Noise Pollution

We have rented a house in a new neighborhood of Chalata. The area was recently designated for new development and plots are sold fairly inexpensively on the condition that the owner begin building within a year and the houses must all be modern houses and no mud huts. This area was designated about the same time that the government initiated a new loan program for teachers in which they can essentially get a loan with no questions asked. So, many of the teachers in Chalata have taken out loans and built or are building houses in this new neighborhood. Most of them have completed their own houses and are also completing rental houses for income generation. While, Zambians need options for loans and better banking services, I do not think this is the best system. When teachers receive loans, without having to make a plan for repayment, they will likely default on the loan in the end. The idea of renting out houses as a stable way to generate income and repay the $15,000 loan is unlikely to succeed as there are not that many potential renters and few can afford to pay a reasonable price. My husband and I are obviously an exception to this. We happened to relocate to Chalata right as a few teachers were finishing these modern rental houses and naturally the $100 of rent per month is nothing for us compared to what we would pay back home in the states. We chose the one house that includes access to water from the landlord's pump/tank and quickly moved in. We were happy to move into this nice 3 bedroom house that even has electricity. We also thought that living with relatively well-off neighbors, most of whom are educated and work as teachers, would be convenient. Despite the many rules for the neighborhood, there is little real enforcement so we still find some "village problems" that we had hoped to avoid. For example, one neighbor refuses to adhere to the rule that chickens must be penned and he allows his 4 hens, 12 chicks, and rooster to roam the area in search of food so that he doesn't have to buy feed for them. The problem with this is that the chickens quickly find all the gardens and help themselves. We lost all of our papaya seeds, and other seedlings to chickens and now the garden beds we prepared remain empty until we can find a solution to the chicken problem. If we want to plant, we would have to pay for a fence or use hanging pots all because one selfish man refuses to follow the rule that would benefit not only me, but all my other neighbors who have gardens as well. I have threatened the man, by saying that if I find his chicken in my garden again, I will eat it for dinner, but he must not believe me because they still roam free. I am currently in the process of training my cat to kill the chicks and chase the adults away, hopefully it will help some. In the meantime, my husband just throws rocks at them whenever he sees them in the yard. In addition to the chicken issue, we have had a huge noise issue. Because the source of water is very near to our house and in particular, our bedroom window, there are frequently people gathering outside our window waiting to fill buckets and jerrycans. They usually greet each other and gossip a bit, which doesn't bother me. However, many of them like to entertain themselves by listening to music on their phones. In America, when one listens to music on a phone in public, one would use headphones, but not here. They turn on the music as loud as it will possibly go. By music, I should clarify that it is really just noise. "Zampop," the preferred genre of music is excessive bass, annoying fake sounding tricks from the keyboard and random words spoken in a variety of local languages and English...it's terrible. In addition the speakers on the cheap phones here are not made for musical enjoyment and begin screeching at the high volumes. Unfortunately, the noise issue has been the biggest cultural difference to overcome. Zambians actually think it is kind and generous to play their music as loud as possible because this gives everyone else the opportunity to enjoy it as well. Using headphones or reducing the volume, is almost considered selfish. No one would think for a minute, that their choice of music and their poor quality speakers might not be enjoyed at 6:00 in the morning. No, I can't do anything about the culture here and I won't begin to try, but I do desperately seek to set rules for my own yard. I constantly, walk out to the water tank and ask people to reduce the volume of their music while they are in my yard. I usually blame it on my husband sleeping, or say he is not feeling well, but mostly I just don't care to listen to your terrible noise from inside my own house. If I want to hear music, I will select my own preferred songs and will play them on my own, good quality Samsung, phone at a volume which allows me to hear fine, but cannot be heard at any of the neighboring houses.

