Africa » Zambia
Africa » Zambia
Letter 4 (written 6/26) - Friday, July 13, 2001
by Ratty
How is it that every single African sunset is worth writing home about, yet we're too damn busy to put pencil to paper? Ah yes, all is quite well in Zambia! Sunrise and sunset are so obscenely beautiful and grossly overdone that the sky blushes with modesty. (You think the heat's gone to my head?)
Still looking skyward, imagine a crescent moon so at peace that she lies on her back like Cheshire Cat's smile. Don't look down yet; the RT and JP Zambian bird list so far is as follows:
Common waxbill, bronze mannikin (little no-neck bird that looks vaguely like a junco), red-headed weaver, African pied wagtail (my favorite one yet), fiscal shrike, white helmet shrike, spotted creeper (looks like an "oregon" creeper, but really spotted), chinspot bats, southern black flycatcher, white-headed black chat, fork-tailed drongo (Jena's favorite), common bulbul, lesser striped swallow, green-backed woodpecker, southern ground hornbill, pied crow (picture a black crow with a white tanktop), Meyer's parrot, ring-necked and red-eyed doves, bateleur (an eagle that appears to be flying backwards due to its wing shape), African fish eagle, and dozens of unidentified others. Lest you assume that we've become expert African ornithologists, I should mention that our technical trainer is an accomplished African birder, and has led us on a few outings. How fortunate we are to have a botanist/language instructor and a bird-brain tech trainer!
In other news: Both JP and I are exploring new and exciting gastro-intesinal disorders. I'm just recovering from a bout of food poisoning brought on by cheese. (Oh, good friend, you've done me wrong!) Two days prior to my eruptions, the lovely Ms. Price managed the impressive feat of vomiting every hour, on the hour, ALL night long. (She then had the grit to mountain bike 7 miles the next morning to attend a class session. My girl: she's tough).
As you may have heard, southern Africa experienced a full solar eclipse on June 21st (...on the first day of winter, the sky went black). The heavenly event was impressive, but even more memorable is the image of 50 people, silly cardboard glasses on their grinning faces, standing on the shoulder of a Zambian highway gazing upward.
June 27th: This morning JP and I delivered our first environmental education lesson at a local grade school. We had about 20 sixth grade kids for 3 hours, and did several lessons of our own creation (mostly). Between the language difficulty (we teach in English, but their comprehension is so-so), the cultural differences and the the "mozungu" factor (white people are spectacles here that children simply stare at) -- we're pretty sure we didn't save the world today. But if you do notice things seem a little better, you can credit your trusty mozungus (pronounced -- at times repeatedly -- "mozoongoo"). Our language ability is improving (on good days); 4 hours a day of anything will eventually penetrate our thick American skulls.
Our host family continues to treat us as one of their own. Scratch that -- we are treated as honored guests. For example, whatever Jena, Briton and I do not eat at a meal (comfortably seated inside) is fed to "the chaps" -- the two boys, ages 4 and 12, who _always_ eat outside, and who appear to subsist entirely on cornmeal and table scraps. Neither of us are completely comfortable with this set-up, and have politely tried to invite the children to dine with us. But the family will have none of it. It's one of many cultural differences that we must understand. We've come to comprehend that you can understand a cultural practice without accepting it. Things that we find abhorrent (treatment of animals, women doing ALL of the real work, men's ability to retain mistresses while women must remain faithful) are a reality here, and if we spent energy fighting those practices we'd be blowing into the wind. But in order to live within this cultural framework we must understand it.
Later... (and less philosophical): We've received several letters thus far (it's so fun getting mail!) and judging by the postmarks, letters take between 2 and 4 weeks. We'd like to find out how long packages take, but we need a larger sample size (to minimize standard deviation!), so tell everyone to send lots of packages to the Lusaka address*. (We'll take letters too!)
If people wish to send something, here are some guidelines: AA batteries and 35 mm film (slide or print) will always be appreciated; sending baked goodies will most likely result in a package filled with ants (happy ants) unless you wrap very carefully -- ziploc bags would probably work; Dr. Bonner's soap has a lot more than 18 uses; books are great, though heavy ("book rate" postage is cheap but very slow): echinacea and/or Oregon grape tinctures (immune systems are good!); spices; Eugene Weekly issues, good soap and face lotion, and any other bits of home that you deem worthy. From speaking to other Yankees here, it sounds like the success rate of package arrival is very high, and that there is usually no duty fee assessed. So quit sitting on those goodie boxes and drop 'em in the mailbox!
On that very suggestive note, I leave you with wishes of health and happiness. We love and miss you all very much and want you to mail yourselves here in big padded boxes.
Love, RT and JP
(P.S. from your correspondence intermediaries: Illegally smuggled inside Ryan's aerogram was a restaurant receipt in the amount of $40,000 kracha for a bottle of wine. He knew we'd enjoy knowing that they can afford to drink wine that costs 40,000 anything.)
- Created:
- Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 12:35 PM