Crossing the Street is Dangerous.

I've been in Lusaka for about a week now and slowly I'm adjusting back into city life. At first I was a bit overwhelmed with all the choices I could make: food, movies, and turning the lights on or off; but, now I'm loving it and exploring around. However, the drivers here are insane! Pedestrians DO NOT have the right away, even if you're in the cross walk and have the walk signal. I've had some close calls, all of which are exacerbated by the fact that I have not yet figured out which way I should look first when crossing! I saw Harry Potter this week and LOVED it, probably my favorite of all the movies!

While here I'm also doing some actual 'work.' We're attending a workshop on how to start planning projects in our schools and communities- this entails sitting in a classroom for about eight hours a day, after having copious amounts of free time in the village this is a bit tedious. It also has been nice to reconnect with those that I went through training with. After talking with others, I realize that I'm not nearly as rural as some others, which is surprising I realize. The fact that I'm able to get fresh fruit, cereal, chocolate, and yogurt in my area is a big deal and now I'm much more thankful for these small conviences.

I have no more exciting stories about village life at the moment so, I think it's time to update you all on my living situation since I don't believe I've ever gone into detail about the family I stay with. I stay with the headman, his wife and children (and their spouses). So, it's the headman, Patrick, and his wife, Katherine- they're pretty old in Zambian stardards, probably around 60. They have eight children but only some of them stay with them: Loveness, who's 21 and married with two of her own children; Brian; 20 and in high school (it's common to be older and still in school); Franny, 14; Dougy, 8; and the others live elsewhere. I don't know how a child decides to stay with their family or move away- I think it may just be dependant on the family. I spend most of my time with Loveness since she's closest to me in age and speaks fluent English. What do you do with a woman in the village? you may be wondering... Well, a lot of sitting on stools outside and chatting, although an equal amount of time is spent in silence as well Zambians are just fine with sitting and not talking which was awkward for me in the beginning. I also watch her work, the women here never stop going, in the mornings it's starting the fire, cooking food, washing clothes, working in the field and the afternoons entail cooking more food, cleaning around the compound (which yes, includes sweeping the dirt around the houses- something I still don't understand!), controlling the crazy children, and whatever else needs to be done. But the best part of spending time with the village women is the gossip they tell, translated into English via Loveness, I love to hear what's going on and who's doing what!

I was finally able to post pictures on facebook! I realize that not all of you have facebook, I apologize! But, I'm sure my parentals would be happy to pass some on to you via email if you ask nicely!

Hail to the Chief!

This past week the honorable Chief Chitina came to stay with my village and because I stay with the village headman I was privy to a front row seat to all the happenings. The chief of course doesn't travel all by his lonesome but, I was amazed to see all the things and people, his posse as I have come to think of them: a counsel of 'advisors,' two armed guards, and a plethora of other people that I wasn't able to determine their function other than drink a lot of beer and play drums well into the night. The first day, the village hosted a 'town hall' meeting in which the villagers were able to voice their problems and concerns to the chief, the ones that the headman had not previously been able to resolve. The meeting was in Bemba so, I understood only a little but I was able to grasp one of the complaints: It seems that a man's goat had wandered into a woman's field and eaten some of her crop that she was selling; then, the woman proceeded to call the man some not nice names and the man thought the woman should be punished. What I found so amazing about this whole encounter was that it was not the woman who clearly lost money in not being able to sell the crops the goat ate that brought the complaint forward but, the man because he had a hurt ego! (This goat story might give you a brief understanding of my day to day happenings in the village.) I wasn't able to hear how the Chief resolved the matter because, by this time the Chiefs guards spotted me successfully hiding in the back of the crowd to not draw attention to myself and forced me to move to the front to sit in front of everyone next to the Chief on a chair; the only reason that I could discern for this happening was because I was White. So, I had to awkwardly sit in front of everyone for the remainder of the meeting and pretend that I understood what was happening in Bemba; it was strange to say the least! Other than the meeting there was good food, music and dancing. I still am unsure as to the actual role of Chiefs throughout Zambia since now everything is handled through the Zambian government. At one time, Chiefs did play an important role in creating laws and managing the people.

Through a little exploring, I was able to find a nice little swimming hole by my home! I am hoping that 1.) It doesn't dry up by hot season and 2.) There aren't any alligators/ crocodiles in it- I can't remember which we have here in Africa! Which reminds me of a story I heard recently about a woman who was doing her laundry in the river and was attacked and lost her arm! Therefore, I no longer do my laundry there. Which means I have to haul my water to my house to wash but, at least I still have two arms!

Next week, I head to Lusaka, I have big plans to eat a vanilla ice cream cone. Next week also surprisingly marks my six month anniversary in Zambia, I feel like there's still so much for me to learn and figure out; needless to say I haven't even really started my education work yet- that will come next month.