Succombing to the Trend

I finally join the blogging trend! for good or bad, this is where my updates will be. It seems so much more convenient (and less intrusive) than mass emails. I have no idea how often I will be able to post, but hey... let see what happens.

So today i am in a good mood, but that has not a little to do with the fact that I am in lusaka and i just ate a grilled ham, cheese, and tomato sandwich with a vanilla milkshake... such divinity. Yesterday we had a big cultural day for our host families. Their is very little left in training, and yesterday was our oppurtunity to thank them and try to give them a taste of american culture, food and music. All and all the night was a big success. Even the two thundering rainstorms at the beginning and in the middle of the event failed to dampen the spirits. We spent all morning cooking and preparing and when our families showed up at 2:00 waiting for them were homemade tortillas with beans, beef, pico de gayo, soya, tomatoes, cheese, and guacamole. We also made bbq chicken, no bake cookies, and cheesy garlic mashed potatoes. We gave them short demonstrations about american diversity which were directed at convincing them that the vast majority of americans do not look, think, act, or live life like it is portrayed in the movies. One person from each language group gave a short speech in the local language to say thank you for hosting us. Then (during and after the second rainstorm) the families all presented their volunteers with gifts!!! My family gave me two grass brooms, a nshima spoon, a woven bowl to hold my corn meal, two icitenges (the cloth wrap that women wear as skirts) which they are going to have made into a traditional zambian suit, and last but not least.... a hoe!!! They have decided that I cannot fully experience life in the village without at least attempting to learn how to farm. So come october and november, i think i am going to have a small garden where I try to grow sweet potatoes, ground nuts (to make my own peanut butter), and maybe some tomatoes. This goes along with my plans to learn how to keep bees.

So anyways, my family is super sweet and i am going to miss them when i leave on thursday. But at the same time I am really excited to get out into the village. This isn't to say I am not petrified by the thought of living completely alone 55 km from the nearest paved road not to mention having no idea what i am going to do with my time, but i am excited to try. So some good news is that I have finished as the best bemba speaker in the education program! This means that at the swear in ceremony next friday I will give a speech in bemba with the best bemba speaker from health. It isn't really that big of a deal... just a 3 minute speech, but it's in BEMBA! Maybe I will wear my traditional suit as I give it. Bemba is actually going very well. I am a long way from being conversational, but i can more often than not get my message across and I have hope for being close to conversational at some point over the next two years. I have completely stopped speaking english in my homestay and the fact that I can still communicate with my family is very encouraging. Even while writing this email I almost insert certain bemba words into my prose. My final language test is on tuesday. The test is simply a conversation with one of the trainers. I talk with them for 30 minutes about more or less anything and at the end they grade my competency as novice (low/mid/high), intermediate (low/mid/high), advanced (low/high), or superior. I have done well in the two mock exams, being graded as intermediate high both times. I have been told that with a little bit of work, I could achieve the advanced low level. I really want to do this, both because it would be nice to be that good at bemba and because i have been told that it is rather rare for a trainee to crack the advanced level. how exciting!!!

Bad news next. Africa wants to kill me. Monday, the first day after i returned from site visit, I was sitting in language class when i noticed a small furry caterpillar crawling up my leg. i had heard that the fuzzy caterpillars were bad, so i flicked him off with my pen. shortly after my neck and chin began to itch badly. my friend was having the same problem. So during break, i walked home to get some benadryll and anti-itch cream. as i was leaving my hut, i noticed another little guy crawling down my leg. I fear he was on me the entire time, and that is why i had the reaction i did. Anyways, to get to the point i got back to language class and looked under my shirt to see that my entire (no exaggeration) stomach, chest, and sides were covered with this horrible bumpy rash! It itched so terrible that i had to try hard not to cry as i sat with my shirt off and scratched myself until i bled. Part of the reason for the tears comes from the fact that i just can't seem to stay healthy for more than a few days at a time. I called the PCMO and she said that there wasn't really anything I could do except take benadryll and wait for it to go away. it still hasn't completely gone away, but the itch is considerably better. I really hope i can stay healthy for a while... I am doing ok right now except for the fact that i have had diarrhea for the past four days (nalepolomya amashiko yane -- i have had diarrhea for four days in bemba.. hehehe) and i want that to go away.

So I have told some of you about my new home, but i guess this is a good time to fill the rest of you in. For the next two years I will be living in Cikupili (chee ku pee lee) village which is about 55 kilometers of the great north road and 80 kilometers away from mkushi. I am living in a small hut that is part of a family compound, but sufficiently separated from the family's actual home for me to have at least of modicum of privacy. I have four mango trees in my yard and a huge insaka (this is the "kitchen". it is a pavillion type of building with a roof and open sides). three dogs live with the family, and their names are daisy, buddha, and nigga <-- this is a little uncomfortable for me, and my new family thinks that my unease with the name is hilarious. the family itself consists of a father who speaks excellent english and a mother who speaks none. I will also have three "brothers" in their teens. My future father is in the process of trying to set up a beekeeping coop in the community, so it will be a perfect oppurtunity for me to work with them both to help them find buyers and to set up more environmentally friendly beehives. I am super excited. The area around my house is mostly flat except for katukutu, a startling mass of rock that juts up from nowhere about a 10 minute walk from my front door. I climbed it and it is super beautiful from the top. I will be climbing this mountain rather regularly. Not only is it a good source of exercise, but it is the only way i can hope to have cell phone reception.

about 15k from my house is the mita hills dam. It is a huge man-made lake that can be seen from the top of my mountain. i visited it over site visit and me and my hosts swam in it for about 75 seconds. at this time we asked some maayos (women) who were fishing if there were any crocodiles in the lake. When they answered in affirmative we quickly decided that discretion was the better part of valor and made a hasty retreat.

my main boma is Mkushi. The best way I can describe the pace of life in this town is to compare it to life in the south 200 years ago (without the slavery). as i sat in a restaurant eating my nshima and chicken, i would not have been at all surprised to see a bare-footed, curly haired boy with freckles tricking his friends into white washing his aunt's fence. it is a very peaceful place, and i am happy to be living there.

ahhhhh. I better end. I miss you all, and america too... especially when i am battling off africa's continued attempts to best me... I hope to hear from you soon and often! ;)