hey everyone! So I am breaking the cycle and taking a few kwacha to write to everyone. Everything here is great. I am officially a volunteer!!! And am getting dropped at my site in two days- SCARY! Thank you all so much for the the kind thoughts and letters and keep[ them coming...I promise I will respond to any letters/ packages set my way. It is your best shot at getting some Zambia postage!
I have gotten a few questions about what to send me so I thought I would put up a list. Please don't feel like you have to. But if you so choose to put something in the mail, know that I will love you forever and you will probably make my life complete. If you do put a package together please don't feel like you need to get everything these are just ideas because people asked
things that I would love gettting...in no particular order
good tea
hot chocolate
candy...like sour worms, skittles, starburst etc
chocolate...in any form
your favorite baking recipes
any kind of protein that does go bad...packets of salmon, chicken, tuna, beef jerkey
magazines...like rolling stone, spin, the economist
ready spice packets...like taco/ fajita packs (not sure what those things are called but you know what I mean?)
any kind of art supplies
yarn
trail mix/nuts...I love most things trader joes comes up with
things that make water taste better...ice tea, kool aid, crystal light packets
And just because my birthday is coming up-aka if you want to send me a gift it should be in the mail by the middle of june
travel board games or games that breakdown easy
stationary
DVDs...things that you like to watch when you wnat to do nothing all day or are sick(especially tv shows...the office, grey's, arrested development...etc)
Ok that's it and really no pressure!
I'll keep the blogs coming
love you all
mushale bulongo
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
UFSIZ (Update From Stevie In Zambia)
Hey everyone! Below is the latest UFSIZ (Update From Stevie In Zambia)...
-Maya
Well if there is one thing both Peace Corps and the Zambian education system loves- it's acronyms. For example, currently I am a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) in the middle of PST (PreService Training). I am in the RED program (Rural Education Development). Most of my trainings are at FTI (Farmers Training Institute). The PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) has given me a total of 8 shots thus far and more are coming. I am about to go on my SSV (Second Site Visit) where I actually get to see where I am moving. Then hopefully after PST I will become a real PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). Tomorrow I have interviews with the CD (Country Director), and TD (Training Director).
And that's just the beginning. The Zambian ministry of education (MOE) loves them even more! Every position has it's own acronym. Schools are broken into zones. Each zone has somewhere between 10-30 schools. In each zone, there is the ZHS (Zonal Head School), with a ZIC (Zonal Inset Coordinator), an acronym within an acronym inset (In-Service Training), and every school has an SIC (School Inset Coordinator). The ZHT, ZIC, and SIC make-up the ZEST (Zonal Educational Support Team). Then there is SPRINT (School Program for Inservice of the Term- Not sure how that one works...). SPRINT is baiscally any training or meetings for teachers. Like... a TGM (Teachers Group Meeting) or a SIMON (School Inservice and Monitoring) or a GRACE (Great Meeting at Resource Center)... And the list goes on and on- seriously that is just a few!
Now you can be a pro! I am afraid after my COS (Close of Service), I will never be able to speak in complete sentences...
Mwane!
-Stevie
-Maya
Well if there is one thing both Peace Corps and the Zambian education system loves- it's acronyms. For example, currently I am a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) in the middle of PST (PreService Training). I am in the RED program (Rural Education Development). Most of my trainings are at FTI (Farmers Training Institute). The PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) has given me a total of 8 shots thus far and more are coming. I am about to go on my SSV (Second Site Visit) where I actually get to see where I am moving. Then hopefully after PST I will become a real PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). Tomorrow I have interviews with the CD (Country Director), and TD (Training Director).
And that's just the beginning. The Zambian ministry of education (MOE) loves them even more! Every position has it's own acronym. Schools are broken into zones. Each zone has somewhere between 10-30 schools. In each zone, there is the ZHS (Zonal Head School), with a ZIC (Zonal Inset Coordinator), an acronym within an acronym inset (In-Service Training), and every school has an SIC (School Inset Coordinator). The ZHT, ZIC, and SIC make-up the ZEST (Zonal Educational Support Team). Then there is SPRINT (School Program for Inservice of the Term- Not sure how that one works...). SPRINT is baiscally any training or meetings for teachers. Like... a TGM (Teachers Group Meeting) or a SIMON (School Inservice and Monitoring) or a GRACE (Great Meeting at Resource Center)... And the list goes on and on- seriously that is just a few!
Now you can be a pro! I am afraid after my COS (Close of Service), I will never be able to speak in complete sentences...
Mwane!
-Stevie
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Update Via Haley
I know we all miss Stevie, but how amazing is she! I’m so proud to call her friend…
LIVE from Zambia
April 3rd, 2009
Basic training schedule.
