Friday, February 6, 2009

I know, I know - its been a while

February 6, 2009

Hey everyone!

So below is an entry I wrote a week ago. I wrote it on a friend’s computer and planned to upload it the same day but - as usual - things didn’t go as planned, formats were confused, and it all ended in epic failure. Read it, its all good stuff.

Again I’m in the Lundazi BOMA taking care of some work. I had to go to Chipata this week to - yet again - take care of my visa (it’s an unnerving, recurring situation I’d rather just not talk about), but I’m back and ready to head home. Nothing much has changed since the entry below - the big extended village run starts today I guess (with occasional trips into the BOMA). Tiger’s doing quite fine (getting kinda fat though) and even proved himself more valuable after he took care of my mouse problem for me! Other than that, I start working (big time working) on Monday with my counterpart and continue to look forward to my reunion trip to Spain with Lee.

Hope all is well at home - and PLEASE email/call/write/comment! I’m parched of all the happenings at home!
Loves,
Ryan
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January 30,2009
Hi all!
Six months. Six months ago I landed in Zambia. Of course it doesn’t feel like six months – but that was expected. I hate to attach some kind of overarching conclusion to the past half year, simply because I know I still have another year and half to figure this all out. Yet, I feel that I can say – with some semblance of conviction – that Lusuntha, Lundazi, and Zambia now appear not so much as a foreign land, but as a home (of sorts). Like I said, its too early to pick these ideas apart. They’re young and immature – still in the process of development. I’ll let you know when I know more.

So a lot has happen (relatively) since November. The rainy season arrived in December and even though it took a bit of adjusting to, Zambia has flourished into a temperate, lush, green paradise (of sorts). The temperature has cooled, the crops are rising, the fields are green, and the air is clean. I was a little worried about this season, to tell the truth. I pictured it as a 24 hour downpour that would only make life damp, muddy, and miserable, but as it turns out rains generally pound the ground for two or three hours a day and then its back sunny, happy Zambia again. True, it makes drying clothes a little difficult, but it also affords a couple hours of extra sleep in the morning. Because people are so hard at work in their fields during the rainy season, the villages are deserted from 7 am to 10 – leaving me peace, quiet, and an empty to-do list. It’s an extra treat when I wake up in the morning to pounding rains – I just roll over, pull my blanket tight, and sigh knowing I have absolutely no reason to get up. It made not sound all that glorious, but it’s actually one of my favourite recurring moments in the village.

And village life is Good! I’ve put up some posters, bought some sheets for my bed, built a fence, established a routine – overall I think I’ve figured the living thing out. Work is another issue and while I’m working on that, village life has turned into a type of therapy for me. Especially now that the general landscape is so beautiful, I’m walking around the village almost on a high. Again, it’s best that I not pull it apart right now, better that I just appreciate the euphoria – ride the high. While I’ve become incredibly good friends with other volunteers – I always leave my site with a little apprehension/anxiety that is absent in the day to day. Nonetheless I have left my site quite a bit in the last two months.

For the holidays, a group of my really good friends and I went hitchhiking across Malawi and Mozambique. I’m not even going to explain the transport situation getting to the Mozambique coast, all I’m going to say is that it took 48 hours (of which we were moving for 40 hours) in the back of flatbed trucks and through scorching sun, drenching rains, and bouts of dehydration. I don’t want to come off as melodramatic, but: probably one of the worse experiences of my life. Aanyways, once we reached the Mozambique coast, we realized all that hell was worth it. White sandy beaches, clear warm tropical waters, and mounds of seafood and beer greeted us the minute we stepped out of a sardine can that nationals like to call a ‘mini bus’. I’d like to explain more of Ilha de Mocambique (The Isle of Mozambique), but we all agreed the place was so beautiful and strange, we could only covey it through pictures. So, if I can, I’ll try to post some picture – if not, I’ll send a memory card home in a few months. After the Isle, we travelled back across Mozambique into Malawi and spent New Years on the shores of Lake Malawi in a place called Cape MaClear. It’s kind of a tourist destination, so the place was packed with ex-pats, South Africans, and Peace Corps volunteers – making New Years Eve an concrete party. But it was also very relaxing. We went snorkelling among the fresh-water-tropical-fishes, ate much-awaited western foods, and lounged on the beaches with fruity concoctions colored blue and red. Needlesstosay, after two weeks of vacation, returning to my village was the most wonderful thing I’ve done in a long time (sorry again for the melodrama – but, again, its true). Unfortunately, we only had a week to decompress at home before we had to return to Lusaka for training.

I’m not going to say much for training. Consider this: 30 twenty-something-year-olds, who are all very good friends, emerge from rural isolation into a metropolitan city where they spend a week together, training during the day and catching up at night. It was a lot fun and I was very glad to see everyone again - but, again, I was very happy to return to the peaceful, relaxing village I now call home.

And back to now. Now I’m sitting in Lundazi, writing this entry, before I go back home for a month and a half. Again, I am thrilled to go back. I can’t wait to see tiger, garden, read, write, relax, and – most of all – really start working. It’s going to be a long haul, but at the end of that month and a half I’m flying to Spain and spending a week with LeeAnn!!!

That’s it. All in all, things are going very well. I’ve found my place, found some work, and found some really great friends. But while things are good here, I miss my friends and family more than ever. I think about you guys everyday and am so grateful for all the support you have lent me. I hope all is well at home and I would love to hear from you all. Call me (+260979121697), write me (P.O. Box 530376 Lundazi, Zambia, Africa), email me (ryaneugenekeating@gmail.com) , or even just leave a comment – I’m itching for some news. Thanks all!!!

that guy in Africa, what’s his name? oh yeah,
Ryan