A new place to stay and an afternoon at the market

Had a relatively quiet weekend and spent most of the day on Saturday and Sunday trying to get some work done at the Chita Lodge, with a break each afternoon to walk over to Manda Hill shopping mall for some lunch. Joined a friend from work to go see a movie at Arcades shopping mall (which is actually just a mile or so down the road from Manda Hill) on Sat. night. We watched "I Think I Love My Wife" with Chris Rock which, with the exception of the glob of watermelon gum I unknowingly sat in (gross!), was pretty enjoyable.

The big news I guess is that I have relocated from the Chita Lodge to an apartment a few miles away. The place is being sublet by a couple for the summer. It's a really nice place and I'm psyched to be out of the hotel setting and in more of a 'home'. It is a bit strange, though, living in someone else's house, and trying to figure out where they keep stuff in the kitchen, etc. The other big accomplishment of the day was driving the project truck home after work and then finding my way to the grocery store (called Spar--a South African chain). The grocery store was a bit of a challenge. It's super nice (puts the Kroger in Frandor to shame, for those of you who know what I'm talking about), but the problem is that I'm not familiar with any of the brands so it took me twice as long to find what I was looking for. Oh, and apparently lowfat milk is a rare find in Zambia. If and when I find some, I am going to hoard it! (They sell "long-life" milk so hoarding is possible.)

As for the first night in the apartment, everything went smoothly over night, but I woke up this morning to discover that the running water wasn't working. I've done the no running water thing "au village," where one expects such things, but it's a different story when you're in a city. There's no well here from which to draw water so I think I'm going to have to fill a few buckets just in case this happens again! The water was back on by noon and appears to be working tonight. Here are a few pictures of the place in case you're curious about what my new digs look like:

APARTMENT PHOTOS

I headed into the office after the water came back on and joined some others at work for lunch around 13:30 (we use the 24-hour clock here). We all throw in the equivalent of $12.50 per month (50,000 Zambian Kwacha) and the gardener who works at the office makes us lunch every day -- usually nshima (thick maize meal porridge -- kind of like polenta), some meat or fish, and then some greens (usually a collard green variant they call "rape") sauteed with some tomatoes and onions. It's obviously cheap but also a good way to get to know the local cuisine and spend some time chatting with the Zambians that work at the project.

After a few refinements to our urban survey, we headed out to one of the "compounds" (housing areas -- kind of like large neighborhoods) on the outskirts of Lusaka. Basically we were trying to figure out if our survey is using the right terminology for the different types of retail outlets and units in which different foods are sold. The main road in the compound was lined with kantembas (small shops with semi-permanent structures made of wood and sometimes corrugated metal -- but not really secure so the vendors need to remove their wares every night), ka tables (tables with veggies, dried fish, sugar, etc. for sale -- usually tended by women or girls), and some small groceries (cement block buildings selling a variety of items, the biggie being maize meal). Going to the market was one of my favorite activities in Guinea and it was great to get back on the market scene. I wish I knew Nyanja (the local language) though because I had to rely on the Zambians that were with us to translate much of what was being said. I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera but found a few pictures on various sites on-line that are from Zambia and look similar to what I saw today.

COMPOUND & MARKET PHOTOS

Oh, and one last thing before I end this post: it is FREEZING here! Ok, well, freezing meaning that it gets down to the mid-40s at night (and warms up to the mid-70s during the day). It feels colder than the 40s, though, because the windows don't really close all the way (not unlike my apartment in East Lansing, I guess!) and there's no heat in the apartment. Let's just say I'm glad I brought my fleece with me and that I am in the market for a sweatshirt!

Cheers. ~nmm