goodmorning africa
hello from africa! it's 20 past 6 and i can't sleep. plus i feel bad because if i do then i'll keep bridget awake with my stupid cold. I had garlic 'peri peri' sauce on my steak last night - hoped hot garlic would frighten away my bugs - to no avail as yet.
meanwhile, i've figured out the timezone thing... just. i'm (GMT+2) 10 hours behind nz (GMT+12) - 6:30am here = 4:30 pm there. So i'm saturday morning and they're saturday night. haha, more weekend left for me!
we're going up to kabwe thisafternoon. In the meantime i want to read and repack - ick, suitcases.
yesterday was amazing. john took bridget and i into lusaka - into the city. driving here is a free-for-all. it's truly insane. packed mini busses, blue taxis, utes with people loaded on the back, bicycles, learner drivers and four wheel drives all driving and honking as fast as they can, nudging up pretty close to other vehicles to suggest which direction they're going - rather than indicating. then everytime you stop (which is a lot - well it was yesterday as this is a holiday weekend - shall explain later) these young guys walk up to your car windows and try and sell you things - all sorts of things - tangerines and cell phone face plates, electronics, jewelery - all sorts - even towels and hand painted cards - john got five for 5000 kwacha - about US$1.
the public holidays on monday and tuesday are unity day and heroes day, respectively. unity day - for african unity, and heroes day for war and revolutionary heroes - i think that was what rodwell said anyway. he's one of the guys that works at the guest house we're staying at.
after john had done his erands in the city we went to the craft markets. at the car park there were these girls with baskets of bananas on their heads - perfectly balanced. and no small basket of bananas either. they're so thing but their necks must be extremely strong. the markets were cool. i got wooden giraffes for mum and a really cool pen holder - both of which i may have to lend to the suttons so i don't have to carry them around for 2 months. all the sellers point to their shops and promise a good price. john told us to half their price and barter - fun! got the giraffes for 50 000 kwacha - about NZ$15! in NZ you'd pay up to $200!
after the markets we went to the Zambian equivalent of CAA for John to get more log books (he's a pilot), but the man with the key was not there. hehe - apparently this is common.
then on to manda hill - a mall. you could forget you were in africa - well, perhaps if 9 of 10 shoppers and staff weren't black. until this point we'd probably seen 2 other white people. but there were quite a few at the mall. we couldn't get money out as the lines were long and the machines kept braking so, running up a bill with john, we went to subway for lunch. that's right. in zambia yesterday we went to subway for lunch. hehe. then to game - like farmers. but no bedrolls. then to shoprite - a supermarket - and got sunblock, mossie repellent, shampoo, conditioner, soap... cost 210 000 kwacha. lunch was 18 000 k. hehe.
john locked his keyes in the car so we then spent an hour and a half trying to break in. in the end one of the security guards broke in - in all of 15 seconds. very sussed. he 'found' a perfect piece of wire in the bushes. unfortunately it was too late for john's egg beater. turns out they don't sell wire coat hangers anymore.
got home exhausted and had steak and chips for dinner - chips with vinegar - new favourite thing! then we watched tom and huck - hehe, Johnathan Taylor Thomas. He was like a pin up boy when i was ten. couldn't keep our eyes open and went to bedfordshire.
meanwhile, i've figured out the timezone thing... just. i'm (GMT+2) 10 hours behind nz (GMT+12) - 6:30am here = 4:30 pm there. So i'm saturday morning and they're saturday night. haha, more weekend left for me!
we're going up to kabwe thisafternoon. In the meantime i want to read and repack - ick, suitcases.
yesterday was amazing. john took bridget and i into lusaka - into the city. driving here is a free-for-all. it's truly insane. packed mini busses, blue taxis, utes with people loaded on the back, bicycles, learner drivers and four wheel drives all driving and honking as fast as they can, nudging up pretty close to other vehicles to suggest which direction they're going - rather than indicating. then everytime you stop (which is a lot - well it was yesterday as this is a holiday weekend - shall explain later) these young guys walk up to your car windows and try and sell you things - all sorts of things - tangerines and cell phone face plates, electronics, jewelery - all sorts - even towels and hand painted cards - john got five for 5000 kwacha - about US$1.
the public holidays on monday and tuesday are unity day and heroes day, respectively. unity day - for african unity, and heroes day for war and revolutionary heroes - i think that was what rodwell said anyway. he's one of the guys that works at the guest house we're staying at.
after john had done his erands in the city we went to the craft markets. at the car park there were these girls with baskets of bananas on their heads - perfectly balanced. and no small basket of bananas either. they're so thing but their necks must be extremely strong. the markets were cool. i got wooden giraffes for mum and a really cool pen holder - both of which i may have to lend to the suttons so i don't have to carry them around for 2 months. all the sellers point to their shops and promise a good price. john told us to half their price and barter - fun! got the giraffes for 50 000 kwacha - about NZ$15! in NZ you'd pay up to $200!
after the markets we went to the Zambian equivalent of CAA for John to get more log books (he's a pilot), but the man with the key was not there. hehe - apparently this is common.
then on to manda hill - a mall. you could forget you were in africa - well, perhaps if 9 of 10 shoppers and staff weren't black. until this point we'd probably seen 2 other white people. but there were quite a few at the mall. we couldn't get money out as the lines were long and the machines kept braking so, running up a bill with john, we went to subway for lunch. that's right. in zambia yesterday we went to subway for lunch. hehe. then to game - like farmers. but no bedrolls. then to shoprite - a supermarket - and got sunblock, mossie repellent, shampoo, conditioner, soap... cost 210 000 kwacha. lunch was 18 000 k. hehe.
john locked his keyes in the car so we then spent an hour and a half trying to break in. in the end one of the security guards broke in - in all of 15 seconds. very sussed. he 'found' a perfect piece of wire in the bushes. unfortunately it was too late for john's egg beater. turns out they don't sell wire coat hangers anymore.
got home exhausted and had steak and chips for dinner - chips with vinegar - new favourite thing! then we watched tom and huck - hehe, Johnathan Taylor Thomas. He was like a pin up boy when i was ten. couldn't keep our eyes open and went to bedfordshire.
posted by Amy at 12:53 pm
1 Comments:
That´s the same time as here! :)
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