Charlye's blog continued (1-27-07)

This is the rest of the last blog that Charlye posted. She didn't have enough time to type it all....she mailed it to me and asked that I post the rest. :-) dre


SHAKE SHAKE
The beating of the African music continues but now it is mixed with laughter. The villagers are laughing at the dancing by the remainder of my training group who decided they enjoyed the shake-shake and stayed at the bar. Shake-shake is the name Zambians give to the act of shaking the contents of their homemade maize (corn) beer. The varying provinces in Zambia mix a variety of beers with their maize, however, it is consistently called shake-shake due to the manner in which it is prepared and served. Shake-shake's gritty taste wasn't something I particularly cared for, however, it is Zambia's most poular drink so I had to take a drink from the bucket that was being passed from person to person. It is the most common because it is affordable to the villagers. Only 2,000 kwancha (50 cents). A coke costs around 4000-5000 kwancha. For this price you can fill any container you bring.

NSHIMA
Meals are quite a sight. We eat with our hands. No napkins, no utensils. We grab a handful of Nshima (maize which is pounded similar to grits) and ball it up in our palm. We dip it into sauces and use it to scoop our other food - cabbage, relish, chicken, fish. The Zambian trainers and the PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders) have mastered the technique, however, we are extremely messy after meals and do not seem to mind. The Nshima is very bland and contains little to no nutritional value. When sauces and other foods are added it becomes the substance to the meal. Nshima is the staple in Zambian's diet. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner - nshima, nshima, nshima!

NYANJA
Our communication with the Chongwe villages is limited to simple greetings and nonverbal gesturing. The interactions with children is much less challenging. They enjoy playing soccer. We taught them how to play duck, duck, goose and they loved it. We started with a small circle of about four volunteers and six children. Our cheering and laughter became contagious. Before we knew it, there were about 40 children playing and villagers of all ages watching and cheering. The language spoken in Chongwe is Nyanja which also happens to be spoken in the Eastern province where I will be posted after training! Today we selected the language we will learn during training. The language we chose determined our post provinces. The PCVLs gave a brief overview of each of the six provinces and we had to decide the language we will study and the province where we will be posted for two years. Of course I had no preference, all of Zambia is beautiful. I will study Nyanja and live in the Eastern province. The Eastern province is montainous with rolling green hills and valleys. It is the hottest province in Zambia with temps in the 100s-110s. There are seven of us going to Eastern, Diana is going to teach us all how to rock climb and repell! Our exact post within Eastern will be determined near the end of training based on interviews and skills acquired.

PC ZAMBIAN LIFE
Zambian life is amazing so far. I am still surprised that I am finally in Africa. I have been sharing my pictures of family/friends with anyone and everyone. We sing to Shakira and Beyonce in the community showers (not for long because the water is too cold). Our arms are sore from the second round of immunizations (only 11 more shots to go!) If we are able to sleep at all, we are awake at 4:00am because we haven't adjusted to Zambia time. We are all experiencing these moments together. We are growing closer and closer each day. Monday (29 Jan.) we will leave the hostels and head to the African bush for our first site visits.
In small groups of 5-7 people we will travel to a province different than our assigned province in order to experience another region of Zambia. We will stay in tents at a current PCV's site for one week. Once we return to Chongwe we will meet our host family. I am excited about meeting my family and beginning to live as a Zambian!!