Osadandaula

I can't believe it's been over 7 months since coming to Zambia. I just spent a week-long vacation in Malawi after two weeks of in-service training (IST) in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. My entire intake group met for IST after 4 months of our individual community entry period, isolated in our own villages across the country. It was great to be back with everyone I came into country with, hearing everyone's stories and seeing their personal changes. We're really a great group of young volunteers who know how to have fun. Since our IST took 2 weeks, Peace Corps put us all up at a nice hotel just north of the city. It was a time for indulging in restaurant food and of course a selection of beverages. Anything is a great change from the village diet of nshima and oily vegetables. Surprisingly enough, most of the girls in Peace Corps tend to gain a good bit of weight during first part of service. Who knew nshima could be comfort food? This is a photo of the group during our frat party/beer olympics. Our order of events for the night began with toga awards, followed by beer pong and flip cup, then a slip and slide tournament and finally, a sling shot competition. I got the sling shot as an 'mbasela' when I bought my first bow and 2 arrows at the Lusaka Sunday market. Mbasela literally translates to super awesome free bonus. You think you're just buying a heap of tomatoes and onions, but what's this? Mbasela cabbage. I'm a monster at deals in the market and I'd say I made out pretty well with my bow and arrow/sling shot deal. So anyway, we divided the teams according to province with the winning prov to bring home the slip and slide. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to conclude the games. 

The training was great but incredibly long. We had sessions from 8 until 17 hours each night with an hour for lunch and 2 tea breaks. I'll try not to complain, it's just hard to concentrate for that long after having so much free time in the village. I'm used to spending my days alone, coming and going as I please, visiting neighbors or exploring the bush paths and of course making moves at the school. So now, all day conferences somehow feel like a trap. Some of the sessions- for instance, coping mechanisms or safety and security- are extremely interesting and I'm happy to participate. My group broke the news to our regional supervisor about the main form of transportation used in Zambia. Most volunteers prefer to hitchhike when traveling. I know it sounds dangerous but to be fair, buses aren't very safe; the main bus line used by Eastern Province recently crashed on the Great East Road and a number of people died.

Each province has exactly one road to travel between districts so if you stand on the side of it long enough, someone will pull over for you and take you in the direction you want to go. It's actually a great way to network because the people who have a car in this country are always the most educated. Often we can get a ministry vehicle to pick us up. On our trip down to Lusaka, my group got a Ministry of Health semi-truck to pick us up and the driver was nice enough to stop on the side of the road so I could run back for my hat that flew off. It's usually a free ride and kind of liberating to hitch but the rides are always awful. Starting from my village, I leave my district on the worst dirt road which is an hour and a half from the tarmac, which connects 8+ hours away from the capital. I'm lucky in Eastern Prov since Lusaka is technically in Eastern but the Great East Road is terrifying. We almost wrecked once going up-country when coming around a turn on a hill with one oncoming mini-bus overtaking another just ahead. As a safety precaution, the government has been putting up a series of speed bumps along the windy hills but the large canter trucks still overturn a lot. It's crazy to see.

These are my good friends Stephen and Andrew playing a friendly game of rummy with me on our hitch down. The wind only took the 8 of spades and 2 of diamonds. All in all, not a bad way to spend the trip down.

Traveling really can be a lot of fun. Zambians love seeing a white woman on the back of a truck, so they'll yell "Muzungu!" from far and near and the little iwes will just come running (iwe is the word volunteers use for kids, literally it's just a less than respectful- "You!"). Kids are my favorite part of the country, always smiling and so excited. It could just be the color of my skin but I know I'd be excited to see me, so I can't blame them. The only annoying part is when I'm riding my bike around bush paths and they chase after me and try to touch me or my hair. Side note, my hair is like a precious treasure to my iwes and my students. One day in class I let everyone come up and touch it or run their fingers through it. I also let my baby sisters brush it when they do something nice for me, for example my sister Eliza sometimes scrubs my kettle or pots with sand to get the scorch marks off from my cooking fire. I used to reward them with sweets but I had a few monkey thieves so I haven't stocked up lately. Besides, getting my hair brushed is a double win for me... An mbasela of sorts.

I'm really excited for the next school term to start in September. The training workshop has given me a lot of ideas and helpful practice for making a plan, implementing a program or teaching a class. It's all in the plan. I don't want to go on about my work right now but it's a fun job and I've been doing a lot. Hopefully my class will start to pick up when I'm teaching by myself and can call all the shots. I have a great schedule with every Friday off. I love my free time, I'll read on my porch all day sometimes or I'll go explore-running around the fields and farms. I have so many great bush paths in between villages and backways through the middle of nowhere. Running has been awesome since I don't have to talk to anyone and I can just get away for a while. I'm also obsessed with my beautiful house. I have the cleanest hut in Peace Corps, I'm sure. Not to say that PCVs are as dirty as they're stereotyped to be...

Truth be told, my hut has been described as Pottery Barn. Not bad, eh?


I'll be heading back to my village tomorrow after I get over this cold I picked up in Malawi. A bunch of us went up to Nkhata Bay after IST. It was so hard to leave! Eastern Province has no significant body of water and I'm a beach girl... It's a rough life, what can I say. The backpackers lodge we stayed at was built right into a cliff with paths leading everywhere. I felt like an elf in Rivendale. I ate the best food and swam every day. I also went cliff jumping and got to see some eagles diving for fish next to the boat I was on. They speak Chichewa in Malawi, very similar to the Chewa I've been learning in Eastern so I had a great time speaking with the locals and of course getting more deals in the market. After 6 days in paradise, I did not want to leave. It was also hard to say goodbye to all of my friends again, I really lucked out with how many incredible people are out here with me. 

This is where I enjoyed my coffee every morning in Nkhata Bay. They have a saying around there,  ''Osadandaula'' - Chewa for Don't Worry.