I feel like I've been here forever. The past three weeks have flown by, and we've been so busy I feel like I should be saying that I've been here for at least three months! This is really the first time I've had access to internet since I've been here (other than my three day stay at CorpMed Services, an American run hospital in Lusaka) .
Our group has already moved into our homestay, the host families we will be living with for the next three months while we learn our language and complete training. I am learning kiikaonde (key-kah-own-day), a language that is spoken in the Northwestern Province of Zambia. My host family speaks kiikaonde, so they've been speaking the language to me at home and helping me with vocab. I almost understand what people mean when they say that you have to pick up the language when you are thrown into it, but I still speak so much English with my friends and the trainers that it really hasn't hit home yet. Otherwise, my host family is great. I'm the 14th PC volunteer they've hosted so they understand how to accommodate me. And by accommodate, I mean they literally do everything for me from cooking my meals to boiling my bath water. The first day I took a (splash) bath at home, I emptied out my water basin myself and then got yelled at because my bamaama (host mom) wanted to do it for me. So I don't do that anymore. I've already gotten pretty used to the food. Lots of starch. For the first two weeks I literally pooped like three times because of the nshima plug in my intestines. I guess I prefer that to Mr. D (friendly name for diarrhea).
It's funny that though we've only been here for three weeks, I can see how some things we considered novelty at home have already become precious commodities. Like fresh fruit and vegetables. Last week, someone was lucky enough to get fresh cucumbers to bring as a snack to class. It was such a wonderful and kind of funny thing to watch everyone pass around a whole cucumber and take bites of it like they had never had one before. Some of us also started getting our first packages from home in the mail, filled with treasures like Starburst and Jolly Ranchers. How quickly we've come to appreciate American novelty. I think that a lot during my 8km bike ride (one way) to the training center everyday.
There is so much more I could talk about since so much has happened in the last three weeks, but unfortunately my internet time is about up. Our group took a day trip to Lusaka to visit the national museum and have free time at Manda Hill (a large shopping center/mall). The access to internet, spicy Indian food, and air conditioning was much appreciated.
Missing you all like crazy and hope everything is well! Kyawama Shalaipo! (Goodbye)
