Friday, July 27, 2007

The Rest of the Story

Writing from yet another backpacking lodge in Livingstone!

The medical staff at Peace Corps were concerned about my foot and insisted that I rest up for a few days, so they booked me at a guest house near the Lusaka office. I was thrilled to discover that this lodge not only has hot showers, but the best Chinese food I've had in six months. (Yes, Peg, it all comes back to food) I wanted more time with friends so I invited a PCV who stays near Lusaka to come be my caretaker for the weekend. This didn't actually work out so well for her since I rapidly recovered and she fell quite ill. (Sorry, Angela!) Afterward, I realize I shouldn't have worried about being alone in Lusaka because this particular guest house is the unofficial Peace Corps hang out and I met many more volunteers as well as family and friends of volunteers. This trip has been a whirlwind of new names, faces, and locations. It's precisely what I needed after long days in my hut keeping myself company during the student protests.

My departure for holiday was delayed until Tuesday morning when medical staff cleared me. By this time, the group I had intended to travel with had already left Lusaka. This is where karma, or "the law of the harvest" as my dad would say, comes in. I have discovered that even though plans rarely ever proceed as scheduled in Zambia, something always works out. On Tuesday I took the bus down to stay with a PCV in my project who lives just a couple of hours outside of Livingstone. (If you come to visit me and want to go to Livingstone, this is the bus to take! We were assigned seats and given Mountain Dew. Luxury.)

I loved my time at this southen province site and it was great to bounce ideas around with a volunteer in RED who has an extra year of experience under her belt. While at her site we met SCORE volunteers from Norway, Namibia, and Zambia and also spent time with a wonderful intern from John Hopkins graduate school who is doing work with an NGO in Lusaka. I was able to get a free ride from Kalomo to Livingstone the next day with the coordinator for SCORE and upon arriving in Livingstone, checked in to a lovely backpackers place and splurged a little on a private room. I didn't realize how much I needed to rest until I checked in and slept for a solid four hours in the middle of the afternoon.

Livingstone is an interesting place--touristy, but still lacking the tourist musts like McDonalds and Starbucks. It's been extremely odd, however, being in a location where I can't even use my stilted local language to get around. I didn't realize how accustomed I've gotten to chit chatting in Ki Kaonde to establish my credibility. Unfortunately, my Tonga is limited to "good morning" and "thank you," but I've had a lot of positive response from just using those two phrases. Also, traveling around Zambia has given me a new perspective on just how rural NW Province and Mufumbwe really are. But that's another story for another blog entry.

I met up with another PCV who is in Livingstone with American friends visiting and shared a lovely time with them at Victoria Falls. The group was here helping with a sports camp for street kids and took some down time to see the sites. We spent yesterday morning together and I watched them plunge over enormous cliffs on a giant gorge swing. I did not take part of the adrenaline activities partially because of financial constraints and partially because of sheer terror. I am waiting for my brother, Jeremy, to come visit and convince me!

I have finally met up with my group today after five days of being a vagabond and just seeing what happens next. It's really quite fun being on vacation without a schedule or a plan or much cash. There's no telling what can happen!

I'm heading back to Lusaka over the weekend to take care of some Peace Corps work, buy needed supplies like face cream, and get a few more wonderful restauarant experiences before I had back to site and buckle down to work.

I have not been good about writing letters in the last month, but I swear I'll be sending out loads of mail in the next few weeks.

Best to you all!
Stacey Jean

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Peace Corps Karma

I write this blog from an adorable backpackers lodge in Livingstone, Zambia after a very odd week. After some delays, I’m finally on holiday! I spent all of last week in Lusaka for an in-service training where I had the chance to reconnect with friends from our training group and share ideas with veteran volunteers. After being in “the bush,” I’m on sensory overload and have been pushing my socializing, eating, and activity to the limit.

All of my plans for holiday were disrupted by a foot infection. I once again learned how quickly health concerns can get out of control here! On Monday I pulled out a pair of cute shoes to wear that I don’t get a chance to use in the village assuming, of course, that I wouldn’t be walking any further than to class. After a day of swapping stories, a group of friends and I decided to go out for dinner (which we did ALL week, much to my stomach’s delight) and walk to the road from our training center, about a half a mile, and take a mini bus to the strip mall rather than paying for a taxi to come get us. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into consideration the dust that gets in under the lip of the shoe and can do major damage in no time at all. I rubbed the skin on the top of my foot right off before I even noticed. Normally this situation would be moderately painful, but not really a bother with proper attention. 24 hours later, however, I developed an infection in my foot that has had me limping for the last week. By the time I consulted medical staff, my foot was twice the size it should be and I had to stay in Lusaka for a few extra days on major doses of antibiotics.

There is a queue for this computer so I’m going to sign off for now and complete my story tomorrow and explain the title for this entry.

TBC….

Monday, July 9, 2007

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