A Few Days In Zambia

Let me describe to you what Zambia has been like so far... muggy, muggy, a spinkle of rain, a dash of sun, and muggy again.  As soon as I got off the plane in Zambia I started to sweat.  The temperature here in Lusaka is about 85 or so for the last few days, but the humidity is what has been the toughest.  This may seem hard to understand how someone could say that it's tough when most of the people I know back in the Midwest weill be struggling with at least another month and half of cold winter, but it's all I can really talk about. 

So far we've just been sitting in a bunch of Peace Corps meetings and being told what is expected of us, what we expect of them, and so on and so forth.  I haven't had the opportunity to see much of the country except for a brief trip to the Peace Corps's country headquarters on the outskirts of Zambia, which included meeting the entire staff and the Country Director - Tom Kennedy.  Even that was very brief, but it will all change tomorrow when we head out on our first site visits.  This means that we go stay with a current volunteer to gain some sort of idea what the projects are like, living conditions, and overall feel of being a Peace Corps Volunteer.  It should be really exciting. 

On being back in Africa I really couldn't be happier.  Out of the 35 of us that made the trip from Washington DC to Zambia a few days ago only two other people have ever been to Africa in the past, so it has been a lot of fun for me to see their reactions and excitement about coming here.  It brought back a lot of great memories of mine from when I first went to South Africa in 2008.  In fact, as soon as I stepped off the plane I smelled the diesels fumes, felt the mugginess, and I instantly remembered why I like this place so much.  An odd set of conditions to enjoy, but for whatever reason I do. 

Zambia itself is quite a bit different from both Kenya and South Africa, but it is similar in some ways to Uganda.  The tiny bit of countryside that I have seen is really green and lush like Uganda.  It is the rainy season right now (the reason for the mugginess) but I think that overall I'm really going to like being here, like I have enjoyed the other countries before. 

And in case any of you were wondering about Alan / Aaron... now all of the other Peace Corps Trainees call Aaron by the name I gave him, Alan.  He has fully embrassed it and I'm pretty sure that a couple of people don't even know what his real name is.