Mzungu Prices

Here in Zambia, us foreigners like to joke about what we call mzungu prices. Mzungu literally refers to a foreigner, but is almost exclusively used for Americans and Europeans (even Asians are usually put into a different category.) While the term itself is mostly used to refer to our race, it is become associated with a class difference as well. All mzungu are assumed to be rich and therefore, local Zambians often see us as a money-making opportunity. When going to a market or hiring a taxi, you may find that the price quoted to a mzungu is much higher than the price for a local. Of course this system is extremely frustrating for those of us who live in Zambia, especially if you are a volunteer living off a meager salary. When one knows the system and learns the fair price for items, it is much easier to haggle and get the local price instead of the mzungu price, but you must always be vigilant or you will be taken advantage of. As soon as you speak in the local language and mention that you know the normal price, you will usually be offered the fair deal, but the original price is almost always ridiculously high. In order to illustrate this concept, I must use an example that was recently shared with me by a friend. This friend of mine is half Asian and half African. Her husband is half African and half European. When the two of them applied for their marriage permit here in Zambia, they encountered an issue. The government office actually has two different official prices for marriage permits, one for Mzungu and one for black Zambians. The officials had no idea which price to charge for two people that were half in each category. Each official went to their supervisor until my friend was finally sent to the most senior official in the entire office. After much discussion, she even offered to pay the mzungu price, which was significantly higher, 300 kwacha instead of 50. The official refused the higher price saying it was not possible to charge a non-mzungu the 300 kwacha, but also refused the lower price as neither of them were 100% black Zambians despite having resident status and everything. Finally, the officials determined an innovative solution of splitting the difference at 175 kwacha which was quickly agreed upon by my friend in an effort to save time. Still this presented an issue of writing the official receipt for a non-standard price. The moral of this story is that mzungu prices are real and they exist on multiple different levels. And as a foreigner, especially a white foreigner, living or travelling in Zambia, you must always be cautious in order to avoid paying double or triple the normal price.

On Becoming a Hoarder (again)

I am reinitiating my old Peace Corps blog about life in Zambia. I am no longer in Peace Corps, but am living in Zambia about 12 kilometers from my old village. I have started an NGO and am working to send orphan students to secondary school. More information on this can be found at our website www.IIMInternational.com. And now back to blogging about life in Zambia... During my Peace Corps service I sort of became a hoarder which is not uncommon, at least for volunteers in Zambia. When things are so difficult to obtain, you suddenly start seeing every object as potentially useful. It becomes difficult to throw anything out because it might someday be useful and also because you become more conscious of your waste when you have to dig a trash pit yourself and burn the items every so often rather than just leaving them at the curb for the trash pick-up: out of sight, out of mind. After moving into our new house with only the bare minimum of household supplies, a few buckets, a few pots/pans, a few dishes, 3 chairs, and 2 small folding tables, we were forced to be somewhat resourceful. Already, we have sewn some curtains from cheap cloth and built shelves for the pantry. As we accumulate what would normally be considered trash, we have held onto these valuable items and turned them into really useful things. For example: the light bulb boxes make good pen holders, the plastic coke bottles can become fly traps, former bottles of oil are used for fetching/storing water, the peanut butter jar is now home to papaya seeds. For the most part this reusing of materials is incredibly resourceful and beneficial for the environment. However, I will be the first to admit that there is a tipping point at which this behavior can go too far. Now when I shop at the grocery, instead of bringing my own reusable bags, I encourage the cashier to use as many bags as possible so that I can have enough trash bags and not have to purchase any. And yes, I am well aware that this isn’t the most environmentally friendly behavior, but it gets worse. That empty glass bottle of Heinz 57 ketchup that we just finished seemed like a priceless gem. I carefully washed it and found a spot for it on our pantry shelf. What will I do with it, you ask. I have no idea, but it seems way too potentially valuable just to throw away. This is where I start heading down a slippery slope of someday waking to find the spare bedroom full of potentially useful items that I have no use for, but feel they are too valuable to simply discard. Thankfully, this time around, Aaron and I have each other so hopefully we will be able to keep each other in check, but maybe we will just become twice as bad as before, who knows? In the meantime I have put most of the items I’ve saved so far to good use and I remain with only a few saved for future use.

