May 23rd

I spent today at the Peace Corps house in Solwezi. My plan was to get a ride back to the village with the Peace Corps cruiser, but I received an invitation to go to a chimpanzee refuge tomorrow so I decided to chill. What a tough choice! The Peace Corps house is set up very much like a hostel. There are dorm rooms with bunk beds, there is a bar, a common area, a kitchen, a bathroom, a shower, and a whole bunch for crazy ass people. When I say crazy I do not mean this in a negative way; I mean who am I to be calling the kettle black? I am pretty sure that my sanity has been called into question more than once. Although there is rumor of a volunteer killing and skinning and eating a cat in his village, which may categorize him as off his rocker. But anyways I spent the evening drink wine, eating a large family style dinner, hanging out with some fellow Americans, and inhaling more than my share of second hand smoke. I think that somewhere in the Peace Corps hand book it states that in order to be successful Peace Corps volunteer you have to pick up chain smoking.

I cannot recall if I mentioned this before but the electricity in Solwezi can be somewhat unreliable. It has a tendency to turn off right when you need it the most. For example when you are making dinner and just put something in the oven or when you just get put shampoo in your hair in the shower or when you have just taken a dump; all of these are really inopportune times to have the power fail and therefore the water fail. For all of you who have experienced a blackout and I know 99.9% of you have it is almost like a little MacIver is born in all of us. We fine the most ridiculous/creative ways of dealing with our problems and it almost always involves duct tape. Blackouts (the power kind not the alcohol induced kind) can also add a sense of misery to any evening; with everyone walking around the house with headlamps blaring you never know who you are looking at due the bright beacon of light shining from their forehead which leaves you blinded long after their light is gone. Each person is trying to out blind the other, most of the time by accident; but I have come to the realization that headlamps are not meant for socializing it is more on an independent sport.