Photos

Picture posts

Hi everyone!

Not sure how much longer I have before my time runs out in the cafe but I'm going to try to share some photos with you!

Two days in the ART clinic

January 31, 1354

Hi all!

First off, I'm feeling much better than yesterday. Today, Esther and I spent our second day in the ART (antiretroviral) clinic.

On day one, we spent the entire shift taking vitals. You would not believe how many people frequent the clinic. In the Mongu area alone, they are responsible for seeing over 15,000 clients. And those are only the known, current HIV clients.

On day two, we sat in with the pediatric education counselor and learned more than we ever thought we'd know about HIV.

It's an interesting place. Though it needs its own building, it is housed in a series of small rooms at the hospital. The need for service has far outgrown the infrastructure and so they've had to build a 'shelter' in the back of the hospital for the HIV clients to sit under. Ten by ten, they are called in for vitals and for their records to be opened. Then, they visit a clinical officer who prescribes medications. Next, they visit the educator for adherence education. And finally, they go to the Bleeding Room to give blood and/or to the pharmacy to pick up medications.

The strain is visible everywhere. There are three record rooms and they are filled to the max with documents and files. And the staffing is similar. There are just three nurses and they are incredibly busy.

Overall, it has been an interesting place to spend time.

This weekend, we are heading to the Zambezi river for a cruise and another brye! Excitement!

Picture post

More pictures!

Negative experience

Today I had my first definitely negative experience in Zambia. I've had some ambiguously negative ones already but this was my first that wasn't just my perception.

After we went banking, Esther, Sylvia, and I decided to head to the market for groceries and then to Oasis for an early dinner. The market was the same as usual and we bought some onions and greens. While looking for bread, a man approached us that I perceived to be drunk. He put his right hand high in the sky as if to shake my hand in an exagerated manner. I offered my hand to him and as we shook, he came in uncomfortably close and put his hand in my scrub pocket. Quickly, he removed it along with my only four colour nursing pen. I immediately asked for it back while he babbled back at me with an aggresively taunting look in his eyes. From what I understood, he was trying to 'encourage' me to visit his family members' kiosk by stealing from me. I continued to ask for my pen back, searching anxiously for help from the many people in the market. For a nation with so many people eager to stare and point at us, I was saddened and frightened that nobody would help me even when I asked directly. He reached out for Sylvia and Esther as well but we resisted his touch. Although we were unwilling to go with him, Sylvia and Esther still wanted to pursue the thief. As I asked once again, he pulled back his leg as if to kick at me. I relented, worrying for our safety and for our rent money that we had withdrawn. Turning around, we exited the market and went to Oasis.

An hour later, as I type this, I'm still feeling sick to my stomach. Even though it was just a $5 pen, it was specifically my pen. It was a pen that I had used through my degree throughout the best and worst clinical days. And it wasn't just the pen. He betrayed my trust and stole from me. I'm not sure if I'll return to the market now that I know that Zambia isn't as safe as I once thought.

Kafue

It is Sunday morning at 1044 and our time here is almost through.

Yesterday evening, after dinner, our group moved to the second floor loft for dancing. It was a ridiculous time and I took plenty of photos to document the experience. Sadly, many of them won't see the light of day, haha!

The next morning, the unaffected, such as yours truly, woke up early for more activities. At 0530, Susie, Rachel, and Nat crossed the river for a game drive (an elephant on the middle of the road mock charged them!). At 0730, about half of the remaining group went for a boat cruise. The majority boarded a covered barge-style boat while we hopped onto a speed boat.

While touring the river, we saw many hippos. They're such funny creatures! I love the thought of them sinking to the bottom and jaunting around the river floor. We also saw the national bird of Zambia, a type of eagle (the one on the flag).

We got back to shore about two hours later and enjoyed yet another amazing meal. The crepes here are amazing.

I will never forget my time here. The hospitality has been unbelievable. All of the staff have been terribly kind and accomodating. And the food has been way way too good. The guides are very knowledgeable and seem to know every secret about each animal and plant in Kafue. I've been having a great time.

