Daily Life

Daily life here in Lusaka for me isn't much different from daily life back home. I get up, go to work, come home, eat sleep. Sounds fun doesn't it? Well I get up around 6-6:30 to get ready for work. I take a quick bucket bath with hot water warmed on the stove, dress, grab a quick breakfast of a banana or some bread and jam, and start my walk to work around 7. The walk to work takes me about an hour. Work finishes at around 5, Leaving me about an hour to get home before it gets dark. I usually take a mini-bus home from work. Now imagine this. A regular sized mini-van, normally seats about 8-9 people. Now imagine this mini-van, crammed with 12-14 people, plus driver and conductor, careening along busy city streets and you have a mini-bus. They are a pretty economical form of public transport. Probably not the most enviormentally friendly or safe, but they get the job done in this city. The mini-bus takes me from Kabulonga, where my office is, into the city center, where I transfer and take another bus out to Libala. In total the trip takes about 45 mins, and is a little easier than doing it on foot. Once at home, I relax a bit, before eating dinner, which usually conisists of Nshima and some vegetables and maybe some chicken. As soon as it gets dark, the doors get closed and I'm not supposed to go anywhere. Kind of an unwritten rule of survival in Lusaka. Don't go anywhere by yourself after dark. If you have to, take taxi's and don't carry anything valuable. So I sit inside, retreating into my room around 8 to write in my journal, read, and type emails. Sometimes I'll watch television, but usually the programs are pretty boring, and sleeping is so appealing, especially with the Larium induced dreams.... good times!!