One last hurrah...

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile--it seems that whenever I am in an area with internet access, I am running around like crazy. Apparently one can still keep busy in a culture of relaxed pace. I hope there are still a few people interested in my life and checking up on this:) I am actually on one final vacation. Somehow I have accrued quite a few vacation days and saved some money (I have officially been deemed a "village rat" by other volunteers because I never leave my village). So now I am in Tanzania, just back from Zanzibar; then I will be heading to Mozambique tomorrow and South Africa just after Easter. Then back to Zambia the first week of April.

I have to say again that I LOVE Tanzania, most especially Zanzibar. I of course have a very soft spot for Zambia, but it really feels like a step ahead over here. There is just a little more development, things seem to take less time and turn out more like you were expecting, and lots more water. I, of course, have been seeing the most developed areas here, so I am sure it is a different story in the village, but you can definitely tell a difference between the capitol cities. But I could live in Zanzibar--it is so beautiful.

We just stayed in Stonetown, but we took a spice tour one day, which was so interesting. I really had no idea what sort of plants spices come from and really how to prepare them and definitely not their medicinal purposes. Take cloves for instance. It is often used in dental products, and if you bite into one, it numbs your mouth. Very interesting. I got lots more where that came from too:) After the tour, we also went to a sort of secluded beach, where there were only fishermen there. It was beautiful, but it was also lowtide, and I got stung by a jellyfish. It surprised me more than anything, but I figured of course, if anyone can get stung by a jellyfish in their first hour of a beach vacation, it is me. My friend wanted to pee on me ( have you seen the Friends episode?), but I think that was motivation enough for me to just suck it up.

We also went to another island one day, where we got to see ancient tortoises, seriously the size of me. Some were close to 100 years old. They were really cool. Then we also got to snorkel by some coral reefs there. Also amazing. And we found some starfish: yellow, purple, orange, green, red...they were so beautiful. I still can't get over how clear blue the water was, and being the ocean, you can just be buoyed up by the salt alone and lay in the water for hours (luckily no sunburn yet).

Well, my time on the internet is about to expire, so more later! Love you all!

It's confirmed...

....I'm healthy. I am in Lusaka (the land of plenty) for mid-term medical exams. I just was at the doctor and dentist today, and apart from a chipped filling (apparently rice dissolves fillings, or maybe they were just saying that to make me feel better), I am pretty healthy...except for a mysterious rash...Then to celebrate a healthy mouth, I went and ate some ice cream--so delicious. Things have been going pretty well at site though. I am working again with the schools, which always is a source of entertainment, but I think I have officially run out of songs and dances to teach them, despite the repertoire I acquired in the child care field. So now we have moved on to staring contests and various forms of "American" greetings (ie 'sup) because I feel it is important to introduce different dialects, if you will, in case any of them ever make it to the US. I also I am slightly embarassed, as I don't remember many of their names still. Partly because there are about five Lovenesses, Innocents and Gifts each. Plus their pronunciation of their names is much different from mine (me: Mirriam, them: Melyami) that I usually avoid trying to say names, as they don't know who I am talking to anyway. I actually surprisingly remember the kids who have Zambian names: Chibolya, Kamwana, etc. And Friday is a little hard to forget too. I was going through the roster last week though, and out of 100 kids, only 11 have last names that start with a letter besides K, M, or L. And you wonder why it is a problem to keep words and names straight. My bike also went through quite the rough patch this past month. One day a tube just burst, which was bad enough, but then when I went to pump it back up, the valve just broke off as well. I seriously think God was playing a joke on me, but I sure wasn't laughing. Luckily some other volunteers had a spare, so then I was good for about another week. Then the tire started to just fray. Completely ridiculous. I seriously had to duct tape it for a week before I could get a spare part. Just take it from me, a duct taped tire just doesn't cut it. Somehow it managed though, except now the gears sound terrible. But I am sure this is very uninteresting to read, plus it is slightly stressing me out again, and I am going to a MOVIE in about ten minutes, so I'll stop there. But I want to take this time to just make a little analogy of me to my bike: we are both like the little engine who could, just keep trucking along and enjoying the scenery as we slowly go by... Ok, not the best analogy, better one next time. Love you all!

One year and counting...

I am taking advantage of free internet at my local mission hospital (a new installment, and don't know how often I can use it...probably not too much...). But I have officially less than one year left! It just blows my mind sometimes. It has been a little slow in the village lately, but about two weeks ago I helped out with the project of another volunteer: Camp GLOW (girls leading our world), which was amazing. It was mostly 12th grade girls who couldn't make it home from their boarding school over the August break, but they were so intelligent and motivated, which was really encouraging to see. The week definitely required a bit more pep and energy than I thought I had in me, but somehow mustered up enough to last a week. The sessions we had were on confidence, motivation, career choices, women's health, sexual assault...a lot of topics that aren't really discussed much in general here, so I think it was definitely very beneficial for the girls, although a bit weighty at times and very disheartening to hear stories of situations girls have already been in. So a bit intense, but overall the week was so much fun. I hope to help out with another one before I leave here. Oh, and another sign of how motivated they were: study groups were formed in their spare time--on their holiday! I was recruited to help with biology, so hopefully I didn't lead them astray. In November, the grade 12s take huge exmas though, which sort of determine their future, so studying is very important for these girls. Anyway, now I am back. Have had a few meetings...with myself. But school starts next week, so I will be at three different schools during the week, which will certainly keep me busy. Can't wait!

Summer on the Water...some are not...

