Day 2 – Retrospective

It’s not actually Day 2 as I write this, but the morning of Day 3. Getting settled in yesterday took precedence over writing.  Oh, and by the way – we were 7 hours difference in Ethiopia not 6.  Now that we are in Zambia it’s 6 hours. Not enough sleep to keep it straight.

We all had varying degrees of success with sleep in Addis Ababa.  The time change is having it’s affect.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel including some excellent coffee (do we need anything else really?).   The hotel shuttled us to the airport which was about 20 minutes away (Emilianne riding in the back row this time). No issues or stories getting through security. Then onto the plane for our flight.  Because of the way our tickets were purchased all our flights have 1 ticket that usually is all by itself.  Joel took it upon himself to be the person to sit off alone.  Well, for this flight that meant the last row right next to the bathroom.  Need I say more?  Otherwise the flights (short stop in the Congo) were fine and we finally arrived in Ndola, Zambia about 2:15 pm local time.  I loved that the baggage haulers were farm tractors (forgive us during harvest season – your bags will be a little slower in arriving).   A short shuttle ride, after exchanging some currency, got us to the Spree Guest House where we are staying for the duration.

Guest houses are common here from what Doug said.  Basically someone who starts hosting folks in an extra room that gets added to over time to have multiple small guests houses on the property.  The guys are all in one house with multiple bedrooms and a couple of bathrooms to share. Not exactly sure how the ladies are arranged except that one group is in a similar house to the guys.

Once all the rooms were divvied out we had some time to rest, organize our rooms, and settle in. Then we had dinner…..   I tried to be adventurous and had, among other things, a fish head, caterpillars, and the small smoky minnows (I forget the name of the dish).  Not sure if this is the “standard” fare or just an intro to Zambia menu.  We’ll see.

After our usual evening gathering to worship, pray, hear God’s word and discuss our day we headed to our rooms for the night.  Now we await breakfast.   

On a personal note – I’m so blessed to, not only be participating on this trip with friends, but also with my daughter Emilianne.  Sharing the experience together and how it, hopefully, affects our lives will be something I will always remember. And she’s a blast to be with.

A rare siting of Joel with his exit buddy.