After lunch (another meal!), we will be boarding our less mini minibus and journeying back to Mongu. Esther and I are spending a week in the ART (anti-retroviral therapy) clinic for individuals with HIV/AIDS. It is going to be hard to readjust to cooking somewhat less inspired meals than here and living like normal people again.

As another fun note, I learned that we will be encountering scorpians during our walkabout in a couple of weeks. I can't say I'm looking forward to them. The good news is that their venom is cytotoxic but won't kill me. It will kill cells locally and cause swelling and redness but life will go on!

You would not believe this place!

January 28, 1030

It's hard to imagine that just yesterday we were hungry, tired, and in Mongu.

Yesterday, we woke up early to meet a couple of minibuses that took us to the Mongu bus station. I am certain that I speak for most of us when I say that we weren't hoping to return there so soon. It's a muddy bustling place with plenty of people asking for tickets (which we never have).

We boarded our bus (essentially a less mini minibus) and took off toward Kafue (I'm not terribly sure how to spell it but, phonetically, it is cuh-FOO-ee). Kafue is this large park and reserve that we drove through on our way from Lusaka to Mongu. Beyond that, I didn't know much about it. I had heard whispers that there was good food where we were going but all I knew for sure that it was the location of our much anticipated safari.

After several hours of driving, we pulled into the long driveway of the lodge. I was giddy. We hadn't even started our safari and we were already seeing animals! The less mini minibus drove us to the end of the driveway and the lodge came into view. Phenomenal. The lodge is this huge building that looks akin to the many huts that we saw on the way.

Upon entering, there is a modest reception area with some local jewelery and gifts. As we turned left, we encountered an open-air seating area, a bar, and to the right, a two floor seating area. It's hard to convey just how amazing it is. All of it is covered but open at the same time. To the left of the two storeys, there is a pair of long tables with enough seating for all of us. Behind, a counter for the many buffets to come. Further yet, a very natural-looking pool with reclined wooden sunbathing chairs and a smaller pool (hottub?) next to that.

Perhaps the best yet was the view. As I walked onto the lower floor seating area, the river opened up beneath and in front of me. A wide blue river, water lazily flowing along, with a small dock below. Across, green foliage as far as the eye can see. Blue sky, hot shining sun, and dollops of clouds above.

Finally, we were in paradise! Everyone flitted around looking at the view, the pool, everything. The owners introduced themselves and the staff and invited us to enjoy a complimentary drink from the bar. Climbing to the second floor to view the river while enjoying a Zambian dry cider was wonderful.

Lunch was served soon after and it was amazing. I felt as though I had been on Survivor for 30 days and was being rewarded with a feast. Gooey, cheesey lasagna, many variations of fresh salad, veggies, and homemade buns. As much as we wanted. I could hardly believe my luck.

We had a few hours before our first chance at a safari (each is optional, but I intended on taking as many as I could). We lazed on the sun chairs, splashed in the pool, and took every opportunity to relax.

At mid-afternoon, many of us hopped into the covered boat and the speed boat and went across the river. At the other side, there were four safari jeeps, each capable of holding ten passengers. We climbed aboard and headed out for our first safari. The sun was out, the animals were roaming, and we snapped many many shots.

Before the sun set, we pulled over and jumped out of the Jeep. Our guide popped open beers and pop for us with meat and cheeses. Even the safari was luxurious! We soon re-boarded and drove back through the sunset.

In our room, Esther and I felt like we were in the lap of luxury. Our little house is a circular building with a couple of chairs and what I can only describe as two princess beds. Complimentary tea and cookies to boot. At the other end, a bathroom with a really neat shower. Everything is so pretty - even our front door has a very large hand carving of an impala. We also spotted two warthogs casually walking by our front door!

The next morning, since a number of us signed up for the early game drive, we received a wake-up call (someone actually knocking at our door!) and a flask of hot water for tea. With thirty minutes until 0530, we zipped around to get ready and went to the lodge. On our way, what did we run into? A hippo! Apparently, he is a rogue hippo that may have been kicked out from the group and now hangs around the lodge. He even snuggles up to the boats at night!

