home sweet home :)

Hello from Kasama in Northern Province! Turns out my opportunities to use internet will be pretty few and far between for the next two years, especially since my site is way far out, but I promise to try and update this blog as much as possible. There are so many things that I want to sat it's going to be hard to get it all in before I run out of kwacha...but here goes....

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. All 51 of us officially swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers on Friday!! Thank GOD training is over. Of course I will miss my host family and close friends that I've made over the past two months, but I am so ready to get on with what I came here for in the first place. We had a big celebration with our host families last week, and I had to give a speech in Bemba, but I think it went pretty well. We cooked a ton of food and our families gave us gifts and we said goodbye to them. I tought my family to give a peace sign and say 'peace out' when I got here and they all said it as I was getting into the land cruiser and driving away. Love them! I plan to go back and visit them while I'm here in Zambia.

After swear-in, Peace Corps put all of us up in the pretty nice place called Eureka Farms in Lusaka. Somehow Becky, Davy, and I lucked out with the honeymoon suite chalet! wink! We stayed at Eureka for two nights and celebrated training being over. I don't think someone could have hand-picked a more random group for our intake. There are so many crazy characters and we are all very different from eachother...but we do have in common that we are willing to live in the bush-bush of africa for 2 years and we have a ton of fun together. I've made some amazing friends here already in the past two months and it's important to have that support system. Of course I really miss all my friends and family from home. I just want everyone to see what my life is like here, because it's pretty indescribable.

I am here in Kasama with the other 7 volunteers that will also be in Northern Province. We are staying at the Provincial House, which is a place we can come to 3 days out of every month to meet up with other volunteers and have some time away from the village to just chill. We will head to Mpika on Tuesday I will be posted to my site on wednesday! Crazy! I am so excited to move into my hut and be settled in one place for 2 years, as well as meet the villagers and get to know the community...but the other half of me is a little scared shitless. I am probably the most far out of any volunteer in Zambia, but I know that I have a lot of support through the Peace Corps and I wanted the hardcore experience so I just need to make it through the initial adjustments.

Thanks for all the letters! I appreciate them more than you know. :) My new address for the next two years is:

Katie Bierlein (PCV)
P.O. Box 450100
Mpika, Zambia

Oh, and on a random tally, so far I have only seen one snake, no rats, a few bats, some zebras, a couple lions, 4 million chickens, 5,000 goats, eaten one crocodile burger and one caterpillar, hit only one zambian with my bike (it wasn't my fault I swear!), and had only one serious biting of the dust on my bike (still a little sore from that one). We'll see what happens once I get to my village!

I hope all is well back in the states! I think about you guys all the time and I hope that Minnesota weather improves soon. :) I will try and post again as soon as I can, but it may not be until June. Miss you all! Peace out homies.

Katie