably mid november. Not to mention my housing committee still hasn't cut grass to make a roof for my cimbusu so I don't think they'll ever repair my roof especially if it looks find. And by the time the rain comes and you discover leaks it's kinda too late because you can't dry grass for the roof when it's raining. After about a week of this I was laying in bed reading and around 21 hours I started hearing the crackling sound of bush fires. Almost everyone practices slash and burn cultivation and aside from burning their fields some people like to burn the area around their house first to create a fire break so that a huge fire doesn't get out of control and burn down their houses. As I laid their reading and listening to the fire I heard it get closer and closer until i could hear it on all sides. I contemplated what I should do- go outside and see if I could keep the fire back, go get help, or just keep reading and hope for the best. I opted for the last idea because I thought if my roof did burn at least they would have to replace it and i could ensure that it was a solid leak free on this time. Also I do have insurance on my things. So i packed a small bag with my valuables and continued reading just waiting for my roof to catch fire. Somehow I accidentally fell asleep which would have been bad in the event of a fire. But when i woke the next morning my hut was still intact and the grass surrounding it but about 2 meters on each sidewas all burnt.
Ok time to go hopefully it will be a good day for transport!

updated wish list

Updated wish list:

1. dried blueberries
2. chocolate chips
3. macaroni and cheese
4. cheezeits
5. brown sugar
6. funfetti cake mix and vanilla frosting for my birthday! (in case you forgot its less than 2 months away and packages sometimes take awhile)
7. chocolate and cream cheese frosting
8. seeds for cumfry, lemon grass, and spinach (just one packet of each)
9. coconut lime verbena moisturizing shampoo and conditioner from bath and body works
10. Of course any chocolate and reeses items are always greatly appreciated


Also Sabsina can now be added to the hall of fame yay!

Another note: it’s generally easier for me to get packages that are sent to the Mkushi address which is PO BOX 840038 Mkushi, Zambia. You can still send something to Lusaka address if you need to but it takes a little longer to get to me. Thanks again to all you wonderful family and friends that have been writing and sending packages!

September

I’m back in Lusaka with real internet which is nice although I’m not a huge fan of Lusaka in general! Since the last time I wrote I returned to my village and found out that my rabbit had her babies the night before but they were all dead by the time I arrived- I’m not entirely sure what happened, but the villagers don’t know much about caring for them. I wish I had been there because maybe I could have done something, but it was too late by the time I arrived. I am trying to breed them now hoping she will get pregnant again soon. The night I returned, it was 18, and I was disappointed about the rabbits and tired from transport and hungry so I wanted to just eat dinner and go to sleep. However, someone knocked on my door and handed me what looked like an empty mealie-mealie sack. I automatically said thank you and took it then asked what it was, he said “it’s your cat.” I was confused because I didn’t have a cat although I was planning to get one from a nearby volunteer the next week. Apparently he found out I wanted a cat and he wanted to get rid of a kitten so he gave it to me. In a way it was nice, but I had no food or anything for her and I was so tired that I almost gave her back so I could just get the other one the following week, but she’s adorable and tiny and she was so scared that I had to keep her. Her name is Tigerlily and she is earning her keep, killing the rats and even a blue headed lizard. Plus she’s really friendly and it’s nice to have her around to keep me company. She loves to sit on my lap or follow me around and she sleeps under the sheets curled up right next to me every night. I’m really happy to have a kitten finally!

As far as work is concerned: I have started a permaculture garden to provide delicious fresh food for me and the rabbits and probably more importantly it can be used as a demonstration to teach farmers. I was asked to start teaching a business class but so far no one has showed up. I planted lemon seeds and I got a bunch of seeds from peace corps and my forestry officer so I can start planting those when the rains come.

The first week of September there was a traditional ceremony in Chalata (just near me) to celebrate the Lala tribe (it’s really like a sub tribe of Bemba). People were socializing, drinking, dancing and partying all weekend, but on Saturday morning there was an official ceremony that I went to. Its supposed to be to celebrate the harvest when people return from their fields to the village (cibwelamushi means return to the village)There were 11 different Bemba chiefs that came along with the vice-president of Zambia. It was nice to see them act out the presentation of a small portion of each crop to the chiefs and dance and tell the history of the tribe. Also we all sang the national anthem in Bemba, the Zambian national anthem is actually really pretty, but I had never heard it in Bemba before so that was nice.

