Petauke

Hello y'all,
So Rob and I are doing well. We have a phone, if you can call ,it's number is 01126099298133 from the states. It would be very cool to hear your voices and/or get letters. Sun afternoons might be a good time for reception. We dont have voicemail on it though, so dont get frustrated if i dont pick up, its not that i dont love you. its reception and no machine ;) We are in Lusaka now for the day so I can post a bit of an update. In a month our mailing addy will be PO Box 560059 Petauke, Eastern Province, Zambia, Africa. You can still send stuff to the Lusaka address too though.

So far we have been doing language training and technical training. Language it good so far but promises to get harder. Technical right now for me is review from my MPH but promises to be different as soon as we learn how to do culturally appropiate presentations, etc in Zambia.

On an average day we wake at 5:30am. Well roosters crow at about 4ish and I fight my bladder and the roosters and try to stay in bed a bit longer. Then I get up and use the pit latrine. If my aim is good the whole day is soo much better ;) Its really not bad at all. Our latrine is pretty nice. A hoke is all ya really need ;) Then my host family gives me boiled water that they fetch for us from the well about 1.5k away. I use the water in my bucket bath. I stand in the bucket of water and use a cup to get wet. I put the bucket in a thatch square room with no roof. its our bathing shelter. its super nice and refreshing. then we have bread and peanut butter and tea for breakfast with our host mom. and go off to language training. rob bikes to his which is 6k away. he has already lost a bit of weight. cliff bars and gatorade powder would be appreciated ;) starbursts too if possible, I crave it all the time, the food is very good here but there aren't sweets really that we are used to. plus the kids love the sweets ;) language training is good so far. i have 4 other ppl in my class that will also be health volunteers in eastern province. they are very nice. then we go back home for lunch. lunch usually is egg and rice and tomatoes. i love tomatoes :) rob stays away for lunch because of his bike ride so i eat with my host mom and another volunteer (who also went to nu) who also has a hut on our compound. then we walk back to our thatched roof classroom about 1.5 k away for technical training with the same ppl plus 3 other health volunteers who will be in the northwest. class is over around 5ish and then we chat a bit with our trainers (they are awesome) and then go home. my hut has a thatch roof and cement floor and mud brick. we have a mattress on the ground on a reed mat and a bed net. its really very nice. i sweep everyday because there is always a lot of sand/dirt that gets in regardless of how clean i think im being. rob and i have dinner with our host mom and read and practice language together. we use our day light as best we can and our aa and dd batteries like water :) if you want to send some that would be awesome!! and any books you have read as well. i have gone through one so far which is pretty good especially since i go to bed about 8pm ;) its very low key and relaxing here. we meet up with the rest of our group once or twice a week for a large training. i miss you all. write when you can. love you.