feeling settled

so, another update.

i've been in kasama, the capital of northern province since saturday and have been staying at the peace corps house up here. in zambia there are peace corps houses in each of the provinces which are places volunteers can come to take a shower, use a real stove, go grocery shopping, rest if you're sick etc. zambia is one of the few countries that still has this and it's been great. it's a little compound and it's been very very good to have some down time. i think it was actually the first time that i've started to feel settled and relaxed since i've been here. and one of the first times that i've got to have interesting conversations with other volunteers about things unrelated to zambia. so exciting to realize that i'm around interesting creative people. because i felt like i knew it was true but that i hadn't had much time to explore the other people AT ALL.

anyway, you have no idea how much you take your shower head for granted! not that bucket baths are bad... a couple weeks ago i was standing in my ulusasa (shower shelter) as it rained in the distance but the sun set over me and there was a HUGE rainbow in front of me. what could be more amazing? out in the open african air showering with a beautiful rainbow! that said, showers are pretty amazing.

other than that my week has been pretty uneventful. i think taking the bus and getting out of mpika was a really good way to move on from my ipod and solar charger loss. i think i was bummed that a connection to something comforting was lost, but also that on top of that my sense of comfort and space was violated, that i wanted to believe that things were safer and they weren't. it was a good thing to be reminded of and it was a good thing to physically be able to move on to another PLACE in order to help myself get over it. so, i'm feeling much better about it! if anyone wants to send CDs of fun music my way, they will DEFINITELY be listened to! hehe.

we've been studying bemba all week at the house which is feeling frustrating. we've been moving onto conversations about what we're doing here and opinions about politics and the health and education systems. we will be tested in two and half weeks and have to prove ourselfs "proficient," whatever that means. but quite frankly, i still haven't mastered the present tense, so i feel like we're jumping ahead and really losing out on the basics. it's frustrating and it's even more frustrating that that's kind of what's expected. i think it would be much better to just drill the tenses and vocabulary. but instead we move on very quickly and there is very little re-enforcement. not exactly my learning style. so, when i get to my site i might be able to kind of say, incorrectly that i work in education and that peace corps is a development agency, but if my bamaayo (mother) tells me that she is going to the market tomorrow, i might very well think she said she went yesterday. great.

anyway, i'll wrap up because i've been on this computer for a while. a couple people asked in e-mails if i've been sick. (knock on wood) i've been very healthy. there have been people in my group who have already gotten various illnesses, from malaria to strange bug bites. but, thankfully, other that some occasional dehydrated lightheadedness or stomachaches, i've been really good. maybe my stomach was hardened after cairene street food!

i miss you all and hope everyone's well and really would love to hear from you! i check e-mail (sporadically) but LOVE to see your names and thoughts and stories. so, keep sending and i'll try to write back as much as possible!