Mostly I was staying at site recovering from the Lusaka craziness for the past month, but I did go to the house this past Friday and it was nice to cook and bake and chill. The electricity was off and on the whole time, but it was still really nice. And then a group of us ended up going to visit Kundalila Falls about a 2 hour drive north of Serenje. The falls were beautiful and we saw baboons and it was really nice just to get go somewhere relaxing. The water was freezing and the weather was overcast for the only day in September but I did swim a bit and I had fun climbing up the rocks all around the falls. We camped there over night and altogether it was quite enjoyable.

I think that’s all I have for an update and I put some photos on facebook for those of you that don't have facebook you can use these links: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2884386&id=2034306&l=c07db3df14
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2857227&id=2034306&l=d212dc697b

Lusaka

IST (in service training) has finally come to an end. While it was fun to see the other volunteers from my in-take, it has also been semi stressful. Not to mention two weeks of in tense training and partying will wear you out. I am definitely ready to go back to my nice quiet and calm village life although my departure from the city has been slightly delayed. It turns out that I chipped a crown on my molar which allowed food to get caught in the crevice and cause periodic infections and over time (this has been going on for the past 6 months)it began to cause a cavity in the tooth next to it. Sounds strange and complicated but the point is I needed to have the crown replaced, therefore while all the other volunteers headed out for home/vacations this morning, I went to the dentist and for almost 3 hours of drilling and pounded and other less than fun aspects of the dental procedure. Fortunately that part is all over now and I have a temporary crown in place. If I'm careful it is supposed to last for 2 weeks, at which point I will have to return to Lusaka to have the real crown put in (it has to be made in a lab in South Africa so it will take at least 2 weeks for them to get the impressions, make the crown and ship it back.) You probably don't care to read all this about my dental experience so I will move on, but I was plesaently surprised to find that the dentist is super legit and even better than the dentist that originally put the crown on.

Lusaka actually has all kinds of crazy nice things. Before coming to IST I was reflecting on how traveling in Zambia is like travelling through time because the villages are really isolated, lacking modern technology and the typical lifestyle there is not much diiferent from that of 2000 years ago. Then as you go to the bomas you make your way all the way to the late 1950s/early 1960s. There are cars and bikes but not much else (of course you have to substitute cell phones for land lines). Then when you get to Lusaka its almost like you're in the 1990s which is really exciting if you recently came from AD 100s. You might think I'm exaggerating, but not by much. We were all a little shocked and overwhelmed to be back in Lusaka and my excuse all week was I'm in Lusaka which allowed me to eat all sorts of junk food and spend much more money than I normally do. This week I've had lasagna, a smoothie, a salad, chinese food, indian food, pizza, a burger, and a lot of soft-serve icecream just to name some of the delicious treats available in the capital. Also I went to see a movie for the first time since I left America and the experience alone was fabulous, but the movie was the hangover which is one of the best/funniest movies ever to it was awesome. I stocked up on spices and food supplies to bring back to my site. I went out to Kareoke one night which was really fun and I went to a few clubs which can be fun, but are also pretty sketch at the same time. Yesterday I wandered around two of the main markets and the down-town area with a friend. It was nice to actually see a different part of Lusaka and get an idea of what you can get at the markets and what the average prices are but it was a bit overwhelming with all the people and loud music playing on speakers everywhere. It's been a while since I was at a big and crowded market. As we were walking along one of the streets near the City Market a man grabbed my left shoulder and tried to turn me around to face him- I said "iwe Leka...Fuma" or you stop/let go...go away(iwe means you litterally but its usually used for children almost like calling the person a child is they are and adult). I added the Fuma because he was still touching me after the Leka and I was annoyed. Then another guy (his friend) shoved his hand in my right front pocket and tried to grab my phone/money. (Purse cutting and stealing as well as reaching into purses is a problem so I decided just to bring my phone and a few bills in the very bottom of my front pocket knowing that my jeans are tight enough to make stealing nearly impossible.) I wipped around and slapped him on the shoulder pretty hard grabbed his hand to ensure he didn't have any of the small change from my pocket (I could feel that the phone was still in my pocket and the big bills were under the phone). I don't think I have ever taken out so much anger on a person...excluding family members of course. I yelled at him and his friends in a mixture of Bemba and English which they thought was hilarious and their laughter only fueled my anger. Finally I walked away but it took a few minutes for me to calm down. Not exactly a fun story but stuff happens and you're a really obvious target as one of the only white people to venture into the "sketchier" area of the city.

