theres a party in my bloodstream & every parasite is invited!

hey all, so i was the first of our group to get malaria. it could best be described as the worst chills ever imaginable w/extreme fatigue...fun. luckily i was able to recognize my symptoms and get treatement, so i'm totally fine now. makes for a good story i guess. other than that things are great here. last week was kinda rough, but knowing that it was the parasites making me feel down gave me a fresh start. so my days are basically spent in class now b/c we are in training. language in the moring is uber-tough but our trainer is great and the three other guys in my class, jeremy, kit & dan are really cool. tech training in the afternoon is a lot of fun and yesterday we got to bike out to a farm and stock a pond with fingerlings, or 'tunyana kanshi' in lunda. i live in a house near the training center with a family of eight who are really nice and hospitible. when i'm not there or in class i'm hangin out w/other trainees who are some of the funnest people i have ever met.

time to write is extremely limted, but i am churing out letters when possible. please write me b/c i miss you all and want to know how your lives are going. to date i have gotten one letter from my sister abby and it was the best letter imaginable, complete w/ news articles, moms picture in the local paper & the brangelina baby...keep up the good work sis!

and if you feel the need to mail anything, the following items could come in handy:
green tea
books
magazines
lara bars/cliffbars
anything else you think i'd like.

so thats about it for now...and know that everyday i have a moment where i sit back and try to comprehend what i'm doing and it is then that i'm happiest to be here...i'm being challenged a lot and couldnt be happier.

peace.