Busy times…
I’m getting accustomed to life here, communication here, and the people here. Though I don’t feel like anyone here understands me or will ever understand me to the degree that my friends, girlfriend and family back at home understand me, I am learning more and more to be myself and to allow myself to be appreciated for who I am. Nobody here really understands my humor very well (even the Americans, with the exception of Jeff… I’m a little too dry and refined, I guess?)… But I can’t help it, this is just how my face looks!
In the last few days we’ve been quite busy…
We found two big patches of bamboo at our friend Rick’s house and have harvested much of it to be used making the bamboo bicycles. Also at Rick’s house, we had a great dinner where Vaughn and Dustin and I choreographed a dance to a Chris Brown song that we performed for Rick’s children, who in turn danced a couple songs for us.
The BBC came for a primary visit yesterday, which was awesome. After a couple days of talking on the phone with a British woman I had been calling “Joan,” I finally met “Jo” and her partner who are doing a story for the BBC, BBC Online, and BBC WorldNews Radio. We had a great time chatting and they will return on Monday and Tuesday with a crew to record video and audio to be used in a series they are doing on economic development and social business in Africa.
Vaughn and Dustin are headed back to the States on Sunday for a couple weeks… so we’ve been preparing to have them be away and to still be functioning and pushing forward. Construction out at the farm will continue to go great… Jeff and Daryl will still be here and they are more or less autonomous.
I will continue on my learning path by spending a full day with 9 different people… all of the actual positions with Zambikes. By doing this I’ll be able to see what each person hoes and how everyone relates to each other. It’s important for me to see all aspects of the company so I know what all needs to be in the operations manual. This is going to be a much bigger job than I thought, but honestly I don’t think it is going to take me 6 ½ months. There are, however, plenty of things to do around here so I won’t have trouble filling my time.
To all y’all who still wear fanny packs: I HAVE been taking pictures, but I need to settle in and figure out how to upload them with this slow Zambian “broadband.” Hopefully when we get internet at our own house/office it’ll be faster and I’ll be able to inundate you with non-stop words and pictures. Look out
Zambian Nugget Of The Day: The money here is super-inflated… 5,400 Kwacha is equal to one US Dollar. 1 million kwacha is not an uncommon number as you might imagine, and it equals roughly $200. The funny thing to me about this currency is that the highest denomination of paper Kwacha you can get is 50,000. So, when I cashed in $500 I received something like 2.7 million ZKw, all in 50,000 notes… A fat stack. I’ll leave you with some Zambian slang… when talking about 20,000 ZKw (about $4..00), you would refer to it as “twenty pin.” Stay up to date with this blog to learn more useless information about Zambia!
Kenzi's Mom (February 27, 2009, 9:44 pm).
Hey Matt — when Tori was in Tanzania, she and Alexis used Kodak Gallery to share their pictures — she said it was a lot faster, both for them and for the people receiving them. Don’t know if that will work for you. KM
Kenzi (February 27, 2009, 10:30 pm).
I’m so happy you are there safe and sound! It sounds like you’re starting to settle in, which is good. And I definitely miss, and appreciate, your sense of humor!
Mom (February 28, 2009, 7:17 am).
Kwacha Kwacha koo–you’ve just been tickled by your mom! Don’t spend your millions all in one place! Miss you!