Recovery

Have you ever thought about what a privilege it is to take a hot shower? In general, I don't like to discuss my personal hygiene habits publicly, but after 6 weeks without a shower, I can't help but note that showers really are incredible blessings. I arrived at my parents' house in Gilbert yesterday morning and one of my first orders of business was to revel in a beautiful invention called a shower head. I stood there under cascades of hot water coming from above (not from a cup in my hand!), and enjoyed every moment more than I've ever enjoyed a shower before. I even shampooed my hair twice. Plus, my parents' guest bathroom has a shower head on which you can adjust the pressure - what luxury! Okay, so I might be going a bit overboard, but I REALLY missed taking showers in Zambia.

My last few days in Zambia were good, if a bit bittersweet. It's hard to live life so closely with people for 5 weeks, and then have to say goodbye, knowing that it's possible you won't see some of them ever again. I had some good one-to-ones with Cynthia, Chonde, and Estella, and we had an awesome farewell party on Wednesday night. But, I'm getting slightly ahead of myself.

Wednesday was our last day in Lusaka, and Nelson and Chapo took our team to visit a village so we could get a picture of traditional Zambian life. In the villages, community is an essential part of life. Extended families all live together in one area. Polygamy is part of the culture, so a man will marry many wives and have many children. Each family unit has their own hut, and they all share a central kitchen hut and bathing hut. Their daily activities mostly focus on things like building/repairing their huts, gathering/preparing food, taking care of animals, and farming. It was good to be exposed to a different side of Zambian culture before we left.

We went from the village to a reptile farm where we had a debriefing time. First, we saw a bunch of crocodiles and snakes, and we even had the chance to hold a 10 foot, 40 pound python. Now, if you know me at all, you know I'm not exactly an animal person, and when it comes to creepy, crawly, slithery things, I pretty much stay as far away from them as possible. (My friend Krista, has crawdads, and when we lived together I held them once, maybe twice, and quickly put them down when they started to move.) However, seeing as I've been on a streak of trying new things lately, with a bit of hesitation, I held that python around my neck. Meghan wasn't too excited about it, either, so we decided to hold it together (everyone else held it solo), and as soon as I get them, I'll post some pictures of the two of us freaking out with this snake draped around us.

After that experience, we had lunch (croc burgers!) and spent some time reflecting on our experiences. Nelson and Chapo wanted some feedback in order to help other summer teams who would follow us, and they wanted to help us get the most out of our trip by thinking through what we've learned. It was a good time, but my favorite time by far was when we went through and affirmed each person individually. I love my teammates. They have become sweet friends, and I am so blessed by how each of them have loved me.

Wednesday night was our farewell party, and the students sent us out in style. We spent time singing our favorite Zambian worship songs, dancing and having a blast. The staff gave us some parting gifts, and then different members of our individual Bible studies thanked us and gave us more gifts. I was blown away by their generosity, and I have some really sweet new dangly earrings I'm totally stoked about. :) Then we danced some more - I love how much dancing there is in Zambian culture! - and then it was back to the house to pack. We were up late into the night packing and spending our last few hours with the girls we lived with. Eta, a recent graduate of UNZA who led Bible study with Stephanie and spent a lot of time with us, gave me a Lozi name: Lilato, which means "love". So, now I'm part of the Lozi tribe. :)

We got up early Thursday morning and headed for the airport. Nelson, Chapo, Sarah, Eta and Kakoma saw us off, standing in the airport as we waited in line until we finally went out of their sight. I'm definitely missing them already.

We had a great day in London on Friday, seeing some of the famous sights and getting to go to the theater for a production of "Fiddler on the Roof." It was a good transition day, pretty chill yet we got some good sight-seeing in. Saturday was a long day, 29 hours, to be exact. After a night in Baltimore I got an early flight into Phoenix yesterday morning. And now, recovery has started.

My family is currently in Kenya, so I have the house to myself, and while I definitely miss them, I can say solitude is a beautiful thing. I am doing my best to balance rest and rejuvenation and reconnecting with people here. Jet lag is a bit of a beast, but I am confident I will conquer it soon. For those of you looking for pictures, they are coming. Stephanie has a memory device with all of our pictures on it (12 GB worth - with digital you can kind of go nuts), so she's going to burn them all onto DVDs and send them to us. I have a few on my camera I can post until I get hers, I just haven't put them on my computer yet. But, they are coming, don't you fret!