Zambia Ate My Neighbors

Zambia Ate My Neighbors Yesterday was my teams first full day in Zambia, and what a day it was! We took a minibus from where were staying to downtown Lusaka, where we walked through an open-air produce market and into a large, covered goods market. There, we bought cloth for skirts/sarongs (15,000 Kwache each, which comes out to roughly $3.75). It was incredibly sunny during the day, and although I wore a hat and drank lots of water I got tired quickly. We walked all the way from there to the Lusaka Post Office, and along the way stopped at three different bookstores looking for small books on local dialects of Zambia. Though we didnt have much luck finding them, we did have a good time looking at the math, history, English, and science textbooks they had. If they werent so heavy, I would have bought some to bring back to MIT with me. From the post office, we took another minibus to Manda Hill, a strip mall that lots of ex-pats frequent. I have to admit, the minibus experience takes a little getting used to. The drivers only leave a stop if their bus is full, so it is an interesting optimization problem for a group of five to select which bus out of the 10 waiting will fill up first once they get on it. And then once you think the bus is full, they fold out chairs into the aisles and pack more people into those. Anyway, at Manda Hill we walked around some more and ate dinner before taking the minibus back to our guest house. It is unclear if we are going to be in Lusaka this weekend or Mwape, but I hope to have internet access again tomorrow. This morning, my team leaders have a meeting with the Dean of Engineering at UNZA, and we have planned on meeting our 3 UNZA student colleagues this afternonon. Take care!