Lusaka
Hey, so. Where to start? -
I wish people could come visit (good things my wishes will come true) because I am realizing how much of this experience is going to be incommunicable.
Arrival
We arrived in Lusaka a few days ago. The date of which I am not even sure. All I know is that today is Sunday and it is yet February. We arrived a few minutes before the President and thus were greeted by armed soliders lining the main highway. Landing was incredible. Everything was green, as it had just rained earlier that morning. We were picked up by a bunch of PCVLs (third year volunteers who are now region leaders). They pick us up in these grey/army green SUV/VAN/Truck vehicles, next thing I know we are driving down the main highway, about five of these vehicles lined up as if we are special service diplomats, music is playing from an ipod hooked into a tape cassette player in the car, where I am sitting by the window with the breeze in my face and it is..... it is everything I ever imagined. Here's the weird thing. None of this is surreal anymore. Since the moment I stepped foot off the plane and onto the landing strip, none of this is surreal. None of it is difficult. It just is. Perhaps when you dream something so many times and then you finally live it, though unfamiliar it feels natural, normal. Like you have always lived here. Honestly, that is what it feels like. - We are staying in Changway 45 minutes outside of Lusaka at these hostels with running cold water showers, electricity (only for lightbulbs), and western toilets. So basically nothing is different about my life at the moment accept my location. AFRICA! And it is beautiful. The people are amazing.
Our first evening we went to play soccer on the local soccer feild. - I didn't play, but I spent time talking to this local man, John. Who was actually the security guard for a teaching center in the area (he's a black-Zambian). He was more than friendly [in a good way =P ]. So eager to help me learn the local language, though his english was perfect. People who walked by kept on coming up to us and introducing themselves. Everyone perfectly polite. It actually took me a while to realize that there were only men. Men from 19 to 49ish but I do not think I saw any women. - There were so many little kids, all playing their own little game in the field, while the rest of my group played soccer with the older locals. I went up to the group of kids, since, well, they were waving at me. I went up and took a picture of one of them with my digital camera to show him his face. lol, next thing I know I am in the middle of over 30 kids squatted on my knees while they push shove and fight with one another to see the image and them push and shove each other somemore to assure that their face gets into the next digital image. lol. Again, just as I had always imagined. Me, in the middle of Africa, in a beautiful remote village talking to the kids and suddenly surrounded by them. - To be honest, when all of them suddenly cam swerming around me so quickly, there was a moment of panic, of feeling trapped. Almost by a mob. But it hardly even manifested itself before it let itself go.
So that was my first night here in Zambia. Amazing people. And beautiful children. Seriously. Every child is the most adorable kid I have ever seen. lol, they make babies in the US seem , ehh.
Food
Well that was actually only the begining of my last night. Next was dinner, and then The Bar =0D Are you up for hearing about those? I have 30 minutes to write.
The food wasn't bad! It wasn't good either. Nshima is the staple here. Sort of like polenta, but not yellow and more like mashedpotatos than grits in texture. You get a lump of it and get to squeeze it in your hands as one would a stress ball, then break of a piece and use it to eat your meat. I hear the meat here is good. I haven't had any. They had cabbage, and last night eggplant. The vegetables here are ample and the fruits as well. Yes, they do have apples! Though I have yet to see one. It's mango season at the moment. Breakfast is white bread and eggs with tea and jam. - What was interesting to learn and observe is, that there is NO shortage of food in Zambia. AT ALL. They have amazing vegetables, they DO have chicken, often, they have ample grains and fruits. The "problem" actually lies in the culture. Meaning, the way the food it cooked. For example, in the U.S. we might cook okra for 30 minutes. Here they would cook it for over 3 hours, depleting it of all its nutritional value. Same goes with meat, they cook it and cook it (to kill any possible bacteria), until there is simple NO nutritional value left. Nshima also has NO nutritional value... but quess what does!
Soy! Soy is HUGE here. Part of our training as well is to teach them how to make soy. So expect me to learn. All of the volunteers have amazing skin because everything they eat is so pure. Here it is common to buy this dehydrated soy stuff [don't know exactly what it is yet] which you put in water and it grows. Apparently it does not taste like tofu, tastes very delicious and can be used in almost anything! High in protein as well. Even the non-vegs here enjoy and eat it often. So woot!
Placement/Logistics [my new home]
so yesterday we picked out languages, which determined out province and our assignment. I do not know my village yet. I will be learning Nyanja. Which is pretty fuckin' awesome because it is the most spoken language along with Bemba. It's a bantu derivative. On its own it has a very simple gramatical structure and was used as a language for people from different areas to be able to communicate. Ofcourse I will eventually be learning the dialect of my village, but even so, I will be able to communicate with almost any Zambian!
I will be living in Eastern Province. It has the most game parks in Zambia and is not too far from VicFalls, it also boarders with Malawi, Mosambique and possible Tanzania. It is extremely hot and it is one of the dryer regions, which means less mosquitos. It has simple mud huts and the culture is rich with masks and ceremonies.
