Central province

Sorry but this will be a quick update! Thanks to everyone for the comments. Matt as always, i appreciate the insight and humor. Ryan i am glad peace corps gave you a thoughtful moment. Todd i hope the raiders win the big twelve(or ten) with the new man behind the helm. So i found out a few days ago where i will be spending the next two years! I will be in central province in around mkushi. The province has mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and forests. It has it all. So i am excited about that. I am about two kilometers away from another peace corps vol. So that will be nice as well. Tomorrow we will be going to out future sites for about a week and a half. So peace corps gave us shopping money to use at a grocery store in lusaka for two weeks of supplies. Apparently we stay a week with a current vol in the bush and then spend some time at our future site. Hope everyone is well back home!

Under zambian skies

Hello everyone, i hope this post finds everyone well. To those of you back in school im sure you all are unfortunately getting into the swing of things! Our training class here in zambia recently learned that ex peace corps individuals cannot be on the show survivor. The show tends to think that people that have been "surviving" for two years in a third world country are not fit for a show entitled survivor! Our training continues to go smoothly for the nor part. Still lots of language classes and technical class take up most of my day. Its like an accelerated semester in school, except it is hands on learning and it is usually things i have little back ground knowledge in. Last week we dug an environmentally sustainable well for a local village. Earlier this week we learned how to council aids patients. We also learned about mosquito nets and how to promote their use in a village setting. Those are just a few of the sessions we have had over the past two weeks. As for the village life, i am becoming accustomed to it for the most part. I have become friends with the mice that i share a room with. They even think we are good enough friends that they can share my peanut butter. Apparently my idea of friendship was a little bit different. It is very relaxing to take a bath under the stars every night. A great way to settle down for the evening. Not to sound like a hippie, but when i return to the states i would like to carry over the tradition of star-bathing! Also i have my house lit at night by candlelight. Upon attempting to blow out the candles for bed, a candle fell onto my wall and nearly burnt my entire thatch house down. It turned out okay thankfully considering the closest fire department is hundreds of miles away! Thanks again for the thoughts. Hope everyone has a great day!

Tums please?

Cungalupo! Thanks to everyone for all the posts! Andi- no fowl sightings yet. Andrew- i actually was thinking about my blow gun and how practical it would be here just yesterday. So i am just getting over my first (of many to come) stomach virus of zambia. I spent many hours leaning over the icimbusu (toilet) the past several days. I have a feeling that my host family thinks i am trying to make friends with the bathroom as they see me running from my hut to my bathroom every thirty minutes! Good news though, i am getting better and i ate food today for the first time since the kennedy administration without vomiting. In other news, i passed my first language test! I wish i had a refridgerator to put my score up on! I also want to tell everyone gearing up fro class starting soon that im thinking of you and wishing you all the best this upcoming semester. As billy madison once said, "do it mano e mano". I continue to get closer and closer with my host family. The language barrier has decreased a bit as my language skills have gotten better (or maybe my hand motions are just getting more precise). Also our peace corps training class is bonding nicely. We all are becoming more comfortable with each other, which is good considering we all are leaning on each other for support. Tomorrow we get to speak to a group of zambiams living positively with aids. It will be an exciting and emotional day im sure. Thanks for the continued comments and thoughts!

Winter in the summer

First and foremost i would like to dedicate this post to megan maloney, who recently celebrated her twentieth birthday. Sorry i was not there for it! Secondly, i want to thank everyone for their comments. It is great to know people are thinking of me back in uncle sam land. (matt i still cant believe you have moved to manhattan ha ha). To those of you who are unfamiliar with african winters (this includes me until a month ago) they are cold! I would never dreamed i would be so chilled in a continent associated with heat. I wake up every morning to cold air where i can see my breath. On a few mornings i have lost sensation in my feet i have been so cold ! The arctic blast ensues when i ride my bike thirty minutes to training every morning. However, the scenery makes it all worthwhile as i cross steams and hills and valleys. Usually the sun is coming up at this time and it is a sight most people would pay thousands for. For the past few weeks i have been living in a small agricultural village near lusaka so i have just been getting acquainted with my host family and immediate neighbors. However this saturday we are all going to lusaka to go to a mall there and go shopping and hopefully get a small glimpse of the big city. Then i will finally be able to get on face book again. I almost forgot what it was! The other volunteers that are with me are great. They are all very passionate about being here. It has also eased some of the home sickness knowing that we are all in an unfamiliar place. To storm, the only thing that has gotten me through a few nights around the campfire has been third eye blind. Thought you would appreciate that ha. Tomorrow we have our first language test. We are all very nervous about it. I wish they accepted the american dollar here because if so i might have to slip my teacher an andrew jackson. Anyways i am off to fetch water and kill a chicken with my host parents (seriously, im not even joking) ha ha. Shalenipo mukwai!

Testing testing. . .

Panono panono. Im Bemba, this translates to "bit by bit". This is something the locals say often and is something that can be deduced from their care free attitude and appreciation for taking things slowly but surely. During training, i am trying to adopt this panono panono state of mind. Peace corps training is one of the most intense experiences i have ever gone through. For this reason, keeping my sanity has been trying at times. It has been a challenge to learn a new language in am unfamiliar environment, but one that is exciting at the same time. As the days progress my language improves and we learn more about our tasks here. We now know how to teach about malaria and aids and can assist at local clinics and schools with these issues. I can already say i have seen some of the most beautiful things i have ever witnessed. Today we had been inside a school all afternoon learning about african nutrition and when the session had finished, we walked outside to a sunset with all the colors of a crayola colored pencil box in it. It was a "wow" moment. The foods i am eating with my host family are good. They are mainly rice or nshima. Which is a maize grounded and boiled in water. It is a taste i am still acquiring! To everyone back home, i miss you all and think of you often.