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
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
FINALLY internet access!!
hey everyone!
muli shani from the african bush-bush! it's crazy but this is the first time i have been able to access my email or blog since i got here. i have an internet phone but for some reason facebook has been pretty much the only site i can get to on it. there is so much to say and so little time! first of all, africa ROCKS. i love zambia. the people, the climate, the scenery. i love it all. it's hard to believe that we only have one month left of training, the time is going by pretty fast! training is pretty intense, with about 7 hours of class almost every day (4 hours of language in the morning and 3 hours of technical traning in the afternoons). so much information has been thrown at us that it can get pretty frustrating at times, but it's the times when i am biking to class and there are mountains in the distance or when i am brushing my teeth at night and i just stare up at milky way spanning across my hut in the african sky that i know it is all worth it. :) the people in my intake are awesome, too. there are a handful that i've become pretty close with and we are already planning vacations to zanzibar and trips to eachother's sites.
we found out on thursday where we will be spending the next two years of our lives! i will be in northern province, about 80km north of Mpika. My village has never had a peace corps volunteer before, and started building my hut before peace corps even told them they needed to so hopefully that means they are as excited as i am! there are natural hot springs about 20k from my village and my hut is secluded by trees. i am also very near mountains as well as a game park to see lots of animals! there is an old victorian house built by an englishman very near to me that is apparently a huge tourist spot and has chalets that are great to go stay in overnight or camp out at. My site is pretty far out and will require an hour of biking just to get to the Great North Road (the major road running through northern province), then another hour car ride (i'll need to hitch!) to Mpika. I believe I am 30k from the nearest pc volunteer, danielle, who is awesome and another soccer girl. :)
I am so incredibly excited to get to my site but also a little nervous as i won't have cell service and who knows how far i will have to bike to get it. however, i was looking for a hard-core experience and it sounds like that is what i am going to get!
we are in lusaka right now buying food and such for a visit to northern province to see our sites and meet other volunteers in the province. we will be staying up there with another volunteer for a week. it is also an opportunity for us to meet people in our village and maybe get a carpenter to start building us tables, bedframes, etc. for our huts. later today, there is a big party for us back at the training center, complete with soccer, goat (i hear it's yummy!), and dancing! they even got us a dj haha. well i'm almost out of time here but hopefully i can update this blog again soon! thanks to all of you who have written letters, i have been busy writing letters to you all as well (mostly while sitting in class haha).
i hope everything is well back in the u.s., i miss you all like CRAZY but everyday am reminded of how i am having the experience of a lifetime. much luv from ZAMBIA!!
love,
katie
muli shani from the african bush-bush! it's crazy but this is the first time i have been able to access my email or blog since i got here. i have an internet phone but for some reason facebook has been pretty much the only site i can get to on it. there is so much to say and so little time! first of all, africa ROCKS. i love zambia. the people, the climate, the scenery. i love it all. it's hard to believe that we only have one month left of training, the time is going by pretty fast! training is pretty intense, with about 7 hours of class almost every day (4 hours of language in the morning and 3 hours of technical traning in the afternoons). so much information has been thrown at us that it can get pretty frustrating at times, but it's the times when i am biking to class and there are mountains in the distance or when i am brushing my teeth at night and i just stare up at milky way spanning across my hut in the african sky that i know it is all worth it. :) the people in my intake are awesome, too. there are a handful that i've become pretty close with and we are already planning vacations to zanzibar and trips to eachother's sites.
we found out on thursday where we will be spending the next two years of our lives! i will be in northern province, about 80km north of Mpika. My village has never had a peace corps volunteer before, and started building my hut before peace corps even told them they needed to so hopefully that means they are as excited as i am! there are natural hot springs about 20k from my village and my hut is secluded by trees. i am also very near mountains as well as a game park to see lots of animals! there is an old victorian house built by an englishman very near to me that is apparently a huge tourist spot and has chalets that are great to go stay in overnight or camp out at. My site is pretty far out and will require an hour of biking just to get to the Great North Road (the major road running through northern province), then another hour car ride (i'll need to hitch!) to Mpika. I believe I am 30k from the nearest pc volunteer, danielle, who is awesome and another soccer girl. :)
I am so incredibly excited to get to my site but also a little nervous as i won't have cell service and who knows how far i will have to bike to get it. however, i was looking for a hard-core experience and it sounds like that is what i am going to get!
we are in lusaka right now buying food and such for a visit to northern province to see our sites and meet other volunteers in the province. we will be staying up there with another volunteer for a week. it is also an opportunity for us to meet people in our village and maybe get a carpenter to start building us tables, bedframes, etc. for our huts. later today, there is a big party for us back at the training center, complete with soccer, goat (i hear it's yummy!), and dancing! they even got us a dj haha. well i'm almost out of time here but hopefully i can update this blog again soon! thanks to all of you who have written letters, i have been busy writing letters to you all as well (mostly while sitting in class haha).
i hope everything is well back in the u.s., i miss you all like CRAZY but everyday am reminded of how i am having the experience of a lifetime. much luv from ZAMBIA!!
love,
katie
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
just being true to my procrastinating nature....
