Some great discoveries that have already happened:
1. Don’t die, because my niece will never forgive me. My sister and her 3 year old daughter were a watching an episode of ER yesterday, where Carter was working in a medical clinic in Africa. Halfway through the episode the clinic is blown up and my niece thinks I am dead. And even though my sister told her that I wasn’t dead, that I wasn’t actually there she was still so mad at me that she wouldn’t even talk to me on the phone yesterday. Next time, I will try not to die.
2. I made it all the way to the airport gate before I realized that I forgot to put my makeup on. Now, for those of you who know me, I am not usually obsessed with perfect makeup and hair. But I almost always wear it, especially if I am in public. So the discovery of not having makeup on and being in public places all of the world was annoying. But on the plus side, it’s the only thing I have discovered that I didn’t do before I left!
3. Last year when I went through Heathrow Airport to Zambia, I discovered that one of my favorite noodle restaurants was in the newly built Terminal 5 (where international British Airways flights depart). I had forgotten about it until landing in London today and I am super excited to grab a bowl of great noodles before getting on my next plane. It’s called Wagamama and it is a chain restaurant in London, so if you are ever here look one up and give it a shot. Yum!
4. I am too chicken to beg for an upgraded ticket to first class because I am on a missionary fare. This was the big joke at one of my going away parties and I had been thinking about what I could do to see if I could get a seat that actually lays down in first class. But when push came to shove, I was too chicken. Except for when it came to my overweight suitcase. I was weighing in at 27 kilos (about 60 lbs) and the weight limit was 25 kilos. But thankfully the guy at the check in counter was gracious and waved it through, saying “You’re probably going to Lusaka to do some good work with kids or something, huh?”. To which I sheepishly replied, “Yes and this bag is overweight because of donations for them…” and then I batted my invisible eyelashes at him (invisible because they are super place if I don’t have mascara on) and he waved me on. So thank you to Jean and Larry who gave me the bigger suitcase that I was able to pack full, Don Van Nimwegen and his daughter Kat (and boyfriend Tom) for helping me get the donations needed to pack it full!
5. Other discoveries are that dollar stores are nowhere to be found when you want one. Especially near Northgate and Southcenter.
6. My family is super cool. And very handy to have at the airport when you have five bags to juggle with a collective weight of 75 kilos (or more than my body weight in pounds).
I suppose that this is enough discoveries for now. As for me, I am going to continue drinking my mocha and eating my sandwich from Pret A Manger (similar to Starbucks) and try to stay awake for the next five hours while I wait for my plane to take off. Here I am bright eyed and bushy tailed in the airport.
January 28th 2:15 pm
I arrived in Lusaka 8 hours ago and have managed to keep myself pretty busy until now. It was an amazing treat to listen to many of the Zambian women who work for the House of Moses (HOM) singing praise songs in their amazing harmony this morning after my arrival. It was another great sight to see half of the women running out the doors of the HOM to watch the Zambian national soccer (football) team driving by after being defeated in their attempts to make it to the world cup. So far I have made it in to the shower, unpacked my bags, been to the grocery store, and filled up on my first meal with ‘nshema, the staple carbohydrate of the Zambian diet. It was delicious with a bed of cooked greens and okra, but I declined to add the caterpillars to the meal. I’ve already tried them and will gladly pass on them for more ‘nshema.
The weather so far isn’t bad, a little on the warm side for most Washingtonian’s, but pleasant and not super muggy. I’ve been told that today is a little cooler than it has been because it just rained and helped cool things down. There is a nice breeze blowing too through the open windows. Tomorrow I start working with Ireen, the head nurse at the HOM, and will possibly head out to the pediatric HIV clinic where I will also be working. I am excited for both opportunities and have a lot to learn in the process. For those of you who have been to Zambia before here are some new discoveries. By the way, I think that I will try to finish off every blog entry with at least a couple of discoveries to show you all back home the new things I am experiencing or seeing.
1. It’s nice to know people. Especially Alice Botha who was sent by Sandra to pick me up from the airport. The visa requirements have been changing and I was fairly confused as to what I was supposed to do since I am going to be in the country longer than my visa allows, but with Alice there to meet me, we just walked right up to the front of the queue for VIP’s/Diplomats and cut in front of everyone and got my visa approved. Too bad it doesn’t matter who you know when it comes to getting your luggage. After speeding through immigration, we then spent the next 15 minutes waiting for my luggage to appear. Thankfully it all appeared and we were still on our way within a reasonable amount of time.
2. The staff (Christine and Ruth) put me in the smaller dorm to sleep in since the girls dorm is very big. The downside of this is that it is in between the washers and dryers that run 24 hours a day, the kitchen, and the nursery with the older children, who cry 24 hours a day. We’ll give it a shot to see how sleeping goes, but I don’t know how it will go. It will be nice to be in the smaller dorm because it is brighter and has beds that are not bunk beds so I won’t have to worry about hitting my head during the night. It also comes complete with a gecko for my mosquito eating enjoyment.
3. Shoprite (the grocery store at Manda Hill) has brie cheese, cream cheese, red curry, pad thai, and just about every other food I thought that I was going to have to go with out. Sure the prices are spendy for those specialty items, but it’s nice to know that if I am absolute dying because I am craving a particular thing, I could always buy it at Shoprite, where the prices are at least cheaper than Spar (the other grocery store).
4. Speaking of Manda Hill-the shopping mall is undergoing major renovations. They are turning half of the parking lot into a sketchy looking multilevel parking garage and adding more store space to the other side of the parking lot.
5. Jeffrey doesn’t work for the House of Moses anymore. He was the driver for my first 3 trips so it is a bit sad to be here and not see him, but alas, he has moved on and Tom is the driver now. It’s too bad they won’t let me drive…
6. It’s much harder to stay awake when you don’t have a team of people to keep you awake. Everyone pack your bags and get over here! Come see what great things are happening here in Zambia! The REAL Africa or so I was told this morning!
Here is a photo of my new living space. I will probably switch over to the bigger dorm when the teams start coming, but for now this is super cozy!
Much love!
Melissa
