MY NEW ADDRESS!!!
Ms Elizabeth Otter
po box 110264
solwezi Zambia
Africa
Hobo chic . . . I learned sadly while in cape town is not the same as Peace Corps Volunteer two years in. I kept saying to Bobby, "It's ok, just think of it as Hippster." But i guess i look even worse than the worst hippster's. But what i do have in my favor is that I am not trying to hard. I can't try, I only have what I have at list point!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Ch-ch-ch-changes!
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
Well I just learned something new, I always thought that the last lryic of this song was "But I can't change time" not "trace" time. wow my mind is blown. Funny Fact a common phrase, and by common I mean used all the time, here in Zambia, it "be free" kind of like be comfortable and do whatever moves you, what is mine is yours, etc. which is the subtitle on this blog, which was established over two years before i ever came to Zambia! i love when life gives you clues on your future.
Greetings! The count down has begun, I have just a little over two weeks left in my village before I get pulled, meaning that I pack up and move out in the same way in which i moved in, my PCVL (a different one since they are only contracted for a year) will be there and the PC cruiser, i will have everything ready, feel terrified, and then load up say my goodbye's but in the opposite way, and roll out! So many different feelings are running through my body: excitement, sadness, relief, guilt that i am leaving early (about 4 1/2 months), planning mode, etc.
The excitement comes from the fact that I soon will be living in a house with a tin roof, meaning there are few to no leaks! on me, my things, my yoga mat! I will have internet, running water (both cold and hot on good days), and electricity! I will also be seeing my mom, sister Julie, and roommate from college/best friend, Maggie in 2 and a half weeks! I am so excited. I have missed them all so much and have had such limited contact to them. It has been almost 9 months since i have seen my mom and sister, and 20 months since i have see maggie!
I wouldn't let myself get excited about this up coming trip however until after seeing my brother in Feb. It was such a great trip and to me a really great way to re-meet my brother. We have grown and changed a bit in the past year and a half, well i know that i have, and i feel i have finally graduated from the always to be protected little sister, just a sister who hopefully is a peer/friend, like the relationship he and my older sister had growing up. Which i have always envied in a way. It could not have come at a better time for me since there was a lot going on at home as well as here in Zambia that threw me for a slight loop. Family is always family and even through i have an amazing PC family, sometimes you need the real thing. We met up at victoria Falls, which was beautiful, a great time of year to see it! We stayed in both a back packers lodge and a fancy safri lodge, both were great. We were able to go on a day trip to Chobe Park in Botswana and see so many animals especially elephants, my spirit animal. Bobby got to witness first had the non-logical side of Africa through Boarders. Also public beating, when our driver got out of the car and started beating up a drunk that was harassing us. We also went to cape town, which i loved! What a beautiful city! We got to go to Robben Island, the District 6 museum,walked all over (the V & A Waterfront, Gardens, Long street, Financial district, more). We went hiking and saw some beautiful sites. Ate great food, i got to drink different beers! and really have only had two available to me here in Zambia Castle and Mosi, so this was exciting. But I think a highlight for both of us was going to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. So beautiful. awesome. you must go if you have the chance to this place. It was wonderful. Oddly enough a very common theme through out the trip was people asking us if we were a couple, so by the end i found myself talking loudly about being brother and sister in public. There were a lot of cute boys around, and i didn't want them to have the wrong idea. A great trip and break by all. It makes me excited to come home in sept and see him and hang out again soon.
So in closing, Solwazi, in Northwestern Province here I come! Some big changes are coming up and I am (hopefully) ready!
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
Well I just learned something new, I always thought that the last lryic of this song was "But I can't change time" not "trace" time. wow my mind is blown. Funny Fact a common phrase, and by common I mean used all the time, here in Zambia, it "be free" kind of like be comfortable and do whatever moves you, what is mine is yours, etc. which is the subtitle on this blog, which was established over two years before i ever came to Zambia! i love when life gives you clues on your future.
Greetings! The count down has begun, I have just a little over two weeks left in my village before I get pulled, meaning that I pack up and move out in the same way in which i moved in, my PCVL (a different one since they are only contracted for a year) will be there and the PC cruiser, i will have everything ready, feel terrified, and then load up say my goodbye's but in the opposite way, and roll out! So many different feelings are running through my body: excitement, sadness, relief, guilt that i am leaving early (about 4 1/2 months), planning mode, etc.
The excitement comes from the fact that I soon will be living in a house with a tin roof, meaning there are few to no leaks! on me, my things, my yoga mat! I will have internet, running water (both cold and hot on good days), and electricity! I will also be seeing my mom, sister Julie, and roommate from college/best friend, Maggie in 2 and a half weeks! I am so excited. I have missed them all so much and have had such limited contact to them. It has been almost 9 months since i have seen my mom and sister, and 20 months since i have see maggie!
I wouldn't let myself get excited about this up coming trip however until after seeing my brother in Feb. It was such a great trip and to me a really great way to re-meet my brother. We have grown and changed a bit in the past year and a half, well i know that i have, and i feel i have finally graduated from the always to be protected little sister, just a sister who hopefully is a peer/friend, like the relationship he and my older sister had growing up. Which i have always envied in a way. It could not have come at a better time for me since there was a lot going on at home as well as here in Zambia that threw me for a slight loop. Family is always family and even through i have an amazing PC family, sometimes you need the real thing. We met up at victoria Falls, which was beautiful, a great time of year to see it! We stayed in both a back packers lodge and a fancy safri lodge, both were great. We were able to go on a day trip to Chobe Park in Botswana and see so many animals especially elephants, my spirit animal. Bobby got to witness first had the non-logical side of Africa through Boarders. Also public beating, when our driver got out of the car and started beating up a drunk that was harassing us. We also went to cape town, which i loved! What a beautiful city! We got to go to Robben Island, the District 6 museum,walked all over (the V & A Waterfront, Gardens, Long street, Financial district, more). We went hiking and saw some beautiful sites. Ate great food, i got to drink different beers! and really have only had two available to me here in Zambia Castle and Mosi, so this was exciting. But I think a highlight for both of us was going to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. So beautiful. awesome. you must go if you have the chance to this place. It was wonderful. Oddly enough a very common theme through out the trip was people asking us if we were a couple, so by the end i found myself talking loudly about being brother and sister in public. There were a lot of cute boys around, and i didn't want them to have the wrong idea. A great trip and break by all. It makes me excited to come home in sept and see him and hang out again soon.
