ZAMBIA

we made it to zambia safe and sound and i have a phone! i think the number is:
011 26 097 186 411 (though the 0 before the 9 MIGHT not be needed, i'm not sure). texts are cheap for me and for you (i think) and calling might be for you. we were told to tell family and friends to go to "callingcardplus.com" where you can get 100 minutes to Zambia for $5, i think. incoming calls are free for me! so i'd love to hear from you, though my cellphone service will probably be spotty at best and turned off. so, setting up times to talk is best.

i'm good. the group is really interesting and things are going really well. there are times of complete exhaustion or feeling like i still can't believe i'm really getting myself into this, but mostly it's just exciting. we're actually here! the country is sooooooooo beautiful it's unbelievable. it's the rainy season now so everything is green. we're staying in a government training center in chongwe, a town about 45 minutes from lusaka, which will also be the town we'll be in with our homestay families. though, to call it a town would be generous. mostly, from what i can tell so far, there is lusaka and then there are BOMAs (a name left over from the colonial period which is an acronym for something starting with British) which are small town centers and sometimes provincial centers. some of these are becoming more developed and most of them now have cell phone service and paved roads. and, again from what i can tell, this is light years ahead of what is was even 2-3 years ago when the group that leaves when we swear in got here. we're the first group that they're really recommending buys cellphones and the current volunteers all make fun of the fact that we all have ipods! :-) though they do too increasingly. and then outside of that, there are lots and lots of green fields with little huts and gatherings of families and villages. the huts look really beautiful and most of the country that we've seen so far (not toooo much) looks so peaceful.

let's see... other than that. we picked out languages yesterday and i'm going to be learning bemba, which means that i'll be in central or northern province, which if you find a map are (shockingly) the province right in the middle and the one in the northeast bordering tanzania. it's exciting because it's a huge area and there are a number of different places that i could be in. some new sites, some replacing older volunteers who are living there now but leaving, some near (ish) to a town and some far and rural. it's also exciting because bemba is one of the most commonly spoken languages (out of over 70) in the country and it's a bantu language so similar to some of the other southern african languages.

i'm heading to central province for a site visit tomorrow. we'll be spending some time near a town and then some time in a more remote village. i can't wait to actually be out there. i feel like we've listened to soooooo much talking to and gotten shots and medical advice and been talked to by the country director and filled out forms that i'm just ready to be out there and try to meet some zambians in a smaller group. i'll let you know how it goes.

anyway, there is so much more to add but i feel a bit like i've just had so much put into my head that i haven't had time to process much. there are still so many questions in my mind, about logistics and how to actually do my job, but i know that each day is going to bring more confidence and more experiences. zambians seem very excited to have us here and my questions about how my own view of development and that of the peace corps' will mesh seemed to have been calmed for now... the project that we're working on is now called "RED" for Rural Educational Development project and seems to be much more involved that it used to be. it's expanded to working with both non-traditional and traditional schools and using radio education but also focusing on teacher and mentor training and extracurricular activities. it just seems that there is so much space for innovation and creativity. so, i'm excited.

but, i'm running out of time and i don't want to loose all of this. so i'm going to sign off. but i miss you all and would LOVE to hear from anyone!

arrival

so, we made it to johannesburg! we had two days of staging in DC with lots of meetings about leaving, anxieties, excitements, dealing with harrassment and more... though i don't think staging really provided much information about what we're going to be doing or how to deal with the situations we will face i think it was very successful at making the first step of the transition. we got to meet people, start really actively thinking about peace corps and zambia while still in the united states, still able to run and by that "one thing" that we forgot and still call home to hear a familiar voice. it ended with yellow fever and polio shots and our first dosage of malaria medicine which i'll take with dinner tonight. and then we were off to the airport! many hours early so that we could all get french fries and ice cream as our last food in america before we took off.

