I made it to Zambia!

Feb. 3 - It was a long trip. Due to weather in the East the trip from KC to Philly took from 7am to 9:30m, I was supposed to be there by noon. Had a quick paperwork session and getting to meet and know everyone. A gift from Google of a Nexus tablet was a nice surprise.

Feb. 4 - We left at 2am on a bus to go to JFK to for a 14 hour fight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Again we had left JFK late so had to make a made dash through the airport to catch our flight to Lusaka, Zambia.

Feb. 5 - It is beautiful here. I only have a few pics so far as it takes several hours to load them up and we only have electricity part of the time, as well as internet service.

The first thing you notice is the air, it smells like fresh rain and flowers. It's wonderful It is the rainy season and everything is so green and in bloom. You also hear music all the time.

We loaded up and took a bus to our compound, we are staying in a motel called The Barn. There are no screens on the windows so all the beds are covered with mosquito nets. You can hear birds all the time, but don't see too many. Saw snails the size of grapefruits and ants that came out after the rain that can carry of a candy bar! The worst is the SPIDERS!!! they are huge, I have a pic of one, but I didn't want to put my hand by it to show how big it was, trust me, IT WAS BIG! The PC gave us a gift of sheets, candles, a chitenge, material used to make skirts and toilet paper was given to us. 

We have been doing paperwork, getting out bikes and helmets and adjusting to life here. Everyone moves very slow, no hurry for anything.

Feb. 8 - Went into Lusaka to shop, I was able to pic up a sim card for my phone and but mintues on my phone, I can tell I will need more soon. The food is not bad, goat, chicken greens and eggs. Nishma, a corn meal dish is not good, but you do eat it with every meal. I've started looking forward to baked beans for breakfast, but it was odd at first. The sausage links are really bad, not like home and not sure what type of meat it is.

Our stuff is being taken to the home we will stay in for our 3 months of training. But tomorrow we will leave in 4 person groups for a 4 day visit in a village, to see how they live.

I will post as often as I can.
 PICTURES: Me in my chitenge

 Africa from the plane

 BIG spider and I have already seen bigger

Tree, not sure what kind, I'll tell you later

Another pretty tree

 The Barn Motel

 My bed, hard to get used to net.

 Looking out my window

 My group of REP and LIFE PCV