True to form, the first day after completing “community entry,” or the period of time we are asked to observe in our communities and not leave our districts, I was on the back of a lorry traveling the roads of Zambia. We had a few free days to celebrate both Zambian holidays and 4th of July, so I and three friends traveled down to Central Province to hang out with other PCVs from all over the country. I stayed at the Central Province house for a couple of days and then traveled to stay the night with a friend at her house and then decided to go visit a couple more friends at the house in Northern Province. All in all, I traveled half the country in a few days, hitchhiked more than I thought possible in my lifetime, and really enjoyed a nice break. Unfortunately, I will only be back at my site for three days before turning around and coming back to Solwezi for a couple of days and then traveling to Lusaka for our in-service training.

The most interesting, and intimidating, part of the trip was hitching home alone. In order to get home in one day from Northern Province we had to take a very early bus half way and then hitch the rest of the way. Fortunately I also discovered that there are advantages to being female, alone, and American in Zambia. The police worked with me to find me very cheap, safe rides and so the second leg of my three leg trip, I hitched with a South African man in a brand new big rig with hydraulic seats. He fed me crisps and paid for a taxi for me to make a connection.

I also really enjoyed seeing friends from my intake group and allowing my brain some freedom from the responsibilities and concerns of site. I’m adding some comments to the photos my dad added to this album so you can see what I’ve been up to in the past five and half months.

I’ll be back again at the end of the week and hope to have a more entertaining and interesting entry then. This week promises to be busy and eventful!
All my love,
Stacey Jean