Back across the river and into the Jeeps. In all, we have now spotted hippos, warthogs, elephants (a little baby too!), lions (absolutely incredible! I love kitties!), impalas, heartabeasts, a leopard, zebras, baboons, and lots of neat birds. It's so incredible!

Now, back at our room, I'm sitting on my comfy bed typing out these latest adventures. And those two warthogs just walked by again! Esther, Jackie, Sylvia, and I are booked for an afternoon river cruise. How lovely!

(Book report: I've now finished the first two Hunger Game books, Ken Jennings' Maphead, The Cat's Table, and I'm currently reading Delirium. Nice not to have to read textbooks!)

Almost forgot! Breakfast today was scrambled eggs, back bacon, sausages, roasted potatoes with herbs, lightly baked tomatoes, freshly baked toasted bread with homemade jams, cereals, yogurt, fruit salad, meusli, and orange juice. I am SO excited for lunch!

A Bug's Life (is very short in our house)

I feel as if I haven't given you a real idea of just how many bugs there are. Here are a few stories to help you:

Flat Spiders: Flat spiders are tricksters. They are these arachnids that grow a legspan of up to the size of your palm. They live above our ceiling and journey into our house through the cracks at any given time. When we first saw one above our front door, we were all convinced that it was smushed. Jackie was the only one who wasn't fooled and her inkling proved true when the spider was gone the next day. Our naming scheme for flat spiders is 'Carlos' followed by the number of legs it has left. We've eliminated many Carli 8 and Carli 6. The only Carlos with immunity was the late Carlos 5. Carlos 5 was Esther and Nat's pet that enjoyed scurrying from their room to Sylvia and Jackie's. He was unfortunately (yeah right) killed during one of our evening massacres.

Big Poppa: A giant, hideous, hairy spider that lives above Sylvia's bed. We've only seen him a few times and only a couple of his legs, at that. We're certain that he's gigantic and I've attempted to poison him twice. He remains at large.

Harry: Susie and Rachel's pet. I don't know much except he's wanted dead in their house.

The bathroom: Our bathrooms are usually safe havens from the insect onslaught; however, Esther discovered that this isn't always the case. Last night, she went for a shower (in a clean room) and emerged only to see a walking wall of insects. The room was promptly fumigated.

Night bugs: When night bugs arrive, we are generally okay with a few of them. They fly in through impossibly small holes and cracks and orbit the light bulbs. We then turn in for bed, pass a few hours, and then wake up to find small cemetaries beneath light fixtures. Yesterday was another unfortunate aberration from the norm. Several of our defenses fell at the same moment and our house was immediately filled with all sorts of hideous creatures.

Defenses: After seeing other houses putting up mosquito nets on their windows, we attempted this as well. Using duct tape and medical tape, we sparingly adhered them around our windows. The results were amazing and our evening bug load dropped dramatically. This meant that the windows could be wide open all night and we could enjoy sleep without the suffocating heat. Well, this is no longer an option. The defenses that I previously spoke of that fell were our windows. Heavy with bugs, the nets began to fall and insects poured out everywhere. The result is my window losing its net and I plan on duct taping it closed today. Sanity takes preference over comfort at this moment.

Fwd: Zambikes and such

Our bikes are slowly arriving! Unfortunately, the shipping process treated them poorly and only seven arrived, four of which were rideable.

The other day, a Sister came to visit us and give us a talk on the Lozi and Zambia. She has lived in Western province for some twenty years and had a wealth of knowledge to share with us.

Later in the day, we went for a tour of Lewanika General Hospital. It is a series of buildings with covered walkways connecting them all. Each department and ward is housed in its own building and so I think it will take some time to find my way around. There is the OPD (out-patient department) which is akin to Emergency but also has perhaps a dozen out-patient clinics (eyes, gyne, and so forth), male ward, female ward, a ward for delivery (and six hour later) and then a ward for moms and babies, children's ward, theatre, TB ward, and quite a few more that I'm forgetting. It's larger than I expected and it looks like it's quite different from good ol' Kelowna General.

