travel – Reilly in Zambia

6 Months Down, 21 to Go

This weekend, I hit a milestone. I have been in Zambia for 6 months now! Living in a country and culture with a very different understanding of time, I almost didn’t realize how long I had been here. When the days are longest I’ve ever felt and the months feel short, these 6 months feel like the longest 3 years of my life!

While yes, reaching the 6-month mark did feel like a cause for celebration, even moreso it felt like a time for reflection. The amount that I have learned (about myself and about others), the amount that I have gone through so far (hello, salmonella and a long-distance break-up), the relationships I have formed (with other Peace Corps volunteers, with my host family, and with people from Zambia), the conversations I’ve had (good, bad, confusing, inspiring), and everything else that I’ve experienced so far really made me stop and think about what it is I’ve done here so far. Here’s a couple of my biggest lessons learned so far:

How to be my own best friend
Building a relationship with yourself is a lifelong journey, but I’d argue most people don’t get dropped into it with no choice as young as I am. Being just 22, I hardly know which way is up, let alone how I plan to let my values lead my life or how to speak kindly to myself. But being here, being by myself most of the time, being in such a different culture that it forces me to reflect on mine, has really caused me to dive deeply into building that relationship with me. I have to be my own best friend! Which is hard and scary and frustrating sometimes! But if I wasn’t, I would go absolutely insane. My mindset has shifted from spending time “by myself” to spending time “with myself.” I have personal jokes, I speak kindly to myself and affirm myself (even though that is so dang hard sometimes), and without constant electricity or distractions, I have found ways to pass the time and entertain myself, too. Being your own best friend is hard, and I know that it is a lifelong journey, but I feel that building the foundation for that now will set me up for a kinder, softer relationship with myself throughout the rest of my life.
I can do hard things, and I can continue to do hard things
The past 6 months have been so full of challenges (rewarding challenges, but challenges nonetheless!), cultural blunders and differences, learning curves, frustrations, joys, that my resiliency has been stretched, and then stretched again. Luckily, thats’s exactly what resiliency is: the ability to stretch and not snap. I’ve had bad food poisoning, I’ve gone through a breakup back home, I’ve had meetings that no one shows up to, I’ve been the loneliest/most fed up/craziest I’ve ever felt, I’ve seen the direct effects of climate change and drought in my community, and all kinds of other things. But I’m here! And I find things to be grateful for and smile about every single day! Because ultimately, this beautiful, surprising, hopeful, enterprising country unfolds more of itself to me each day. And bearing witness to that is my greatest joy these days. So when things are hard, I know that I can do it, because I already have.
This is the right place for me to be right now
Was Zambia the place I thought I’d be coming to when I applied for the Peace Corps? NO! Not at all! Crazily enough, I considered applying for this position but decided on another post because I thought the living conditions would be too tough for me. But here I am! And yes, the living conditions are definitely an adjustment from our cushy American ways, but I have largely adjusted to them. This is the right place for me to be right now, because of the people I have met, the culture I am growing to love, the things I am learning about myself and about the world, and the lessons I am meant to be learning. Who knows, maybe another country or post would be just as fitting, but I’m here and it fits and I have no conceivable idea would my life would look like right now if I didn’t walk down this exact path. And these days, I’m feeling pretty good about the path I’ve chosen to walk down, the path I choose to walk each day.
You only have to open your eyes a little bit wider to see the beauty in the ordinary
After 6 months in Zambia and 3 months in my village, I feel largely accustomed to my daily life, and if I’m not paying attention, it can feel pretty mundane. But if I choose to open up my eyes, I can see where the beauty pours into my life. My 21-year-old sister has gone back to finish secondary school after a 3-year break to raise her baby (who’s my best friend, by the way). My family’s eyes light up after a good day of rain because they feel hopeful for the harvest. I had a simple conversation in Citonga more easily than I did a week ago. I finally found the spot between my walls and my roof where the lizards come through. My puppy gets bigger each day. My family shows me little cues that tell me they accept me and feel comfortable with me. If I just go through my day without paying attention, I would never see the beauty and grace of these small things, but if I open up my eyes just a little bit wider, I suddenly see that my life has so many incredible things to reveal to me.

There’s many other things I have learned in the past 6 months, about myself, about Zambia, about other people, about the world, but you’re going to have to be content with this for now! Next month, I’ll be 1/4 done with my service here (YIKES!), and I’m not totally sure how that happened, but I’m here and I’m doing the best I can do each day, and sometimes that isn’t much, but I’m still trying. Here’s to 6 months of challenges and figuring things out, and here’s to 21 more months of the same.

Hot Season Made Me Do It

Hi everybody! I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, but hey, it’s my blog and I’ll post when I want!

Most of you now are enjoying the autumn (my favorite season), and that means cute sweaters, yummy pastries, and pretty leaves. Over here, however, we’ve been slogging through hot season. Hot season means preemptively starting your day with oral rehydration salts, too-warm early morning bike rides to the training center, getting irritated by the smallest things, sleeping on top of my bed instead of in it, and taking cool baths instead of warm ones, while being outside one hundred. Percent. Of. The. Time.

