Life in the homestay

Chim toilet.. can you say hole in the ground?

My hut

Chimbusu on left and bathing area on right

Fanwall-  little brother pretending to drive his auto

I am now posted to my 3 month homestay where I will reside until training is through and I swear in as an official PCV. I'm staying in the village of Suse in the town of Chipembi. I have my own two room brick and thatch hut, chimbusu (pit latrine), and bathing shelter but it is on the compound with my host family and I eat and interact with them regularly. My host family consists of my Bamaayo (Mother) Dorris, my Bataata (Father) Bruno, my two sisters (though they are just as "adopted" as I am) Eunice-age 16 & Phades- age 14, and my young brother Fanwell- age 5. I am learning the bemba lanuage though unfortunately the children speak mostly Nyanja which complicates the communication and language learning on my part. Luckily Phades has a basic bemba vocabulary and slightly less english vocab as she has been my main helper in getting around and doing things. Both of the host family parents speak english which makes communicating possible right now. I'm sure with time and the many upcomingg language lessons I'll become better able to use my bemba.
It is surprisingly cool here. It is winter right now and temps drop down to the higgh 40's- low 50's if I had to guess. The past two mornings I have been able to see my breath in the mornings. I usally wake up around 6:15 and eat breakfast shortly thereafter. I'm not normally an early eater but the couple km bike ride into the training center dictates that I eat. Zambians typically eat breakfast much later but our training schedule requires the early breakfast.
We train 8am-5pm Monday through Saturday with Sunday off to do chores, study, and have fun.  The training is jam packed with classes on language, culture, bike maintenance,  teaching instruction, health concerns, and projects. There are 30 total RED trainees and a pretty good sized staff of Zambians to assist us. My bemba language group ha 5 people and one instructor and we meet almost daily depending on the schedule.
Hopefully things will slow down a little after training.  The pace is a little crazy considering how much extra effort it takes just to maintain your home and self with none of the modern ammenities I had back home in Colorado.