there are 40 people in my group. half of us will be working on the educational development program and half will be working on a community health initiative. we have 32 women and 8 men, apparently peace corps is not usually THAT female heavy. but everyone seems very interesting. it's a pretty diverse group... we come from all over the country and from many different backgrounds. the vast majority of us graduated recently and are doing this as a first or second job out of college. though there are some people who are older. people have done a wide range of travel with some people having spent a significant amount of time living in the developing world, though not many. many have backgrounds in ngos, volunteering, health, and education. and mostly most of us just both super excited and nervous.

i feel like it's all a bit surreal. we're not allowed to leave the hotel tonight. so, even though we're in johannesburg i feel like we could be anywhere. it's just warm. but, it's our last hot shower for a while.

a cute adrienne and julian story (my 8 year old cousin's in DC) before i go... i got to see them, my aunt, and my grandma in DC on monday night (two nights before i left) for a last goodbye and hugs. the first thing adrienne said to me was: "hannah, can you pack me in your suitcase?" to which i replied: "well, sweetie, i have an 80 pound limit and you just might put me over it!" to which she said: "but... i only weigh thirty pounds!"

and when i went to give julian a hug he said: "hannah, the next time i see you i'll be 10 years old!" "you're right! i said. that's old!" and after some more thought he said: "and you'll be 25! you will be a giant!" oy.

so, on that note... i think i may go find food. my giant self is off to zambia in the morning and it will prob be a while before i get internet again. we have a couple days in the government training center, then a site visit to another volunteer, then a homestay for 8 weeks (with another site visit in the middle) and then we get posted to our sites by the beginning of april. i'll try to get on when i can and also post my cellphone number once i have it.

but write me! write me! write me! i will be SO happy to get letters and if you write a return address on the letter i will write back!

note the address change

hey all,

i just found out from peace corps that the original address they sent us was wrong. we're now going to be doing training near lusaka (the capital). so, the new (correct!) address is:

Hannah Lantos/PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 50707
Lusaka, ZAMBIA

it should be valid until the end of march and i can't wait to get lots of letters! :-) i promise i'll write back eventually!

one week

i leave chicago a week from today and will be in DC for two days before heading to johannesburg and then zambia. it all feels a little surreal.

i've spent the last couple weeks hanging out with my family a lot. it was really fun to have time with tess and we did some of the general stuff to do when we're home (dentists, new glasses, haircuts - mine's really short! etc.) and then also found some time to just chill with each other. we both got obsessed with the HBO show "The Wire." And by obsessed I mean, we watched all of season 1 last week and even though we're in different places now, i'm well on my way to finishing season 2. partly this is because the show is great. it's about the baltimore police department and the way it presents how problems are solved, how the police work, how the gangs (at least in the first season) work and function and how the police and the gangs play each other is very well done.

though, i think part of the reason that i've gotten so hooked is that it's a way to distract my nerves as well. i'm starting to get anxious, not so much about a specific thing, and it's definitely combined with uber-excitement, but more just that it's finally feeling so real. that my bags have to be packed, that i have to say goodbyes to my family. it was very hard to say goodbye to tess yesterday and to really ralize that i won't be there at graduation, that she finishes up at brown this year and starts a new adventure and that i only really get to hear about it through letters. that's exciting and part of me feels like it will encourage us to take the time to think more and have more conversations that we might have anyway, but it feels a bit daunting.

anyway, i know that i'm not the greatest at transitions and i think that the next week will be tough, but then diving in headfirst to the adventure is just what i need. i think i'm starting to feel at a dead end in chicago since i haven't done much productive. i'm excited to get back into a mode of feeling useful and directed. on the note of feeling anxious it's time for you all to start writing me letters! hehe. if you send one now i'll prob get there before it will! here's my address:

Hannah Lantos/PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 50707
Lusaka, ZAMBIA

i can't wait to hear from you all!!

also, i know it's been a long time since i wrote last. here are some pics:

i spent christmas in ithaca NY with my mom's family, then went up to syracuse to spend some time with eli, and then headed down to new york city for new year's where there might have been a little new year's eve color games action. :-) i don't have pics of that yet, but here are some others.

1. me teaching eli how to make pizza
2. me and eli in new york
3. the brownies in new york after a lovely dinner and drinks
4. me with short(!) hair