Up until now I feel like I've been writing snippets and tidbits, giving you guys my initial impressions and chopped stories but not fully explaining what things are actually like here in Lusaka. Selfish on my part, I know, but between slow internet, exploring the city, work, and hanging out with the other interns and fellows there hasn't been much free time to sit down and write a big long blogpost. So here I go:
One of the first things I noticed when I got here was all of the dust. Jamie (my friend from Bowdoin who just so happens to be here for the year as a Princeton in Africa Fellow) had forewarned me that it was a dusty city, but I imagined Asian-city dust: steamy hot fumes and moto-bike exhaust hanging low in the air. Lusaka's dust is different. The main roads are paved, but directly off of them are neighbourhoods and areas with dry, red, unpaved roads, dappled with craters and sprinkled with rocks (just to make the drive that much more exciting, right?). It hasn't rained here in weeks, I can only imagine how much worse the roads are during the rainy season. Needless to say, cars certainly get a beating out here, and if you have a sore neck I would suggest staying home and not driving ANYWHERE.
The GRS house is situated on the same plot of land as the office - the doors are about 20 feet apart - which makes it easy to roll out of bed, grab breakfast and saunter over. I can also see how it might start to get slightly insular or claustrophobic, so I've been making an effort to get out in the evenings (everyone pretty much does too), exploring the surrounding areas and keeping my eyes peeled and my ears open for cool things to do. Monday night the other female interns/fellow and I went to Zumba (so much fun and only $3! The instructor was 45 minutes late because she was in a minor car accident, though. I'm quickly learning the extensive time delay is typical and something I better get used to) and last night we went to an outdoor yoga class held at the French school (L'Alliance Francaise).
Driving here is another adventure altogether. Drivers aren't particularly aggressive or out of control (I AM a Montreal driver, after all), but there's the challenge of driving on the left side of the road, paired wider vehicles than I'm used to, breaks that may or may not work (I'm exaggerating...kind of), twisting, curvy roads that are only sometimes labeled, and a country that loves roundabouts. It's definitely interesting. I'm starting to get the hang of it though, and it's strangely liberating to drive in another country. It makes me feel like less of a tourist and more of someone who actually lives here, which I guess makes sense since that's what I'm doing for the year.
I'll keep on giving you guys info on the city and what I'm up to here and around, but no one like super-long blogposts (I know that I always pretend to have read them and never actually do) so I'm going to cut myself off here and hopefully write again soon.
Much love xox,
Max
I like super long blogs!
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