Hello From America-land!

My family flew me home for the holidays! To be honest it’s a bit strange, I wasn’t expecting a trip home until I was done with Peace Corps, but this has been a nice break from the bugs, and heat. So what do you notice about America when you have been living in Africa for almost a year?

• - THERE ARE SO MANY WHITE PEOPLE
• - THEY ALL SPEAK ENGLISH
• - Everyone seems to dislike color (compared to Zambia’s chitenges)
• - There is so much food!
• - Why do we need 400 types of everything?
• - Everything is so easy! Laundry you throw in a machine, you can just turn on a shower, and you can cook for on a stove.
• - There is constant distraction, tv, internet, ipod, radio, movies, etc.
• - You rarely interact with the actual climate, the air in our houses, cars, shops all have artificial climates.
• - America caters to everyone, I went to the museum of sex on one block passed a church and a palm reader on the way.
• - Transport is easy, if you don’t have car there are trains, planes, buses.
• - You can’t do anything without money

Most surprising of all was how easy it has been to come back. I was a bit nervous that people had moved on that I couldn’t just glide back into life. It has been very easy, from the moment my plane landing I have been surrounded by friends and family and they want to talk about Zambia more than I do. One of my friends actually introduces me as “This is Lisa, she’s home from Africa!”. Granted it’s a great pick up line “So I just got back from Africa…”

Anyway enjoy the holidays! I’ll be back in Zambia Jan 2 or 3^rd.

“The end of Training!”

Today’s show is called “The end of Training!” were we are going to look at the last few days of training for a PCT, this episode is divided into 3 acts.

Act 1: Language Test!
Almost a PCV! It’s that magical time – end of training. We had our language test Friday. I think I did well, I’ve been working with my language instructor everyday to get the language down (Bemba is hard!). The test is about 30 mins, and it a general conversation with an instructor about a variety of topics. A passing grade is Intermediate-low which means you have the ability to combine what you have learned to created different sentences about a variety of topics. They look for long and descriptive paragraphs and an ability to use the language on unfamiliar topics. We find out Monday! Fingers are crossed. If you fail you still get to swear in but have to stay and extra week and take the test again after some more lessons.

Act 2: Like a Dali painting
Everything is very surreal at the moment. It’s amazing to think I’ve been here for almost 3 months it feels both so much longer and shorter than that. I’ve done so many new things – I’ve hitchhiked, eaten caterpillars, taught math! I’ve become obsessed with the radio show “This American Life”(can you tell?), and they keep doing shows about New York its crazy to hear the sounds of New York. One show was about a man recording the sounds of his street in New York to send to his girlfriend in Rome. And the other show had them interviewing people at the rest stop I used to go to on my way to Potsdam – craziness! I’m very sad to be leaving our Chongwe families; they have been so amazing and have taught me so much. Time has gone so fast and now we are going to our own villages to be on our own!

Act 3: Community Entry
So after being sworn in as a PCV you begin community entry! This is the time were you HAVE to stay in your village for 3 months; we are also not allowed to start working. It the time in which you use PACA tools (such as community mapping, seasonal calendars) to get to know you village. I’m also going to be observing teachers, and looking for ones to Co-teach with. We aren’t allowed to visit other PCV’s, have visitors, or go to the house. It’s a little scary but it’s kind of exciting! I’m ready and can’t wait.

Bonus: Here are pictures of my wonderful host family!






Special Thanks:
Thank you Megan Hooper! Your postcard are the most wonderful part of my day! It makes me so happy every time I get a letter!