Nalitemwa mu Kabeleka

As I am writing this I just finished eating a cheeseburger, fries, and some pizza. Yes indeed I am still in Zambia, but I'm in Lusaka for the day for a "cultural day." We spent the morning at the national museum and got to have a session on cultural differences with the former vice President's daughter. Now we have a few hours to eat non-Zambian foods and shop :)

Let's see since I connected last I have begun training and am living in a village with a host family! I am staying in Kabeleka village living with the Mulolo family. Here I have my own hut, icimbusu (toilet), and bathing shelter right next to my family. I have a Bataata (dad), Bamaayo (mom), 2 bandumes (brothers Job who is 12 and Elimelik who is 4) and one bankashi (sister-Elimadah who is 8). They all have been so wonderful so the transition has been very smooth. We've been able to have some good conversations about American culture versus Zambian culture. My family, as well as Zambians in general, LOVE Obama. They sell Obama flashlight, shirts, jeans, and anything else you can imaging. My bataata one night said, "I am so happy Obama is helping Africa while he is in America," and I said, "how has he been helping Africa?" And then he replied, "because he has sent you here to Zambia to help us become better in the Peace Corps." It was so touching.

Fact: Zambia is not always hot. In fact it has been quite frigid here as of late and for the past few nights I have slept in my jacket and piled on the blankets to make it through the night. Every morning I also can see my breath, which is a weird thing to be experiencing in August.

Fact: I love my bemba language teacher :) Myself and one other volunteer have language class with Ba Whiteson....for the past 2 weeks we've had class for 4 hours on Mon, Tues, and Thursday, and then for 2 hours on Friday and Sat. It's been a lot, but Ba Whiteson is such a great teacher and makes it fun whenever possible. One day we practiced asking and answering questions while playing frisbee because he wanted us to teach him something while he was teaching us something. Another day we played hangman, which was also so much fun. He also allows the other PCV and I to aslk many questions about Zambian culture and he is so interested to learn about American culture that it makes the time go by fast.

Fact: biking in the bush is not as easy as biking on the Chip trail. I live like about 6km away from where we have training classes so it's about a 30 minute bike ride. But this bike ride involves numerous bush trails, hills, crossing a stream, and 2 instances where we have to get off because the terrain is not bikable. To be honest my first couple times down the hill as I dodged rocks and other obstcles I thought to myself, "I am going to now go be with Jesus," but I persevered and now feel much more comfortable with the ride I take and no longer fear for my life. And no worries I wear my helmet daily.

Prayer requests:
1. Improved health: I have been feeling ill for the majority of the last week which I attribute to getting used to the food, but it would be great if it would stop.
2. Next week we have interviews and talk about posting so pray it goes well.
3. Pray that as I find out my post I will trust in the site that has been chosen for me.

Thanks for reading!