so i'm in the motherland after a LONG trip. had like 10 hour layover in london during which i walked around with a pocket map for like 6 hours (the tube is TOO expensive - bump that!) and saw the sights! i saw big ben, westminster abbey, buckingham palace, the queen's gardens and more! i really made the rounds - i think i gave myself a stress fracture in my big toe from all that walking in flip flops...and leave it to me (and lonely planet) to find a vegetarian restaurant, gorge myself on YUMMY food, and fall asleep in a public park on top of my backpack, lookin' like a homeless American tourist (which at that point I technically was). then i had to book it back to the airport for a flight to johannesburg!
zambia is official. it's BEAUTIFUL and the people are very warm and friendly and only about half of them ride goats to work. the other half ride the burros sent from mexico since they upgraded to horses. and no i am not living in a hut. i have a cozy spot right in a tree. it's a fruit tree so i don't even have to come down to eat. okay that's ENOUGH with the stereotypes! one of the guys that i'm working with here told me that when i go back to the states i have to tell everyone that africans don't live in trees...lol... being here really has me thinking though about how such a historically rich (in many ways) continent could have been so stunted by colonialism, etc., and still has managed to maintain its cultural and tribal integrity, languages and affiliations. africans and those of us scattered throughout the diaspora really have inherited a resistant, resilient and proliferative legacy. makes me proud! i'm not gonna lie though, i've thrown the "...but my mom's jamaican" card a few times...gives me a little cred...i'm a poser, i know! you love it.
the people i work with are SO nice. i'm in the capital, lusaka, and i don't go to the rural villages i'll be working in until friday. one of my coworkers took me out on friday night; we went to like three spots. the last one was my favorite, they played all african music and i was lovin' it!! the ladies i was out with treated me like their little sister. very dignified women; this guy passed me a note about counting sheep in the club, it was really just a joke, and she damn near cussed him out, telling him "he was embarrassing her." HILARIOUS. we were driving home and she's like "um we don't stop at red lights at night. thieves." i said ok girl! these ladies are gangsta in the sweetest way possible. one of their friends gave us a ride to the bar and i thought he was a cab driver. so i'm like "how much?" she's like oh he's my friend. i said oh well aren't you coming in friend? she was like um i didn't invite him. straight g. LOL...
the neighbors to the place i'm staying at have a 20-year old son who's always checking up on me and making sure everything's all good; he's very nice. white africans fascinate me a little bit. not gonna lie. he was born in zimbabwe, and has lived in south africa for like 6 years before coming back to zambia. cool peoples. then denya (my coworker) invited me for lunch on sunday. that girl can COOK! she cooked all vegetarian stuff with the traditional "nshima," which is like this cornmeal type dish that's a staple food. traditional zambian cuisine requires that you eat with only your right hand (no utensils - and YES there are utensils in africa, this is just tradition when you eat local food), roll the corn meal stuff in a ball, and use it to like scoop up the rest of the food. it was BANGIN' son. then she took me to the sunday market. i wanted to buy EVERYTHING, there was so much amazing art work and jewelry, but i had to have some SELF CONTROL and say ok tam, you got like 2 more months here, pace yourself...
reasons i stand out in zambia:
1) rockin' the new balances - no one wears sneakers
2) i don't speak any of the 70+ dialects
3) someone in the market asked me what tribe i'm from. i have no tribe. i feel so marginalized. this is why kids join gangs.
other randomness:
1) two people have told me that my name means "sent to help" in one of the native dialects. how fly is that??
2) there is broken glass embedded on the top of the wall in front of my house, like barbed wire. straight o.g. style.
i'll send pictures as soon as i can upload them. miss you all and write me e-mails!! : ) oh, and send me your address if i don't have it. postcards galore!!
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