discovery

I swear there is a lot that the Peace Corps does not tell you during the pre-departure and basically the whole time you are here. Let's be honest.

It has been 4 times now that we have been lined up for shots I thought I already had. The more protection the better, I suppose.

What else?

That first week felt like I was at some summer camp or something with an incredible amount of tea breaks. Sit in a room. Talk about poop for an hour and a half. Get a shot. Tea break. Learn how we are going to stick out. Tea break. And it went on and on. Then for a few days go camping at a volunteer site. Just check it out. No one except the volunteer will know English. Good luck.

It was not what I was expecting.
You adjust. Be flexible.

But here in this Peace Corps group you can't find the normal tree hugging hippies you thought you'd encounter. My RED group has a wide variety of people. There is everything from the frat boy who still loves to party to the drama geek and the loveable hipster to the awkward amine lover. But we are all here for one purpose and it is beautiful. It makes us family.

It is really hard to remember sometimes but important to make sure we don't tear each other down.

I have been assigned to the Bemba language.

The Bemba language.
Oh my.

My greatest desire is to be fluent one day. For now I still in class and struggle. I dedicate my every non-busy moment to studying the language. I wake up early and go to bed late in efforts to study a little bit more. Hopefully my efforts will be blessed.

I love my host family. My Zambian mom is awesome. I think she is my age but I have not asked. I know she dropped out of school in 9th grade and got married. I have a little brother who is 5 and a sister who is 10. I love them both. My dad is very protective and kills spiders with his hands like a boss.

Zambia is beautiful. It is the typical African picture you have in your head. Huge savannas with grass huts dotting the land. Riding my bike through the area is magical and something out of National Geographic. I get to see the Milky Way every night when I brush my teeth. Heaven is in my backyard. Zambia is beauty you have to see with your own eyes.

It is really weird being in Africa where the people don't speak Swahili and it is not Kenya. I am adjusting and finding a love for this land and people in my heart.

Maybe even Bemba.

But my reason for not blogging is that it cuts into my Bemba studying time.
True fact.

why

I have been asked a lot where my desire to join the Peace Corps came from. I have no idea when it started or how I even heard about the Peace Corps. 

I do remember my friend, Brittany Duffy, in high school talking about how when she is older that she is going to join the Peace Corps. I remember thinking in that moment that she was crazy and I would never do the same. I was more focused on the BYU-Idaho dream. They don't call it BYU-I do for nothing. But fast forward 6 years; she has the cutest toddler and husband while I am leaving for the Peace Corps on Monday. 

But where did the reminder of the Peace Corps come all these years later? I have no idea. 

One random day, I found myself on their website watching their 16 minute informational video and I was hooked. 

I mentioned this before. I was in a crossroads in my life. I was trying to figure out if the Peace Corps was right. There was this moment that I knew. I knew with every part of me that it was what I needed in my life. No doubt in my mind. 

I was at church and it was Sunday school time (my least favorite). I went to the converts class. I have no idea what the lesson was on. Latu Tuakalau was teaching, I remember that. He ended the lesson with is clip by Alan Watts. 

Literally changed my life. 

I knew all along I was supposed to do the Peace Corps. It was the slap in the face I needed. All I wanted was someone to remind me why and that is what I got.  

"It is better to have a short life filled with things you like doing then a long life spent in a miserable way."

-Alan Watts.