What is time?

Time doesn't seem real anymore. After today, I will have 9 more days of work. There are 3 weekends left in Zambia. This weekend is the Dutch Reform Market, maybe a trip to Sugarbush to buy a grown-up purse, maybe a leaving braai for yet one more person leaving the country. Then I have 5 days of work to get thoughts and some details organized for a project that will be taken over by another volunteer in a couple of weeks. That weekend of the 8th will be a party at the boss's house with ambiguous intentions of being either for my birthday or leaving. The week after that is 4 days at WorldFish wrapping up my paper and a few random projects. The 13th is my last day. The 14th is the 50th Peace Corps anniversary celebration for PCZambia. The following weekend is a possibility of a quick trip to somewhere around Zambia. Then the last week: medical and wrapping up Peace Corps stuff. Time will FLY. I feel pretty good about leaving. I, however, am not really letting myself deal with the emotions of leaving and find I am moody and impatient, that could be from the coffee I started drinking though.

Things I have left to do:

• Mail stuff home that I don't want to lug to Europe
• Sell items from around the house, anyone interested in: a tent, a zero degree sleeping bag, a 30 degree sleeping back, an almost new pack, and maybe a couple more items that I haven't yet decided on?
• Go chitenge shopping
• Sort through the rest of my items to find things to trade at the market for trinkets
• Write my COS report
• Get the last of my clothes from the tailor
• Pack

It doesn't really seem like all that much to do in 3 weeks but there is something to keep in mind, things take much longer here than they would back home and that much longer without having wheels of my own. Also, there are some hidden tasks that will invariably come to light.

In the mean time I am spending as much time as possible with friends, eating lots of nshima, and pretending that I am not leaving in 3 weeks.

Bemba

Speaking one of the local languages has become one of my favorite things about living in Zambia. Every where I travel in the country I can find at least one person that speaks the language I know. Well I should be careful here, I don't know the language very well and it has gotten worse since leaving the village. Leading off a conversation in Bemba however leads to awesomeness.
I traveled to Bemba speaking province for work last week; it was a great time speaking to the women and children in my rudimentary Bemba. We went through the markets and to fish landing sights which gave me ample opportunity to use my rusty language skills. My goodness how much fun I had. In Lusaka I only use my language skills to negotiate a taxi. Up there I used the language to ask the women what kind of fish they have and where it is from. To ask kids to take their photos and to ask random people on the street for directions. To ask people what they are doing and what they are having for supper. I don't use it for an in depth conversation but it I use it to get a laugh out of people and to break the ice. The trip was great fun and reminded me of all the goodness Zambia has to offer (the city wears you down sometimes!).

Boats outside the Department of Fisheries

Traders selling sweet potatoes at the Kashikishi landing site on Lake Mweru.

Lake Mweru, Kashikishi fish landing site.

These kids were hilarious.

Lots of activity at a fish landing site.

As soon as I got back into Lusaka Alex (left) and Martha (right) talked me into meeting them at Plates for the wine tasting, I had juice. I was dirty, tired and had all of my stuff. Alex also had just gotten in from a quick trip out of town and also had all of her stuff which made it impossible to say no to the ladies. Plates is a rather classy restaurant and I walked in with a filthy pack with my running shoes hanging off the bag. People were staring. But I would like to think they were not judging but admiring how hardcore I looked, coming from some place obviously far away wasting no time to have a nice evening in town. (Ladies I'm sorry I am putting this picture up its not the best I know but it was the best end to the day). It is going to be hard to leave Zambia, but I think the time has come.

One day they are gone

As I walked past the window I glanced in, she was usually standing at the sink washing dishes. Not this time. When I walked passed there was only emptiness. The cupboards were empty, the counters were empty, the windowsills were empty…it was just…empty. I never knew much about them. The boy was Simba, he just turned 3. Simba cried all the time. Blood curdling screams is a more accurate description. I was convinced there was something wrong with him. She wanted to beat him all the time. I couldn’t really understand any of it. Blood curdling screams at 10:00 at night. Screams at 7 in the morning. There was the mom who went to the gym. There was lady at the window. The maid? The nanny? There was maybe the dad, sometimes I heard a man’s voice calling to Simba. They were the downstairs neighbors. Now they are gone. I won’t miss them. I didn’t know them and the screaming was terrible, it just made you uncomfortable. It was all you could think about when he really got going. But they are gone and it is just another group of people disappearing as people have been doing for the past two weeks.

