Muli Bwanji!

Yay! Its my first blog entry from Zambia! I'm sorry this is the first opportunity I've had to use the internet, but as you can probably imagine, there isn't exactly wi-fi at every Starbucks. I don't even know where to begin...I've been gone for 3.5 weeks and I've been in Zambia for 3 weeks. So far it is truly awesome and I am so happy to be here. I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

I guess I'll try to start from the beginning. The plane ride to Zambia via South Africa was surprisingly not that bad. I was mildly uncomfortable the entire time, but I dozed in and out enough that it went by pretty quickly. When we finally arrived in Zambia it was about 9 pm on Saturday night and we were greeted by a bunch of current Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff. We loaded all our stuff into Land Cruisers and made our way to the government hostel where we stayed for a couple days doing orientation stuff, etc. Then we were taken in small groups to stay for five days with a current PCVolunteer (PCV) for five days. This was to introduce us to life in the bush as well as what our jobs would actually entail. I was in a group with three other people that went to Central Province to stay with a volunteer named Carrie. I think when we first pulled up to her site, we were all a bit in shock. Its one thing to read about how you will be living and another to actually experience it. One of the things that I didn't realized before I left and I realize now, is how much time a volunteer spends on just surviving and living: cooking, doing dishes, drawing water, etc. Carrie had a really nice hut separated into a couple different rooms: kitchen, bedroom, living room. It was probably about 10 ft x 12ft. During this site visit week, I happened to get a pretty bad cold. It was kind of miserable but I knew if I could just tough it out than I would have already faced illness in Africa and survived. I felt a bit sorry for the two people sharing a tent with me though. The program I'm in is RED (Rural Education Development) which consists of helping train teachers as well as monitoring schools and teachers for quality as an arm of the Ministry of Education. With Carrie, we went to her school and saw what she does on a daily basis, met with the head teacher, saw a classroom lesson, etc.

After first site visit, we were transferred to our host families to start the real training process. My host family is really awesome and we are totally bonding. I live with a mother, Catherine, and her three children who are 12, 7, and 3. She is a second wife (polygamy) so my host father is only around about half the week. Another trainee is actually staying with his first wife, so that's fun to compare notes. Haha. I have my own hut, which is pretty sweet. Its about the size of our shed in the backyard. Its quite cozy--a mattress on the floor covered by an industrial strength mosquito net, a stool and a small table. Plus all my crap. Its fun and so far nothing pesky except some spiders which i promptly kill with my shoe. My biggest fear is rats/mice but luckily I haven't had any problems yet. I had a minor anxiety attack the other night over some rustling but it turned out to only be a grasshopper. Close call. I usually get up at about 6:30 am eat breakfast (bread, peanut butter and instant coffee!), head off to language class by 8. Language class is until 12:30 (and a bit excruciating) then a lunch break and technical training from 2-5. Then i make my way back to my hut, take a nice warm bucket bath, eat dinner, chat with the fam (in English mostly) and i'm in my hut ready for bed by 8. I try and stay awake til 9, but sometimes it just ain't happenin'. Training is exhausting!!

Some highlights: We had a medical session exclusively on diarrhea, which was fun. We had a session on bike maintenence, which was quite intimidating. I don't have a bike yet because all my training sessions are nearby, but many trainees have bikes. I will be getting a really nice $800 Trek bike soon, though.

Zambia is beautiful!! I will have to post pictures next time, but the landscape is beautiful, and not at all what I was expecting. It is quite hilly and there are some mountains in the distance. Its very green (this is the end of the rainy season), and most of the area we are in is covered by corn fields! Corn (or maize as its called here) is the primary crop. They raise it for consumption as well as to sell. My family gets their water from pump at the headman's house. We then boil it then filter it to drink and cook with. Bathing water is from a hole out back. There is no electricity where I am, so usually I use candles and/or a kerosene lamp. I know I'm leaving out so much but I hope after training, I will have more consistent internet access. I'm loving it so far, but I miss everyone at home and I would welcome any e-mails or letters. My cell phone gets internet but I can only check my yahoo account not gmail for some reason, so its cait_the_great99@yahoo.com. I hope everythings good at home, keep me updated!!
Love you all!!
Caitlin