A bus ride to Paradise

In Lusaka

Thursday morning I walked to Intercity Bus Station in Lusaka, the bus to Malawi was leaving at 12:30 so I was told. At 11 o’clock I left home, and it took me about half an hour to walk & find my yellow big bus. When I entered I saw about 10-15 other passengers, a few white youths. There were a lot of people going on the bus, but they all carried stuff they wanted to sell, and during 30 minutes I wrote down everything I saw. Here is the list: Underwear, Cologne, Perfume, Cell Phones, Drinks, Biscuits, Toys, Balls, Shavers, Batteries, Phone Chargers, CD’s, Talk Time (Phone credit), Chips/Crisps, DVDs, Bags, Books, Chitenge, Cloths/Towels, Socks, Belts, Watches, Caps/Hats, Pecks (klesklyper), Sausages, Sandwiches, Purses, Sweets/Candy, Wallets, Gum, Lollipops, Hair Accessories (headbands, clips, hairspray, hairbrushes etc), Headphones, Fruits, Skirts, Shirts, Baby shoes, Sunglasses, Memory cards, Flip flops, Speakers, Radio, Hair dryer, Ice Cream. Yes, that was everything I saw in 30 minutes! Then I fell asleep, but only to be awaken by a guy who asked for money.

Wednesday, Preparations for Malawi trip

Recently I’ve been very excited about my Malawi trip which will happen tomorrow, where I will celebrate my 26^th birthday. So today I had planned:

• Go to the gym, freeze my membership,
• Go to the office,
• Head to bus station to buy a bus ticket to Lilongwe,
• Mail a letter to Norway,
•  Exchange local money into US dollars which they use in Malawi.

So after a great last workout (for a while) I paid my 50 Kwatcha which froze my membership for 2 weeks, at the office I met my Norwegian buddy Pelle, who works here in Zambia with his family. Then I told my colleagues I would go and buy a bus ticket, "Fine" they said. It was about 11:30 and I decided to not eat my lunch until I arrived back from town.

I walked/jogged to Intercity Bus Station and got a ticket to Malawi, 200 Kwatcha, 12 hours bus trip, (supposable) starting at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon.  Then I walked in the hot weather to the post office in the city centre. I could have walked to a local post office, but I also wanted to check our post box. If I don’t check the mail myself, it won’t get checked (I noticed this last week, when I got letters that was 2-3 months old).

When I had waited about 10-15 minutes a guy arrived his desk, and it took him about 2 minutes to check our post box, there was a letter from Laanekassen (saying they will handle my complain at  a meeting the 27^th of January, dated January the 15th). Then there was also a slip which I could exchange into a parcel at another desk. I was surprised and pleased, because my mother sent ha package to me for my host family (Christmas stuff) two months ago but I thought this was lost. Therefore I believed it would be my mothers parcel that had arrived. When I showed the slip to the friendly lady behind desk 12, she told me the parcel was at another post office, at Freedom Way. I went straight to where she had explained it was. When I arrived, it was 12:40, and was told they had their lunch break until 2 o’clock. So... I was starting to get hungry and decided to have lunch in the city centre and come back when the lunch break was over. I went to a local restaurant across the street where they serve nshima. All the locals eat this food, mainly ‘cause it’s cheap and it taste good (nshima is corn meal mixed with water, tasteless)

When I ordered nshima, chicken and a big water I got a funny look, and when she told the chef, he actually stuck his head out and smiled at me. Obviously they didn’t get many white customers. When I got the food the lady asked me if I wanted knife and fork, and I gave her a “are you crazy”-look. I laughed and said no thanks. She asked if I was going to eat with my hands, and I answered yes, and told her I was “Zambian”.  She asked for my name and I said it was βube (my Zambian name meaning "Gift"), she also asked for my last name, and after some hesitation I said Mpondela (which is my host-family’s last name). She thought I was born and raised here, but I told her I wasn’t. During my Zambian lunch I got a lot of looks and smiles from the locals at the restaurant. I had a great time. My lunch didn’t cost more than 20 Kwatcha (less than £2/$3). So if you are in Zambia, you should defently try eating out at a very local restaurant.

I changed my Zambian Kwatcha into US dollars, which they also use as well as Malawian Kwatcha in our neighbouring country to the east. Then finally I got my parcel, it was from my host family in the States! They sent this Christmas-package the 14^th of December last year, and it just arrived, even with a tracking number. Fantastic! I got a t-shirt and chocolate, which I have shared with my colleague’s. Now I am back in the office, a bit sweaty after the hot weather and all the walking/running, but I feel good. Tonight I will be packing and getting ready for my Malawian trip. Hopefully they will have WiFi there, so I can share another blog post.

Since I’ve got a smart phone now, I also have the Instagram app, where you can see the pictures I take here in Africa. (Username: PatoBotun, SOME PICTURES ON THIS LINK:http://instagram.com/patobotun/)

Picture from January, unshaved from holiday

Unshaved and hair down, 10th of February

Shaved and showered, 17th of March

My "normal" hair, 19th of March

Present from USA!!! Today!