Change is in the air and not just from the August winds. Real change. People you never thought would change are now making drastic life changes. People are leaving. Other are having babies. And I am freaking out. Over the past two weeks friends have left Zambia and others have decided to make the move out as well. People are getting jobs, or getting close. And then there is me in the sea of change feeling like a buoy getting thrown around in the waves but never moving. I am set to leave in October but I don’t really feel ready for the big move.

This is baby Jasmijn, my colleague's new daughter born 6 weeks ago. They She was born in Holland and they just came back last weekend.

It started when Ruben was about to leave. The night before he left we went to a goodbye dinner for another couple that was about to leave (Ruben’s had been the Friday before that I missed while fighting off a cold). We were sitting around the table, I across from Ruben, chatting and enjoying just another day. It was hard for me to make Ruben’s leaving real. Maybe I just couldn’t face the storm of reality that was about to hit. Instead of savoring my last chance to chat with Ruben I was fixated on my 7up bottle. It was a glass bottle of 7up and was just so cool. So I spent a good half hour photographing the thing. Luckily Ruben will be in Arizona for a while after he gets back from the states and will see him again soon after I get back to see my grandparents.

Cool right?

The goodbye dinner was for Nancy and Andy. Nancy was our training manager. She had been there from the start with us. They had made the decision to move back to Portland after her 2.5 year contract was finished. They left this past Monday. Luckily I have good friends in Portland and will have plenty of reason to make it that side again soon some day and will see Nancy and Andy as well.


From left and around the table: Alex, Sarita, Kate, Geoff, Andy, Nancy, Dale, Ruben

For all intents and purposes I will be leaving Zambia in October. The big question is what will I be doing once I leave? Where will I be for the next year? How am I going to make money? Where am I going to live? Will I be buying a car? Renting a house? Getting a dog? Paying for health insurance? So many things to think about and no real way to answer any of these questions yet but I have already started asking the questions. I had to go to the dentist earlier this week because my jaws hurt. Not only do my jaws hurt now, but my cheeks hurt as well. I grind my teeth when I sleep. I have been doing this for a while but the grinding must be getting worse because it hurts to chew and smile. I was hoping the yoga would help with the stress but today when I went it hurt my neck to look up. The stress is just coursing through my body. People are leaving; soon I will be joining them. In the mean time I hope to get a mouth guard to keep me from grinding my teeth down to numbs. I hope to put in a great cover letter and resume for the perfect job that I found for myself (that I should be doing research for right now instead of confessing my poor dental habits). I hope to successfully say goodbye to yet another set of friends leaving next week that I came into the country with. I hope to make some real life decisions over the next month. I hope to enjoy the rest of my time here in Zambia. Two+ months, but who is counting?

Learn How to Lead, Learn How to Follow

Courtesy: http://www.kulanidance.com/salsa-dancing-pictures/

Thursday nights at La Revolution Mexican Cuisine Restaurant dancers give Salsa lessons. I have never seen Salsa dancing before, besides the odd clip from a movie, so I don’t know if they are any good, but they are great dancers in the general sense of the term. Last Thursday night a group of 6 of us headed to Roma neighborhood to learn the basics of Salsa. It was great fun and an interesting social experience.

There was a young Zambian woman and a young Zambian man that were to be our instructors. The young man taught us the basic counting theory to Salsa, 1-2-3 pause 5-6-7 pause 1-2-3 pause 5-6-7, all moves in Salsa are based on the count of 8 with 4 and 8 being pause beats, for the basic step anyway. Now it was time for us to put this theory into practice. The young man was having a hard time getting all of us to pay attention and the young woman was getting frustrated with the whole scene and decided to take over. She told her co-teacher off a bit, something to the effect of “I will take it from here, you are done just follow my lead.” It was one of the few times that I saw a Zambian woman tell a Zambian man that she could do it better, to back off and to let her take control. She was assertive, she was confident and she knew what she was doing and she didn’t want anyone in her way and she wasn’t going to let traditional gender roles keep back. It was fantastic.

We began with the basic step (men’s version) leading with left foot forward (1), shift weight (2), step together (3), pause (4), right foot back (5), shift weight (6), step together (7), pause (8) and repeat. While we were learning the basic step and getting comfortable with the steps and the counting, she kept asking us if "it was happening". For some it was happening, for others it wasn’t. I had one of the instructors helping me during the warm up so after the explanation it made way more sense and it was happening! For the two cute little Zambian ladies next to me, it was kind of happening but not really. Womba, that is our heroine, she looked as the two lovely ladies and said “what is not happening? I want you to be comfortable with your bodies, confident. Where are you missing the step?” Wow, this also was another first for me, an outward expression of women in Zambia to take control of their bodies and to be comfortable, confident and sexy.

