x-culturism
this past week had some interesting views into zambian culture. on the 4rth we had a cross-cultural day where all of our homestay families came to the training center and cooked for us...no real outta the ordinary foo (except for impala & catipillars) but we did so chickens being slaughtered and some of us, no myself, got to take part.
on thursday we had an amazing lecture from a zambian author about zambian culture and its differences from the western cultures. basically as far as time goes, americans are monochronic whereas zambians are polychronic...so in zambia waiting is an activity where in the states it is an annoyance. i have defenitly seen that in daily life here already. the most fascinating part of the lecture was when the woman commented that the extended family structure in zambia is starting to weaken a bit. i thought she was going to say due to hiv/aids, when in fact she commented that the extended family structure is the one thing that has saved zambia from total chaos in the midst of the hiv/aids crisis. its amazing the obligation that zambians feel toward their families and fellow human beings.
there have been a few questions about my email, its hcaulfield123@yahoo.com and currently i check it weekly, which will soon turn into monthly, but feel free to use it anyway (in addition to writing cause letters are AMAZING). also i got a cell phone which will have good service till i leave for site in mid august (minus the last two weeks of july when im on site visit). i can't call you b/c i have no money, but incoming calls are free & my # is 011 260 99 658 537. i'm not sure if i listed the country code in the beginning rite, but if you cant figure it out and want to call, call my parents and they will tell you what to do.
guess thats all for now, take care & stay classy.
on thursday we had an amazing lecture from a zambian author about zambian culture and its differences from the western cultures. basically as far as time goes, americans are monochronic whereas zambians are polychronic...so in zambia waiting is an activity where in the states it is an annoyance. i have defenitly seen that in daily life here already. the most fascinating part of the lecture was when the woman commented that the extended family structure in zambia is starting to weaken a bit. i thought she was going to say due to hiv/aids, when in fact she commented that the extended family structure is the one thing that has saved zambia from total chaos in the midst of the hiv/aids crisis. its amazing the obligation that zambians feel toward their families and fellow human beings.
there have been a few questions about my email, its hcaulfield123@yahoo.com and currently i check it weekly, which will soon turn into monthly, but feel free to use it anyway (in addition to writing cause letters are AMAZING). also i got a cell phone which will have good service till i leave for site in mid august (minus the last two weeks of july when im on site visit). i can't call you b/c i have no money, but incoming calls are free & my # is 011 260 99 658 537. i'm not sure if i listed the country code in the beginning rite, but if you cant figure it out and want to call, call my parents and they will tell you what to do.
guess thats all for now, take care & stay classy.
posted by ray | 7/08/2006 07:52:00 AM
2 Comments:
i miss you so much
-matt brown
Hope you had a Happy Birthday out in the bush of Africa. I just went to Cali and Yosemite-basically San Fran. By the way, I had to tell my fellow coworkers about holden caulfield. I dont think they knew it was a character in "Catcher."
I can understand why you choose that name. It is an apt description. I mean that in good way.Is it possible to send you pictures?
About work, we are moving out of the building soon.
Marc W
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