As for training, I did learn some helpful information. We talked more about conservation farming, agroforestry, seed multiplication projects, animal husbandry projects, and premiculture gardening. We actually spent the last two days building a permiculture garden which was great. After sitting in classes the whole time it was nice to get out and do physical work especially when we could see the end result as a nicely landscapped garden. It was also somewhat interesting because our LIFE project made a garden and so did the RED rural education development project and there was such a huge different in the approach. They spent more time planning and tryuing to organize whereas we all tried to grab a hoe or rake and start digging. Also they were all dressed up in leggings, running shorts, sports bras, athletic shirts and many expressed concern about getting their clothes dirty. Us LIFE volunteers on the other hand were wearing the same things we wear any other day jeans or comfortable pants with tshirts or tank tops. Some RED volunteers were avoiding work as much as possible but most of the LIFErs were eager to jump in and trying to find work wherever possible (I'm not trying to say anything bad about the RED volunteers I'm just saying you could tell who was in their element for the most part.) Another aspect of the week was a counterpart workshop where we each had a counterpart of our choice come to Lusaka from our village to learn about how to best work with their Peace Corps volunteer to promote development in the village. Ackson came which is nice because he's my friend, but overall those 2 days of the workshop were so stressful! The first day we had to work in a group pf all the volunteers and counterparts from Central Province to determince the biggest issue in our district. It started my each counterpart naming 2 issues from their area, then we picked the 5 most common issues and tried to rank them acording to how much of a problem it is, how important it is to fix it, and how easy it is to fix it. We tried to rank each of these categories on a scale of 1 to 5 but the Zambians couldn't understand the idea of rating and it was really frustrating to try to explain it. After awhile we gave up and just voted on which was more important comparing 2 at a time but even that was problematic. I asked are there many people in your village that are ill? Raise your hand if there are many people in your village that are ill..I got blank stares and no responses. I said "so poor health is not a problem in our area" and eventually they said yes it is a problem, when asked to explain how it is a problem they just stared again. Despite all the rephrasing and translating we were getting no where and we took twice as much time as all the other groups and still didn't manage to finish even half of what we should have. The group work was far too frustrating but the idea of picking a problem and mapping out a potential project to address the problem and going through all the steps of project development and management is good. I will say the the RED group had very talkative and interactive counterparts that probably got more out of the workshop than the LIFE counterparts did. Also the RED volunteers were all dressed very professionally for their workshop whereas us LIFE volunteers thought it was enough to put on a nicer and clean shirt for a change but otherwise still wearing mostly jeans or comfortable pants rather than slacks or skirts.

I think thats all I have for now I am attempting to hitch back tomorrow but I guess now I will be back in the city soon so I should be able to update in 2 weeks if not before then.

If you are interested in reading about other volunteers in Zambia check out this website becuase it has a list of blogs
Peacecorpsjournals.com/zambia