I don’t mean to complain, but man, it’s HOT. So hot, in fact, that I was a little impulsive last weekend. I was suffering through the heat, and I convinced (begged) my friends to cut my hair. Niether of them had ever cut hair before, so after convincing them that they could do it, we chopped off about 5 inches of hair in the hopes of helping me stay cooler in this heat. We all learned as we went, and defintely learned what (not) to do next time a PCV wants their hair cut! It turned out pretty well, and most importantly, it can still go into a pony tail! (I’ll attatch a picture at the bottom of this post)

In addition to giving in to hot season impulses (like cutting my hair, running to the market across the street at lunch for an ice cold Coca Cola, and laying on top of my bed in clothes that would be immodest here instead of being social with my host family) I’ve also been working on my Tonga skills, getting (marginally) better on my bike, and starting to think about what kinds of programs I might be able to do at my permanent site. Last week, we had round-robin interviews where we met with our Director of Programming and Training, our Program Manager, and our Program Trainer to discuss how training is going, any challenges, our host families, and any preferences or concerns regarding site placement we may have. Next week, we all find out exactly where we’ll be placed. For someone like me, who’s learning a langauge that’s largely only spoken in one province, it’s not nearly as nerve-wracking as it is for someone who’s language is spoken throughout the country and doesn’t know which province they’re headed to yet.

Nevertheless, it’s exciting and nerve-wracking and every emotion in between.
It brings up so many question marks for me…Will they like me? Will they even want me? How close will I be to my friends? Will I get along with my host family? How will I set effective and appropriate boundaries? When can I get started? Can I go already?!

Also next week, we depart for two-week site visits, wherein we’ll stay with a current PCV already living in our province, do a workshop with a member of our host family, and then go to our actual site to check it out!! (I’ll provide a more detailed description when I come home and share my experience with you!) Our lovely site host has shared the menu with us, and let me just say, I’m so excited for some amazing American food after almost 6 weeks of mostly nsima and chicken (amongst a few other things)

Last week, we gave our first health talks in training! I got to give a health talk on why it’s important to take your child to the clinic early if they’re sick, as well as gave a nutritious cooking demo, to 17 moms at a local Under-5 Growth Monitoring Clinic. I also got to give one at a local secondary girl’s school about peer pressure and how to avoid it. These young women really opened up to us, got VERY into their skits, and showed us so much wisdom. Giving these talks has made me SO excited to get to site and start doing some health education!
I don’t have to much else to share with you at the moment, but here’s a few pictures to enjoy:

My new haircut! (Ignore the toothpaste on my collar)

Us and some of the girls we did our peer pressure talk with

Me and my friends Valerie and Kiran, sitting under the mango trees and out of the heat at our friend Monica’s house. Photo taken by her host brother! My feet are, unfortunately, almost always this dirty.

My Life in 140 Pounds or Less

Lesson learned: Do NOT try to start packing the week before you move 10,000 miles away.

I did it! I’m all packed and ready to go, with no time at all to spare. Tomorrow is the big day: I head to Philadelphia in the morning, where I will have my orientation with the rest of my cohort before flying off to Zambia.

Let me tell you, packing for the Peace Corps is no small feat. First the gear was shopped for. My dad and I pored through reviews and blogs, consulted experts at stores, and compiled ever-changing lists of the things we thought I’d need. After I (finally) got my legal clearance, we went into a manic state wherein we purchased everything. Clothes came together in a much less organized manner, buying a few things here and a few things there.

In my last post, I mentioned my party but I didn’t mention the absolute gift of having so many friends and family in town for about a week to visit and fill up my heart before I go. We spent the week soaking in the best of Sonoma county….which meant that I wasn’t focused on packing up my life.

With everyone on the next leg of their trip or back home by Thursday, I finally had the time to dig in and really get started. As all my new goodies arrived, we tossed them into the back room until it was time to get them into suitcases. Yesterday, I went to Safeway and picked up some spices and snacks that will help me (a very picky eater) get accustomed to a new cuisine and have a taste of home with me.

I’ll be honest with you all, I had a couple of meltdowns in the past 3 days. From having to run out to Costco for a bigger suitcase because mine was smaller than I anticipated (Thanks/Sorry, Mom and Dad!), to having the same suitcase be 15 pounds over the limit and having to re-arrange and pare down, to just feeling totally overwhelmed knowing that I should have been done with this a week ago. The tears are gone now, and what I have left is a sight to behold: my life in 140 pounds or less.

I have a huge suitcase that holds my clothes, shoes, and some gear. Into a large blue duffel bag I have my hiking pack filled to the brim with gear, my bike panniers, and a few loose ends. My carry-ons are a day pack and roll-on suitcase with essential clothes and gear to hold me over until I’m a bit more stationary in about a week.

Should I have finished packing a week ago and not 16 hours before moving? Yes. Would it have prevented meltdowns and tears and exhaustion? Yes. Are my parents absolute angels for not getting frustrated with me about this procrastination and instead very loving and helpful? Yes. Was it really cool when I was writing out my luggage tags and got to write: “Reilly Briggs, US Peace Corps”? YES! Am I tired? YES! Am I done packing? YES! Am I excited beyond belief?! I think you know where I’m headed with that one.