update 03/02/08

This is Rachel's mom, Jennifer. Rachel has been unable to access the internet so she has asked me to update her blog for her. So, here goes...........
I first heard from her last Tuesday 2/26 when she called to say she arrived in Lusaka in one piece. She sounded wonderful, saying "I love everything so far" and "the Peace Corps is really taking care of us." Her new cell phone # is (country code 26)-097-896-4899. (fyi: Lusaka is 9 hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time). The rest of the week she was to visit other volunteers "in the bush" till Saturday.
I talked to her again yesterday. She said she has had a great week. The Peace Corps training center is actually located in a compound outside the city of Lusaka.Before leaving on Wednesday, they had to choose a language after hearing presentations about various ones. Their future assignment location is based on this choice. She will be learning Bemba. They split up into groups of 5 and headed out to the country. Her 10-hour trip by bus led her to a village where she met a volunteer named Meg who was in her 2nd year of service. (Meg happens to be a Lewis and Clark College graduate, the same school where Rachel's sister, Emily, attends). Meg lives in her own hut, and seems to manage well without electricity and running water. Rachel had a "shower" in a grass shelter used for bathing, by pouring a bucket of water over her head: "the best experience ever!!" as it was evening and had never seen so many stars in the open sky above. On Sunday she was to meet her host family who live in a village close to the Peace Corps training where she'll stay the rest of her orientation period. Classes start on Monday, consisting of language training from 8 to 12 and technical training from 1 to 5.
Rachel would love to hear from anyone via letters or text messages. "I'll write back!!" and hopes to write her own blog posting soon.