Return to Lusaka-land

I just travelled back to Lusaka yesterday for in-service training. Fortunately the Peeace Corps decided to send a bus to collect all the people from northern, luapula, and central provinces and we rode together it was quite disorganized and inefficient but it was much more convenient than hitching. I will say that it seemed a little sketch when they dropped the 2nd half of our group off at a guest house that was locked with absolutely no lights on and no staff anywhere that we could find and the PC driver just drove away leaving us all there. It reminded me of the movie touristas which I recently watched at the PC house and I was just hoping to wake up with at least 1 kidney and most of my liver still inside me-haha don't worry someone eventually turned the power on and let us unto our rooms and I woke feeling fine, in my bed (not a tub f ice) and no scars or other indications of organ harvesting. Already I have had chinese food, doughnuts, icecream, yoghurt, pepsi and several other exciting treats that I can't get in my area. Also I bought some jewlery and enjoyed looking at the craft market and just hanging out today.
As for village life: I got a lift back from the house instead of biking (after the last blog I wrote). The last week at site I managed to buy two rabbits, a white female named sugar and a speckled gray male named spice. They are adorable and it's really fun to have them around. Sugar is already pregnant and I can't wait to have little baby rabbits, but I hope it won't happen until after I get back in about 2 weeks. Also I took a field trip to a brittish prep school 32km away and it was amazing! I felt like I was back in 3rd grade as the farm manager showed me around the pig pen, chicken house, garden, orchard, tree nursery, dairy house, butchery, athletic fields, dorms and classrooms. I was very impressed because the farm is used to supply most of the food for the student cafeteria and the entire system is very self-sufficient. Also they have some extras that they sell and they use the farms for educational purposes as well. I really enjoyed seeing everything and they fed me a delicious lunch with chicken, but the main purpose was to inquire about their pig keeping. My counterpart and I are hoping to start a pig project sometime over the next year (but we have a lot to do before then) and it was very helpful to get ideas and learn more about dietary needs. Also he offered to host a workshop for a small group of farmers and to sell them at least 3 piglets at some point. We finished cementing the floor in my house and I still have extra to put in my insaka, bathing shelter and cimbusu. Also I requested that the metal maker in my village make the metal parts I need to build an oven so hopefully I can do that when I return. Plus we made bricks that should be dry in a few days and I'm told they will finish the insaka and cimbusu (that were supposed to be finished in April) while I am gone but I'm not sure if I believe that. Also on the horizon: my counterpart and I are hoping to start a poultry project with 50 layer hens and we want to try a garden planting plan that should supposrt all their dietary needs without the expensive supplements and if it works we can encourage other villagers to try it as well; a small vegetable garden so me and my rabiits can have fresh healthy treats; and I hope to collect worms if possible and start a vermiculture project at my site so I can use the compst for a small herb garden. We'll see if/when any of this happens or if it will even work. Overall I'm really wexcited to have so many future plans and goals and to have started at least a few of them (the rabbits and a tree nursery where we planted about 80 jatropha plants. My counterpart, Ackson is coming to Lusaka for a few days of this training so it will be exciting for him to get more information-I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful counterpart and friend (especially because my host/counterpart person from the first 3 months was so horrible!) I will enjoy our time back in a city but I think we have decided not to do a vacation right after this and we will wait for another time. More to come later- probably this week or the next

