Life As Of Late

So, it's been awhile. Hopefully you're all doing well back home (wherever that is). Things here have been good. I was going to update my site about a month ago and then discovered that nothing too exciting had been happening, so I didn't have much to report. Life in the village has been good.
Life in Zambia has been very cold. Every night I sleep up in Mporokoso, I'm thankful that my predecessor left his blanket for me so that I have two to keep me warm with. I bet it gets around 40 or so at night. It is bloody cold, and doesn't warm up until 10 or 11 in the morning. But then it's a good 70 or 80 out.
I just finished up being the PC Volunteer of the week at the training center that I was at last fall which was nice. The new trainees that will be posted in August are a fun group that should be a good addition to the PC Zambia family. I must admit, I didn't have a real active role in the week...but was able to answer a lot of questions that they had concerning what life is really like for a volunteer.
The family I stay with just had a recent addition to the family a few weeks ago. Her name is Kapembwa. It was funny because bamayo (mom) was working just as hard as ever, and then on a Friday afternoon I was taking off to go work and she came out of the house to inform me that she had a baby in the house. It was a very cute little thing not even 24 hours old.
Right now I'm in Lusaka at the Peace Corps HQ where I'm working on a grant proposal. I just finished making an integration manual in Bemba that I'll be able to give to some of my farmers at some point in time in the near future hopefully.
Tomorrow I go to the airport to pick up my friend Justin who's coming to visit for a few weeks. We'll eventually head to Livingstone, Zanzibar, and Mporokoso. Then, July 25 I board a plane to return home.
I'm incredibly excited to see a lot of you and to experience America again, even if it is only for a few weeks. Take care everyone, and I'll talk to you soon.

My First Classes

Since I last posted, I've begun having sustainable agriculture courses in a few different villages. I was pretty nervous at first, but had my outline all prepared, my flipcharts all colored and drawn up and was ready to go.
My first meeting was in Kabushi where I had about 8 or 10 guys show up to hear my talk. It was well received, but what I'm teaching goes against tradition and habit...so some of the things are difficult for them to grasp/believe.
My second meeting was held in Chalabesa on a warm afternoon to an audience of only 4 guys. It was slightly disheartening, but they were all really excited about what I was telling them, so it wasn't in vain.
My last meeting was a few weeks ago in a village called Takasalilwa. I was stunned to see that over 30 people came out to hear what I had to say. They were all quite interested and asking questions afterwords, so I'm excited to return and do a lot of work with that village.
Right now I'm working on a grant proposal to get some money to send some of my farmers to a Sustainable Agriculture Training Center here in Lusaka. If that can happen, I can have those guys just training their own villages which would make them better off in the long run. Hopefully I can get the grant accepted.

Inverse Chivalry

Most Zambians are incredibly friendly and helpful to volunteers and guests. I think most of it has to do with the fact that we're Americans, but they are quite courteous to guests in general. Especially male guests.
As you all know, my job requires me to do a lot of biking. When I arrive at a farmer's house and dismount from my bicycle, I'll usually walk with my bike and my farmer. My farmers though always insist on taking my bike from me because it would be so terrible if I actually had to push my own bike. Going along with this, many of my farmers have started to give me food when I visit them as a little thank you. Most of the time these gifts consist of a head of cabbage, or carrots, or a handful of tomatoes, or even the occasional okra. So we walk through their gardens while they pick all of these things but refuse to let me carry my gifts. Their arms will be loaded up, but they still won't allow me to carry a tomato.
On the flip side...women carry many things for men. Most of the times when the men and women return from their fields for the day, the women are carrying large bundles of firewood, maize, or other crops on their heads while the men strain under the weight of a single axe or hoe. My favorite example of this is when I was biking to Mporokoso and saw 4 figures appear on the horizon. As I got closer, I saw that it was 3 women with large bags and bundles on their heads...and the fourth figure was a man carrying tapali (nothing).
It's great to be a man in Zambia, but women, be prepared to work if you ever come for a visit.

Desperate Times

After staying here in Zambia for the last 9.5 months, I've learned to enjoy lots of strange combinations of food and drink that I would not have tolerated back home. Most of this is due to laziness moreso than outright need. I find that a lot of times here in Zambia, there may be a lot of food available, but not complimentary foods. I have much food at my site, but there are days where I've cycled 40 miles and been working all day, and just have no desire to cook a proper meal. Below I'll update you on some of my more desperate times.
There have been a few dinners that I've cooked myself that just consists of raw carrots and boiled peanuts. A staple for me in the village is to cook rice, then add a generous spoonful of peanut butter for a hearty meal. I think that the strangest concoction I've had to date though happened at another volunteer's site named Edmeé. Annie and I were visiting on our long trek up to Mporokoso so we stayed at her place for the night. It seems like PCVs can't visit each other without a libation or two. So Edmeé looked in her house to see what we'd be drinking for the evening. Only the finest Zambian Chateau brandy would be the alcohol of choice, but mixers were limited. Somehow though, what we decided on was not too bad. Anytime you're thirsty, don't shy away from the brandy/powdered Powerade mixture. It's delicious.
No, this post isn't a cry for people to send food, because as I've said, I have plenty of that...but mostly I don't have too much to report.