Livingstone - Home away from home

(For my non-Norwegian friends, I have decided to write this post in English. We’ll see what I will do for the rest of my stay).

Our first week in Africa has come to an end, and the days are flying too fast!
After the flight from Norway to Johannesburg (through London), we spent a night in Melville, Joburg from Monday until Tuesday. The reason we wanted to stay one night there was that I was supposed to meet Stephanie Matseleng. She is an academic working at the University of Witwatersrand, which I have been in contact with related to my master thesis the last 5-6 months. Sadly, she couldn’t make it, but we had a nice stay in Melville anyway. After lunch and some hours sleeping at the hotel, Nomndeni de la Changuion, we went to the OriginCenter at the University Campus. There they showed the African history and the history of mankind. At this time they also had an exhibition for Mandela’s 94^th birthday. We didn’t have much time before they closed, but we got to see quite a lot as we rushed through the museum. 

In the evening we enjoyed dinner and desert in the restaurant street of Melville, before we needed some more sleep (you really get tired from sitting on the plane all night!). 

Next morning a nice Zimbabwean taxi driver picked us up and drove us to the airport. The roads were blocked with cars (around 08.00 in the morning), so we got to see a lot of the city as the taxi driver drove many side roads. At the airport in Livingstone, the manager of the lodge we have stayed at during our stay here, Richard Chanter, picked us up and drove us to the lodge. Chanters Lodge is small and quiet, close to town, so we have enjoyed. During lunch Eliane and her youngest sister came to visit us, and it was a nice reunion! After me doing some literature reading by the pool, and Knut Are some sleeping, Samson and a friend of him came to visit as well. They drove us to Ocean Basket were we had some nice fish (never been to that restaurant before actually! :O). 

Chanters Lodge

Relaxing by the pool (I've only had one swim.Cold)

On Wednesday we met Mama Alice in town, sharing some soft drinks at Wonderbake. She has quit working at Willma Guest House, and is now her own boss making and selling things to different customers. It was as always very nice to see Alice again. Then Mr Mupoti drove us to SOS Children’s Village where we met the girl I am sponsoring there. She has turned three years old, and screamed when she saw the scary muzungus (white people). After some time getting used to us, she started to interact more with us. I met her in April last year, and it was nice too see how she has grown. After lunch we met Namukolo for a very short time (she was stressing with some arrangements for David Livingstone High School’s visit to Norway). We were supposed to meet her this evening, but she has been to Lusaka and the buses from Lusaka to Livingstone were full today.

Thursday morning Samson and another friend, picked us up, and we went to his school in Maramba. It is a basic school for poor children in the area. All the schools in Livingstone now are busy with preparing for exams, since it is a school holiday after next week, so we did not get to see any teaching. 

Samson in front of his school in Maramba

After greeting some teachers and the head master, he drove us around the different poor compounds around Maramba. Knut Are has not seen these poor compounds so close before, so there were a lot of impressions for him. After cruising around Dambwa Site, Dambwa central and town for a while, we went back to the lodge for some reading and sleeping. For lunch we went to Café Zambezi, were we met Bessie and Marjorie. After lunch we went to visit Mr Habuuka at David Livingstone High School, and we got to see the new building for the special education unit. Luster Vidaregåande Skule (the high school my mother used to work at) and an English school for special education has helped funding the building. Last time we only saw the construction, but this time the classrooms were operating. It was nice to see the finished results.The building has two classrooms and 25 students.

The special education building

One of the classrooms

The second classroom

For dinner that evening, we went to Mr and Mrs Mupoti and their children and nephew, for some nshima and other traditional food. We tasted everything, besides the caterpillars.. Next time maybe? ;)

After a stop by Willma Guest House on Friday, we picked up the girl I am sponsoring at SOS and the lady who works as her mother in the village. We went back to Chanters lodge were we could enjoy a quiet lunch, and it was a really nice time. As I wrote earlier, when she saw us the first time she screamed, but this day she took my hand when we came into her house. During lunch we played, smiled and laughed, and I was very happy afterwards!

That evening we went to Armadillos for dinner, were we finally met the busybusy teachers Barbara and Cynthia, and also Jim K joined us for dinner. Barbara is working as a deputy at a school outside Lstone, so she has to live at school. Cynthia has been busy all week with visitors from the English school for special education. (To read more about them, check this out: http://lodgeman-lodgeblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/zambia-meets-uk-for-children-with.html )At least we got to spend some time with them, which we really appreciated.

Knowing that mama Alice never have seen the Falls, after living in Livingstone for 11 years, we decided to invite her, Jane and Eliane for the Falls on Saturday. As everyday in Lstone, we had a really nice time, and were surprised how much water there still was in the Falls. We sat by the river for a while, as me, Jane and Eliane dipped our feet in the water. It was nice! 

                  Zambian fisherman in Zambezi

We had lunch at David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa, the lodge we got married at

 Mr Mupoti recommended a new restaurant for us that we tried that evening, The Golden Leef Restaurant opposite of Ngolide Lodge as you drive to Victoria Falls (it is the same owners). It was really good food there, one of the best restaurants I have tried in Livingstone actually.

At this moment (Sunday), we are enjoying the surroundings at Chanters Lodge after being on a game drive this morning. We were picked up at 07.00, and spent three hours on the drive. We saw a lot of giraffes and water buffalos up close during the drive, and also some zebras, elephants, water monitor, hippos, impalas and baboons of course and other animals.  Since I have been to safari in Botswana and South Africa it was about time to go on a safari here in Livingstone! 

The elephant is hiding

We have also had a visit from Alice, Jane, Chanda/Hope (Jane’s son) and Eliane who wanted to say goodbye before we leave for South Africa tomorrow.

It has been a really nice stay in Livingstone this week, as always. As you can see it has been a lot of social meetings and relaxing. It has been good to not having to stress with wedding planning and getting married! ;)
Since I’ve only been in Lstone during rain season earlier, it has been a different stay this time. Now it is cold season here, which have meant that it has been quite cold when the sun has gone down, dry grass and very little insects and mosquitoes! But during the day it has been like a really good, Norwegian summer.

Tomorrow we will go to Pietermaritzburg, where I will spend the next two months, and Knut Are under two weeks. Excited to see what it will bring and excited to start my research. I will actually start on Tuesday morning, visiting a school I will use as a pilot for my questionnaires and interviews.