The move

I just moved into my new house on Thursday March 4th. The day consisted of getting up early, packing the things I had in Serenje, driving to Chalata to pick up my program director then driving up to Kafwa village. My director told the community members that they were taking me to a new villagesince Kafwa community didn't appear to work well with each other or with me. He gave one main example. Then the villagers blamed everything on me and said some hurtful things about me. After that I loaded up my belongings and said goodbye as quickly as possible because I just wanted to be out of there for good. On the way out we got my bike in Chalata and some money in Mkushi. I will admit I cried a bit on the way out and not because I was sad to leave, but because the people there were so mean. Despite all of that sadness, arriving at the new village was wonderful. The family was happy to see me and the house was finished and ready for me to move in. One of the mothers hugged me and said welcome home my daughter. And they really have treated me like one of their children all this week. The village is called Mikunku. The host father is originally from Zimbabwe so he speaks Shona, English, and now Bemba. He ahs two wives that are both amazingly sweet and helpful. They bring me food all the time and invite me to eat dinner with them. They planted two flower plants in my yard and are always trying to help me settle in and make sure I'm taken care of. There are several children around and one of the oldest girls, named Precious has been really helpful. She speaks English well and isn't shy about it so we usually speak in english for her to practice and I've helped her with some homework problems. She took me to the school on Tuesday to meet the headmaster and some teachers. So far everyone I've met has been really great. There are several people from Zimbabwe and they all sem to be really hard working which is awesome. I've also attended a women's club meeting last Friday. Unfortunately, I've only been in my village for 5 full days. I had to leave Wednesday morning to go to a meeting in Serenje. I was supposed to return on Thursday morning, but had to come to Lusaka instead for an appointment. Overall everything is great, this new village seems to be the complete opposite of the last one so I'm really looking forward to working there. Also, I'm planning to go up to Zanzibar for Easter with a few other volunteers, so I'm looking forward to that as well. UPDATE from 2014: After moving to my new house, I looked forward to enjoying the improved living situation, but fate had other plans. After just two weeks in my new home, I began experiencing health issues. I was sent to a few specialists in Lusaka before eventually being evacuated to DC for better treatment. I spent several weeks undergoing treatment before I realized that I would not be able to return to Zambia any time soon. Instead, I was medically separated in May. While, I hoped to someday be reinstated in the Peace Corps, God had other plans for me. I ended up working as a zookeeper, getting a masters degree in sustainable development, starting an NGO IIM International and marrying the love of my life. Currently, my husband (another RPCV from Zambia) and I are living in Zambia again and running IIM International which is able to do more for development in Zambia than we were able to accomplish during our short Peace Corps Services. Overall, I highly recommend Peace Corps to anyone interested, but I will warn you that it will change your life! In my case, despite all the hardships, I truly believe my life has been improved because of my time in the Peace Corps, even though it was cut short.

I'm still in Lusaka for now, but I've been cleared to go back and there is a PC vehicle going tomorrow that I was told I could get a ride with. I got approval from several people in PC, but I just talked to the driver and he says he doesn't think he will have room for me bc he already promised other volunteers that he would take them even though I was told last Friday that I could get a ride in this vehicle from his boss. I never talked to him personally bc I didn't have his number and I don't know him. He is the driver for a different province and he wants to take the volunteers from his province and told me to go with the driver from my own province, even though the driver from my province isn't going back until Monday and I am not allowed to stay that long. Sometimes I get overly frustrated dealing with PC staff. Not to mention m

Most of the people that I have been meeting with or talking with about the move and the issues at my site have been incredibly unsupportive and one person who is supposed to provide support to volunteers actually hasn't returned any of my phone calls or tried to talk to me in the past almost 2 weeks even though I told her I really needed help becuase everything was going so badly. It may sound horrible, but part of me thinks maybe they just want to leave me here in Lusaka or Serenje until I actually go stir crazy and decide to quit PC and just go home. Technically they shouldn't want volunteers to quit but in this case it would save them from having to move me and organize all of that. Which by the way they still don't have a date or a plan for my move. It kind-of would make sense not to bother planning anything if they are secretly hoping I will just go home so they don't have to deal with me. I don't really believe this yet, but it has crossed my mind, and it does potenitally explain the behaviour. When I met with another staff member to explain that I felt like they were just letting me fall through the cracks and not actually providing any support when I could really use some after dealing with really rough village issues for the past 2.5 months. Then at the end of the meeting with her she asked about my new site and then even implied that I wouldn't be as good of a volunteer as the person that I'm replaceing. I thought wow how is that for support when you need it. I'm getting really fed up with PC staff, but as of now I have no intention of quitting. I plan to stick it out and I really hope that if I ever do get to move to this new village, that things will get much better. I hope i will be able to work on projects and be in a village where at least someone actually wnats me there.

