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.