Just got back from a short holiday at Victoria Falls (I just love saying that). It was absolutely beautiful and tons of fun. We saw a lunar rainbow (it happens when there is a full moon, creates a rainbow with the mist coming from the falls), then saw the falls during the day (and got completely soaked). We also went white water rafting on the Zambezi...so fun. It was quite the adventure, as they don't really inform people that you have to descend down the gourge on this stick staircase, which was definitely the worst part. Then our raft got a puncture after the first rapid. The second rapid we tossed our guide, so we had to rescue him. Then a bunch of class four rapids (a bit intense, but now I want to go back when they open up the class 5 rapids when the water level goes down). My legs were sooo sore though (a little surprising, as my arms don't hurt at all...I guess because I am so used to carrying water in the village). We also had lots of good food. Too much. But luckily I am around a bunch of volunteers for my birthday (23rd annual "Berth-day" is the official title). Hope everyone had a good Fourth!

Same old, same old

So I have just been in the village since the last time I wrote. Nothing too new and exciting. My house is looking really smart now though, with whitewashed walls and new shelves and what what. I also got some green paint for the outside, so I will be living in style pretty soon. Just in time to show off for the new volunteers coming in June, 8 of which are coming right off the plane from America to see how live in the village! Craziness. Also at the beginning of June there will be a traditional ceremony in our district. The highlight is our chief taking a drink of the first brewed sorghum and and spitting it in all directions. Tough job being the chief, but I guess someone has to do it. Otherwise, I have been keeping really busy somehow, just teaching at my schools and trying to get some other projects going. There was a funeral last week though; the first one that I had worked with a bunch and felt a personal loss. It made me realize how sad I will be to leave my village, if I was so sad over just one person. But obviously still have a ways to go. And overall, I am doing well. Hope you are too!

can't believe we are getting to the end of APRIL already!!

Sorry it has taken so long to post...I had to change to a google account to sign in, which was kind of a hassle with the computers here. But I finally got it to work, so hopefully it won't be four months again before the next entry--hopefully you are still interested in my life:) Thanks for everyone who has been sending me messages and letters and packages--makes me feel not so far away! I am missing you all though; I will be back before you know it though! I have been quite busy lately, but not a whole lot of it seems very news worthy. At the end of February, I had a cobra in my house, but I think everyone and their brother knows about that by now (if not, I can enlighten you upon request). I spent Easter in the village. Definitely a bit different celebrations here--a lot less material, go figure. I also put together an "HIV Scavenger Hunt" which was pretty fun, and no, I did not have them look for HIV. I just put together coded clues for different locations in the village, and when they found those places, they had to answer a question about HIV before they got the next clue. It was a new concept, but some caught on quickly (some less so). All of the parents thought this was hilarious as well, so fun had by all. I have pictures that I will hopefully get put up in the next day or so...Otherwise, trying to get a couple of other projects going. One of my groups got a grant from CRAIDS, so that has gotten others energized, so hopefully things will be materializing a bit quicker. Hopefully. I am also making next month a "Fathers Take Your Children to Under Five Clinic" month and I am making badges for it and everything; I want men in my village to realize that health is a family effort, not just a mother's responsibility (and 8 year old girls should not have to bear more responsibility in family rearing than their fathers, in my opinion). So hopefully it will go well. Also mobile VCT and a Radio Listening Group are in the formation process. So basically things are going pretty well. Again, wish I had more interesting stories (although I am sure you all love listening to work stories). While in town here, I am getting some paint for my house. I am looking for hot pink or some other crazy color, but who knows what I will be able to find. Early June will also be my chief's festival, so hopefully there will be some good stories associated with that, and I want to get to the national park here by August (transportation can be a bit tricky though). I made it through the rainy season though! And now on to the cold, windy season...not quite like a Wisconsin winter though--sounds like I missed a real one this year. Hope all is well! Hopefully I will talk to you all soon!

From Trains to Lions

I will soon be returning to Zambia after the most amazing vacation ever. We started out by taking the train from Kapiri to Dar Es Saalam: 49 hours long! It actually was not as bad as that sounds. It was much more comfortable than taking a bus for half of that time, and I was sharing a cab with three friends so we kept each other entertained. I also removed my first parasite whilst on the train (a bot fly, probably the least harmful parasite ever), which was fun. We arrived on Christmas Eve, so we decided to go out for dinner (after taking hot showers!!). We found this Chinese and Indian cuisine--Palakh paneer and garlic naan: delish. Then we went to this very posh hotel to try to get dessert. Ended up crashing some family celebration, got free champagne and a fantastic dessert buffet (they loved us there). For Christmas day, we went shopping and had lunch, drinks and Rose! ice cream (food was definitely a big part of the vacation) on a boardwalk by the Indian Ocean. Then we went back to the hotel for a five-course meal:) Next we travelled to Moshi, where we got a good view of Kilimanjaro and learned a bit of Swahili from the market and the Maasai we met in town. We also visited a mosque and had more fantastic food. Then it was off to Arusha, where we took a SAFARI!! We went to Lake Manyara where we saw baboons, elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeast, warthogs, etc...all with a backdrop of the Great Rift Valley Wall. We were also told that we were very lucky because we saw a cheetah as well, which apparently is very rare. There were also thousands of flamingos on the lake, which was very surprising. The next day we went to Ngorongoro Crater, where we saw some of the same animals, plus ostriches, lions, hippos, hyenas, and crazy looking birds. It was all just so surreal seeing all the animals so close and personal. We were seriously ten feet away from these animals, and we had a guide who has helped film for Discovery Channel and National Geographic, so we got all of the info. Even taking pictures could not do justice to what we saw, but I will still post them when I get the chance. It was just amazing though. The trip back up the crater was also, um, adventure-filled, but I will spare the details for my mother's sake. If anyone else wants to know the details, ask me through another forum...But seriously definitely in the top three days of my life thus far. Now we will be heading back to do some more work, but it is really uncanny how amazing this vacation has been and how everything has just fallen into place. I hope everyone else has been enjoying their holidays as well!