The next day was Saturday and we had all resolved to stay home for the weekend. We unloaded and organized our medical supplies and then made lists of our clinical preferences. After that, I promptly broke my resolve and took the bus to town with Steph and Cara and went to Lewanika to pick up our remaining three bicycles.

From there, we biked to the Black Market and I waited outside with the bikes. After some ten melting minutes, a local woman at a kiosk invited me to sit with her and her son. I was asked to sit on a stool (while they were on the ground) and offered lunch. I recognized the nshima (a sticky-pasty yellow maize substance that is the primary source of carbs here) but not the others. She told me that "this one is meat and this one is vegetable". With no reservation, I tried them both and found them to be incredibly tasty. She also offered me some water, which I expected, half-wondering if it was tap or bottled. Against the general consensus, I can't say that I am too worried about the water and so I drank it up. After some conversation, Steph and Cara returned and we all began biking home.

The bikes needed a few tune-ups and repairs along the way (Thanks Jess for giving us the tools!). At one point, we pulled over near a man by the road. He was very friendly and before we knew it there were some twenty kids around us. They all wanted to know our names and where we were from. We were all laughing and chatting while we fixed our bikes. Then they began asking us, "please take our picture!" and with the father's permission we did. They were shrieking with laughter as we showed them their pictures. "One more," we said. "Three more!" "No, ten more!" they responded. We laughed and took some more pictures and promised that we would return with some of our friends for them to meet.

A couple days in the theatre

Hello again!

Esther and I have had the great opportunity to spend the previous two days in the Theatre (operating room). It is a large building that has two theatres (with another planned) and is touted as one of the best in Zambia. Theatre 1 and Theatre 2 are home to some fine modern equipment that was donated by the Czech.

The schedule at the theatre is fixed with general surgeries being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, eyes on Wednesdays, and gyne on Fridays. Weekends and afternoons are reserved for emergencies and Mondays are cleaning days.

Zambian theatre nurses have quite varied roles compared to their Canadian counterparts; because they are often short-staffed, the nurses accept patients, wheel them into surgery, scrub in, and also act as circulating nurses. Although our two days have been light on surgeries, I can definitely see how they could become overloaded fast.

On Monday, we spent the day cleaning. Here, nurses are responsible for 'dusting' which includes scrubbing the walls, cleaning every surface, and mopping the floors. After surgeries, nurses are also responsible for sanitizing the equipment, repacking the tools and kits, and setting up the theatre for the next procedure. The shorter shifts here are understandable when one considers that they are doing the work of several employees.

We were able to see some interesting cases on Tuesday and it was fascinating to see the different way they worked. Esther and I got to scrub in for surgery and we enjoyed being able to get in and experience it with them.

Esther asked the nurse, with whom we have been working, what is most common to see. He replied that hernias, fractures, and Caesars (Caesarian sections) are probably the most common.

We also had a chat with one of the surgeons who explained how he thought that malaria is a larger threat to the area than HIV/AIDS. It definitely opened my eyes because I tend to imagine HIV as being a devastating diagnosis. His argument was that an individual with HIV might live for 15 years if compliant with medications. A patient with malaria, however, may die within a week if untreated. Both illnesses may lead to death but malaria strikes significantly more rapidly.

As planned as it might seem, it's now 1800 which means that it's time for my anti-malarial. I have even more reason to remember to take it on time!

Scheduled outages

Dear friends!

It is January 24, just about 1800, and I am waiting for power. From what I understand, fiber optic cables are being laid in Zambia and so, three days a week, power is scheduled to be off.

At first, it was a nervous novelty, like a power outage during childhood, but now I hardly notice them. It's all old hat: boil some water, fill up our bottles, avoid opening the fridge, no showers, store water for toilet flushes, and so on. We have a light switch that turns on a lone sconce over our front window that acts as our "power out alarm". Once that light unceremoniously shuts off, we know that we are without power.

