Ahoy!

Just another afternoon in the internet cafe in Kitwe, Zambia. The last week has been just same ol, same ol. I celebrated my 24th a few days ago which was pretty good. It was weird not being with friends and family back home but my fellow volunteers were a good time. Some of the girls made me a giant birthday card which was pretty cool. We're still having language and technical training daily which is going well. We just had a oral language test yesterday and I got a 48 out of 50. I'm pretty happy with that.
Oh, before I forget, can someone out there email me and tell me how the Hawkeyes have been playing. I don't need a lot of detail just outcomes and any exciting details. The last I knew we got beat by Iowa State so I think I'm a few weeks behind.
After this coming week, we'll go out for our second site visit. We'll spend 5 days with 4 other volunteers and our language trainers in a village out in the bush. We'll have language session every morning. Then we split up and go to the site that we're going to be living at for the next 2 years. That should be good so I can meet the guy who I'm replacing. It's not set in stone yet, but the place I want to go to is way up in Northern province outside of a town called Emporokoso. The site I'd like to go to apparently the guy built a pool with a rope swing, and right next to the pool he has an insaka (gazebo) with a bar for entertaining. Granted I'd only have 1 peace corps volunteer within 100 kilometers of me, but I think my spot would be a good layover for voluteers vacationing. I'm pretty close to Lake Tanganeka which is shared by Tanzania and Zambia. Again, this isn't for sure yet, but I'm pretty tight with the people deciding my fate so it should work out.
In a few minutes I'm going to go to the market to go clothes shopping. That place is crazy. I went there last week after posting on my blog, and it was like something out of a movie. It's just a bunch of crappy stands with roofs of cardboard and plastic. There are just these tiny aisles going between them and they strech for a long distance. There must be a couple thousand little stands selling everything from fish, veggies, shoes, stereos, dvds, clothes, slingshots, and more. The whole time you're walking people come out of their stands and follow you for awhile saying 'buana' (boss). It's funny because the people who make art and things, you walk up to their stand just to look and they just start picking up random things and showing you. Within 30 seconds they've shown you a wooden hippo, and ashtray, a pen holder, a slingshot, and some bracelets. I have no interest in any of it but I guess they're hoping to strike my fancy with something. I think today I'll buy a slingshot though. 3500 kwacha.
A funny cultural thing that some of you might find humerous....in Northwest province where they speak Kaonde and Lunda they greet each other in a strange way. You shake hands while putting your left hand on your right elbow. Then you bend slightly at the knees (but don't make eye contact) while saying good morning or whatever. Then they clap 3 or 4 times, then back to the handshake, clap, handshake, and clap once again. The number and frequency of shakes and claps my vary slightly, but it's a greeting that I really enjoy.
I want to figure out how to put pictures on here, but while I'm paying for internet I really don't want to screw around. When I get to the provincial capitol I'll spend some time trying to figure that out.
Thanks for all of your emails and comments.

Pearson, out.