I've Got A New Home

We received our site placements! I’ll be located in the Central Provice only 5 kilometers outside of the Mkushi town. I’m going to be a boma volunteer, which means that I’ll be working at the district level of education. (Zambian education starts at the National Level, Provincial Level, District Level, and finally Zonal) For the entire next week I’ll be staying at my new home in the village meeting all the people and discovering what my job will be. I am so excited to see where I'll be living and working for the next two years! I will also be getting a new mailing address that'll be closer to my site. So, STOP SENDING MAIL TO THE LUSAKA ADDRESS! It wont reach me by the time I am finished with training! I am appreciating all the letters I've been recieving... I'll let you know as soon as I can my new address!

Training is still going strong! I am happy, healthy, and loving Zambia.

Here are some more factoids:
The rainy season in Zambia is coming to an end, followed by the cold season. I am appreciating the cool nights and mornings brought by this season after the hot and muggy weather brought by the rain! I took my first fall off my bike last week and in true Cindy-form it was both ridiculous and graceless! I was riding with my friend Mary and once she was able to stop laughing she pulled my bike off of me, because of course it landed completely on top of me! I'm still struggling through a new language, I'm pumped to test out my skills in the village this week!

Peace Corps Training

I’ve arrived safely in Zambia and have begun my third week of Peace Corps Training! I’m loving every minute here in beautiful Zambia, it truly is a gorgeous country! At the moment we are in the rainy season so everything is green and luscious. I’m staying in the Central Province which actually looks a bit like the Ozarks in Missouri. There are so many new and different aspects of my life here in Zambia that I’m not even sure where to begin!

After being whisked throughout the country for the first week to visit current Peace Corps Volunteers to see what life in two months will be like for us; we have finally settled in a village just outside of Lusaka for training. Training is a bit intense; it’s a collaboration of many aspects. The largest, and most challenging part of training, is the homestay. I’m living with a Zambian family to help me better assimilate to the culture and learn the language. However, everyday is a new adventure with the fam, slowly I think that we are coming to understand each other. I have my very own hut away from the family and am learning to successfully live without running water or electricity- I am now a successful bucket bather! The other two aspects of training are language and education technical training. I’m learning Bemba, a language spoken in Central and Northern Provinces. It’s a challenge, but the more I learn the better able I am able to communicate with my family. We had our first language assessment this past Friday and I’m doing much better than I thought, so maybe there’s hope for me! The technical sessions are interesting, it seems that my job for the next two years will be to help train teachers and offer them teaching resources. The education system here seems to be in chaos, so hopefully my type A personality will be effective.

Here are some other factoids of life here:

My village calls me ‘The Girl Who Prefers Trousers’ because, I don’t wear the traditional long skirt called a chitenge(it’s just way too hard to bike in!) I’ve become a biking pro- who knew? I miss sugar more than anything- you can buy whatever chocolate you want here but not sweet candy. So, feel free to send candy (chewy sweet tarts, skittles, starbursts and gum)! My training group is pretty fun, so don’t worry I’ve made lots of good new friends! I’ve only seen one snake and it was tiny, if possible Zambians are more afraid of snakes than we are. And not packing my hiking boots was a good life choice since I have not even put on anything other than my J. Crew flip-flops for two weeks!

I miss you all! I’ll be thinking of the Bethel Crew as you move into your new building this week- Good Luck!