Steph and I thought we should bring a little more sunshine to the blog. It is so easy for us to focus on the difficult things here rather than the things we love. Here are just some of the unforgettable things we have experienced so far!
- The beautiful African sunsets
- Lightning storms every night (and getting soaked while doing our workouts during a downpour)
- OK restaurant and its fantastic samosas everyday after clinical (Usually more than one. We can get a samosa and a coke for just over a dollar)
- The time we spent at a village in Limulunga singing Lozi songs and "dancing"
- Getting laughed at every time we went to Oasis because we can't dance like the Lozi's can
- "They are finished"- The response we got the day after Zambia won the Africa Cup and we tried EVERYWHERE to find Zambian themed shetenges.
- The pleasant surprise of having the power left on after winning the African Cup of nations so that everyone could celebrate. We were so excited to have the power on, we rushed to the internet cafe, only to find a sign on the door saying "Closed- out celebrating"
- How amused the children are with bubbles and stickers
- Sitting in a concrete room at Matoya with our only entertainment being spider fights
- Being able to stomach any kind of bug that comes our way (Steph flushed a scorpion down the toilet- we were so proud)
- The look on Lloyd's face when we presented him with his very own bike. He was happier than any kid I have seen on Christmas.
- Lloyd's restaurant in the Black Market- best chicken and nshima in town
- How every restaurant sells wedding cakes (1-5 tiers, price negotiable). However when we go to order one they say "We don't have".
- The standard menu that every single restaurant has. I think they order the menu's in bulk. It has every food you can imagine... but when it comes down to it "We don't have". Nothing but samosas, nshima and chicken.
- Going to OK restaurant, asking... when do you have pizza, what day? (apparently saturday). we went back on a saturday and not only heard "we don't have", but also, "the man who makes the pizza is sick today" (he was sick last week, too!)
- walking down the street feeling like a celebrity- everyone knows the makuwas in town
- Fitting 7 of us into a compact car on our way to go dancing at Oasis- 2 in the front seat, 4 in the back and Steph sprawled across us.
- The Zambian carwash- Cars, a stream, and buckets.
- How every single cab that drives by us yells "SHOPRITE"... like all we do is shop for food.
- Zambian pronunciations of our names- especially Britain (Brittany) and Jafulie (Stephanie), Caro (Cara), and Rrrrrrrrandi (Randi)
- Shetenge Sunday's and FINALLY finding our white Lozi bracelets 2 days before we leave. Mongu must have gotten a big shipment in.
- PURPLE MIRINDA pop- a cross between cream soda and grape
- The lady at the canteen at Lewanika hospital who wanted us to meet her entire family!
- Z-beats... Don't worry you will all hear them when we are home! (MACKY 2- we even went to the concert)
- Carrying each other in traditional Zambian fashion in shetenges on our backs.. just because we can
- Trying to think of what in the world we can use all these shetenges for when we get home.
- How friendly every single person is. You can not walk down the street without getting stopped and asked "how are you", then how grateful they are that we have come to their town
- Squeezing 20 of us into the back of a flatbed truck to go to the orphanage, and having the tailgate fall open every time we went over bumps- So many potholes (don't worry mom, we all made it there in one piece).
- The 24 wonderful ladies (and 4 instructors) we got to share this experience with. We always had a shoulder to cry on, an ear to vent to, and people to laugh with.
There are so many other things we love about Zambia, and we can not believe we are leaving Mongu tomorrow. The people and the culture have made such an impact on all of us, and we will all leave a little piece of our hearts in Mongu.
Also, very excited to see you all when we get home!
xoxo,
Randi and Steph
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