Monday 17/3

Internet connection in Zambia is horrible at the moment. No internet at work, internet-cafès or other offices. I wrote this post on Monday (yesterday) and posting it the moment I get internet connection.

Official opening of Kids’ Athletics
Since January I’ve been working with a program called Kids’ Athletics, and even though it’s been running for a while, we had the official opening at OYDC (Olympic Youth Development Center) last Friday (14/3). The First Lady (The Presidents Wife) is our ambassador, so she was there as well as representatives from IAAF (International Athletic Association Foundation), the Sport Council, the main sponsor Nestlé and  100 participating kids (+ a lot more in the crowd).

The show started at 9 AM, but I was there at 7:40 AM with a few others to do the last bit of preparations. Just before (!) 9 o’clock the music band started playing, the dance club started dancing and a lot of kids were ready. About 9:15 the VIP arrived. First, there were speeches and music with dances, afterwards we had the demonstration of the Kids’ Athletics Program. I must say, it was “organized chaos”! And I’m glad it didn’t last for too long. Afterwards, when the First Lady held a speech I went up, just a couple of meters away from her, and took a few pictures. I was just about taking a “selfie” with her in the background when one of her bodyguards came to me and told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of her. I walked away and suddenly another bodyguard approached me with a serious face, saying he wants to see the pictures I just took. “Sure” I said and showed him. I then asked him if I had to delete them, but he doesn’t answer, just grab my phone and delete all of them (the President of ZAAA, Mr Mpondela, my boss was very upset when he heard this). Later when the dance group performed another dance and approached her to invite her to take part 3 bodyguards jumps in front of the First Lady. But Ms Sata (First Lady) is quite cool, so she told the guards to back off, and she joined.

Other than that not much exciting happened at the official opening (it was covered by the news and showed on ZNBC that evening), except that at least two girls passed out when they ran the 1500m. It was a bit scary, but thankfully we had the red cross/ambulance there, so they got taken care of.

Baking Day
On Sunday (16/3) me and Anja (my neighbour) made “rundstykker” and “bollar”, which are very Norwegian. The “rundstykker” was very healthy, made of muesli, all sorts of seeds, butter, some flour, milk and egg. Delicious! But the Zambians doesn’t like these “rye-buns” so we also made “bollar” which are a lot more sweet and unhealthy for our host families. We put some “nugatti” (chocolate spreading), and jam and brown cheese on them. My family loved it! They didn’t even believe me and Anja had been making them, because the “bollar” was so good. I think they enjoyed the chocolate spreading the most though. It took forever to make these “rundstykker” and “bollar” but we had plenty of time, so we played cards and Yatzy while waiting for the oven to do it’s magic.

Great fun and a good way of killing time on a quiet Sunday after a morning workout.

Mail
My Norwegian family sent me a package about 8 weeks ago, and it still hasn’t arrived, so I’ve been asking for it lately, but just last week I found out that my office can’t find their key to the post box. So we need a police report as well as paying K40 (£4) for new keys, therefore I expect this will take more time. Last time my office checked their post box was in December so there is not ideal to send me any mail since I’m going back to Norway in less than 12 weeks (IT’S GETTING CLOSE).  

Washing clothes Since our washing machine broke down last week I've been doing the laundry myself. It's not like pressing a button on a machine at home. Good "fun"

 

A week in Lusaka

It's been a week since I came back from Tanzania, and I've been at the office all days except Saturday. That day I went to OYDC and Fredskorpset made a short interview and filmed me in action. Even though I didn't have much to do, so we did some acting. 

Today I wrote a poem about the marathon I participated in Moshi:

The Marathon

In February I saw a letter about a Marathon run
I thought: “That will challenging and fun”
The 42k race was only 4 weeks ahead
“That’s impossible to achieve” some people said

I started training with much effort and passion
My beard grew and I looked really out of fashion
It was four weeks with lots of running and hard work
Running with my beard and headband I must have looked like a dork

I got a lot of advice from my brother
My family had faith in me, even my mother
The time flew, and soon I was on my way
I travelled with plane so I would be ready for the big day

In Moshi, Tanzania, it was humid and hot
A German said: “Run in 3h30m you will not!”
Even though the run was extremely long
I wanted to prove him wrong

I got up 3 hours before the start
And I think that was pretty smart
I was rested and eager to do well
The start was fast I have to tell

Half way through the race I felt fine
But then, it felt like I stepped on a landmine
The hills approached fast
I was suddenly afraid to finish last

But I told myself I could do it
I had trained for this so I knew I was fit
The last 10k was downhill
The crowd made it a thrill

Into the stadium I finished strong
I did proved the German wrong
I was so out of breath
That I was close to my death

Got a medal and a bottle of water
Thank you I said to the pretty daughter
I am still tired after digging so deep
Don’t even dare to wake me up, I’m deep asleep

Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. Awsome picture!

