Ruben bloggar frå turar, innland og utland: 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/)