Training is pretty intensive, we have training 6 full days a week. We have Sunday “off” but we are expected to be integrating with our host families and learning how to do everyday stuff. Sunday we end up mostly doing chores, which take forever because they are all done by hand. Washing your cloths is a task, you first have to go get water from whatever water sources you have. Then you have to wash and rinse them (which totally destroys your hands) and hang dry them. Another big chore is sweeping.  You are constantly tracking mud/dirt into your house, plus the floors are a mix of hardened clay and mud, so termites eat through the floors and get into your hut. I do a quick sweep everyday after school, sometimes in the morning too (if termites have made their way through my flood in the night). Every Sunday I have to take everything out of my hut and do a full on deep sweep of my hut. As you can imagine these chores eat up a lot of time, there isn’t much relaxing on the weekends.

For a typical day of training we start out with four hours of language lessons. These lessons are in our villages. Mine takes place at my language teachers house, about a ten minute walk away. The village donates a house for them to stay in during training, so the can stay in the same area as us. Majority of the language teachers have been with the Peace Corps for years. The language coaches not only teach us the local language, they also make sure our home stay is going well and guild us in understanding any cultural differences. My language couch is Ba Mwelwa (you put Ba before any name to show respect) and he is good at his job. For anyone who has ever heard me speak English, it is no surprise I am having a difficult time with pronunciation in Bemba, but he is very patient with me. After language class we go back home and have lunch with our host families then head to a training center called FTI.

FTI is about a 25 to a half hour bike ride away from my house. The road mostly dirt and its bumpy.  The bumps do not feel great on the booty and are a very good reminder of my Zambian weight. All the ice cream I ate before I left is definitely not helping with my biking time. I have to say, Zambians are amazing bikers! One of the first days I was here I saw a man biking with two goats strapped to his bike rack. Whenever I pass a Zambian biking (this rarely happens and they are usually biking with multiple things strapped to their bikes) I can’t help but think “haha sucker” and “you go girl”! Then I’m always quickly passed by another Zambian.  The other day I was biking up hill and a Zambian man passed me while he was riding without using his handlebars. He was texting with one hand and eating with another. Again he was going UP hill and he even changed lanes. I don’t under stand how that was possible, I feel like mother f-ing Evil Kneivel when I give a little kid a high five while biking.

Okay back to the schedule. At FTI we train as a whole RAP class. We usually do technical training about fish farming. At least a couple times a week we go out to local fish ponds and get some hands on practices. I am a little over a month into training and so far we have, staked a pond, dug a pond, staked out furrows, sexed fish, stocked breeding fish and harvested baby fish.

Thursday’s we are at the center all day, during our fist break they give us coffee and fritters, plus toppings to go on the fritters. I’m positive every single volunteer is counts down until 10:15, aka fritter time. On Thursday’s we usually cover cultural stuff, plus safety and security and medical. When the medical people come they usually also give us vaccinations, so that not too awesome, probably why they try and sweeten us up with fritters in the morning.

Our technical training staff is really awesome, in fact they are ranked one of the top Peace Corps training staff in the world. So I’m in good hands.

Before you guys get bored from reading my novel of a post, I should tell you about my host family. I am staying in a village called Kapamogoma and have my own little hut next to my families house.  My host family is really great. My host father is Ba Andrew and host mother is Ba Estar. They have 8 kids ranging from 9-23. They are farmers and my host father is the village Headman. A village here is kinda like a neighborhood back home. Majority of the people in the village are related, so think of it kinda like the Burns Farm. The Headman helps settle disputes in the community, helps organize projects and works and the eyes and ears of the areas chief. My eldest host sister has a 1 year old baby boy who is adorable, but a little scared of me.  I am working on having him warm up to me. It took a couple days for him not to start crying any time he saw me. One of my goals is to have him let me hold him one day, and not be that scary white lady.

I am really excited for next week (week 5 of training) because we find out what site will be placed at after Pre Service Training!