Arrived in Zambia

I am safely in Sulwezi, Zambia and typing madly while my training group waits outside for me to wrap this up! We have very little time right now for writing and I have no access to the internet unless it's a five minutes stop. So in short, I'm loving my experience here. The weather is fantastic, the people are amazing and I immediately got to meet these kiddos in our village who stole my hearts. My training group is pretty low key and I have spent my last week getting to know a small group of people who are in my program.

I HAVE A CELL PHONE!! I had enough money from the 'walking money' Peace Corps gave us to actually purchase a cell phone, a SIM card, and about $13.00 USD in minutes. It's incredibly expensive for me to call you, but I can send text messages home for about $.28. That's the way most of the people here communicate rapidly. Plus, we have our phones on long enough to send each other text messages. If you would like the number, you can email me or send my mom and email at rfjbosslady@hotail.com

The trip so far has been unbelievable. I could write for hours just on the last few days, but I'm also going to try and upload photos. So, the short is: We are staying in Chongwe, a tiny village outside of Kitwe in a hostel for the time being. It's been an adjustment--we do have water, but it's turned off after 10:00 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. and then it only runs cold. But because the weather is warm and humid, I have to wash my hair every day. So I'm perfecting the 'drip' shower method which consists of nodding under the water enough to get wet, stepping out and soaping, shampooing, etc. and then dashing underneath for a few heart stopping seconds.

We've mostly been getting shots and taking meds and getting information on our jobs. My job is really close to nothing like I thought it was, but far more awesome. Basically, our RED project will be working to implement eduacational development in schools. They have expanded the program to be inclusive of IRI (Interactive Radio), but also includes teacher mentoring, teaching occassional classes, and assisting the creating of educational infrastructure within a specific community.

I am also learning to take advantage of the skills of those around me because I'm rapidly learning that my skills are not useful here:) For instance, we just went grocery shopping for our next week's site camping trip. Our GL (Group Leader) helped us find everything we needed, but we had to ask first...he was going to let us fend for himself.

I chose my community yesterday. It was a very odd process, but I am excited! I'll be living in the North Western province, a province someone called the "Seattle of Zambia." It's the most wet and given a little allergy trouble (nothing huge), I thought this might make the most health sense. However, the area is very rural, so I will be doing a ton of biking! There are three girls in my language group. Keep us in your prayers. We will be speaking Koanda, a language limited to a small population in Zambia. And with my trusty heavy duty bike and my cell phone I feel pretty good to go. Also, we have the largest group of PC volunteers in this province, mainly for Fisheries, AIDS ecucation, and Agriculture. There are 35 of us.

I'm running out of time. I'll write as I can, but my access is very limited. Please do send mail!! I miss you all...