Sunday, February 18, 2007

Week One: She Saw a Little Sun!

Here's something I like about being in Zambia: the sun shines here! And in the bleak mid-winter I can only assume the question that yearly plagues many of your minds..."Is Shannon actually albino?" Well, low and behold I am not.
Yesterday for orientation we took a walk around the neighbourhood. "The Farm" is located about half an our outside of town, so it's a more rural area, which I love. We got to visit some people in the surrounding area and get a tiny taste of life out here...along with a little reminder that sunscreen is important! (I'll be black before you know it!)

Last night I found this gecko on the wall of our hut above my bed. I tried to take a picture, but it was too quick for me. You can see the tail if you look close. I don't mind these guys because apparently they eat the mosquitoes and spiders! Random facts/highlights of my first days here:
- it is the rainy season right now...although Shannon still gets sunburned. Nothing like BC, it rains hard for 10 minutes and then stops. It can also be quite windy and stormy.
- we are 10 hours ahead of West Coast time
- they drive on the left side of the road
- I was in my first accident. I wasn't driving but we got sideswiped in a round about. No one was injured in these events.
- they go by military time in Zambia
- jet lag stinks!
- we are on well water where I live so you can drink straight from the tap. Last time I was here you had to purify it first and I hated the taste so I thought I would be dehydrated for a year cause I didn't want to drink the water!
- the language I am learning is called Nyanja
- this evening we had to rescue our seven puppies from these nasty biting ants. Apparently these ants can kill an elephant because they burrow everywhere and pretty much drive the elephant mad until it kills itself by bashing it's head into trees and alike.
- Benjamin Franklin invented bi-focal glasses (I didn't learn that here but thought I would share)

2 comments:

Becky said...

I love your burnt neck...I love that it's the ONLY part of you that is burnt. You make me laugh!
I miss Africa...thanks for the stories!
Wear your sunscreen...T-dot would be ashamed!!
Becky :0)

Anonymous said...

i concur with the above stated comment, how is it that you only burnt your neck - wierd!! anyways, i've been trying to use legal jargon more and more and managed to get, "i object!" into a conversation this past weekend :) oh and charles chan and i got your letter and pictures - SOO funny! miss you.