When we return from work, we try to keep the fridge closed and we hang around reading and visiting others. Since we only get one channel on the TV and we are without internet, I don't find myself missing electicity.

The only thing that is missed is our limitless water. We have large containers on the premises that are pumped up full of water three times a week before the outages. When the electricity shuts off, we are off the hydration grid. All that is left for us is what is stored. Thus, we cannot use very much water during these times.

First day at the hospital

 

 Hello friends!

We just finished our first day at Lewanika General Hospital! It's a very neat place with hard working people. Esther and I spent the day in the Theatre (operating room) and let me tell you the one thing that really stood out to me.... THERE'S AIRCON!!!

Mondays are cleaning days in the Theatre and so Esther and I were kept busy scrubbing every surface (even the walls!). There was also an emergency surgery and so we were able to observe. The day zipped by pretty quickly. Tomorrow, we'll be watching (and scrubbing in, perhaps) general surgeries. The following day, Esther, Sylvia, Jackie, and I will be teaching student nurses how to do head-to-toe assessments on patients on the wards. Next, another day of surgery, and then finally we leave for the safari!

We're driving out to the safari on Friday morning and will be seeing animals by both Jeep and boat. And I've heard that there's wifi! Obviously, easily accessible internet is my most missed luxury! 

But for now, I'm heading back outside. We've got to go to the Green Market to pick up some vegetables and then we're heading over to OK Restaurant to buy another 25 samosas. Can't get enough!

Hope you're all well back in Canada. Miss you! (Especially my B!)

Incoming photos on Fri/Sat!

Hi friends!

I'm having trouble uploading pictures. Firstly, internet is very very slow here. Secondly, the computers at the cafe only let me upload one picture at a time which then takes several minutes. So I'm going to hold off on posting too many pictures until Friday/Saturday when we're at the safari lodge.

I hope that everyone is safe and happy in Canada. We're all doing well and we miss our families so much!

I also want to ask that if you're reading these blog posts that you might leave a comment at the end of them. Like I said, we really miss everyone in Canada and we'd love to hear from you. If the messages left aren't for me, I'd be happy to share them.

Last, here are a couple of pictures for you. Above is Pavan and Sonam hanging around behind the Big House. We had a sausage roast and each group contributed different salads and potato dishes. (Yum!) Below is the Medium House. The middle window is Natalie and Esther's room, on the right is Sylvia and Jackie's, and behind their room is mine. We love our little (medium) house!

So yes, please leave a comment behind (just click on the comment button below) and send us some love!

Picture post

Love from Mongu,

Joel, Sylvia, Esther, Jackie, Nat

Where the locals are...

Yesterday morning, after the Medium Fat Spread incident, I went out for a walk with a number of other people. We walked for a good hour down a long straight road outside of our compound. It was baking hot (33C) and felt like we were in an oven. Most of everyone were looking burned before we'd even made it half way.

On our way, we passed by the local basic school. Apparently school was out and children started walking and running toward us. Before we knew it, at least fifty kids were following us. Again and again we heard quick little voices shouting out, "Hello, how are you? Hello, how are you? I'm fine thank you! I'm fine thank you!" It was so funny having so many of the kids following us! It felt like the quintessential African experience.

Once we got to the end of the road, we reached a bit of a town. I turned right with half the group on a mission to find the Black Market and the Green Market. From what I had understood, the Black Market was a collection of vendors that sold goods and the Green Market sold veggies. We walked for quite a long time until it was just Susie, Rachel, and myself. I kept asking, "Are we going to even recognize the markets when we see them?" because, really, Mongu isn't a town that is used to having tourists and they're not liable to have a giant sign that says 'Green Market'. The locals know where it is already!

Eventually, we found a taxi/minibus station that was bustling with activity. We saw a narrow alley with individuals coming in and out of it. Unsure of where it actually led to, we decided to duck in anyway. Before we knew it, we were there. We were among the locals! It was this dark, hot, alley with 'kiosks' built on the walls and stairs. It wasn't anything that I expected. There were vendors of electronics, shetangas (sirongs), bags, giant piles (literally piles) of shoes, men's shirts, women's dresses, underwear, pots and pans, really just anything. We tiptoed around the big muddy puddles, dodging tiny children, while greeting everyone that welcomed us. For a dark and scary place, it was incredibly friendly.

