Are You Ready to Rumble?

As many of you know, my move to a host family had been delayed for some time. I have now, however, been living with a host family for over a week and a half and am getting a full taste of Zambian life. In addition to the mother and father there seem to be four guys and two girls although this fluctuates over time. The girls are the daughters of the mother from a previous marriage, while the rest are various relations - grandchildren I think. Since the African understandings of family are different than ours (for example, they call their cousins brother if they have the same last name) it is sometimes hard to decode the relations between people right away.

My host father is a pastor in a local Church of the Nazarene while my host mother is a midwife at the major hospital in town. Some of the kids go to school while two are through school but do not have a job. This means that they help out around the house. Since we don't have running water in the house, one of their major chores is to carry it in from outside for the toilet, bathing, and drinking.

I had known that Zambians watch a lot of TV but it was until I could experience family life fully that I realized how much this statement is true. The TV is usually on before I get home from work and doesn't go off until sometime after I've gone to bed. Popular shows include "Gardener's Daughter" (a Mexican soap opera), "Timeless" (a Filipino soap), and WWE Wrestling. The family loves it - they know all the wrestlers by name and what they have done in the past. Even my host dad, the pastor, swears under his breath at the various moves performed by the wrestlers. My host mom makes comments like "John Cena (the champion) is such a gentleman." I'm not sure if they know that it is actually not real - but I don't really want to be the one to break it to them. At any rate wrestling is part of the daily routine.

I am getting more and more climatized to my situation and am quite comfortable with the family and am used to the daily pattern of events. I hope in the future to be able to do a few more things for myself - such as getting my own bath water maybe. At the same time, however, it has been great to experience the openness and welcoming nature of my family.