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!