Like most every culture in the world, in its present or past state, gender roles are clearly defined in Zambia and women tend to get the raw end of the deal. Things are slowly changing but women still do not have the same equality as men here and it is wonderful to see that there are Zambians taking that inequality by the horns and wrestling out something more fair. Women in Zambia, like in most other places, are expected to be virtuous this includes covering up the thighs because they are seen as a sexual like breast are in the states. Like most places women are not supposed to be "loose" this includes limited consumption of alcohol, conservative dress, and no sleeping around. These qualities are expected of many women around the world, including places that consider women and men "equal". Funny enough these virtues are not as stringent with men, if they are loose they are considered a player not a slut. I digress. Gender roles are something I spend a good amount of time thinking about and sometimes gets me really heated and angry. But not Thursday night, Womba showed us that you can be beautiful and sexy no matter where you live and all that should come out in dance, the salsa dance.

After mastering our steps alone we moved onto working in partners. What a disaster. As said so eloquently by Natalie's friend visiting from the states "it is easier to follow someone who already knows how to lead." Meaning, sorry guys, but learning to lead is difficult and right now you are at the very beginning of the learning curve. Funny enough each of the guys in the group claimed that the white girls didn't know how to follow, "we are too bossy by nature". Here is my response, learning to lead is like learning to drive. You drive your partner to perform how you want, just the same as getting a car to respond to your requests, especially a stick shift. While learning to drive, every time you stall out you can't say the car is broken or doesn't drive properly it is simply the fault of the driver, unless the car is a lemon. So gentlemen, I am sorry to say but these ladies weren't lemons you were simply stalling out. Although, the turning was quite difficult but we will get there.

Maybe we will give it another go on Tuesday.

4th of July Weekend

"Happy 4th of July, what kind of gun are you taking?" "Grandpa, it's not a hunting safari just a viewing safari." "I've seen the movies, I want some elephant tusks." "Gramps I don't have that kind of money." "Have you seen 'Out of Africa' with Robert Redford?" "Of course Grandma." "Find your Robert Redford while on safari." Then the phone went dead....
Mfuwe would best be described as a village with an airport, district offices and the entrance to South Luangwa National Park. We would call Mfuwe a BOMA (British Occupied Management Area) or a district capital. Mfuwe is three and a half hours drive from Chipata, the capital of Eastern Province, down a washed out dirt road. Chipata is a day’s drive from Lusaka through the Machinga Escarpment and the vast expanse of Chieftiness Mukamambo Nkomesha the III’s land that is mostly void of people and development due to its proximity to Lusaka and Chipata.

Mine and Brittany's room at Mushroom Lodge.

By ten in the morning on Saturday we were greeted at Mushroom Lodge and Presidential House with cool wash clothes to wipe away the dust and sweat picked up along the washed out, dusty road. Our rooms were chalets with a sitting room, two beautiful beds, a bath room with a shower and bath, separate toilet and an outdoor shower and veranda. We split up two per room as there were 6 in our group. We had six hours until our first game drive. Which meant time for brunch, a long hot shower, tea, and a game of settlers of catan.

 

Tea on the veranda over looking a dambo, marsh area full of wildlife especially cheeky monkeys trying to take my tea.



Where is the vervet monkey? He stole some food off a plate in front of a friend and watched us while we ate.




Our guide, Ba Ernest, and the group preparing to leave for a 4 hour game drive.

 The photos from the game drive are in no specific order. I won't bore you with the details of 16 hours of driving around looking for wild life and the hours spent in between enjoying the luxury of a real shower and meals served to us. Enjoy the slide show!



Lion Cubs. Photo by: Geoff Bendeck



And their mama.





Crossing through dried up ravines, felt like being on a roller coaster. Ba Ernest was the best driver so no problems. Photo by: Geoff Bendeck

 


Our break during the game drive, from left: Ryan, Geoff, Me, Dwayne, Brittany, Ruben.



Leopard eating a puku. We drove up just as the puku was dying and watched her eat. They start with the intestines to reduce the weight so they can drag their kill up a tree.



Alice the leopard posing for all the safari vehicles that came after we found her sleeping in the ravine.

My favorite, the warthog.

A group of hippos is called a raft.



A group of zebras is called a dazzle.

Sunset over the Luangwa river.




