It’s not like I haven’t been eating my fair share of fish and chips lately. It’s Potato season and we’ve harvested 4 ponds this month with a 5th scheduled for next week. The harvests all ended up being on Fridays which would have been great if this was a catholic area. It isn’t. It’s considerably worse than that. Jehovah’s witnesses run this place. I don’t think they have rules against eating meat on Fridays during Lent. They have rules about everything else though. A lot of them make no sense to me- thou shall not vote in an election (but you can complain about politics as much as you want), Thou shall not sing the national anthem, believing in witchcraft is ok, and though shall relentlessly annoy the white man who lives amongst you. They’ll talk to me in Bemba. I know what they’re saying, or the gist of it really. “God this, Jehovah that. Here’s some magazines, will you throw them away for me?” I tell them in bemba that I don’t understand what they’re saying while looking through my dog’s hair for ticks hoping for a juicy one to pop with my fingernails right in front of them. Sometimes they’ll start in English but I am quick to reply with a “No comprende.”
I guess I should announce the winner(s) of this most recent contest. The best letters were sent by Evan & Jenny and co-winner Theresa. That’s for the non-Becky category. Guess who won the Becky only category…yep Ed McMahon. I may have already won! Evan and Jenny won because of Evan’s account of a camping trip and running into some rednecks. (Don’t worry Evan, I won’t tell everyone about how they made you squeal like a pig) and wonderful pictures of these rednecks. They also told me they’re engaged and offered me the choice of being a bridesmaid or a groomsman at the wedding. I’m opting for organist. I hope jenny likes walking down the aisle to “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with a salsa tempo and the beat turned the whole way up. Theresa wins for inviting me to her wedding and recounting the day’s events since I couldn’t be there. So they win the title of Best Friends of Late ‘08/ early ’09! Everyone else who entered- thank you. Those who didn’t- I hate you.
I am down to my final five months as a Peace Corps volunteer. I think I’ve figured out my exit strategy. I’m done in mid august and I plan on traveling til mid oct before returning to Zambia to help with training and/or hang out with friends before going home for thanksgiving where I will commence complaining about 1) how cold it is, 2) how gluttonous Americans are and 3) the commercialization of Christmas and our extreme levels of consumerism. I’ll also be eating hotdogs by the handful smothered in canned chili and nacho cheese.
My proposed itinerary is to spend mid august til early sept making my way through Botswana and Namibia to Capetown. Fly to Madagascar if they aren’t in a civil war by that point, then spend a few days in/around Nairobi and Serengeti, then make my way to Ethiopia and if I have time go to Djibouti. I hear diving in the red sea is awesome. I’m taking applications for Travel buddies so if anyone has some time in September, let me know.
I haven’t done any traveling lately except for a few days at Mutinondo about 160km north of serenje. Rachel and I went up for 3 days of hiking, swimming, inner tubing and hiding from rain. Good times were had. Easter is coming up so we’re trying to figure out our plans. Hopefully it involves fishing.
That’s all for now.
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