Day 1 in Zambia

What a day. Zambia is so beautiful and the people are absolutely gorgeous. Everyone says hello to everyone, and when they smile at you, you'd think the whole sky lit up. Trees are blooming everywhere. It's spring here now. Smelling the air when I first got off the plane was so exciting. I wish you could smell it. It's fantastic; smoky, fragrant, warm and dry. I just love it. I'm in Africa!

I had a few scary moments today where I thought, "What the heck am I doing here, and when do I go home?!?" But I told myself it was just shock, and sure enough, it was. I've been doing BodyTalk on myself all day and drinking lots of water, and yes mom, taking my Juice Plus. I feel a lot better tonight. Kevin and I took a long walk through Lusaka, managed to get sunburned before 11am (how is this possible?!?), went for a swim in the pool (I'm in the Beverly Hills of Lusaka where the physicians and diplomats live), took a nap, watched Africa Magic and some intense Nigerian tv dramas (Wayne and Liz I totally thought of you watching these. You'd LOVE them. They're horrible, and SO entertaining. Just mesmerizing.), and had dinner at an African restaurant in town.

I leave for a rural village called Macha tomorrow, where I'll be staying thru Nov 18th. That is a long time without a shower!! We fly out tomorrow at 9:30am, and I hope to catch some of our flight into Macha on the videocamera. I thought we'd be leaving on the 3rd, but it turns out we have a birthday party to attend, and I'm scheduled to teach ballet at the community center. I'll be meeting with some of the physicians there, the traditional village doctor, a Dutch visionary, a physical therapist, and hopefully some influential personalities in the village who can help get an Access class going. It's all very exciting.

Kevin's dad, Robb, got a phone call today and I've been approved to begin volunteering in Lusaka when I return. I even get my own treatment room! I'll be volunteering at Chreso, an HIV/AIDS clinic in Lusaka, Zambia, providing 15 minutes of BodyTalk Access to the patients waiting to see the doctors there. Turns out the patients get there in the morning and sit around all day, so it should be a great opportunity to get BodyTalk out there and promote a free BodyTalk Access class the following morning. This news really turned my day around and got me excited. I really couldn't do anything here without Kevin and his dad. I'm going to try to set up the same scenario at the clinic in Macha. Will keep you posted on my progress!

Love to you all!

Lauren