Lilac Breasted Roller, the national bird of Botswana.



I forget what these were, a yellow billed stork?

Thorncroft Giraffe, endemic to South Luangwa. The granddaughter of the guy that discovered this sub-species works for Peace Corps!

"I like big butts and I cannot lie....." the trip theme song, with reason!

Water buffalo eating Nile cabbage.

Sweat pooled on my back, my nostrils were filled with dust and the sun was beating down on my bare skin increasing the temperature by the second. The door closed and the air grew stagnant. Sweat beading on my forehead. As our wheels left the ground all you could see was dust and bush fires below us. All I could understand from the intercom announcements was turbulence because of the heat until we reached cruising altitude, nausea was already setting in. Only an hour in the air and then I would be home in my bed. Home from the middle of nowhere. It took a day and a half to get there and a one hour flight to get back, a taste of the bwana life and it was sweet.

Mfuwe International Airport.

The bar at Mfuwe International Airport. See the guy reading in the background? He is our new friend.

So good to be home!



Cooking Jun with Yu Jin

For those of us that don’t speak Korean, jun are pancakes. Korean pancakes. Not the kind of pancakes your mom makes for breakfast on a Saturday morning. They are hearty, dinner pancakes. Yu Jin is my new friend. She is working on a post graduate project with her professor from the University of Seoul setting up an exchange of students between the University of Zambia and the University of Seoul. Yu Jin is on the hunt for a man. She has traveled and has a master’s degree. Now she is ready to start a family. It seems in many societies the definition of a good wife or mother is a woman that is an excellent cook and who loves to do it. Turns out that Yu Jin loves to cook and my friends and I love to learn. We are hunting for a man for her, but in the meantime we will be learning her seductive, Korean ways to make good house wives and house husbands.

Yu Jin, master chef.

A dinner get-together had already been in the works, so we decided to make it a learning experience with Yu Jin as the teacher (she volunteered, I think. Otherwise she just acquiesced). Yu Jin’s hunt for a husband has spread far and wide. Some friends were on the train from Dar es Salam, coming back to Lusaka after holiday. They met a nice Korean boy who was studying at the University of Zambia. Amanda got his phone number because he was somehow a bit like Yu Jin. Amanda passed his number along the day she left the country so that we could call him up and introduce them. So, we called him while making plans for dinner. He came over. He was a nice boy. But he was far, far too young and not hot enough to justify her becoming a cougar. So the search continues while we all improve upon our Betty and Bobby homemaker skills.

Public Service Cooking Announcement: Wash your hands thoroughly after handling spicy food items, especially chilies. Gentlemen this is especially important for you, wash all chili oils off your hands before going to the bathroom. It is very difficult to carry on a conversation and entertain properly when your nether regions are on fire. Sorry to say it is a hysterical situation, but very painful and one that seems to not have any real resolution. Maybe milk or yoghurt? Which makes it that much funnier.

Ok on to the cooking.

Ingredients:

2 white onions

1 small bunch green onions or scallions

1 small package mushrooms

1 can of tuna (or any seafood: squid, shrimp, etc.)

2 eggs

Salt

~ 2 cups of flour

Water

Kim Chi

Cooking oil

Directions:

Thinly slice the white onions and mushrooms. Slice the white ends of the scallions and then chop the stocks into bigger (2 inch) pieces.

In a large mixing bowl add about a cup of flour, 2 eggs, a teaspoon of salt and about a ½ cup of water. Mix. Keep adding water bit by bit until it is about the consistency ofslightly runny pancake batter your mom makes. Add in the onions, scallions, and tuna. Mix, coating all the veggies in the batter.

Keep adding a bit of water if you can’t mix well. Add in the mushrooms and mix. If you want them a bit spicy add in some kim chi sauce and cut up the kim chi veggies to bite size to add in as well. Mix.
Heat a frying pan and add some oil. Scoop about a ½ of your batter mixture into a hot pan adding a bit of extra batter to cover some of the veggies. Once golden brown on one side flip the cakes over and press down with a spatula. Carry on like this until the batter is finished.

Serve with chili sauce (recipie to follow) or soy sauce flavored with a little bit of chili powder, paprika and crushed red pepper (like a ¼ to ½ tsp each).

Chili Sauce

There prepackaged chili or paprika paste (we couldn’t determine what it was exactly but the package and texture are below)

Add 3 teaspoons of the past to a bowl. Add about a tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix well and add vinegar and sugar to taste. Dip your pancakes in this delecious sauce and enjoy.