We made our way quite far down the market until we found a man with a very large ladle who was mixing this white-yellow sticky-looking substance with huge, sweeping movements. We were fixated on him for a few moments while we wondered what he was doing. Susie asked if she could take a picture (it was unlike anything we'd ever seen) but he wanted money in exchange. We didn't have very much in the way of small bills (ATMs give out K50,000 and he wanted maybe K1,000).

Sensing that we had made our way to a less public area, we backtracked and exited the alley. The three of us were so excited - it felt like such an accomplishment! We were in a new, foreign place and we had gone where the locals went! I had even left with a Nintendo bag that was a whopping $1.20CDN! Energized from our success, we set out to find the Green Market.

Each person that we asked pointed us in a different direction. Although most vendors, business people, and those that have attended school are familiar with English, there are many people who aren't. Really, we weren't sure who understood us in the end!

We did eventually find the Green Market and bought tomatoes, beans, onions, and green peppers. It was a fascinating experience. Some people had tables and counters set out in an orderly fashion and many others were sitting on blankets selling their produce. Everything was selling for fantastic prices. We tried to buy from as many vendors as possible. The only things I wish I bought were these firey mushrooms in striking yellow, oranges, and reds.

Once we had finished in the markets, we decided to find our way to Shop-Rite. S-R is quite far away from our home and from the markets. We walked to the minibuses and asked who was going to S-R. We were ushered into the minibus (K3,000) and flew out onto the road. Minibuses can go surprisingly fast. And there are no seatbelts. There are about eight seats available and we left with just under all of them filled. As we were driving, someone would tell the copilot sitting at the van-door that she wanted out. He would bang on the roof of the bus and the driver would (startlingly quickly) veer off the road and slide to a stop. The same happened as people waved the bus down. As we drove, we passed by an amazing view of the flood plains. All I can say is wow!

At Shop-Rite, we zipped around and purchased all sorts of things and food for the house including three big cans of bugspray. Did I mention we have a lot of spiders? Once we finished there, we met Jess outside in the van and drove back home.

Later, at home, we essentially fumigated the house. We initiated another massacre (as Susie would say). Nat pulled out a killer substance called Doctor Doom and we had a heyday with that, filling up all the cracks and spaces where spiders are known to come from. We also crafted a window covering with our extra mosquito nets (courtesy of Amy and Julet) which has decreased our insect load dramatically. Because of that, we all slept soundly.

Except for the massive thunderstorm during the night. Jackie said that the raindrops sounded like they were the size of her head. I totally agree. One thunderstrike sounded like it hit somewhere in our compound - it rocked our house and lit up the room.

This morning, we're enjoying eggs and listening to music. We've broken down everybody's bug-killing personalities.
Joel: Biological Weapon Expert (well-versed in biological warfare, prefers chemicals over squashing)
Nat: Sniper (one hit kill, can destroy anything with a smack from the 'Annihalator' (fly swatter))
Esther: Machine Gun (low precision, smacks with great speed)
Sylvia: Beserker (builds up a rage and kills all in sight)
Jackie: Grape Stomper (stomps around the house with her flip-flops)

As you can see, we're acclimatizing just fine.

Mongu Adventures

I'm in an internet cafe at the moment.... left my camera cord at home by mistake. I'm going to try to return soon so I can mass upload photos for you!

Also, I have had some exciting adventures that I'm dying to tell you about!

Welcome to Mongu!

First, some sad news: Two previous blog entries - one from the plane, and one from the first day in Lusaka - have been irretrievably lost. I'll eventually be uploading all the pictures to an online gallery but sadly the written stories behind them are gone.

I'll try my best to tell you about our old home in Lusaka. It is a lovely, well taken care of compound called Cheshire House. It has several buildings and in the centre was a courtyard where the children play. Along with being a guesthouse, it is primarily a rehabilitation centre for children with physical disabilities. Cheshire House is run by a group of nuns and was really a beautiful place. They were kind to us and kept the place tidy while we stayed there.

