Journey is the Destination: When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers

Let me tell you something….what a joy it is to have your family come and visit. In july my mom and sister came and I loved it! It was so refreshing, nice to show them a bit of my life and soooooo nice to see them and get a little TLC. Living on the Peace Corps budget can be difficult but I got to treat myself while sharing some of my favorite things with 2 of my most favorite people in life. But that is to say that it didn’t come with its difficulties.

The first biggest difficulty was waiting for them at the airport! How come they weren’t the first ones off the plane? I kept seeing more and more people get off and no sign of them (I think they liked to torture me). Mom was wicked brave and decided to rent a vehicle for the visit up to my site. My site is a good 12 hour drive if you are lucky from the airport to the village (usually it takes longer). So she hops off the plane and then jumps straight in to the drivers seat (I am not allowed to drive in country unless I get special clearance). So she drove the whole way to solwezi (being stopped twice I think but I used my sweet talking to get us out of one of those situations) right after she had just flown for 2 days straight.

The next day I got to show them a bit of the local market, the town of solwezi then we went to Nyansonso. It was great having them meet my African brothers and sisters and mom and dad and good friends in the village. The village really enjoyed it and they still ask about them all the time. They got to help me was h laundry, hear the rats in my house, cook on a brazier, draw water, basically have a glimps into my daily life. Now when I say a name of they know who I am talking about. I absolutely loved it I only wish they could have stayed longer.

After the village we made the long journey to Livingstone, the opposite end of the country. There we got to go on a safari, see Victoria falls, stand at the top of the falls and look down, eat delicious foods, have high tea, and spend that time with people that I have been missing for so long that I was waiting for. Basically the trip was awesome, refreshing and I am so so grateful to have had them here. IT is great to share a bit of my experiences with others, especially people who mean so much to you.

Here are some pictures from the adventure.