I (heart) Stephanie Nolen

Guess who just got a personal email reply from Stephanie Nolen?!! Yup, that’s right, yours truly! I am high as a kite right now! I had sent her an email asking about the possibility of writing while in Zambia and she recommended I didn’t have enough time to research for a book but gave me some good advice about writing for the Globe (she even told me to first send her my pitch!). I am really happy that she was so encouraging… this only makes me love her even more. (Jen & Andrea: this just further confirms my plans to have Stephanie and Stephen Lewis at certain upcoming events mwahaha)

On a less exciting note: I’ve been pretty sick the past few days and I suspect it is from drinking a drink which had ice cubes from tap water. Thanks to my doctor neighbour (and Rob’s friend Anne!) I figured out that the ice was likely the culprit. Boy have I learned my lesson!

There’s not too too much to report this week, it’s been very busy at work/around Lusaka trying to get my student visa in order and completing my status report (and other documents) for my supervisor in Toronto. But, it’s been good, and there is constant progress with the gender equity project so I’m happy as a clam.

One excitement was going to visit the Education Center run by my Czech neighbours. The owner of this clinic is pretty awesome – all the profit he makes from his private medical clinic (where I live) goes towards running this education center for street children. The center provides basic education and arts/culture activities – it’s a really nice place and the kids absolutely love being there. The day I went I helped sharpen pencils, watched the kids learn about ‘creating perspective when drawing, and watched a batik-making lesson (provided for the older girls). It was very interesting. I had such a good time, I would really love to be able to spend all of my time there. Unfortunately U of T would not allow that, however, I asked my supervisors here if I could spend an afternoon a week at the Center and they were very receptive to the idea. Hopefully I’ll find time to go!

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed, watched Grey’s Anatomy with my two Canadian friends Wednesday, watched a video with a coworker on Thursday and went to a party at the American Ambassador’s house Friday (the party was okay, not fantastic, especially since that is where I encountered said ice cubes! haha). Other than that, I’ve enjoyed catching up with a few particularly witty girl friends over msn, have been having very nice chats with a certain lovely boyfriend, have been working on PhD applications (I probably should be doing them right now!), have started cleaning up for my Mom’s arrival (Thursday! Yay!) and have begun to contemplate the upcoming Independence Day this Wednesday (it actually will likely be rather uneventful because a lot of people drink and drive that day and I’ve been cautioned to stay home!)… I think that’s about it! Back to melting over Mrs. Nolen’s email! Haha

Check out new photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2158772&l=0a815&id=13613119