Nudge, Nudge, Nudge. Sorry I'm so behind!

Ok. I’m way behind again, so let me catch you up as to what’s been keeping me so busy….

I believe we left off after the Oliver Tuku concert on Friday, October 17. So Saturday, October 18…I was supposed to go to a Kitchen Party with Michelle. This is the equivalent of a wedding shower/bachelorette party in Zambia. It lasts most of the day and from what I’ve heard it’s a heck of a party. I really wanted to go to it to have a local cultural experience while I was here, but unfortunately the Tuku concert took a lot out of me and I didn’t feel very well on Saturday. I think traveling and getting adjusted to a new place finally caught up with me and so I just needed a day off from life. Plus, I think I might be allergic to all the trees blossoming here. They are pretty, but certainly make my nose run (sorry! over-share!) Anyway….thankfully, crappy African television decided to play nice on Saturday by showing “Shrek 3” and “Because I Said So” on Saturday morning. So yes, I spent Saturday morning in bed watching TV. : )

By 1 pm I decided to go down and hang out by the pool and read Three Cups of Tea. That lasted for about an hour because it was so hot! If I had to guess I’d say between 85-90 degrees. So the rest of the afternoon I did research on my upcoming trip to Livingstone (more to come) and other random things. I finally felt back up to snuff and the need for social interaction by the evening so I called my new friend Justin to go to dinner.

Justin works for CDC Washington and is here for 4 months doing a rotation as the PEPFAR coordinator. So he’s herding the cats known as the Department of State, Department of Defense, USAID and CDC to get them to make one comprehensive AIDS program here. Pretty cool job and he’s doing well with it. Incidentally, he went to graduate school at UGA with my friend Valerie and lived with someone I went to Berry with. It’s a small, small world. (Hopefully “It’s A Small World” is now stuck in your head.) He’s also has the CDC car and graciously drives me around from time to time. So we went to dinner at an Indian Restaurant and I called it an early night. Not too exciting, but even in Africa you need some down time.