Aside from that craziness I have been trying to enjoy my time here. I've seen two movies: Valentine's Day and the Princess and the Frog. I went to a really nice Italian restaurant for dinner once. I've had chinese, ice cream, cheese, fresh fruit, yogurt and so many other goodies. Yesterday I bought a really nice big soft rug that will be wonderful in my new house if I ever get there. As frustrated and disappointed as I have been lately, I'm trying to be positive and optimistic my planning things for my new village and think of how I will decorate and arrange furniture now that my house will be twice as big. On a happy note, I just found out that my cat is still alive and my old house has not been broken into yet. Luckily my counterpart is taking care of things for me there. Hopefully I will pick up my stuff and my kitty before anything bad happens to them. I know for sure I won't be able to move until Tuesday at the absolute earlier, but who knows if that will even work out. I wish I could leave this on a more positive not, but trust me the ice cream was a super plus and really did help make up for a lot of the bad stuff.

On a funnier note: When we went to the Italian restaurant, it seemed pretty nice for Zambia so like a trypical sit down restaurant in America. I walked up to the hostess and asked for a table for the three of us. She asked if I had a reservation, when I said no she gave me a look of disgust so I quickly said we don't mind waiting. She asked if we wanted to sit inside or outside so I said whichever is available but she said both were available. It turned out there was hardly anyone else at the restaurant at the time. Before I could choose she looked all three of us up and down with a nasty face as if she couldn't believe that we had the audacity to enter her restaurant dressed as we were. Now even though I had showered that day, my clothes had been worn for 3 days straight but still it was jeans, a black tank top and flip flops. She seemed most offended by the flip flops. Aside form my clothes not being so clean the fashion would have been perfectly acceptable in America. At this point I quickly requested a table outside and we chose one off in the corner away from potential stares at us PCVs that were clearly not very welcome there. I was a little shocked to have a Zambian woman look at me with such disgust as if I weren't good enough to be there. It was kind-of funny. Needless to say the service wasn't too great, but the food was delicious so overall well worth it.

harrassment

Harrassment is a constant here in Zambia. As a white person here you are life a fish in a fishbowl, you're entire life is for others to watch and there is almost no privacy except if you hide in your rock castle or mud hut. I mean I got used to the stares pretty quickly. And I did realize that if I were just chilling on my front porch back home in the US and I saw an elephant walk by I would be intrigued, I would obviously stare and maybe even sneak outside to get a better view, possibly even follow it a bit. Elephants are not native to America and you don't see them very often, certainly not right outside your house! I mean maybe you've seen them before at a zoo or circus or even just on tv/in a magazine, but never outside roaming around in your area. This is partly how I justify the otherwise rude behaviour of other Zambians toward white people, especially out in the villages. Anyway, aside from the staring which comes from everyone, although most common in chidlren, there is the harrassment from Zambian men. They almost always want to marry you, and not only do they act that way, they most often walk up to you as a perfect stranger and flat out declare that they want to marry you. Sometimes they just say "i want to marry a white woman." There are many different ways to deal with this. If I'm slightly annoyed I will usually just ignore them and walk away. If I get angry or if they act really inappropriate, I will call them stupid, rude, etc. tell them to shut up and go away, al in Bemba of course. However, when I'm in a good mood and not busy I will just mess with them which can be highly entertaining for myself. Sometimes I tell them seriously that I will marry them if they send 200 head of cattle to my father in America. Sometimes I say I will marry them if they will cook nshima for me, wash my clothes, collect water etc. (all the womens job) this really shocks them because one of the main reasons for getting a wife while you're young is so you don't have to do any of this for yourself. Sometimes I tell them I'm married and my husband will be very angry if he ever sees another man talking to me then at some point I shout a greeting to my "husband" and watch the man run. It my sound lame, but I live in a rural village so sometiems I'm pretty esperate for whatever source of entertainment I can get. Also, it helps to turn it into something fun, like a game, because then I don't get so frustrated with it all. Still, even with my overall good attitude towards the excess attention from almost every Zambian man, sometimes, I just want to be left alone. Unfortunately, I discovered today that there is essentially no where you can go where you can avoid this unwanted attention. I'm currently in Lusaka, and actually there are a lot of white people around, especially in the neighborhood that I am staying in and around the shopping center where I spent most of the day. So with more options you think some of the attention might be diverted and in fact it probably is, but apparently there is still plenty to go around. The reason I bring this up is because I went to church today (It was actually I great church and I really enjoyed being able to fellowship with so many other christians, Zambians, Indians, Asians, and even other mzungus but I'll talk about that more some other time, if I remember.) This boy sat down next to me, like a high schooler-later he told me he was 16. And he started chatting about the church and I gave yes or no responses to his questions without ever looking away from the stage trying to give the signal that i didn't want to be rude, but i was trying to listen to the service. Then he when we were told to introduce ourselves to people around us he told me his name and asked for mine so I told him. After greeting a few other people we all sat down and a few minutes later this kid leans over and says "I thought your name would be summer" I said "no" and cringed a little because i do hate the Zambian tendency to say I thought that... and keep insisting that they thought whatever even though they've already been told that what they thought was wrong so they should just stop talking about it! (I beleive I've already discussed that in a previous blog.) Then I sat for a full minute wondering where the summer thing came from, then he leans over agian and says "because you're so hot." All I could say was wow, and not in an excited tone at all. Usually zambians are very direct in this matter and just flat out say the want to marry you, even if they don't know you at all. I've never heard any sort of pick up line, so I was pretty surprised here, even if it is Lusakaland. As much as I love cheasy pick up lines, and I've actually never heard that one before, I was very annoyed that he was being to chatty in church. I then had to tell him to please be quiet so i could listen to the service. That shut him up for the remainder of the service and as soon as he started chatting again on the way out I just said look kid you're like 15, thats far too young, go look for someone your own age. I don't think I full convinced him that I was actually in my 20s but o well, I walked fast fast and he got ost in the crowd. Really I just couldn't beleive that in church of all places I would be bothered like that. I mean maybe before or after the service, but during it...really?

