Pictures

Thought I would upload a couple pictures. One is of Sanna and I at the march-past on World AIDS day and the other is of some of the dishes from the mateveto party I described (there was at least double this amount of food!)

I ate caterpillar

Last Saturday I went to a Mateveto - a traditional party whereby the bride-to-be and her family cook for the husband-to-be and his family. This is to show the husband and his family that she comes from a good family, who can cook nicely. I went with Mwande, her aunts and grandmothers and luckily we were on the husband's side so we got to eat. Picture a lot of food, then multiply that by 10 and you'll begin to understand how much food there was! There was every traditional Zambian dish imaginable, including caterpillars. Tastes like chicken! Okay not really, but it tasted alright. Not something I would enjoy eating on a regular basis however. There was a lot of dancing too of course. No party here is complete without the shaking of the hips. On our way back, it started to pour! So we hitched a ride in the back of some truck (as it's very common here to ride in the back of a truck). There we were - about 10 women, in the rain getting soaked, in the dark, trying not to fall off the back of the back of the truck as we bounced up and down from the potholes...singing. It was so fun.

Our travel plans are confirmed! Tomorrow, Heather and I (Melanie went back to Canada for the holidays) are off to Malawi. We will spend Christmas on Lake Malawi and then make our way east to Zanzibar. We are hoping that we are booked on the train from Mbeya (small town on Tanzanian side close to Malawian border) to Dar Es Salaam. There is a train that travels from a town north of Lusaka all the way to Dar. When I went to the train company office here in Lusaka I asked to be booked from Mbeya to Dar. She could not do that from her end so she called someone in another city. Twenty minutes later she told me we were booked in for Dec 27. "What time does the train leave Mbeya?" I ask. "Oh, I don't know that. Probably sometime in the afternoon so get to the train station in the morning." "Okay....and how much is it?" "Oh I don't know" she replies "they pay in shillings over there so I don't know." "Okay....is there a confirmation number or anything?" "No." So this is what I meant by I hope we are booked on the train, as we don't have any confirmation, we don't know what time it's at or the price. It's all part of the adventure! The train ride through Tanzania is supposed to be really nice - through a national park. We will spend one night in Dar and then just under a week in Zanzibar. We have some friends we will meet up with there so that will be great. On the 2nd of January I head to Cape Town to visit Halli! (good friend from Guelph for those of you who don't know her). Can't wait! I will try to blog at some point during my travels but if not, you will surely hear about my travels upon my return to Lusaka. Happy holidays and a happy new year to all!

December 4-5...timeline

8:30pm I am at home, in my pj's, when I get a phone call from Mwande asking me if I could come to her place. "Now?" I ask. "Yes yes. There is an overnight party and I want you to come". I agree, get ready, call my taxi and by 9:15 I am off.

(Sidenote: An "overnight party" is a tradition here for a bride-to-be. It's literally a party that goes through the whole night whereby a group of women gather, there is drumming and dancing, and the women teach the woman who is getting married how to tend to her home and please her husband. Each person brings small bills - if they can afford it - and when they enjoy the drumming or one of the dances they put the money in the bowl. All the money raised goes to the drummers)

9:30pm I arrive, Mwande meets me at a school in her compound, and we make our way to the party. At first we wait and then the drumming begins. It was at someone's home and thus I was wondering why the drummers were outside and then Mwande explained to me that that is where they start from. They must start outside and then get invited into the home once they impress the people with their skills.

10:30pm The drummers have been invited in and the women are mingling before things get started.

11:00pm We eat. Unfortunately for me I have already eaten and am quite full but this is no excuse of course. I must eat again. There is nshima, chicken, and cabbage. Thankfully it was communal eating from large plates so no one could really tell how much I was eating.

11:45pm The drumming and dancing begins. There are two women (one of them being Mwande's older sister) and they sound amazing together. The drinking also begins.

Midnight The bride enters the room with her matron by her side. The bride has her head down and she does not smile (this is a traditional way of showing respect). Each dance everyone sings along to, teaching the bride another lesson about married life. Mwande translated and they were quite interesting, however most are not appropriate to share on a public blog (email me to find out more details).

2:00am After 2 hours of all the women trying to get me to go up and dance, I finally worked up the nerve to do so. I was sweating and trembling with embarrassment. Mwande had taught me one of the dances a couple weeks before so I somewhat knew what I was doing, as much as a white person could, trying to do Zambian dance moves without looking like a complete fool. I think it went alright, with women laughing and yelling (much like at the kitchen party some time ago) in the background, partially I am sure at me and the rest with me.

3:00am An yelling argument breaks out. Apparently one of the women (who was quite outspoken to begin with) was upset that others were dancing when she was wanting to dance alone and she was saying that it should only be one at a time. Others did not agree with this. I am sure the alcohol partially induced this behaviour. Mwande started to sing, trying to calm people down while not getting involved. Unfortunately it didn't work so we left the room and went outside for some air. I should have just gotten up and started dancing, I am sure this would have quieted them right up!

4:00am The party dies down. I fall asleep on the floor.

4:04am I am awoken by the drums. For a few brief moments the drummers were taking a break but then they started back up, even though the dancing had ended.

5:00am Mwande and I leave, go back to her house and she gets ready for us to go to work.

5:50am We start walking to work. We are exhausted but walk nonetheless.

7:10am We arrive at work and everyone can tell we are lacking sleep.

1:15pm Fridays are half days so we "knock off" (go home) early.

8:15pm I am sound asleep.

Left Zambia to pop into Botswana, accidentally stumble into Zimbabwe and cruise into Namibia

Last weekend we (Melanie, our new Sweedish roomie Sanna, and another friend Julien from Malta) headed to Livingstone. It was our friend Pascal's birthday, who lives there so we wanted to celebrate with him. We arrived Friday and hung out for the afternoon, had a nice supper and went to bed relatively early. Saturday morning we woke up with the sun and headed to Botswana for the day. Livingstone is only about an hour's drive from the border. We took the 5-minute ferry across the Zambezi river to the small and lovely town of Kasane, the northern-most town in Botswana, one that leads right to Chobe National Park. Upon reaching the other side, our driver took us for a little walk, we stepped over some barbed wire that was laying on the ground and then he says (with a slight chuckle), "oh....we are in Zimbabwe!" Apparently there is a more official border post but for a few brief moments we were technically, but illegally on Zimbabwe soil. We spent the afternoon on a small boat, on Chobe river. We played with the hippos, boated around them as they literally jumped out of the water like dolphins. At some points it was a bit scary, when they swam under water and we could not see their whereabouts. Let us not forget, they are wild hippos. We had a delicious lunch on the boat. Our guide pointed out Namibian land at which point we literally boated right into its reeds. So we officially touched 4 countries in a matter of a few hours. At one point we had to pee and got out on shore to do so, about 20 meters from a crocodile. When nature calls...

Sunday we went back to Victoria Falls. This time I decided to do something different. Melanie and Sanna went to the Devil's pool, which is an area on top of the falls that you can actually swim in during the dry season. Unfortunately it was pouring rain and the current was too strong and the water was too dirty that they were not permitted to swim. Julien and I went to the Zimbabwe side of the falls. So much more water on that side! It was absolutely spectacular. There was a lot of mist however, due to the amount of water, as well as the rain. But amazing nonetheless - well worth the $80US ($65 for Zim visa and $15 for entrance on that end). Will have to upload photos next time - not enough internet time right now.