Muli bwanji,

This is the 3rd installment of my time in Zambia.  I decided this time I'd give you a little insight into my daily routine as well as some thoughts about the people and culture here….

1) 6am  - Mommy (the lady I'm staying with in Lusaka) turns on the radio to her favorite Zambian music station and cranks the volume   

2) 6:45 - my alarm goes off. It didn't need to though, I've been awake since 6am

3) 7am - Since there's no hot running water in the house, Mommy heats some up on the stove for me.  My 'shower' consists of standing in a metal tub full of water and using a cup to pour it over me. Surprisingly, this works quite well, although I’ve recently decided to start toughing it out and just have cold showers

4) 7:15am - Mommy and I eat breakfast. Bread and tea.  Music is still blaring but conversation at breakfast is always interesting.  She tells me about her past, who’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’ (these are her distinguishing adjectives to describe people), and her family.

5) 7:30am - I leave Mommy's and head out for work.  It takes me about 55mins to walk to my office, with a 5 min. mini bus ride.  After I leave, Mommy's friends ask her 'Why doesn't the Muzungu have a car??' (Muzungu meaning Westerner).  Mommy is happy I take the bus - it makes it look as though I have no money. This decreases the chances of us getting mugged, so Mommy thinks.

6) 8:30am - I arrive to 'work' at the WaterAid Zambia office. My work, so far, has consisted of writing articles for some newspapers at home, reading about water provision, sanitation, and hygiene, and the other day I removed some white sticky stuff from maps.  No worries, the lack of actual productive tasks was due to delays in obtaining my work permit.  Now that I have it, I’m able to go to the field and will potentially be moving to work in Namwala or Monze (a change from Chitongo).  I’ll find this out within the next week or two. 

7) 12 - I'm soo hungry!! I'm still not use to eating until 1pm, and it takes all my will power not to leave for lunch right now

8) 12:30 – that’s it. I’m leaving for lunch.  I always go to a local restaurant near my office. This is the first place that I ate nshima when I arrived in Zambia. The owner, Betty, and I have become pretty good friends. She’s a strong, liberal thinking lady and started the restaurant on her own after her husband died.  We usually spend lunch hour chatting, but I’ll also help serve food with the other staff when it becomes busy.  The customers find this amusing.  What I find amusing is the number of times that I’m asked if I’m married by the male customers.  The man will then usually let me know that he isn’t and that he’d like my number.

9) 4:30 – I knock off from work (that’s Zambian lingo).  I usually take the bus home since I don’t want to be caught walking in the dark and I often pick up food along the way for supper.  I grab the mini bus to town and then stroll around the market picking up veggies.  As usual, I have to be wary of increased prices that people seem to like to give me!  A ‘machoma bwanji’ (good afternoon) or a ‘ndipunzira chinyanja’ (I’m learning to speak Nyanja) will often score me an extra bundle of rape (canola) or a few bonus candies. 

10) 6pm – time to go home. I grab another bus and head for Libabla, stage 3.  This neighbourhood would be considered middle class in Zambia and is relatively safe, though it would be difficult to convince Mommy to let me outside once it gets dark!  We eat and watch the cheesy, yet engaging, dubbed Spanish soap operas.  I’ll often have a visitor (someone from the neighbourhood stopping by), and just recently, a group of young girls have started coming over in the evenings before dinner.  The first time they came to visit, I didn’t really know what to do with them.  There were 4 of them, 10-13 yrs. old.  So I took them outside and showed them how to play -what else! - ultimate frisbee.  They loved it.  Just last week, we had a group of 7 or more and they’re progressing along nicely!!  

11) 10:30 – off to bed. I’ve usually done some writing by now and I’ll still have some energy left to get through a few pages in my book…  

That’s a typical day of my life in Lusaka.  Some things that I’ve had to get used to are:

Punctuality – many Zambians feel that if they arrive within 30-40 mins. of your meeting time, they have nothing to worry about. Most of you who know me would think that I’d enjoy this lack of regard for time (I’m sometimes late myself ;) ), but I’m always the one waiting for people here. Now knowing what it’s like to be on the receiving end of this, I want to sincerely apologize to everyone who I’ve made wait for me over the past years!

Religion – people are very religious here and have a lot of faith that ‘God’ is going to take care of them.  Everywhere, from mini buses to billboards, God is referenced.  On my way to Livingstone from Lusaka, a minister even started to hold a sermon in the front of the bus!  After he’d finished, he then proceeded to pass around a collection bag!! Sometimes I have to sensor my views on religion in conversations, but I do appreciate the strength of people’s faith, especially when it benefits their way of life.  

I love and miss you all. More updates to follow…