A Year Ago Today...

Well, not actually today. More like around this time last year...I boarded a plane to live for 2 years in a country I'd never been to, met 29 incredible individuals-many of whom in the subsequent months I've come to rely on as family and came to this country as a brand-spanking new Peace Corps Trainee.

Holy Jesus I've been here a year. I can't say that time has flown by- sometimes it feels like I've just stepped off the plane onto hot Zambian tarmac, other times it feels like I've been here for a hundred years. Like most things in this country, it just depends on the day.  But, here I am, another year older, another year (hopefully) wiser, another year of incredible experience under my proverbial belt.  So what have I been doing in my 2 cough3cough month break? Stuff.

Not gonna lie, my first Christmas away from my family was rough. No egg nog, no arguing whether we'd do white or colored lights, no real tree, no cookie baking marathon, no claymation movies or 24 hours of A Christmas Story. For the majority of the Christmas holiday, Mansa didn't even have electricity. But what we did have for the holiday was each other.  Vastly different (packet punch, face paints and a night out to a dirty warehouse bar) but no less special, Christmas this year simply reaffirmed that what you do doesnt really matter, just who you do it with, and I spent my holiday with some of the best people a volunteer could ask for.

Okay enough of the sentimental stuff- onto the funsies: NEW YEARS! After traveling for 2 days from Mansa to get to Lusaka to meet my FAVORITE Zam-ladies and a whirlwind night devoid of sleeping but full of tequila, we found ourselves on a 6 hour bus heading to Livingstone to see Zambia's claim to world wonder fame- Victoria Falls.  We did what we could on Peace Corps budget, which limited us to a booze cruise and a bomb New Years party at a lodge on the Zambezi, but honestly the best part was getting to spend some much needed quality time with the girls. But I'm not gonna wax poetic on how much I love my friends because I'm hoping they already know. Imma talk about the booze cruise (and New Years and Vic Falls).  SO, its billed as a "river cruise" down the Zambezi where you're served dinner and as much booze as you can handle (or until they run out).  We had an awesome time on it and saw a good amount of animals- a couple crocs, some monkeys and an f-ton of hippos.  New Years Eve party was a booze-driven blur, enough to make me miss the actual countdown to the new year.  There were monkeys that we saw jumping from branch to branch in the trees above us earlier in the night though.  I think the best part of our vacation though was just seeing the actual falls. They were un-freaking-believable.  I had a pre-concieved notion of what they would look like, but seeing the actual falls...they blew my mind.  They're spectacular. Words cannot describe. 
The biggest misconception that I had was that the falls fell into a giant pool of water, but they dont.  It's like the earth just split and there's a giant scar running down the face of it that the Zambezi falls into.  Its a giant valley pretty much, all black and jagged wet rock face.  One of the things I found most impressive was the spray.  No one really talks about it but since the water is falling on rocks and not into a pool, it creates a mist you can see from pretty far away that just blankets (and consequently soaks) everything.  I thought it was the coolest thing when we were on the booze cruise and you could see the white spray coming up, or when we were driving to the falls in one of those open-top safari vehicles and we turned a corner and there we were at the top, mist billowing and the falls looking like the end of the earth.  I wonder what Dr. Livingstone thought about that. 
Word of caution though: as incredible as it is, it is also incredibly dangerous. Due to the ever-present mist, everything is wet and consequently slippery.  The hand rails only reach to chest level if there are any at all.  The drops are steep. Very, very steep. And the bottom of the gorge is full of not-so-soft rock.  Not to mention there are unofficial guides that take you for an unofficial tour to walk on the lip of the falls (I'm serious-people do it. If the internet were working in Mansa I have pictures of two girls and an illegal guide standing in the water literally ON the edge of the falls).  People die all the time.
There are also baboons. Not the lovably eccentric Rafiki baboons, but large, brown, intimidating baboons with even larger canines.  Volunteers have horror stories in regards to these baboons and one stole my friend's purse to drink her alcohol packets and eat her doxycycline (malaria profylaxis) when we were there. A year ago a tourist got killed when a baboon tried to take away his camera and he slipped and fell into the falls.  If you know me, there's only one primate I hate more than baboons. And that's gorillas.

So that's pretty much what I did during my vacay.  Right now I'm in Lusaka for the new RED diversity panel (I'm special and unique!).  It was so strange meeting the new RED trainees- even stranger than meeting the new CHIP/RAP intake since these new ones are in the same program.  It was refreshing to see a group fresh out of America-land, enthusiastic and excited and still devoid of the cynicism and jaded menality that seems to take over the longer you stay and work in the field (sorry- just being honest).  After panel I got to shop and hang out with a few of them and there's some seriously awesome people and potential in this group.  They're gonna do some great things once they get in the field. Good luck with PST and power to y'all!

That's about all I've been doing recently.  Term 1 started a few weeks ago (I nearly killed myself planning/writing up lesson plans for the one and a half weeks of lessons I missed) and its going pretty well, more on work and projects at a later date.  Hope all is well in the home land! Love all of you and you know how to get me if you need me.