biking fun

Dear all,

I last left you after my biking into Mkushi BOMA, well it turns out I have been doing a lot of biking since then. That day we went to visit these small but pretty waterfalls nearby. Cindy and I biked to visit Daphne and Tyson (a married couple of volunteers) the next day and it is only 10km from Cindy’s, but after eating pizza and a delicious salad and enjoying the company of other Americans we decided was were really wanted cake. We probably should have been satisfied from all the other wonderful food but we couldn’t get over the craving for cake so we decided to bike all the way into the BOMA over a sketchy log bridge pretty high over the river, past a mine and a pretty manmade lake and bought the margarine and flour we needed to go bake the vanilla cake which burnt a little but was well worth it. Whenever I go the BOMA I eat so much junk food that I practically make myself sick and you think I would learn my lesson, but no, I still seem to do it every time. All the sugar and fried things, but they are so good! The day after I biked back to my site which is only a 60km ride, but it is a bit more uphill on the way back and unfortunately that day was intensely windy and at some points I was biking as hard as I could and barely going 10km/hour because of the wind. I will say that I regardless of the wind that wore me out it was a nice ride and I’ve decided that I really do like biking especially on the road where I only have to worry about the occasional passing car (and not the mud, rocks, sand, holes etc which are a lot of fun in their own way) and I find it’s wonderful time to think and clear my head and ultimately be alone. You would think that living alone in a small rural village would afford more than enough alone time, but I’m finding that there are always people around walking by greeting you, or children staring at you, not too mention the goats, chickens and dogs pestering you and making a lot of noise. All in all I’m really taking to this biking thing and wondering why I never did it before-also, my parents sent me an odometer/timer/clock/speed detector thing for my bike which makes it even more fun. Back at site I have been reading as usual and I’ve done a bit more work on the rabbit house but it’s still not quite finished. I’m hoping we will finish it soon because I am supposed to go buy the rabbits on Monday August 10th. Also my insaka is supposed to be finished by the 10th and then I’m hoping to use a few of the extra bricks to make an oven if I can have some metal sheets made. Finally, my front room should be cemented on the 14th right before I leave for Lusaka. We’ll see, things are mostly just wait and see around here. I am looking forward to visiting Lusaka, seeing other volunteers from our intake, learning more, stocking up on a few things they don’t sell in Mkushi and then after the training I think I am going to Lake Kariba for a few days with Mary and Cindy. It will be nice to get away and see another part of the country. Despite living here for almost 6 months now, we have seen relatively little because we have been stuck in training and community entry so this mini-vacation should be nice.
Currently, I am at the PC house in Serenje with a few other volunteers. I biked in yesterday-I thought it was about 90km according to the signs, but my odometer said it was 113 start to finish (it has been very accurate before, but it seemed to run about 11km per 10km on this trip which would put the ride at around 100km still I’m not really sure) I stopped a little more than half way and had a mid-morning snack and a sprite then kept going. I thought I could do the whole thing in 5 hours and I made really good timing at first but when I got to the last 15-20km I was starting to get tired, I took a 5 minute rest then kept going. Then 10km away I came to a really steep hill and though there was no way I could make it the last 10km. I had to walk halfway up the hill and then a biked a bit on the flat part before coming to another equally steep hill and had to walk at least halfway up that one too. Luckily at the top of that hill is the turn for the BOMA and from there its all downhill. And downhill enough that I coasted the entire way even hitting 65km/hour at one point without pedaling. It took me about 5 hours and 30 minutes of biking plus 15 minutes of walking, 15 minutes of snack time and the second 5 minute break. I was so exhausted but we just hung out yesterday, talking and baking (I made cinnamon rolls, rosemary, basil, oregano bread, no bake cookies, carrot cake, and stir fry which was fun) Today most of the other PCVs are coming for a goodbye gathering-two volunteers just finished their service and are leaving soon. Overall everything is good and the biking and visiting other people has definitely put me in a better frame of mind and I am no longer so frustrated with my village. Also, My District Forestry Officer came to visit me and we had a community meeting to discuss the needs of the community and how we could achieve these and even set vague time frames and tried to give specific people responsibility. It was really good and the first 2 needs were income generating activities and improved crop yields so that’s exciting because those are two things I should be able to help with and I met many important community members that seem willing to work with me. It was inspiring and encouraging and I really needed that. However, his parting words were “now I hope that you are adequately prepared to star your projects, I didn’t want you to have any hindrances, but now I have opened Pandora’s Box for you and you should be able to take it from here, but we are always there if you need more support.” Very nice and helpful but the reference to Greek mythology troubled me a little (if you don’t know there was a box that securely contained all the evils and Pandora’s curiosity led her to open it and unleash the evils on the world forever) it sounded a little too prophetic in a way, but I’m hoping he just mistakenly referenced it incorrectly and that the meeting didn’t symbolically unleash a load of evil into my village haha.
On a side note a Zambian guidebook advertised accommodations in thatched brick chalets that sound wonderful and peaceful for a get-away, but technically our mud huts are thatched and mud bricks so maybe not so wonderful if you think about it-it made us smile.
I guess that’s all the news I have for now, but I should be able to update again within the next 2 weeks. Also I'm pretty sure I'll bike back in a few days and it should be easier because its more downhill, but we'll see also then maybe I can figure out the exact distance in km.