So in closing, Solwazi, in Northwestern Province here I come! Some big changes are coming up and I am (hopefully) ready!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH
Umm, This song, I don't have words for it, but it is making me happy my hair is chin length, because when it comes on at da club,like on new years eve, i take it pretty seriously. I whip. My. Hair! However, my little loves, Jr, and Isaac prefer dancing to the song We R Who We R by Ke$ha. Gotta love pop music!
I am doing well, I'm a bit home sick now though, I am at a really transitional stag right now, and because i will see my brother Bobby in a months time and my mom and sister, and my roommate from college in two months! Its all so soon and i am letting myself get excited. Also I am letting myself miss my Bobfather! Since he is not coming on these trips, not seeing my da for 14 months is a long time! I said it is a transitional time because I will be moving out of my village, my home, in April. I applied for a position within Peace Corps Zambia to be a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader, this means that i will be in charge of all the PCV's in a provence, for example Im one of 25 PCVs in central Provence. I will be the person who gives support to the PCV's who are having a tough time, are sick, have housing issues, but also the middle person between the Lusaka Administration and volunteers. I am really excited about the job, but feel bettersweet, about leaving my family! I don't know which Provence I will be going to yet either, and i just found out that i won't know about my placement as a PCVL until V-tines day, i will be going to either Eastern or Northwestern and living in the provencial capital in the PC/Z house with water and electricity, my own bed room and bathroom! I will be talking to my boss, the country director of peace corps, this week to make my demands as are made with all jobs, I want to be able to come home for a month in September.
Isaac will be starting grade one tomorrow, monday! My family got a black kitten, that Jr. calls Ba Otis or Baby Ba Otis, which left me to believe when i got back to my hut after Christmas that Otis was dead and they bought me a replacement kitten! But, worry not! Otis is alive and well and HATES the new kitten, but its a girl and i think that he will come around to her. I named her Sasha, my childhood nick name. I think they got the kitten because Isaac will be starting school. he is almost 9 and just starting school because he was meant to watch Jr until he was big enough to be left alone, and now he is and will be alone all day everyday now. But he loves cats, well Otis at least, but Otis hides from him, and now he has something to keep him busy and outta trouble. The whole family is doing well, Presca is getting bigger and bigger, my Bamaayo says that Presca now has a "Tractor and a Trailer" where she learns these English words/expressions I don't know but they are funny!!
I will be in Lusaka for next 10 days, teaching a behavior change concepts to the two new programs who are having their In-Service Training, then i will have three weeks up in my village before bobby comes to visit. I cannot believe it will be over a year and a half since i have seen bobby! I am happy about having this long period of time finally just to live in my village again before i move. Until next time!
I am doing well, I'm a bit home sick now though, I am at a really transitional stag right now, and because i will see my brother Bobby in a months time and my mom and sister, and my roommate from college in two months! Its all so soon and i am letting myself get excited. Also I am letting myself miss my Bobfather! Since he is not coming on these trips, not seeing my da for 14 months is a long time! I said it is a transitional time because I will be moving out of my village, my home, in April. I applied for a position within Peace Corps Zambia to be a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader, this means that i will be in charge of all the PCV's in a provence, for example Im one of 25 PCVs in central Provence. I will be the person who gives support to the PCV's who are having a tough time, are sick, have housing issues, but also the middle person between the Lusaka Administration and volunteers. I am really excited about the job, but feel bettersweet, about leaving my family! I don't know which Provence I will be going to yet either, and i just found out that i won't know about my placement as a PCVL until V-tines day, i will be going to either Eastern or Northwestern and living in the provencial capital in the PC/Z house with water and electricity, my own bed room and bathroom! I will be talking to my boss, the country director of peace corps, this week to make my demands as are made with all jobs, I want to be able to come home for a month in September.
Isaac will be starting grade one tomorrow, monday! My family got a black kitten, that Jr. calls Ba Otis or Baby Ba Otis, which left me to believe when i got back to my hut after Christmas that Otis was dead and they bought me a replacement kitten! But, worry not! Otis is alive and well and HATES the new kitten, but its a girl and i think that he will come around to her. I named her Sasha, my childhood nick name. I think they got the kitten because Isaac will be starting school. he is almost 9 and just starting school because he was meant to watch Jr until he was big enough to be left alone, and now he is and will be alone all day everyday now. But he loves cats, well Otis at least, but Otis hides from him, and now he has something to keep him busy and outta trouble. The whole family is doing well, Presca is getting bigger and bigger, my Bamaayo says that Presca now has a "Tractor and a Trailer" where she learns these English words/expressions I don't know but they are funny!!
I will be in Lusaka for next 10 days, teaching a behavior change concepts to the two new programs who are having their In-Service Training, then i will have three weeks up in my village before bobby comes to visit. I cannot believe it will be over a year and a half since i have seen bobby! I am happy about having this long period of time finally just to live in my village again before i move. Until next time!
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