Greetings from Zambia!!! Stevie and I have just arrived at the Peace Corps house in Solwezi after being in Chizela (Stevie's village) for FAR too short a time, 3 nights. It was a long journey to get there (30 hours on the plane, and 2 days of hitch hiking in the backs of trucks after a night of dancing in Lusaka) and despite giant spiders and having a whole in the ground for a toilet, I am completely enamored with the life and people Stevie has come to surround herself with. I know I can't convey this magic in a blog, but spending the afternoons playing football and bubbles outside of the hut with beaming children is a pretty sweet life.
I'd like to apologize in advance for my novice blog-writing--completely new to this, and I'm hoping for both our sakes that I'll get more clever as I go on. For now, just expect a gushing-kid-at-the-candy-store approach...I'm still pinching myself to be on the continent. AFRICA. WHAT?!
The last night was by far my favorite as Stevie's host family cooked an amazing dinner and the kids and I exchanged dance moves. We worked up an appetite jumping around and chasing eachother around the hut before sitting down to a feast of Nshima and relish, greens, and chicken. I was pleasantly surprised at how great the food was and have the ever-growing sensation that Zambia agrees with me. We ate with Ba-Moses and his wife Abigail (Stevie's host parents), Ba-Moses' father and wife, and his good friend in Stevie's Kisanza with all the kids scattered around us. Unfortunately it was pretty dark by then, so I couldn't see everything that was going on, but afterward we got a few "snaps" of the entire family. After the delicious meal, the "chaps" continued to run around under the light of a full moon, as Stevie held Rejoice, one of the youngest, in her arms and sang a lullabye.
Everyone was so friendly and warm and were graciously trying to teach me Kicaonde. So far, I can say "Hello, how are you, I'm well, Good Morning, Thank you, It is good, and I don't understand Kicaonde," but I've learned that a smile and a hand shake go a long way here. I brought bubbles and bouncey balls for the kids which were such a blast to play with and left a couple books with Ba-Moses to thank him and his family for their hospitality and taking such good care of my sister, though she's become quite the independent BAMF (Bad Ass Mother F$%*@er). She cooked us some amazing meals out of very few ingredients and doesn't bat an eyelash at the very large and very scary spiders that live on her walls.
Right now in Zambia it's dry season and so there are control burns EVERYWHERE. The country of Zambia is basically on fire, which makes for some unbelievably red sunsets, more than living up to my romantic Lion King fantasy. We'll see how far this fantasy goes tomorrow when we board the train for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and pass through a giant reserve. Can everyone PLEASE say a prayer for us to see some elephants, giraffs, and LIONS!!! We'll have 2 days on the train, then 2 days on a bus through Kenya to get to Kampala, Uganda. And then another day on the bus to get to Kigali, Rwanda for our day-trek with the GORILLAS!!!!!!! (Watching Tarzan tonight just to get extra pumped) Okay, time to get re-packed and dance around with excitement. Hopefully, I'll report back a changed woman with my new found gorilla spirit wisdom. Peace and Love!!