Biking adventure

Hello again!
I am back in Mkushi Boma after just one week, its crazy! I think I’ve been avoiding my village like the plague, I’ve rarely been there and when I have been there I’ve had visitors for half the time. I wasn’t really meaning to avoid it consciously, and don’t get me wrong I love my site still (The scenery still amazes me and I am fortunate enough to have made one really good friend and counterpart plus about 4 other friends and one other potential counterpart) but I have been feeling a little frustrated lately and the more time I sit there alone and think about things the more frustrated I get so I’ve been keeping myself too busy to sit and think for the past 2 weeks. I know that I am not supposed to be working for the first 3 months which officially ended yesterday (can you believe I’ve been here that long?) but we each made a list and timeline for some small projects when we met with our village hosts at the end of training. Well, it seems I have not accomplished any of them except to visit 2 of the schools which I did by myself because no my host was too “busy, sick, tired or whatever other lame excuse he had that day” to go with me. I don’t mind doing things alone, but it’s difficult when you don’t know where anything is. I have sufficiently explored the area to be able to find my way around fairly well by now, again no thanks to my host. Even the small things on my list like plant a garden, get a cat, collect seeds, build a clay cook stove, visit the headmen and chief (I have met 2 headmen I think there are 5 and the chief is coming to visit next month so maybe I can meet him then, who knows?) I didn’t expect to change the world by joining peace corps and I didn’t even expect to change the whole village, but I would like to be able to help some people otherwise it seems a little pointless for me to be here. Don’t get me wrong I love being here and it sure beats trying to find a real job in the real world of America, but I sometimes wonder why Peace Corps is paying for me to have a 2 year summer vacation. Yes I realize my work is just beginning and there is still plenty of time and I do have hope, I’m just saying that it has been a little frustrating lately, especially when I see that other volunteers from my intake and program and province are actually doing things and accomplishing things. My village seems too lazy to ever want to work with me (they still haven’t finished the cimbusu pit latrine or the insaka/gazebo thing that were supposed to be finished before I moved in. There is always some excuse, first it was raining to they couldn’t make bricks, then they were making bricks for the school, now they are making bricks for the chief and soon it will be raining again there is no end to the possibility of excuses!) Mostly I think my frustrations lay with my host who was supposed to help me get settled in the village and he is on the housing committee that is supposed to build these things for me, but he is a lazy, lying, greedy, angry (he beat up a man that ended up in hospital for no apparent reason), stealing, cheating, horrible man, probably one of the worst people I’ve ever met and it turns out he’s the pastor of United Church of Zambia. I really like the church in general but I hate that he’s the pastor of the branch in Kafwa so I also have been avoiding church. I think it’s not worth going to service if it makes you feel bitter and angry so I’ve just been having my own church with my Bible, journal and praise songs on my ipod. So far it’s fine although I’m a little disappointed that I miss out on worshipping with other people in my village. As for the rabbit project and the pigs and the tree nursery they are at a stand still. I am very thankful to have found such a great friend and counterpart, Ackson, and he is more than willing to help me with anything, but also he is busy with his own work as well because he has a wife, young son, brother, mother, and younger cousin that he is somewhat responsible for. This past week I returned to site on Thursday and then spent some time reading, until Sunday when Cindy came to visit me and then on Monday we went to visit Mary (I realized later that we weren’t really supposed to because she lives in Serenje district and we live in Mkushi district and we aren’t supposed to leave district during the first 3 months without permission, but I live really close to the border so it’s not even that far away) It was a really cold and dreary day, it drizzled a touch and the sun never came out. We biked 10km to Chalata (the village on the main road) and left our bikes there then tried to hitch but we waited a while and even then we had to pay (generally we wait until we can go for free but the traffic was so slow and it was so cold that we paid). We got out at Mulilima and tried to buy a few things like bread and tomatoes to bring to Mary, but even the market was practically dead and they barely had anything. Mary lives about 23km down a main dirt road behind Mulilima and we were told we could get transport, but it was so dead and too cold to sit so we started walking. A few minutes later a nice fancy land cruiser drove by and the back was completely empty but it didn’t stop! We were pretty angry about that I mean when you see two bazungu (white people) walking on a dirt road in Africa it’s pretty clear that they are Peace Corps or at least some sort of volunteer and cruisers generally belong to government organizations, or NGOs of some sort so they should have given us a ride, but they didn’t. After 2 hours of walking we found a seemingly deserted village and finally found one tuck shop with an attendant to sell us some biscuit/cookie things and then almost to Mary’s we found another village with drunk people where we bought some more cookie/biscuit things and a man called out “girls…Africa…why?” At that point I was kinda wondering also what we were doing walking 20km down a dirt road in rural Zambia, not entirely sure where we were going. Then just past that town we got a lift in the bed of a sweet potato truck for the last 4km or so. Only when we got there did I realize how tired my feet were and that I had aggravated the blisters from the mountain climbing experience that still have not healed yet (things don’t heal here and I am fortunate enough that with all the cleaning and bandaging they have not gotten infected at least). We had planned to spend just one night, but we were so exhausted that we didn’t want to think of transport yet the next day so we stayed 2 nights. We made pancakes, bean burgers and tortillas on the brazier and it was delicious although the consistency of the pancakes and bean burgers were a little off. We were supposed to get these cook books that have recipes for using a brazier specifically designed by former volunteers that know what is sometimes available ingredient wise but of course PC didn’t give them to us just another of the many let downs by PC. I mean really how hard is it to give us a little cookbook that you photocopied in your office and that one little thing would have been so nice and helpful, but no we are left to mix random things together and hope that something turns out ok, which it does for the most part. We walked around her town a bit, but mostly we sat around the fire talking, reading and drinking tea to stay warm. On Wednesday morning we got transport out and back to Chalata then biked back to my site where Cindy spent another night and Ackson gave us a goat leg that we cooked into a curry and it was delicious. Eating meat is such a luxury here and I felt somewhat like a dog devouring chucks of goat. I biked with Cindy past Cangilo village to the tarmac (it is supposed to be a shortcut to Mkushi, but I don’t think it’s shorter it just avoids the tarmac for a bit which is still nice) it turned into a 42 km bike ride for me by the time I got home. Yesterday I biked about 20km trying to find the place where they are building a house for the chief to stay in when he visits (Zambians are not very good at giving directions or estimating distances for the most part) I announced that there will be a village meeting on Wednesday the 29th so that I can introduce myself and my program as a Peace Corps volunteer (again things my host should have done before I even arrived, but he hasn’t done a thing!) also a few people from the Forestry Department are coming to help me implement my programs in the community. Overall I am very happy that the Forestry Department is so willing to work with me and they seem very on top of things. Technically I am an extension agent working under the Department of Forestry but I also work with agriculture and other things. (I guess this is all hypothetical work because I haven’t done any really work yet). I’ve also been working out and doing exercises/stretches in my hut so if I don’t accomplish anything else at least I should be in shape and well read at the end of two years! Today I got up and biked into Mkushi Boma I made 53.5 km in 2 hours and the first 10 are on really rough rocky and sandy roads that I had to slow down for plus the few slight hills along the tarmac. Overall it was wonderful and I feel great now! The weather was perfect, cool, but sunny and I was riding a little into the wind which kept me cool. Also I had my ipod going in one ear and when I wasn’t climbing a hill I would sing along a bit and enjoy the lovely scenery. Our bikes are very good at general things which is perfect because we have a little bit of sand and a little bit of rocks and a little bit of hills and a little bit of mud and a little bit of everything, but today I wished I had a real road bike with more gears so that I could go faster. I have 3 gears in front and 7 in the back and I stayed in 37 the entire time along the tarmac and twice I got up to 55km and hour but my feet were practically flying off the pedals. Regardless they are good enough bikes and I am very thankful for that and it was a lovely bike ride which really brightened my spirits. I was a little worried about biking along side semi-trucks that but there was very little traffic and I biked facing the traffic and in the shoulder so I could move even further over if necessary. At one point I saw a semi coming and I had plenty of space in the shoulder but then just before it paced me I realized there was a semi behind it that decided to pass at that exact moment but there was a bike going the other direction in the other shoulder and the passing semi started to run the other semi off the road and onto the shoulder where I was it was a little scary and I biked into the ditch fully expecting to fall off my bike but willing to do anything to avoid being hit by even a slow semi and somehow I manage to get my feet on the ground while the bike slid out from underneath my and aside from a cut on my hand (from a thorn when I picked up my bike) I was just fine and kept right on biking.
Now I will spend probably 2 nights in the Boma and then head back home for my meeting and some other things maybe I will actually start the tree nursery and the rabbit project although I’m not really counting on it. Then next week I think I will go to the house now that I’m allowed and there will be a goodbye party for 2 of the volunteers that are finishing their service now. Then on the 16th of August we “new” volunteers are headed back to Lusaka for In Service Training or IST. After that most of the volunteers are going to visit Victoria Falls but I decided not to go with everyone because it seems more stressful than vacation like so I think just Mary, Cindy and I will go to Lake Kariba for a few days if we can work out the details.

