April 24th

After five days of I have finally made it to Nyansonso, Zambia. I arrived at Logan airport Friday evening five hours before my departure time, allowing myself plenty of time to contemplate all of the things that I forgot to bring; including but not limited to my toothbrush and my head lamp. Seeing as how I am going to be living in a village with no electricity for the next three months I thought this was rather ingenious of me. It also became evident as time went on the I also forgot the charger to my computer, I am off to a great start! My first flight to Frankfurt, Germany is uneventful. I made friends with a little boy who only spoke French; needless to say we did not talk much on the seven hour flight. I spent my 12 hour layover in Germany curled up on an airport bench reading and sleeping and wishing I could understand German so that I could ease drop on the very dramatic sounding 3 hour argument between a couple several rows in front of me. Exploring the city unfortunately was an option due to several riots in the area. The second flight was to Ethiopia. I got served fish at three in the morning and Baileys at four.  At five-thirty on Sunday morning I finally made it to Africa! My third and final flight was scheduled to depart at 0930, my first problem was that I could not find the plane (not the gate I mean the actual plane). When I do actually find what I am 85% sure in the right plane I am told that my seat (13d) does not exist because Ethiopian planes do not have a row 13. Fortunately I find a seat, land in Zambia, and make it through immigration and customs! Ellen and I spend the evening in the Backpackers in Lusaka eating Impala, drinking Mosi, and fending off the many Zambian men that want to marry a “mazungo” (white people).  The next morning is when the real adventure begins!

Ellen so kindly wakes me up at 530am (1130pm in the USA) to begin what will turn out to be a 12 hour journey to Solwezi ( a village 200km south of her village).  We travelled in 8 different vehicles, given two beers, received a free lunch and soda and received 10 different Zambian phone numbers. It was amazing!!

The next day we completed our journey by climbing onto an open bed truck with 25 other Zambian women, children and men and perched on top of a large pile of dried fish. We arrived in Ellen’s at four hours later reeking of salted fish under a sky blanketed with trillions of stars.  I snuggled in under Ellen’s mosquito net listening to the crickets chirping, the gentle hum of the Zambian language, and the scurrying of rats across Ellen’s floor. I am pretty sure that I am in love with this country and its people already!

Good night Moon!