While there, fourteen girls stayed in long dormatory, two in a separate building, and then I had my own room with two girls in the room next door. At first, I was worried that I would have too much time to think about being away from home if I was staying on my own. It turned out that it was nice to have some privacy and a place to lock up as my own. After all, I hung out in the long dorm most of the time being employed as a mosquito net tucker-inner.

Our time in Lusaka was really fun. We fell into routines of going to this little mall that had a number of stores including a Pick-and-Pay, an internet cafe (mostly offline, sometimes online), an Irish pub, and a few ATMs. The P-and-P was fantastic and felt like a Super Store. It had lots of great things to buy with fun brands that look really (really) similar to our brands back home.

On our last day, we met a fleet of taxis at 6:30am and went to the bus station. You can't even imagine what it is like with four people, four 50 lb suitcases, four 60L hiking backpacks, and four carry-on luggages in a compact car. But we made it. The station was actually really scary to me. There were many buses all parked haphazardly with people everywhere. As we hopped out of the taxi, it pulled away and the driver said he would drive around. So there we were, in the middle of this huge bustling crowd, luggage driving away, and people trying to pull us toward our bus (everyone knew which bus was ours). It was sensory overload and I nearly got run over by a backing up bus.

When we finally reached our bus, we saw just how full the underside of the bus was. It was practically packed full prior to us even bringing our bags over. We were eventually sent into the bus with our luggage sitting in the mud (there is mud everywhere). From where we were, we could see Jess negotiating how everything would fit. She looked a little... exasperated (?)... and we knew that it was't going to fit. Fortunately, for no charge, the bus line (Shalom) sent all of our luggage in a mini bus.

The bus ride was okay. It was about eight hours long. We saw several deer-looking things: some with no horns, some with long slender straight horns, and a few with neat curvy horns. We also saw a few monkeys and a couple of zebras! On our way, we passed by the safari area that we'll be going to next weekend (yay!)

Hours and hours later, we arrived at the hospital. It's lovely! All of the staff that walked by our bus were friendly and welcomed us to Zambia.

Next, we drove to Cheshire House (yep, another one) and when we pulled up, we were floored! WOW, this place is amazing! There's the 'big house' with six-ish rooms of two to three people and then several little houses surrounding it. Esther, Jackie, Sylvia, Natalie, and I lucked out and got a fantastic little house. Big living room and dining room, three rooms (queen bed to myself!), and two bathrooms. Seriously, it's great.

Now, for how fantastic it is, there are a few caveats. Bugs. There are many many many bugs. Gigantic fist-sized spiders, mayflies, moths, crickets, more spiders, giant spiders, ants, toilet-spiders, AWFUL FLAT SPIDERS THAT LOOK SQUASHED BUT ARE ALIVE, mosquitos, jumping spiders, earwigs on Natalie's forehead, moths in Sylvia's bra, dragonflies, and some spiders.

Moving on, we're awake and it's day two. We discovered some 'Medium Fat Spread'. It's this fascinating butter-margerine-fat substance that never melts. Jackie seems to think that it melts but she's delusional from the heat and spiders.

Plans: Today we explore Mongu, tomorrow we tour the hospital, Saturday and Sunday are ours, and finally on Monday we start work!

