There and Back Again: Surprise Trip to the UK!

Written: Wednesday, October 07, 2009
There and back again
Hey Everyone!
Surprise! I was in the UK for 10 days. No one knew I was going except for my lovely aunt “Sophie” who kindly engineered the whole thing. I went to the UK to attend my grandfather’s memorial service. It was definitely time for a break from the whole Zambia scene. I was getting frustrated and needed a change for a while.
Tom and his mother drove me to the airport at 6am. As I sat in the departures lounge, I began to get a knot in my stomach. I had realized that 4 months from now, I would be sitting in that exact same spot, waiting for a flight home. This really freaked me out; although Zambia has been trying I know that it will be incredibly difficult for me to leave this place. The direct flight to England was like a holiday in itself- I happily spent 9 hours doing nothing except watching movies, eating and listening to music, and because I was flying directly North, there was only a 1 one hour time change. How civilized for an international flight.
I arrived on Saturday the 19th, and Sophie picked me up from the airport and treated me to some SHRIMP. When we were driving back to her place in London it started raining, which was totally exciting since I hadn’t seen rain since I’d left Canada. Sophie also had a lovely surprise for me at home: carrot cake and chocolate milk.The next day we drove out to my grandmother’s place in the country to surprise her, which was really fun. I was so glad to see her. I spent a few days with her in the country and spent my time walking, eating, sleeping, running and flipping through some of her many cookbooks for fresh ideas. I should probably mention that because I have so much free time in the evenings, I’m trying to learn a thing or two in the kitchen. Since I got back to Zambia, I have made some pretty decent dishes, including chicken stuffed with mozzarella, wrapped in bacon and topped with tomatoes, and a sort of Spanish-style steak with chili. Yay me! And many thanks to Grandma for having faith in me and graciously donating her Jamie Oliver cookbook to my cause.
After hanging out in the country for several days, I took the train back to London to spend some time with Sophie and stock up on supplies. By that I mean: underwear, sandals and jeans (the quality of clothing in Zambia is terrible- especially underwear- and a lot of the clothing in my limited wardrobe is falling apart). I spent a lovely two days in Covent Garden, coffee shops (mmmm…chai lattes), Neal Street, Marks and Spencer and the National Portrait Gallery (art! Oh my goodness!). Sophie was also sure to treat me to some pub food and SUSHI.
The next day, Sophie and I had to get up very early to pick my aunt “Theresa” , my mum and a close family friend named “Cindy” at the airport. None of them knew I was in England so this was very exciting. We picked up Theresa first and then headed over to the next terminal to pick up mum and Cindy. We decided that the best way to surprise my mum would be for Theresa and Sophie to pick her up as expected, and for me to wait en route to the car park and let my mum figure it out for herself. Oh my goodness, it was quite a scene! I didn’t see mum coming because of all the people but I suddenly heard someone screeching my name exceptionally loudly. There was a lot of laughing, hugging and tears.
That day was spent relaxing mostly, eating fish pie and planning for the big day ahead; the memorial service. Here, I would like to give a big shout-out to my aunt Sophie who put an incredible amount of effort into this event! The whole thing went very well, and some very kind and funny speeches were made about Grandpa. It really made me realize that he had lead quite an adventurous life, moving from England to Shanghai, back to England, to India, to Canada and then back to England again. He was in the Indian Army as a parachutist, studied horticulture, worked a tea planter, as a farm hand and also in finance. I also got to see a lot of extended family, including my great aunt, some distant cousins and old friends. By the end of the day we were all completely exhausted emotionally and physically.
Our final full-day together was spent at a Hawk Conservancy, about 30 min from my grandmother’s place. This place was really neat- its meant to be a special place for birds of prey like great bustards, ravens, kites, eagles, owls, etc and there are opportunities to see them fly throughout the day. Grandma and Hilary also organized a picnic for all of us out in a meadow, which was very beautiful!
Saying goodbye to everyone was difficult. I had gotten used to being on my own a lot, and then suddenly being in the UK made me feel like I wasn’t so dependent on myself- I could turn to other people for a change. It took me a few days to adjust to that again- but other than that I didn’t really experience any culture shock.
So now I’m back again. Life’s been rather hectic since my return. After a lot of meeting and discussion, I finally got the go-ahead to write a proposal for that multi-million dollar grant that we discovered at the office. Its due this upcoming Friday, I am super stressed!
Last weekend was a lot of fun. Tom’s sister birthday was on Saturday, so she was throwing a huge party at a Lodge on the other side of town. Tom, one of his brothers and friends and I spent the day driving around running errands for the party; picking up the cake, buying ice, picking up drinks, setting up the bar, etc. I spent the afternoon hanging out at Tom’s family’s house with his little nephew while Tom went to run more errands. “Nick” (the nephew) is about 6 and we spent the entire afternoon playing with balloons. The party itself was a lot of fun, I didn’t think I would have a good time because I wouldn’t know anybody, but it turned out quite the opposite. It turns out I know more people than I realized in this city! Tom had to man the bar, so I spent a lot of time talking and joking with his brothers and his friends. I got home quite late, feeling rather sick and dehydrated, which carried over until the next morning. Sunday was spent hanging out with the muzungu Canadian that I met on the minibus and discovering that my laptop is not working (hence the late blog posting…to be determined as to whether or not I will be able to post photographs).
So, I am officially past the half way point of my placement. NOT COOL. I am both excited at the prospect of finishing up and doing some backpacking (Mozambique, Tanzania and maybe Swaziland?), and also terrified of leaving some people behind. I am just not ready yet. Looking back on the past 4 months, I think I’ve been a relatively ok intern and have learned A TON- which I think is the most important thing. 4 months sure go by fast.
The weather has changed in the last month. It is suddenly exceptionally hot, so hot that I sweat profusely 24/7 and stick to my office chair at work. The heat here wraps itself around you like a blanket- there is no escape. As Zambians say, I will “get used” in time. On the plus side, I saw Zambian rain for the 1st time ever last weekend, yesssssss! I so totally missed the rain these past few months. Goodbye dry season. I shall not miss you.

---

---