Health
I got all my vaccines... and need to hurry up if I am actually going to write about any of the fun stuff!
Fun!
So last night we went to a different bar, sort of in the middle of a corn field, playing the loudest music ever. You get there and there is this circular large hut like a big dance floor. With huge speakers about 4 foot tall BLASTING music. You can be outside or inside. But regardless you must go to the window from which they are serving Shake-Shake out of a huge barrel [which they made it in]. Basically it is a drink made from fermented corn that fills you up and fucks you up rather intensley. It tastes like warm soy milk mixed with watered down beer, and a little warm. No bubbles though!
I talked to some locals, Rubin, which was cool. There was a handful of women there, so that was cool too. Then... Shakira came on. Yes, her hips don't lie in Zambia too! Apparently Shakira is big here too =0) So. in the begining, the women were teaching us how to dance, to move our hips, and I was copying. Then, as the night went on I started to dance, like me. Lol. Alexis, I so wished you were there. All of I sudden I turn around and the woman are talking to each other and looking at me saying, look how she does that. I love the way she moves. ha ha. The Schmiedigen dancing gene takes over Zambia. No. It was really hilarious. I thought I would be learning to move my hips from them. Apparently I dance well. Everyone kept saying things. The men would invite me to dance. They are nice here with that. Everyone dances together. it's not in a trashy way. Ted from our group danced a lot with me. - Turns out he is going to be a good friend. - He just gave me a hug (right now) and said: I am so glad we both like dancing and hugs and massages. I am so glad you are here. He rocks.
After Shake-Shake we went to this other bar which I will have to tell you about later. More conversations with more Zambians (men again). Then Rich, Pablo, Eric, Jeff (my Eastern Province Leader), and another guys name I can't remember, stayed at the bar outside under a mango tree talking about metaphysics, apprently they just got "What the Bleep Do you Know?" sent to them from back home. I told them my sister would send me "The Secret" in a couple months from now... ehem, Alexis =P
I stayed up until 3:30 last night, just Jeff, Eric and I talking in the middle of the open sky. Amazing conversation. - Eric and I talked more after... mmm, more on him later. Let's just say I was 19 the last time someone gave me butterflies. - You'd like him Alexis.
I love You Alexis. And girls, I talk about you often.
Tomorrow we leave for 4 days in the bush in Northwester Province to check out a CAHPs site.
Fill Mom and Dad in!
I wish people could come visit (good things my wishes will come true) because I am realizing how much of this experience is going to be incommunicable.
Arrival
We arrived in Lusaka a few days ago. The date of which I am not even sure. All I know is that today is Sunday and it is yet February. We arrived a few minutes before the President and thus were greeted by armed soliders lining the main highway. Landing was incredible. Everything was green, as it had just rained earlier that morning. We were picked up by a bunch of PCVLs (third year volunteers who are now region leaders). They pick us up in these grey/army green SUV/VAN/Truck vehicles, next thing I know we are driving down the main highway, about five of these vehicles lined up as if we are special service diplomats, music is playing from an ipod hooked into a tape cassette player in the car, where I am sitting by the window with the breeze in my face and it is..... it is everything I ever imagined. Here's the weird thing. None of this is surreal anymore. Since the moment I stepped foot off the plane and onto the landing strip, none of this is surreal. None of it is difficult. It just is. Perhaps when you dream something so many times and then you finally live it, though unfamiliar it feels natural, normal. Like you have always lived here. Honestly, that is what it feels like. - We are staying in Changway 45 minutes outside of Lusaka at these hostels with running cold water showers, electricity (only for lightbulbs), and western toilets. So basically nothing is different about my life at the moment accept my location. AFRICA! And it is beautiful. The people are amazing.
Our first evening we went to play soccer on the local soccer feild. - I didn't play, but I spent time talking to this local man, John. Who was actually the security guard for a teaching center in the area (he's a black-Zambian). He was more than friendly [in a good way =P ]. So eager to help me learn the local language, though his english was perfect. People who walked by kept on coming up to us and introducing themselves. Everyone perfectly polite. It actually took me a while to realize that there were only men. Men from 19 to 49ish but I do not think I saw any women. - There were so many little kids, all playing their own little game in the field, while the rest of my group played soccer with the older locals. I went up to the group of kids, since, well, they were waving at me. I went up and took a picture of one of them with my digital camera to show him his face. lol, next thing I know I am in the middle of over 30 kids squatted on my knees while they push shove and fight with one another to see the image and them push and shove each other somemore to assure that their face gets into the next digital image. lol. Again, just as I had always imagined. Me, in the middle of Africa, in a beautiful remote village talking to the kids and suddenly surrounded by them. - To be honest, when all of them suddenly cam swerming around me so quickly, there was a moment of panic, of feeling trapped. Almost by a mob. But it hardly even manifested itself before it let itself go.