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Hello everyone! Life here is still going fairly well. After my mountain climbing attempt in the last blog, I returned to the village for a week and then headed to Serenje BOMA (each province has a Peace Corps house where there is an office and bedrooms so we can stay there up to 4 nights a month for almost free, and there is electricity to charge things and a real oven to bake and cook fancy things) I went to an Agricultural show there that was kinda fun and it was nice to see some people. I love my village because it’s beautiful and peaceful and I have 2 really good friends that are brothers and speak English fluently plus I have 3 other semi-friends and a nice teacher plus family that I like to visit. Aside from that I have not done much though because there were some frustrations with miscommunications-about why I was there and what Peace Corps is-and my host that was supposed to help me settle in for the first 3 months of community entry before I actually start working is lazy and not a very good person combined with the fact that everything happens much slower in Africa means that I haven’t done anything and I don’t even have people interested in future projects yet. I know I haven’t been here long so I’m hoping it will get better and I will actually be able to do something in the next two years that I am here. For these first 3 months we are not allowed to have vacation and I feel a little stuck knowing that I’m not allowed to leave my district (Serenje is the next district over but I can go if I have permission) Still, I feel like even now I have not spent all that much time in my village because of going to the BOMA or going to visit other volunteers (I also had my first visitor at site). Mkushi BOMA is about 50km and Serenje BOMA is about 65km away so really it’s not far and I live only 10km from the main road that goes to the BOMAs but it’s still somewhat of a hastle to get transport although I admit I have it much better than many people in other parts of the country. I hitch most of the time and only if I can go for free. One time I had to pay 5pin or about 1 dollar for a ride in a semi truck and it turned out the driver was really drunk, still drinking and scary but after I realized that he didn’t want to let me back out so I just prayed that we wouldn’t crash and luckily we didn’t. That was not the first or last time that the driver was drinking beer on a hitch. I try to wait for a “safe” driver but there’s only so much you can do. The bus drivers and mini bus drivers are usually worse and their vehicles are less road-worthy plus overcrowded. I did take a minibus last week for free in exchange for telling the driver and his friend about America, it was fun but took twice as long because we stopped so much for passengers. I am currently in the middle of starting a few projects-one is raising rabbits for a source of protein and the rabbit cage is behind my hut, almost finished. It took me and a 15 year old only one day to go in the forest and cut down 35 small trees to strip the branches into poles and carry them back to my house. It was kinda nice to finally do some physicl work and the next day my friend Ackson and I took down a wall and salvaged 400 bricks to use for a building to house the pigs we hope to get soon. I also collected a bunch of jatropha seeds to start a tree nursery. I still have a lot of work to do on each project and I still would like to plant a garden but we’ll see when anything happens if ever. Now for some random facts: the 5 second rule from America has become the if the ants haven’t taken it yet you can still eat it despite the dirt because it’s a shame to waste good food. I read about a book a day and sometimes I feel like it’s almost not worth starting a new book if I know I won’t have time to finish it that same day.