Well, it's about 3:30 in the morning on the day of my departure to Washington D.C. and I just finished packing. Crazy. Luckily Sarah and Jamie were there to help me sit on things. :)
I am really going to make an effort to keep up with this blog. Hopefully I will have a chance, once we arrive in Zambia this weekend, to write a post about how orientation and all the traveling went.
Thanks to everyone who came to my going away party! I think a great time was had by all, and it was so good to see everyone before leaving for 27 months. I really do have feel so lucky to have the best family and friends in the world. :)
I need to be at the airport in a couple hours....one thing I don't mind leaving behind is the cold Minnesota weather....it's supposed to be 79 degrees in Lusaka when we arrive! My body might just go into shock....
I love you all! Take care, and be sure to go over to my house and argue with my parents so they don't miss me as much! :)
.katie.
I am really going to make an effort to keep up with this blog. Hopefully I will have a chance, once we arrive in Zambia this weekend, to write a post about how orientation and all the traveling went.
Thanks to everyone who came to my going away party! I think a great time was had by all, and it was so good to see everyone before leaving for 27 months. I really do have feel so lucky to have the best family and friends in the world. :)
I need to be at the airport in a couple hours....one thing I don't mind leaving behind is the cold Minnesota weather....it's supposed to be 79 degrees in Lusaka when we arrive! My body might just go into shock....
I love you all! Take care, and be sure to go over to my house and argue with my parents so they don't miss me as much! :)
.katie.
Monday, December 3, 2007
getting ready to go
I've never really been into the whole blogging thing, but after reading many blogs from peace corps volunteers I have realized that they are incredibly helpful and practical. While I am serving in the peace corps, I can write about my experience when I get the chance and be better able to stay in contact with my friends and family. So this is my first post....and I'm going to try to keep it short and sweet. :)
This past October I was invited to serve in the Peace Corps as part of the Community Action for Health Project in rural Zambia. And when I say rural, I mean RURAL. I will be living in a mud-brick hut with no electricity, the nearest running water will be a half-hour's walk, and my thighs will only continue to grow in size as I will use my all-terrain bike (courtesy of the Peace Corps) to travel at least 20 km a day. I will be working through the Ministry of Health in Zambia to help establish and maintain Rural Health Committees that will contribute to the decentralization movement in Zambia. Basically, I will try to help rural Zambian villages be sustainable when it comes to health care. So of course right now I'm feeling incredibly under-qualified, but I will go through intense training for 3 months prior to my service in Lusaka. I report to my staging in the U.S. on February 20 and depart for Africa with 30-40 other wide-eyed volunteers February 24.
My hope is that this blog will serve as a place where my family and friends and anyone else interested can check up on my adventures in Africa. Right now I'm just trying to get ready to go and prepare for what hopefully will be the experience of a lifetime. :)
This past October I was invited to serve in the Peace Corps as part of the Community Action for Health Project in rural Zambia. And when I say rural, I mean RURAL. I will be living in a mud-brick hut with no electricity, the nearest running water will be a half-hour's walk, and my thighs will only continue to grow in size as I will use my all-terrain bike (courtesy of the Peace Corps) to travel at least 20 km a day. I will be working through the Ministry of Health in Zambia to help establish and maintain Rural Health Committees that will contribute to the decentralization movement in Zambia. Basically, I will try to help rural Zambian villages be sustainable when it comes to health care. So of course right now I'm feeling incredibly under-qualified, but I will go through intense training for 3 months prior to my service in Lusaka. I report to my staging in the U.S. on February 20 and depart for Africa with 30-40 other wide-eyed volunteers February 24.
My hope is that this blog will serve as a place where my family and friends and anyone else interested can check up on my adventures in Africa. Right now I'm just trying to get ready to go and prepare for what hopefully will be the experience of a lifetime. :)
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