Mango Madness

Today has been a great day so far!
Amy and I took a walk down to the Pick-and-Save and I bought some great International Marie Biscuits and some granola bars. I feel like I've really got a decent grasp of the currency now... Except for my frequent underpaying. I often give K100 instead of K1000. Better than overpaying?
Afterwards, we headed to the internet cafe. Down again! We'll have to try again tomorrow. I think I'm up to six blog entries waiting to be submitted now!
Now for this entry's namesake: After our adventuring, Sylvia, Jackie, Natalie, Esther, Sam, Fallon, Suzie, Rachel, and I headed to what we thought was a museum called Heritage Trail. We stopped by the curio shop. Sasa (the owner) showed us his crafts and told us all about a big festival coming up in February in western province.
Next, we headed into a walled compound. There were some small buildings and what looked just like a swim-up tiki bar. We were greeted by a friendly woman who offered to show us around. We looked at some murals and realized that we had exhausted the 'museum'. In the silence that followed, we asked what was growing from the trees. Mangos! We were all shocked, having never seen mango trees. She was equally surprised that we had never seen them. She asked us to take a seat in a covered area and offered to have somebody pick mangos for us.
We took a seat and took the opportunity for countless photo ops. When she returned, she had a large hand carved bowl full to the brim (and then some). We were so excited! Except that we weren't sure if we needed to pay. The moment she left, we dove into the mangos anyway. Digging our nails into the skin, we took to peeling them, exposing the fragrant (and dripping!) mango flesh. Before you knew it, we were covered in mango juice - my face, my hands, my arms. We all laughed and laughed at the ridiculousness of it. It was like eating stringy spaghetti squash. Fallon compared it to shampooing a cat. I thought it was like eating delicious dental floss. Eventually, we finished our mangos and pooled up a 'tip'. Not sure if tips were common, we settled on a modest amount - about K5000 per person.
We headed back to the tiki-hut bar and handed back the uneaten mangos and the skins. What really struck me was what happened next. Where I expected the 'gifts' to have a hidden price tag on them, they were actually offering us real hospitality. They appreciated us visiting and wanted to give us mangos. We tried to meet half way and left the bills on the counter.
After that, we went on home to get ready for lunch. It seems like time moves so slowly here in Zambia. We're up early and we keep ourselves busy the whole day. I love it here.

A Good Sleep

Although my Canadian cell phone, my Zambian cell phone, and the tablet on which I'm typing all have significantly different times, I think it might be 6:30am. I woke up this morning to the melody of the sisters from within the chapel. From where I sleep, I can hear the soft speaking of the sisters in the evening and their chorus in the morning. I find it to be so comforting!

I was slowly woken up by their beautiful singing. I almost wish that their harmonies could wake me up every morning - I would be a much better morning person, I think.

We're either up way too early or way too late...

It's now 7:36am EST (or much later GST) and we've finally set down our bags in London Heathrow. It's a gorgeous day outside. Very sunny and really just incredible. We're sitting in a little cafe that claims to serve 'the finest Italian coffee'. Perched on puffy stools at a bar with little lamps overlooking an immense airplane vista. A storey above the tarmac, we're able to see countless planes landing, taking off, and pulling up to gates. It's actually quite amazing.

None of us were able to get very much sleep during the flight. It was quite loud and cramped but I think that we all managed to catch at least an hour. Jackie fell asleep during the end of Harry Potter 7.5 and dreamt that Harry Potter was about to kill her. She awoke with a start to see the flight attendant peering down at her with orange juice in hand. This was just one of many of Jackie's frightening moments as people popped up near her unexpectedly.

Esther also had a hilarious moment. She has a cylindrical pillow wrapped in a long pillow case that looks uncannily like a baby. The flight attendant walked by and knocked into her, smacking the 'baby'. The best part was as he leaned down to apologize for hitting her infant. We all laughed at that for a while.

As the plane descended, we were able to get our first few glimpses of London. It's absolutely beautiful. Stretches of green expanses, all sorts of bodies of water, and a lovely world-class airport. You could spend a years salary in between two blinks with all of these posh stores and boutiques.

One more note: Everybody around here has accents! Nobody else in my quad is phased by this but honestly I'm amazed that I've travelled so far away from my home that now I am the foreigner! Again, nobody seems to pay any mind to this but I think that it's nothing short of novel.

I'm hoping to submit these past few blog posts soon. Heathrow has no free WiFi (a shock to me!) and so I've got a little backlog building up. I may only get these up by the time we find internet in Zambia. At this point, we're just spending time in the airport waiting for all the other groups to begin arriving. We don't have a gate to go to yet but I'm hoping that we start to find our fellow expats soon!