Site visit

My second site visit proved to be exponentially better than my first. There are three of up LIFE volunteers being posted in northern province (in fact we are the very first intake of LIFErs in no. pro.) so we all went to stay with a current volunteer couple. Their closest pcv neighbor came to stay as well and we had a great time. One of the highlights was the great food we ate courtesy of the energy efficient stove they made. After a few days with the seasoned vets up newbies were taken to our future respective villages. I will be posted in Mpika district of northern province (which is apparently the largest district in the country). I'm about 17k off the main road but only 200m off a dirt road. My village welcomed of with open arms-literally when i stepped out of the land cruiser a bunch of my neighbor ladies came running up to give of hugs. This is a pretty big deal because hugging is not a big custom here. There was some sort of mix up with my original site a while back and pc had to scramble to find a place for me to live. Therefore my hut is a 6x6m one roomer. The village had knocked down half of it a few weeks earlier for unknown reasons but they are going to have to bed on now after the rainy season. There are not yet cement floors in the house, toilet, shower, or insaka, i have a reed slatted door which needs to be replaced by a solid wood door, and there still needs to be plastic in the roof. Hopefully this should all be completed by the time i move in but i do have myself a fixer upper. I live very near a family which will ultimately be my 'host family'. The wife is 27 so instead of calling her ba mayo i Will probably call her bankashi (sister). She and her husband have four kids and are considered well off because their home has glass windows and a tin roof. The pc set up a farmer in the village to be my host and show of around. I met 3 head men, the head teacher of the local school, and the nurse at the local clinic. In fact i'm extremely excited at the opportunity to work at the clinic. The nice thing about pc is that even though my program is mainly focussed on agriculture i can do any type of work i think would benefit the community. Back with my honestay family now for a few more weeks till swearin. Getting very anxious to get out on my own.