FRIENDS

zambian 4th

Needless to say, it didn't include hotdogs or hamburgers or fireworks or really anything American accept maybe a sack race and even that may have originated somewhere else. Instead, we ate a variety of the local "cuisine" including caterpillar, impala and fried fish, chicken and green stuff. I was able to take part in the slaughtering of a chicken which I can say was a first. Pretty savage- step on their wings and feet and cut the head off with a dull kitchen knife and hold them so they don't run around with their heads off. But red, white and blue was completely absent from the scene- (minus the chicken blood all over my feet). The night ended with plenty of libations and a bon fire at the local club / bar. I also tried chibuku for the first time the other night. It is essentially fermented nshima with the consistency of a thick shake (it is also known as SHake SHake). IT could positively be the worst alcoholic drink I have ever tasted. But after the first few cut-off plastic bottles full of the drink the sour-puke-like flavor disipates.
Tomorrow- game two of peace corps trainees vs. zambian staff in soccer. If its anything like last game we can expect a solid ass kicking. Oh and can somebody turn the heat up over here? I thought I was in Africa. When I can see my breath taking my morning bucket bath I begin to question Africa as a "hot" continent.

TPFC to save zambia

Three simple items: Toilet paper, forks and condoms would be a sure-fire way to help curb several of Zambia's problems, namely the health of its citizens. There is a direct relationship to not using toilet paper and eating with your hands that I dare not explain. In addition, at my homestay we wash our hands with water before dinner and then after dinner for dessert we are given a bar of soap to disinfect the food we have already put in our mouths. Some things do remain baffling but, that is what I intend to explore in my 2 years. And do I need to mention the ABCs? Abstinence, being faithful, and the correct and consistent use of condoms. HIV and AIDS education has been a bigger part of our training than I initially thought it would be. To other matters.

Life has been well in CB4 and I have been settling in nicely to the routine of "School" everyday. Oh that is minus my close encounter with a rat in my mosquito netting.
So there I was, settled in for a good sleep, thinking I had tucked every corner of my mosquito netting under my mattress to form an unpenetrable barrier against insects and small mammals- until a critical breach in my security led to a rat falling off the inside of my netting and landing square on my face. The zambian lager of the miombo club had put me into a deep sleep but not deep enough to ignore the talons on my cheek. *Kit and Rat enter the octogan of mosquito netting. A brief fight ensues, me swinging my book Ordinary Wolves at a not so ordinay rat. The rat had remembered its initial entry point (where I believe it actually used its claws to untuck my netting) and escaped unharmed.*

So if not a rat it is always something else that makes the day or night exciting. Definetely a new experience every day in Zambia- not enough spare time to be bored or homesick (yet that is).


My room with friend