Right now I am two weeks into training. I stay in a smallish mud hut. It has a mat on the floor with my mattress on it. It is a thatched roof with garbage bags to help with the rain. I have a mattress draped in my LOVELY mosquito net at all times. I have a little window but just keep my door open so I can see and get any light in my room. I have a small stool, table and lantern. Every morning I wake up around 6:30, (two hours after the rooster, no not The Rooster), starts. My Bjmama heats up some water for my bucket bath. I have a bathing shelter that is basically an open room made of tall grass. After my bath I usually have breakfast of tea, peanut butter and some white bread or fried cornmeal. Then I have 4 hours of language-go home for lunch- then 3 hours of tech training. Thursdays and Saturdays are the only time my entire intake is together for HIV/Aids Training, as well as cultural sessions. So we have half of Saturday and Sunday off to study and do whatever.
Yesterday we threw together a game of Ultimate Frisbee and just hung around till dark. Basically, my day ends when the Sun’s gone, (around 8p) and I stay up for a bit with my flashlight, but am pretty lame and crash by 9:30p. I have training until the end of April and I think it will be a mixed blessing when it’s finally over. I am REALLY excited to cook for myself, have my own place, see and meet my community, actually be around people using the language I’m currently learning and be on my own schedule! But, this also will mean I will be totally on my own…might not have cell service and won’t see anyone from training for three months. So at this moment the training days feel like they are crawling by, but I am sure, like everything, I will miss them when they are gone.
Kaeikaipo,
Stevie
LIVE from Zambia
April 3rd, 2009
Basic training schedule.
Right now I am two weeks into training. I stay in a smallish mud hut. It has a mat on the floor with my mattress on it. It is a thatched roof with garbage bags to help with the rain. I have a mattress draped in my LOVELY mosquito net at all times. I have a little window but just keep my door open so I can see and get any light in my room. I have a small stool, table and lantern. Every morning I wake up around 6:30, (two hours after the rooster, no not The Rooster), starts. My Bjmama heats up some water for my bucket bath. I have a bathing shelter that is basically an open room made of tall grass. After my bath I usually have breakfast of tea, peanut butter and some white bread or fried cornmeal. Then I have 4 hours of language-go home for lunch- then 3 hours of tech training. Thursdays and Saturdays are the only time my entire intake is together for HIV/Aids Training, as well as cultural sessions. So we have half of Saturday and Sunday off to study and do whatever.
Yesterday we threw together a game of Ultimate Frisbee and just hung around till dark. Basically, my day ends when the Sun’s gone, (around 8p) and I stay up for a bit with my flashlight, but am pretty lame and crash by 9:30p. I have training until the end of April and I think it will be a mixed blessing when it’s finally over. I am REALLY excited to cook for myself, have my own place, see and meet my community, actually be around people using the language I’m currently learning and be on my own schedule! But, this also will mean I will be totally on my own…might not have cell service and won’t see anyone from training for three months. So at this moment the training days feel like they are crawling by, but I am sure, like everything, I will miss them when they are gone.
Kaeikaipo,
Stevie
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Yay! An update from the Rooster! I (Maggie, friend from Willamette) recieved this letter yesterday, and attempted to hack her account, only to find out she doesn't even have the right password for her account (really, rooster, REALLY). It is with further ado that I bestow these wonderful words upon the masses!
Friday March 13th, 2009
Currently I am sitting on my little stool watching my Bamama cut up vegetables for dinner. It is right before sundown and I can almost feel time slip by me- those last few minutes of usable light never seems long enough. The giant sky is threatening a storm and thunder is looming in the distance. But I am still not sure if rain will really fall. It is the tail end of the rainy season here and it is starting to cool off at nights- but it is a perfect 75-85 degrees during the day.....that is a guess- and hopefully soon my guesses will be in celsius!
As I switch to lamp light.....I am just finishing my third week in Zambia and my second week with my family. I will be here until the end of April (I think)....and honestly I keep waiting for the big freak-out but it hasn't happened! Life kind of just goes on....and although I am nowhere near comfortable, the unfamiliar is becoming comforting. Plus training has a very structured schedule so it just feels like what I am supposed to do. I am adjusting to the diet and minus one day of general stomach aching, I haven't gotten sick. Knock on wood- but I know my time is probably coming.
I had my first language test today. It was an oral test with two different teachers covering basic greetings, talking and asking about me/other people/ where I come from/ what I do/ what my family does/ names/ marital status, etc. Then the test my vocab on school supplies, gardening tools, food, body parts, eating utensils, illnesses and a few commands- oh and describing another person physically. Not bad for a only two weeks fo language class. I feel like I still have so much to learn and don't understand most of what my Bamama asks me but I made it through the test and I don't think they are sending me home yet ;)
Saturdays we only have half days of class. So after HIV training and then HIV training again in Kikaonde, a bunch of us usually play some kind of game at the football pitch. (**editor's note- roughly translated to SOCCER FIELD....she is so cultured!)
And really I am super excited for Sunday- we get to go into Lusaka and go to an "American" type shopping mall. Who would have ever thought I would look forward to a mall!? But it means a grocery store and I can buy fruit for the first time in weeks! ....and maybe some ice cream...... There is a fruit shortage or something in my village so an orange has become gold! Well, dinner calls......
Miss you all!
Shalaipo!
Stevie
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