OK to start with I have had some issues with my village. Some of them have been occurring off and on since I moved in, but some new ones have sprouted as well. My villagers don’t care about learning new things or working with me and rarely can I get anyone to show up to workshops, even when they are the ones that requested the workshop in the first place. Also, my family constantly begs for food and money, lately they have been starving again so the begging is worse than usual. They actually called Peace Corps and said that I am a bad volunteer and that they want a new one (they didn’t tell PC but they were really upset because I wasn’t there to beg food from when they really needed it.) It has been very difficult on me personally to know that my host family doesn’t want me there and that even the village as a whole doesn’t care whether they have a volunteer or not although they do like to brag that a mzungu lives in their village. In addition to all this I had an unfortunate incident occur on my compound that seriously threatened the safety of my counterpart. After that I have not felt safe staying on that compound and seeing as there is so little work opportunity in the area, PC staff and I have agreed that I should move to a different village. I will be moving about 100km south on the Great North RD so I will be the same distance from Mkushi, just the other direction, much closer to Lusaka, and farther from the PC house in Serenje. I am very excited about this village. I have heard great things about it and I was able to visit last week, I met the host father and two counterparts. Everyone is awesome and they seem excited about havi9ng me there, the house is nice and there are lots of cute little kitties around. I have already packed up al my belongings and left my village, almost for good. I will return to pick my things, and my cat before moving to my new site and at the same time, PC will tell my village that I am moving for good. So far they don’t know. I couldn’t tell them because it’s very likely that they would have stolen as much of my stuff as possible before I left. I am disappointed that I have to move, but the only two really good things about my previous village were the scenery and my counterpart. Overall, I am very excited about my new village and the opportunities for actually starting projects and working with the villagers.

Other news: I went to Lusaka last week to get a swine flu vaccination and I was able to stay with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Eastern Province in Zambia, her husband and son so it was really awesome to visit with them and we had good conversations. Also, I saw Avatar, ate a giant fudge brownie ice cream sundae, pizza, delicious pasta, and so much more. It was a nice relaxing few days. Now I am back in Lusaka already for an appointment tomorrow and then I should be headed home Saturday morning. And by home I mean the house in Serenje because I’m currently semi-homeless. I think the current plan is to move into my new home on Monday or Tuesday of this week, which will be nice.

I can’t even remember the last time that I updated my blog, but that’s all I can think of for updates. The new volunteer intake just arrived this afternoon so they will be in training for the next few months and then sent to site the end of April. We are supposed to get a lot f new volunteers in Central Province so that is exciting and we are all looking forward to meeting them eventually.

