Wednesday, July 29, 2009

So this is Peace Corps

Well I made it safe and sound to Zambia after a very long flight. Traveling wasn't as bad as I thought and my luggage even made it fully intact which is almost a miracle. The first two days were spent learning a lot about the Peace Corps, getting shots, and starting malaria medicine. However, I still have no idea what language I will be speaking and what I will actually do.

I just got back from my first site visit which is a chance for us to check out what a current volunteer is doing. It basically allows us to be begin to understand where we will be living and if we are up for it. My experience was amazing. We had a blast cooking on the bassier and even killed a chicken yesterday, well I didn't actually kill the chicken. We also visited a school and rural health center to better understand where we will be working. There will be a lot of challenges to village life but since I am well on my way to mastering the pit latrine I think that I will be ok.

It is the cold season and in the 5 minutes allotted to pack for site visit I was not prepared for how cold it was in Central Providence. Luckily my sleeping bag goes down to 20 degrees so I was far warmer then my companions. However, we all reached the conclusion that there will be little bathing during the cold season. Good thing they wear head wraps...

Life at Peace Corps Zambia is a little disorganized but all the other volunteers rock and have been more then happy to share valuable information. My other trainees are also pretty cool and I have enjoyed getting to know them.

All for now, I will try to post soon!

Monday, July 27, 2009

On My Way!


And so the adventure begins!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Adventure Begins

Friends,

As I am sure many of you know I am off on the 21st for Zambia. There I will be living in a rural village and working within the field of community health. I am not sure what this all entails but I am excited to find out. I am not sure how often I will have access to the internet but will to post periodically.

For those interested here my address, at least for the first few weeks:


Alexandra Pyan/PCT
Peace Corps
P.O Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia

Make sure that anything you send has Air Mail written on it.