7 quick takes from Zambia.


We really enjoyed all the good food in Lusaka. 1. It's 4am and I am in bed because what else could you do at 4 in the morning? I am supposed to be sleeping too but I can't. The alarm will go soon and in anticipation of that my body decided to sleep restless and wake up a little earlier (thanks body). Our early alarm is so that we won't miss our early bus to Livingstone today. I wouldn't want to miss it. The Victoria Falls have been on my bucket list for years and I cannot wait to see them; how lucky we are that they are exactly on our route from Malawi to Namibia?! We have been 'on the road' for a week now and what a week it has been. From hanging out with friends in Nkatha Bay, seeing our new home (and falling in love with it) in Senga Bay to eating delicious food and enjoying what cities can give you in Lilongwe and Lusaka. We have been in busses and taxis for hours and will still add many more hours and kilomters in the next few days but every hour watching through the window to see mountains, forests, towns and cities pass by will bring us closer to our families. 2. Last week I showed you the bingo that I made for the girls. The girls have loved playing it and it has kept them entertained and niggly-free for many kilomters. But that was in Malawi, where many people fill a small country. There is always something to see on the roadside, always something happening outside the window. Zambia is a very different country. I knew it was vast and wild buy I had no idea how vast and wild exactly. The east of the country (the part that we drove through) seems sparsely inhabited. There were long stretches with hills and forest and not a single sign of humanity (except for a very nicely maintained road). Absolutely stunning but for bingo it would have been better if I had made a version with different trees, rocks and hill-shapes. 3. Every stop we have had this week has been more urban and western than the previous one. A slow introduction to the world we knew so well but seems a little overwhelming now. We have grown to be perfectly comfortable in the bush and feel a little out of place in the city with the holes in our sun-bleached clothes, our shoe hating girls and our hair that desperately needs a cut. But it's only the outside that feels out ofn place. Our hearts are thoroughly enjoying the good things cities can bring (yup, I am talking about food here, because nobody loves polluted air). Sophie loves it too, and I would not have expected anything else as she always loves new things.Doris is struggling a little. She had only just turned two when we left Cape Town and although she has surprisingly many memories of our life there, I think she also forgot a lot. She is very overwhelmed by all the cars, the people, the noises and the choice and spends a lot of time on our laps or in our arms while she just looks at all she sees without any desire to partake. 4. Wild energetic movements interspersed with elegant slow turns. The warm light from the laterns that hang on a string over Sophie's head make her shine even more. She dances a show without an audience because she doesn't need one. The joy in dancing is not found in the applause but comes from within. There is no music either, the rhythm and melody are in her head. She had been limited to a small space on Hartmut's lap in the minibus for most of the day. We had all grown a little impatient as the journey that day had taken much longer than we anticipated. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. A long wait for the minibus to fill up before we finally left, a police officer who wanted a bribe that the driver wasn't willing to pay wich resulted in another long wait and a break down of the minibus which forced all us passengers to be squeezed into a much smaller minibus for the last stretch into Lilongwe. It had made Sophie hot and sweaty and in a desperate need to be free. After dinner we stayed at the table to chat but she slipped away to find herself a stage, to move, to be free. I went to look for her and when I saw her dancing away on the sand under those lanterns I knew not to disturb her but just to watch the show, unseen in the shade of a big tree. I am so proud of my girls who can make something out of nothing, a game out of anything. 5. When we knew that we were going to move we went on the hunt for a house. The problem is that we will only stay till the end of the year, maybe a bit longer, but not long enough to buy all the furniture and kitchen items you need to make a house a home. Our hunt had to be limited to furnished places and that limits the options drastically. Most things here go through conenctions so we got connected with people in Salima through our well connected friends here and got a couple of options but none of them made us very excited. I looked online but there wasn't much either until I found what seemed to be a perfect house on AirBnB. We managed to secure it and this week we got to see if the pictures had painted a realistic picture. We soon found out that they had not. The house was more spacious than we thought, the kitchen more completely equipped and the garden so much bigger. We just could not believe our luck and we are so excited for the next chapter of our life. 6. I have had wrong ideas my entire life but a lady at the border between Malawi and Zambia enlightened me and I am forever grateful. Bording crossings in Africa always almost come with many forms that nobody reads but always need to be filled out. We had done the forms to leave Malawi and upon entering into Zambia we needed to answer some questions in a book about yellow fever prevention. For my occupation I wrote 'mom' as it is short and accurate (besides many other things) and I wanted to be quick but the lady pointed out to me that 'mom' is not an occupation. She was adamant that I should write 'housewife' and would not let it go until I changed it. 7. I am writing this last take while I sit in the bus. We took an early taxi through dark Lusaka to the bus station and I was so glad that we already went to the bus station earlier this weekend to check it out because the place is big, loud and chaotic. Hundreds of busses arrive from and leave to every corner of the country every day and every person at the station has an opinion about where you might want to go and which bus you need to take to get there. They don't just tell their opinion but start pushing you into their preferred bus while telling you how unreliable the competitors are. All the others leave later than promised, break down more often and take longer than 'their' bus so they can just go ahead and load your luggage on the bus, right? In the dark it felt even more chaotic but at least we knew where we needed to go and our bus even left on time. Now we are about 3 hours into our journey and everything seems to be going well. The bus just stopped to pick up a guy who seems to be working for a company that deals with herbal medicine and he is standing in front of the bus and giving an animated lecture on how to use herbs and spices for your health. I only understand half of his story as he brilliantly mixes English and a local language but the other passengers seem to be learning and ask questions. In europe you have screens with advertisement on public transport but I like this version too. Anyway, I hope for more entertainment and a smooth journey for the rest of the day and week. Have a good week!