Seeing as this has been a fairly serious update, I will leave you with a lighter anecdote of how I made 3 little girls, about 8 years old run away screaming and crying as if they had seen a ghost. I was biking back from Chalata and I saw three young girls walking towards me. As I got even with them, they stopped and began running alongside my bike, the opposite direction than they were actually traveling. I was going a bit slow because it was up a hill and I didn’t mind them “racing” me as children often like to do. Then two girls started reaching out to grab at my bag that was tied onto my bike carrier. At the same time the third girl reached out for the plastic bag of green peppers hanging on my handle bars (so they wouldn’t get smashed) and she hit my gear. I shouted “awe notukwikata” no don’t touch/grab. They giggled and started whispering about me speaking lala (the local dialect of bemba). As soon as they were over that they began grabbing again and this time at my shirt. I had had enough so I slammed on my brakes and they could barely move aside quick enough not to run into the bike. At the same time I shouted AWE!!!!! In a stern tone and after a split second of initial shock, as I was about to drop my bike and chase after them, they all turned and ran like mad in the opposite direction, screaming and crying like they had just seen a ghost. Looking back, it’s pretty pathetic that I made 3 little girls cry like that and the worst part of it is that I don’t feel guilty at all, in fact, I was actually a little impressed with myself. Sometimes I feel like I get a little to mean here and am more willing to yell at people and be harsh. I don’t really like that I seem to be becoming a meaner person, but you have to be harsh with people here or they will just take advantage of you because you are a white foreigner.

On a positive note: I taught my counterpart and another villager about HIV in an impromptu session. They asked me to teach them and I tried to set a date, but they said let’s do it now, and even though I wasn’t prepared, I decided to wing it as much as possible because I know they likelihood of them showing up at another time is very slim. I wasn’t sure where to start so I turned the tables and asked what they already knew about HIV/AIDS and I was able to clear up some misconceptions. Then I asked them what else they wanted to know and basically just answered questions. It was interactive and specific to what they wanted to know so I think it went well. I even taught them about proper condom use and how to demonstrate all these things so they could teach others as well. It was nice to actually teach something and it gave me a little hope because they both say they want to teach children in the school about HIV. They are planning a workshop and have gotten support from the Chalata clinic as well as condoms to distribute to the children. Although, condom use is the most commonly discussed aspect of HIV prevention, we generally encourage the ABC approach (Abstain, Be faithful, and Condomize) so we also had a lengthy discussion on the benefits of abstinence and monogamous relationships. Although these both have serious cultural barriers that make them nearly impossible here, I still encouraged the teachers to encourage students to at least consider them as options because they are more effective at preventing HIV than just relying on condoms while being very promiscuous. Even though I only taught two people, it was very encouraging to me and I do hope those people can pass on the correct information to other people. As small as it may seem, its nice to feel like I am potentially making a difference here.

Finally, I ate a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese for the first time in about one year and it was magical. Special shout out to Sherry and Vince for that!

Dear all sorry I hVent written in so long. Things are fine here but a little boring. I went to the house for Christmas there were five other volunteers here so we had a nice chicken dinner and made/decorated cookies it was fun and relaxing. After four days I went back to my village with another volunteer who agreed to visit for the next few nights. Then we both went to atb lodge in mkushi to celebrate new year with a bunch of volunteers. The next day I returned to site alone and I have been there for the past 18days. It was teLly boring because it rains everyday and no one in my village wants to work or go to meeti gs or learn anything. Mostly I just sit at home and read I got through10 books in two weeks and I have read 100 since I came to Zambia 11 months ago. One rare sunny morning I walked the 7 km to the border and climbed a mountain along the trail. The view was beautiful I could see nothing but green trees grasses rivers for miles no sign of human life and then more mountains in the distance.. Plus it was cool that one side was Zambia and the other was drcongo. And I saw a wild rabbit the first mammal I've seen in that forest near my house despite the many times Ive gone there. The people say that even just ten years ago it was filled with rabbits antelope etc but now they have killed or scared off almost all. Anyway it was a really nice day. I'm chilling at the house In serenje now then going to visit the volunteer that came to my site last finallly I will return to site monday for more boredom and isolation. Luckily I got books brought to me from the house library sand some mailed fro
family back home I have 25 at site so it should last three weeks. Before i close I want to thank those of you who have sent packages again I had some delicious brownies and cheezits today you guys rock!

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!