Cabwino!

Hello from Lusaka!  I'm at an internet cafe frantically trying to type an update, since it's been said by some that the bible has been more recently updated than my blog.  We had a cultural day today in the city and have some free time now to hang about.  I just had some thai food for lunch with some fellow volunteers...it was the highlight of my week!  I miss thai so much and I've only been here 3 weeks haha it's gonna be a long 2 years.

I survived my first thunderstorm last night!  I'm talking wind, pelting rain, thunder, lightning - the whole thing coming down and me lying in bed terrified that my roof is going to fall in on my head.  I woke up from a dream at 4 am in which I had been struck by lightning so I spent the next 30 minutes counting the seconds between the thunder and lightning to tell how far away they were.  I eventually fell back asleep, but let's just say it was veryyy close.  

It's beautiful and sunny now although we did have some rain in the morning.  My host family atate (father) and amai (mother) were happy to finally have some rain for their maize.  It's been really dry here for the rainy season.  

Training has been great but overwhelming.  My Nyanja (the language I'm learning - spoken in Eastern province) is coming along alright.  I've got the greetings and family descriptions down.  My amai made me flash cards the other day to use in class which was really cute.  

I can't believe we've almost been here a month! Our days right now are so scheduled - between language classes in the morning, technical (working on our co-teaching and classroom skills) in the afternoon, safety and security trainings, medical trainings (we get shots and learn about all the exciting African diseases we can get here every Wednesday...) - it's all gone by really fast and at the same time really slow.  I'm having a blast though and I love my host family - the Chitatus - and the fellow PC trainees.  

I should be finding out my actual village two weeks from Monday so I'll let everyone know.  Until then, lots of love to everyone and I miss you all!  

To give you an idea of what the Zambian "classroom" looks like...

This is Charlie (the goat) he's helping me with my Nyanja skills.

Tidzaonana!