Home Sweet Home

I just spent my first week and a half in the village. And even though I just got here its already hard to explain my new life. It seems like I only got here yesterday, but at the same time it seems like I've been here forever. I'm still trying to get my bearings a bit and find my way around. I've met my neighbors and they are a really great family. I really enjoy going over to their house...even though I don't understand half of what's being said.

I love my new house. It is pretty big. It consists of one large room then three small rooms off to the side. Each room is big enough to fit a small bed, and that's about all. So one room is my bedroom, one for storage, and one will be a yoga/meditation room. This time my house has a tin roof. I love the sound of rain on a tin roof. But a tin roof can act like an oven so it makes it kind of hot. I miss the comfortable temperature of my thatch roof. My house needs a few repairs, but it gives me something to do, and I am having fun fixing it up. My yard has five mango trees and an orange tree. Yum! The mangoes will be ready in December and I can't wait! I have a pretty private spot, though there is a path going through my yard, it is mainly only used by a few neighbors. I am on the outskirts of the village and I have a beautiful view from my yard.

Language is tough, but I'm getting there...slowly but surely. I have lessons just about every day; so if I don't study even one day I feel like I'm so behind! Even though I've only had lessons for about a week I am getting a pretty big Bemba vocabulary.

My community is great. On the 24th it was Zambia's Independence day. I went to the school celebration. It was a lot of fun! The kids performed skits, recited poems, and did traditional song and dance. Most of what was said was in Bemba so I could only pick out a few words and had to have help with the translation.

Looking forward to some letters!

Movin' to the village. Gonna eat a lot of nshima

I have been back in Zambia for a little over a week now and the time has finally come! Moving day is finally here! Tomorrow morning I'll get up, enjoy one more shower, eat some breakfast and hop in the cruiser headed toward Misengo village. Its in the Northern Province of Zambia...very close to Chishimba falls. I can't wait to see my new home and meet my community. This first month will be interesting. I'll have a Peace Corps language instructor in the village with me, teaching Bemba. So we'll see how it goes,. Language isn't my strong point, but I'm pretty motivated. I have a whole community that I want to meet and interact with and the Bemba will be essential to this.  

I've spent most of my time since I've been back in Lusaka, the capitol. Its been fun and a good adjustment from American to Zambian life.  It has many of the luxuries of America, but in a distinctly Zambian way. But the long trip up to Northern Province gave me just a glimpse back into village life. I never grew tired of looking at the thatched huts along the road, of the women washing clothes, and selling tomatoes along the roadside. I am ready to go back to the village. To live the "slow and simple" life. Which surprisingly isn't as simple as it seems. 

 

'Cause I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Two days to go then I'm on my way again...back to Zambia. Back to a life of bugs, boredom, and bucket bathing. Goodbye America, I will miss your washing machines and your potable drinking water. This is my second try at Peace Corps Zambia. Last year I spent six months there until I was unexpectedly sent back to America. Lesson learned about the dangers of traffic. So I've spent the last seven months healing up and now I'm ready to go back. Seriously, I'm ready... my bags are packed and everything... This time I'll have a new village in a different province so, I'll have to learn a new language. I'm going to the Northern Province and don't know anything about my new site, but I'm excited to find out. I'll still be working as a CHIP (Community Health Improvement Project) volunteer but until I spend some time in my village I won't know exactly what I'll be working on but it will be related to health in some form or fashion. I'm excited. America you've given me some good times this summer; but the time has come to go to Zambia, and see where my life takes me.