Wall of Fame:

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandpa and Chris

Laurie and Andy

Gary and Tracy

Cindy M.

Lori N.

Patti W.

Cathy R.

My parents

*Thanks for the packages because I truly appreciated them and to those of you who haven’t sent packages, there is still time for you to make it onto the wall of fame. (Also I very much appreciate the letters but I don’t have room to list all of you who have written to me)

For those of you that would like to know here is a list of some things I would particularly appreciate:

1. chocolate bars and/or chocolate chips for baking

2. peanut butter m&ms/reeses pieces

3. dried blueberries

4. raisins

5. Gatorade

6. mac and cheese

7. marshmallows

8. cheezeits!

9. baking soda (just a little)

10. brownie/cake mixes

Finally I will leave you with a little info about the food I have been eating in Zambia. The staple is ubwali/nshima which is a polenta type mush that is made from ground finger millet/cassava/sorghum or most commonly maize and eaten with the hands-you dips the balls into a relish. The relish is usually some leaf that is boiled far too long with a little bit of cooking oil and a tomato. My least favorite leaf is rape which is by far the most common in the village unfortunately. Another of my least favorite foods is a tiny dried fish called kapenta that smells horrid and tastes just as bad plus you have to eat it with the eyes and everything. I commonly eat boiled or mashed or fried sweet potatoes which are less sweet than the ones in America and they taste amazing. Mostly I eat pb and j because its easy. Every now and then I have a tuna sandwich or cereal with boxed whole milk (tuna, boxed milk, and whole milk are all things that I never would have eaten in America, but here it’s like a special treat.) One of my favorite parts of leaving the village is eating good food, but I also enjoy seeing other volunteers. I must admit that I recently ate a roasted rat in the village. Actually, it tasted pretty good once you got over the fact that you’re eating a rat. I did have to ask my friend to rip of the head and the tail before I would touch it though. I think that’s all the news that I have for now but I will be in Lusaka in one month and maybe I can put some pictures up then keep your fingers crossed!