So that was my first night here in Zambia. Amazing people. And beautiful children. Seriously. Every child is the most adorable kid I have ever seen. lol, they make babies in the US seem , ehh.
Food
Well that was actually only the begining of my last night. Next was dinner, and then The Bar =0D Are you up for hearing about those? I have 30 minutes to write.
The food wasn't bad! It wasn't good either. Nshima is the staple here. Sort of like polenta, but not yellow and more like mashedpotatos than grits in texture. You get a lump of it and get to squeeze it in your hands as one would a stress ball, then break of a piece and use it to eat your meat. I hear the meat here is good. I haven't had any. They had cabbage, and last night eggplant. The vegetables here are ample and the fruits as well. Yes, they do have apples! Though I have yet to see one. It's mango season at the moment. Breakfast is white bread and eggs with tea and jam. - What was interesting to learn and observe is, that there is NO shortage of food in Zambia. AT ALL. They have amazing vegetables, they DO have chicken, often, they have ample grains and fruits. The "problem" actually lies in the culture. Meaning, the way the food it cooked. For example, in the U.S. we might cook okra for 30 minutes. Here they would cook it for over 3 hours, depleting it of all its nutritional value. Same goes with meat, they cook it and cook it (to kill any possible bacteria), until there is simple NO nutritional value left. Nshima also has NO nutritional value... but quess what does!
Soy! Soy is HUGE here. Part of our training as well is to teach them how to make soy. So expect me to learn. All of the volunteers have amazing skin because everything they eat is so pure. Here it is common to buy this dehydrated soy stuff [don't know exactly what it is yet] which you put in water and it grows. Apparently it does not taste like tofu, tastes very delicious and can be used in almost anything! High in protein as well. Even the non-vegs here enjoy and eat it often. So woot!
Placement/Logistics [my new home]
so yesterday we picked out languages, which determined out province and our assignment. I do not know my village yet. I will be learning Nyanja. Which is pretty fuckin' awesome because it is the most spoken language along with Bemba. It's a bantu derivative. On its own it has a very simple gramatical structure and was used as a language for people from different areas to be able to communicate. Ofcourse I will eventually be learning the dialect of my village, but even so, I will be able to communicate with almost any Zambian!
I will be living in Eastern Province. It has the most game parks in Zambia and is not too far from VicFalls, it also boarders with Malawi, Mosambique and possible Tanzania. It is extremely hot and it is one of the dryer regions, which means less mosquitos. It has simple mud huts and the culture is rich with masks and ceremonies.
Health
I got all my vaccines... and need to hurry up if I am actually going to write about any of the fun stuff!
Fun!
So last night we went to a different bar, sort of in the middle of a corn field, playing the loudest music ever. You get there and there is this circular large hut like a big dance floor. With huge speakers about 4 foot tall BLASTING music. You can be outside or inside. But regardless you must go to the window from which they are serving Shake-Shake out of a huge barrel [which they made it in]. Basically it is a drink made from fermented corn that fills you up and fucks you up rather intensley. It tastes like warm soy milk mixed with watered down beer, and a little warm. No bubbles though!
I talked to some locals, Rubin, which was cool. There was a handful of women there, so that was cool too. Then... Shakira came on. Yes, her hips don't lie in Zambia too! Apparently Shakira is big here too =0) So. in the begining, the women were teaching us how to dance, to move our hips, and I was copying. Then, as the night went on I started to dance, like me. Lol. Alexis, I so wished you were there. All of I sudden I turn around and the woman are talking to each other and looking at me saying, look how she does that. I love the way she moves. ha ha. The Schmiedigen dancing gene takes over Zambia. No. It was really hilarious. I thought I would be learning to move my hips from them. Apparently I dance well. Everyone kept saying things. The men would invite me to dance. They are nice here with that. Everyone dances together. it's not in a trashy way. Ted from our group danced a lot with me. - Turns out he is going to be a good friend. - He just gave me a hug (right now) and said: I am so glad we both like dancing and hugs and massages. I am so glad you are here. He rocks.
After Shake-Shake we went to this other bar which I will have to tell you about later. More conversations with more Zambians (men again). Then Rich, Pablo, Eric, Jeff (my Eastern Province Leader), and another guys name I can't remember, stayed at the bar outside under a mango tree talking about metaphysics, apprently they just got "What the Bleep Do you Know?" sent to them from back home. I told them my sister would send me "The Secret" in a couple months from now... ehem, Alexis =P
I stayed up until 3:30 last night, just Jeff, Eric and I talking in the middle of the open sky. Amazing conversation. - Eric and I talked more after... mmm, more on him later. Let's just say I was 19 the last time someone gave me butterflies. - You'd like him Alexis.
I love You Alexis. And girls, I talk about you often.
Tomorrow we leave for 4 days in the bush in Northwester Province to check out a CAHPs site.
Fill Mom and Dad in!