I have finally broken down and paid the 10 kwacha for a full hour of internet time. I am in Lusaka with some friends on our own which is a pretty big deal. Saw a movie yesterday which was absolutlely fantastic (the movie wasn't that fantastic, but the whole situation of being in an air conditioned movie theater and escaping for an hour and a half was ideal). We stayed in a guest house last night that came highly recommended from current PCVs. It is close to the PC headquarters, has tv in the rooms, and has great water pressure so we were all thrilled.

I put some pictures up on facebook so hopefully people can check those out and see what I've been seeing the past two months. I haven't really used my nice camera yet so the pictures aren't of great quality. I'm hoping to get some great shots of the sunsets here and my host family before I leave- so next time the pictures will be better.

Not much has happened since I got back from my site visit, so I thought I would just kind of recap on my life in the village of Chongwe and thoughts in general.

One of the most touching experiences I have had thus far came when my host sister Mowriah (age 17) was listening to some American music with me from my ipod. I bust it out maybe once every other week and put on the speakers so everyone can hear and dance around the yard. Mowriah loves American artists like Mario, Beyonce, Celine Dione, and Shania Twain (odd combination-- I know). She told me that when she gets to listen to the music that I play, she feels very hopeful for the world and optomistic for her future in Zambia. In her words, "I feel like nothing can go wrong". It was hard to grasp the meaning of this for me at first, but it gave me just a glimpse into the life of a Zambian teenager. Just listening to some American music inspires her enough to want to do better in the world than her parents did... Quite a realization.

I will be truly sad when I have to leave my homestay family. Being away 12 days on my site visit really made me realize how much I rely on them and appreciate their hospitality. I am spoiled because they speak much better English than the people in my future village do. It is such an interesting family dynamic with all of the cousins living with us and family coming in and out daily. My batata (father) is a continuous source for funny stories. Partly because he is just a jolly man in general, and partly because of his fondness for shake shake (a locally brewed maize beer). My fellow trainees always look to me for a funny batata story.

Another rather humorous story came when I went to get a chitenge dress made for the swear-in ceremony coming up. Chitenge is basically a material here that comes in all sorts of beautiful patterns. They usually come in 2 meter lenghts. Women use it for everything from creating slings to carry their babies on their back, to wearing as a skirt/apron, to tablecoths, etc etc. It can also be sewed into clothes obviously.. Apparently my oldest brother sells chitenge so my ba mayo told me to purchase mine from him. However when she said he sells chitenge, she really meant he has two patterns you can chose from... They were not the greatest patterns so I was a bit disappointed--- and I just couldn't tell her I didn't want one of them. I bought the recommended 4 meters of chitenge for a dress and ba mayo took me to the taylor that she uses (right across the market from her stall). He had no patterns or pictures for me to chose a dress from so we had to go to another taylor's shop to explain what I wanted. Thankfully my sisters were with me to help him figure out what I wanted. However he is blind in on eye and kept insisting there be a large collar on my dress...I am quite fearful as to how this frock is going to turn out. Hopefully good since I'm pretty sure I also got ripped off on the price... Oooooh well.

Right now I am just anxious to finish training and do well on my final language test. Unlike the previous tests, this one will be basically a conversation with a language instructor. They will record it and just ask us questions about our life and what we know about Zambia untill we can't continue in Bemba anymore. The level we need to acheive is "intermediate low" which does not sound like much but will be tough. This will be in two weeks so wish me luck! We also have to do a presentation on a cultural aspect of Zambia so me and my buddy Anna are going to present on Netball- a popular game played here.

I am looking forward to being on my own and setting my own schedule once I get to my village. However my counterpart/host (Lawrence) is very eager to get me out into the fields and start working. Technically I am not supposed to do any work for the first three months of "community entry". We are basically just supposed to get to know the community and scope everything out and plan our projects. I'm not sure I want to do all of my work with ba Lawrence, but hopefully he will prove to be a helpful host. I am still very excited about the nurse that I met in the village- Regina. The clinic has so much potential because there are two brand new buildings on the compound. They are yet to be furnished, but apparently some aid agencies have pledged to fill them... I really hope my instincts about Regina are right and that I can spend a lot of time there helping her out.

Well my internet time is running low so I should be going. Thanks for reading and please keep in touch- I will really need some contact from home once I am dropped at my village by myself!