The other day I got online and received an email from my mom about how she had just been outside and it was "a perfect fall day" and then preceeded to read a facebook note from a friend about how she had walked outside that morning and the crisp air hit her face and she knew fall was on its way. A sharp pang of jealousy hit. As I was reading those it was about 8 am, I had just woken up and was lying in my bed in a puddle of sweat.
It's hot season.
Zambia has three seasons a year. When I arrived in February it was the middle of the rainy season, though by that point in time most of the rain was already done. Around May, about when I got posted, the cold season started. Cold season was pretty nice. In the afternoon it may get warm enough for you to wear a t-shirt and jeans, but in the morning and night you're in sweats, and sleeping can be chilly, but the kind of chilly where you bundle up with a couple of blankets and you're really cozy. It's comparable to the beginning of fall, or even some of summer in the northern U.S. Around the week before I headed to Lusaka for IST things started to warm up. I was gone for a couple of weeks and came back to discover that the cold season was gone. My site is in a valley, which makes things hotter. So I spend most days drenched in sweat, trying to find places to stay cool, like the stream behind my house where most boys tend to swim every day during hot season. I bathe and immediately start to sweat again, and I go to bed marginally sweaty. Once the sun goes down it cools off a little.
So please, all of you living in a temperate climate, enjoy the fall, the cool air, the leaves changing colors, being comfortable in a sweatshirt and jeans. Because in a few months I'm gonna get on chicagotribune.com and the temperature is going to be below zero, and then it'll be your turn to complain.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I've mentioned on this blog before my disappointment at having to miss so many of my friends weddings while I'm here in Zambia. Matter of fact I believe there's one this weekend (hope it goes well Chris and Melissa, wish I could be there). Now of course it's not that I don't love these people enough to be at their wedding, it's just not feasible. But there's one wedding I will not miss.
Last Sunday I was hanging out in my hut, listening to the news on my shortwave radio about to go to bed at all of 8 pm when I get a phone call from the states. That's usually the time mom and dad call so I assumed it was them only to be surprised to pick up and find my brother on the line. Why? Because he wanted to inform me that he had just become engaged. It was a phone call I had been expecting for a while, but it's still a pretty significant occurrence when you find out your brother is getting married. They had not set a date yet when we spoke, and I believe they have by now, and I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's next summer, which means Derek is coming home for a while next summer.
I'm so excited. When I tell my friends here that my brother is engaged and they ask how old he is and I say 20, usually a look of surprise follows. For the average Peace Corps Volunteer (including myself) marriage is a long way off, and we're all at least 23 or 24, so a 20 year old getting married can sound slightly crazy. but talking to Brendan last week it was more than obvious that he's ready to get married, and I can't wait to be there for it.
Last Sunday I was hanging out in my hut, listening to the news on my shortwave radio about to go to bed at all of 8 pm when I get a phone call from the states. That's usually the time mom and dad call so I assumed it was them only to be surprised to pick up and find my brother on the line. Why? Because he wanted to inform me that he had just become engaged. It was a phone call I had been expecting for a while, but it's still a pretty significant occurrence when you find out your brother is getting married. They had not set a date yet when we spoke, and I believe they have by now, and I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's next summer, which means Derek is coming home for a while next summer.
I'm so excited. When I tell my friends here that my brother is engaged and they ask how old he is and I say 20, usually a look of surprise follows. For the average Peace Corps Volunteer (including myself) marriage is a long way off, and we're all at least 23 or 24, so a 20 year old getting married can sound slightly crazy. but talking to Brendan last week it was more than obvious that he's ready to get married, and I can't wait to be there for it.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The rest of the week in Malawi was pretty much the same, save for Thursday night which was so absurd it would be impossible to explain on this blog. Early yesterday morning we got a minibus out of Nkhata Bay and began a 12 hour journey back to Zambia, in conditions better than the way there, that ended at about 6 last night in Chipata, the capital of Zambia's eastern province. Which is where I am now. Every province in Zambia that has volunteers in it has a house where they can stay for a few nights a month for r&r and I'll probably be there until thursday. It'll be a good time to get myself back into gear for village life, but there are other reasons as well.
As you may or may not have heard, two weeks ago today Levy P. Mwanawasa, the president of Zambia, died at the age of 59. He had a history of health problems and had a stroke at the end of June that he was never able to recover from. Tomorrow is his burial, and it will be a Zambian national holiday. I really haven't been able to see what the country has been like in the wake of his death, with being in Lusaka at training and then in Malawi, but there has definitely been a somber mood throughout the country. Mwanawasa was by all accounts a good president who worked hard to fight the corruption entrenched in Zambia's government, due in large part to the less-than-moral presidents who preceeded him. A 60 day mourning period follows his death, at the end of which Zambia's political parties will announce their new presidential candidates. A 30 day campaign follows, culminating in a presidential election which will take place about 2 or 3 weeks after the American election. Zambia is a peaceful country and there are no expectations that the current state of things will lead to any unrest like what happened in Kenya, but please keep Zambia in your thoughts and prayers as they make a decision that will greatly affect the future of the country.
As you may or may not have heard, two weeks ago today Levy P. Mwanawasa, the president of Zambia, died at the age of 59. He had a history of health problems and had a stroke at the end of June that he was never able to recover from. Tomorrow is his burial, and it will be a Zambian national holiday. I really haven't been able to see what the country has been like in the wake of his death, with being in Lusaka at training and then in Malawi, but there has definitely been a somber mood throughout the country. Mwanawasa was by all accounts a good president who worked hard to fight the corruption entrenched in Zambia's government, due in large part to the less-than-moral presidents who preceeded him. A 60 day mourning period follows his death, at the end of which Zambia's political parties will announce their new presidential candidates. A 30 day campaign follows, culminating in a presidential election which will take place about 2 or 3 weeks after the American election. Zambia is a peaceful country and there are no expectations that the current state of things will lead to any unrest like what happened in Kenya, but please keep Zambia in your thoughts and prayers as they make a decision that will greatly affect the future of the country.
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