Kilimanjaro Marathon

Friday and Saturday

I landed at Kilimanjaro Airport at 9:30 after less than 4 hours in the air and 5 hours at airports. I booked a taxi and went straight to my hotel, where I checked in and unpacked. The two days before the marathon was all about rest and drink water, so I went to the supermarket and bought a case (12 bottles) containing 18 litre of water. I strolled the town and got convinced to buy some souvenir for 8000 schilling when he wanted 30 000 to start with (I didn’t have more than 8000!).

I used Friday and Saturday well, very well. Everything went perfect. The first night I got about 12 hours sleep, which was the most important night (two nights before the race). I also met some Norwegian sport volunteers here in Moshi. It was really cool to talk to them. And on Saturday when I registered I met some Germans, we started chatting and the guy had done several marathons before, he was fit and had even the same Suunto Ambit watch as me. When I told him I was aiming for 3h30min he doubted and said he couldn’t run that fast in New York in November, and in this heat and in the hills here it would be “impossible” for a first-timer. He had planned to run the full marathon, but after he noticed how warm it was here, he changed it to half-marathon.

The night before the marathon I got very little sleep, but I wasn’t worried. I got up at 3:40 to eat breakfast (oats, milk, raisins and banana) before eating a banana at 4:40. The next hour I did some mental training. I’ve read a book called “Face your fear and do it anyway” which explains a lot about positive self-talk, and I used that in the morning (and during the race). At 5:45 I jogged/walked to Moshi Stadium. Warmed up for about 20-30 minutes and stood on the starting line.

The Kilimanjaro Marathon, 42.195 km
At 6:30 AM the gun went off and everyone sprinted out the stadium, hundreds of people ran past me, and I looked at my heart rate monitor and saw we ran at a pace of 3:30-3:45 min pr km. Way too fast. So I chilled and let them pass. After 2 km I started outrun one after another. I kept a brilliant pace and didn’t worry about people sprinting past me, because I caught up with them sooner or later.

There were a lot of local people on the side of the roads, and they cheered for me, I smiled and applauded them back, which made them cheer even more. I smiled a lot on the first 20 km and that was much because of the awesome crowd. I had also written my name on my front and back of my shirt, so people were saying “Come on Ruben”, “Well done Ruben”, “Keep it going Ruben” which encouraged me a lot. Brilliant tip from some of my former PT-clients in the UK. At the turning point (almost 11km) I noticed that I didn't have any white people in front of me, and that gave me more motivation as well! I saw Norwegians running behind me and we encouraged each other (“Heia Norge!”)

At 10 km I looked at my watch and I had ran for 39 minutes (in May I ran a 10 km in just under 40 min, and now I had a faster pace and still had 32.2 km to go! I must have done a lot of things right the past month!). At the 20 km mark it had been 1 hour and 20 minutes since we started! I was flying and felt good! But then  the hills came, and I hit "the wall". It was tough, but I was prepared for it, and just had to slow my pace for a while. So I slowed down, to about 5:30-6 min per km. It was still an OK pace. At about 24-25 km a white guy ran past me, I tried to keep up, but I just couldn’t do it, my goal before the run was to be the best non-African runner, but there he ran away. The people on the roads disappeared and it was tough, but according to the route description it would start to be flat at the 28-29 km mark, so I kept going. At the water station on the top there was a guy drinking beer while holding out a cup of water, and I went for the beer. He laughed but didn’t give me his can. Instead I kept going, and downhill I increased the pace to about 4 min 30sec per km. I was catching up with a lot of people who ran the half marathon and they were shouting: “Well done Ruben!” I loved it. The last 10 km I looked at my watch and saw that I could do this really well, but I almost hyper ventilated when I thought about running in less than 3 hours 30 min. I kept going, and at 1 km left I ran and passed more people from the full marathon.

At all the water stations I poured one cup of water over my neck, and drank one, but about 25km into the run I noticed I had gotten a lot of blisters around my waist, after the rubbing of my underwear/basketball shorts, so it sting like hell when I poured water on myself, but before every station I tend to forget those things. What was funny as well was that I always increased speed through the water stations. I don’t know why, maybe I was concerned about losing time, or maybe it was the music/cheering/people? I don’t know.

At the stadium, which was packed with people we came in and ran the last 100-150m there, I gave everything, I ran absolute the fastest I’ve run for a long time. My watch says 25km/h and I have to tell you, the roar and excitement from the crowd was priceless. They were ecstatic when I past 3 half-marathon runners and one full-marathon runner on the last 100 meters. It was an incredible feeling, but, wow, I was tired when I went to the grass on the field. I looked at my watch, and my unofficial time is 3 hours 8 minutes and 29 seconds, other details are: 42.5 km, average speed: 13.5km (fastest: 25.7km), average of 4 min 26 sec per km, decent: 480m (ascent: the same), heart rate: average: 143, max 156, kcal burned: 2236, recovery time: 71 hours.

I was ruined, my legs didn’t work, and after sitting on the grass for a bit I got up like an old man. I could barely walk. I spent some time drinking water and reflect on the run. My first marathon ever and I did it very well. My medal will be around my neck for a few days now J

I’m back at the hotel, waiting for a towel so I can shower and rest, rest, rest and rest!

Thanks for reading!

Pictures will hopefully come