Don't call it a comeback

Welp, the current score is Africa one, stomach zero, but the ball game has only begun and there is plenty of time for a comeback. I've gone a full two weeks without any problems so I'm on the offensive. We are still in training mode... 6 days a week of Nyanja language and Zambian education. My official home will be in Chimusanya in the Chongwe district. I visited there a few weeks ago for 5 days and stayed in my future home. I live in a compound (4 other huts besides mine) with 3 ladies who are in there 50s, about 7 girls who are between 6 and 14, and 6 month old boy Daniel. Occasionally there are some other males who live there too, but I have not seen much of them. The good news is I think they expect me to eat dinner with them every night so that saves me some time and embarrassment of trying to cook on an mbala (brazier (Zambian charcoal stove)). I visited one of my schools that I will be co-teaching in... Chimusanya Basic. Apparently there are going to be some challenges. Such is life. Classes are a little larger hear. I counted 77 in one of them. Writing on the chalk board to fifth graders can be counter-productive when upto half of them can't read what your writing. They are good at copying what's on the board however. They speak Nyanga in school, which is great cause that's what I'm learning. The speak Soli in the community which is not great cause I am learning Nyanja. Regardless, my community looks phenomenal and I see myself fitting in one way or another.

Every Thursday we take half a day and learn about medical issues we may personally encounter while here in Africa. Each language group is assigned a topic and it just so happened that my language group got to present on "bugs to avoid" on none other day than April Fool's Day. I of course had to come up with one extra bug with some latin name, less than a millimeter wide that just so happened to live in short and long grass (anywhere in Zambia), comes out at the end of rainy season (now), symptoms of stomach ache or head ache (pretty much feel one of those at all times), symptoms lead to blindness and paralysis unless a pill (I gave it a fancy medical name) is taken within 12 hours of the symptoms. By the time I got to the word paralysis in my presentation I was laughing so hard cause hands started to raise for questions and people were saying "this isn't funny" in response to my laughing. Needless to say I couldn't take it any longer and belted out an "April Fools!" and ended up gettting a wonderful ovation from the crowd.

Oh the simple things in life.

I've got two more weeks of training then it's off to the real world where we will no longer have the comforts of our Mizungu (white) friends.

The pictures above are of me in front of my nyumba (house) that I will be living in the next two years. As you can see, it has vaulted ceilings and a wrap around porch, two things I've always admired. What you can also see is the clothes washer and dryer, the dishwasher, and the live in maid that cooks as well. Electricity and running water are overrated when you got those at your beckoning call. I on the other hand need a mirror to see these things. The girl you see is Chiza. She is 7 and is in her school gown. She and her cousin Rebecca are both in the first grade and are like two peas in a pod. I can't wait to learn Soli, or Nyanja, or whatever they are speaking.

That's all she wrote for now.

One love,

G

Training

Welp, I am about 2 weeks in and it feels like an eternity. I am in the process of our 9 week training program. We started with a bang visiting a current volunteer at their site. We split into groups of four. My group went to the Southern Province. We drove on a highway for three hours and then drove on some dirt roads into the "middle of Africa" for about an hour. No matter how far we drove into the "bush," there were still people. I was amazed. We passed tons of huts and after some lefts and rights we stopped and out of a hut popped a current volunteer. We said hi, were introduced to her neighbors/family, and then they kindly invited us to witness the slaughtering of a goat that we ate later that evening. Welcome to Zambia. We stayed there from Sunday to Wednesday. When we all returned we were like deer in headlights. What have we got ourselves into? The next day, we shipped out to our training site for the next eight weeks. We are currently outside Lusaka about an hour and our living with host families during this process. I have my own hut the size of a small bedroom. There is no running water or electricity, but you get used to that surprisingly quickly. You wake up when it is light and go to bed when it is dark. During training, we practice language for about four hours a day. My language is Nyanja which means I will be eventually living in the Eastern Province near the Big Game National Parks (lions, tigers, etc.) The other half of the day we do technical training which in my case is learning about the education system in Zambia and learning how to teach in Zambia. I will be coteaching with a number of teachers in my district and we are wanted to spread the knowledge of child centered learning. After training, I usually go home and play a game of soccer (with a ball made of plastic bags) with the village boys, shower (throw water from a bucket on me), practice language with my host family, eat dinner (with your hands here!), then hit the sack (I think I got a mouse who sleeps under my bed). I got some good pics, but technology here is not the quickest yet, so I will find a way to add some more later. This is all I had time for. The two little ones you see are Tina (in red) and Patience (in Yellow). Tina is the daughter of my host mom and Patience is her cousin. The other picture is of the current volunteer's neighbor. A lot more to tell but I gotta jet. Doesn't look like I'll get to update this often, but I guess I will when I can.

Much love,

Grant