When I'm walking through the housing compounds:
- Men yelling "Hello Mommy!" [How disturbing, is that how they hit on women? By referring to them as mommy?]
- Men/boys yelling "Chinese! Chinese!" to me left and right [I'm NOT Chinese!]
- Men/boys yelling "Japanese! Japanese!" [I'm NOT Japanese!]
- Men/boys yelling "Muzungu" (White person in a local african language) [I'm NOT white]
- Boys yelling "White! White!" [Ok, again, I'm NOT white]
- Men reeking of low-quality beer following me saying some version of "I like Chinese (Japanese) women. I want to go to Beijing with you. Please take me with you."
[O gosh.. please get away from me... ]
- The stench of urine and sewage
- Flies everywhere
- Amidst it all, little girls walking around strutting their stuff pretending to be models, just like they see on Western TV channels.
- African men listening to American hip-hop in their makeshift bars and trying to be "gangsta" [But they can't really because they're usually too poor to buy drugs or guns to begin with... all they have is their foul-smelling beer and loud music]
When I'm at the office/bar:
- Obviously married men with shiny gold rings on their left hands hitting on me in the bar
- Obviously married men with shiny gold rings on their left hands hitting on me in the office in front of all my work colleagues
- Work colleagues seeing all this happen and no one says a word
- Realizing that this type of thing is as common as ... Americans getting themselves into a lot of credit card debt
When I'm at "home" [Hm, nowhere feels like home...]
- It's frickin' hot and there's NO A/C ANYWHERE!!!! [except in the office] AAAAH!!!
- Insects everywhere. especially those god-forsaken creatures we call mosquitoes. but not as god-forsaken as bedbugs. Ok, I don't care if the mosquitoes probably don't carry malaria, dude, I just CAN'T deal with huge dragonflies, spiders, moths, etc etc that I see everywhere.
- Wildlife in all the wrong places. Lizards crawling around the walls while you shower. Huge spiders. Big Bugs. Oh yeah, I already said that.
- I really don't like sleeping under mosquito nets
- Power going out once every 2 weeks; sitting around by candlelight
- Loud dogs barking at night
And food:
- No good Asian food to speak of. It seems obvious but... WAH...the baby in me wails for its milk. I miss sushi, I miss home cooking, I miss Chinese vegetables, I miss Korean food, I miss Thai food, I miss....... WAAAAAAAH. My stomach cries everyday.
- No good food to speak of in general, except at a few restaurants that are usually expnsive.
Lord, forgive me for my prissiness. And please help me deal.
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2 comments:
Why are you in Zambia when you have abosuletly nothing good to say about it. Life in Zambia is already hard enough with out prissy stuck up people like you complaining about everything. If it so bad please do all of us a favor and leave. Life is what it is. Zambia is a poor country where people have to make do with the little they have. We do not need someone to come in and make us feel like we are worthless. We may not have sushi, airconditioning but at least we are friendly, we have respect for our family and friends. I am proud to be a Zambian.
Jas, you make a good point. As a newcomer, I am indeed prissy. But my attitude has changed... I have been deeply affected by the warmth, love, and humility of the people I've met. And I sincerely love many of the Zambian people I've met.
Yes, this post makes makes me sound really judgmental, prissy, and complaining, but it's honest, and I'm not ashamed to talk about my experience here.
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