My Life for the Next Ten Weeks

Mwapona buti, everybody! I’ve been in Zambia now for just over a week, and I figured that it’s time to give you all an update on my life.

When I arrived in Zambia, we were greeted warmly at the airport by Peace Corps staff and whisked away to a lodge, where we received a three-day orientation. Since then, we’re moved to our training sites.

Right now, and for the next ten weeks, myself and 34 other CHEP trainees are living in villages outside of a town near Lusaka while we complete our 11-week Pre-Service Training (PST) program. We all have host families that we are living with during this time to help us fully immerse into the Zambian culture. PST covers topics such as language (I’m learning Tonga, which means I’ll be placed in the Southern province, the land of Victoria Falls), technical skills, medical, safety and security, and cross-cultural exchange. The days are long, and feel like a mix between summer camp and boot camp.

Let me give you an idea of what my day looks like:

5:45: Wake up with the rooster’s crows (there’s a really fun word for that in Tonga, comment below to learn it 🙂 ) and crawl out of bed from underneath my mosquito net

6:15: Brush my teeth outdoors while watching the sun rise over the mountains, get ready for the day, and journal for a little bit

6:45: Wash my face in my bathing structure, after my Bamaama (host mom) heats up water for me

7:00: Breakfast of bread, peanut butter, coffee, and fruit, before our next-compound neighbors (and fellow trainees) meet us to bike to training. The ride is rough, and probably about 2 miles each way.

8:00: PST starts for the day. We’ll have one session until 10, then a break for tea time, another session from 10:30 to 12:30.

12:30: Lunch, packed by Bamaama! We get an hour for lunch, to socialize, speak with our language teachers, and meet with our mentor.

13:30: Sessions begin again, and go until 15:00, where we break for tea time again. (We LOVE our tea time! Zambian snacks, tea, and coffee are put out for us to enjoy)

15:30: We come together for one last session of the day, and conclude around 17:00. People from the same villages/neighborhoods typically group together to bike home during the sunset.

17:30: We arrive home, and Bamaama heats water for us to bathe with (and I definitely need to, it is HOT these days and the ride is hard!). I study after bathing until it is time to eat.

19:00: Time for dinner! In Zambian culture, men, women, and children eat separately, so we just eat with Bamaama. Dinner usually consists of nsima, chicken or another kind of meat, a vegetable dish, a delicious tomato and onion relish, and often another starch. We speak in Tonglish (Tonga+English) for a while, before I feel the need to wind down for the night.

20:00: I return back to my room for a bit to do a bit more studying and then I lay in bed to read for a bit before going to bed.

21:00: Lights out! Time to get some rest before doing this again the next day.

If that sounds like a lot, IT IS! I’m always exhausted, always challenged, always learning, always smiling, always crying. Heading into hot season, days often climb up to 90+ degrees, and the days and the heat drain you. I’m making lovely new like-hearted friends and constantly pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.

There’s so much more to tell you all, but for now, I’ll just leave you with a few pictures!