Fat, skinny, tall, short? It doesn really matter: Heat, fun on the minibus, Diwali and Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,
It is sooooooooooooo hot. Today, by 9am it was already 36 C. I sure miss that great Canadian fall weather! I have spoken to some of you, and have heard several complaints about the cold in Canada. I am envious! The heat is not so awesome in a landlocked country where no air conditioning exists and you have to pay considerable amounts of money to use hotel swimming pools. Also, wearing shorts is not really an option- I already receive too much unwanted attention from men wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
Originally, I had thought that Thanksgiving was going to be a bust, but it totally wasn’t! My friend “Karen”, the muzungu I met on the minibus, invited me to her place for turkey with her Canadian coworker and her Zambian boyfriend. I brought Tom along (who now truly loves Thanksgiving). There was turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing, wine and apple crumble (made by yours truly) to be enjoyed by all. All in all, an awesome night.
There is currently a petrol shortage here. Rumor has it that a lot of petrol stations (known as “filling stations”)are getting work done on their pumps- but I think there’s simply a shortage. Anyways, as someone who doesn’t have a car, I have found this somewhat comedic. When word gets out that a filling station has petrol to sell, cars race to the station. Exceptionally long line-ups are common, and often block the roads and anyone trying to get by. Sometimes the traffic is so bad that cars that have been filled up at the station can’t get out, and so they have to drive over long stretches of grass, gardens, and through ditches to at least try to get back on the road. Better yet, some cars lose petrol while trying to find petrol. So, cars run out of gas while in line, so drivers have to call up their friends to come and help them push their car to the next filling station, On Friday, after a trying day at work, the filling station near my house was being swarmed with cars. Something had happened, and everyone sitting in line at the pump got out of their car and started yelling and the service guys. I bought an ice cream and sat at a nearby bench to get a look at the action and have a good chuckle.
Work has been good and bad lately. The massive grant proposal worth millions was finally submitted a week ago, of which I am very proud. The day it was due, the internet went down and I had to rush to an internet café- where I sat from 4pm-7pm (on a FRIDAY) and took last minute email instructions from our consultants in Canada. Absolutely brutal and stressful. When it came time to send it in, the email that I was supposed to send it to apparently didn’t exist and I totally freaked. I had to email my supervisor, who helped me scour the grant’s website to find the correct address. Aside from that, I have been having trouble with a coworker- but I don’t think it’s a good idea to post anything about this. Thesis has been unofficially approved by my university- just the Zambian ethics board to go! I am so stoked. My program supervisor also congratulated me and said that my proposal was impressive because it was so “clear and focused. It looks like a good project”. YAY!
The craziest thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago now. I was at my Thursday yoga class (Tuesdays and Thursdays are yoga nights…I’m by no means talented in this area but it’s a good work-out) and I was in the middle of doing a downward-dog when a late-comer walked into the class. It turns out that I knew this late-comer from my past life in Canada, when I was working at a summer camp up near Muskoka! “Lillian” was my section director my first (and only year) on staff and is now working for the government. How insane is that? Absolutely crazy and random if you ask me. After getting over the initial shock, we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up soon.
Last week, Lillian invited me to a Diwali dinner that a friend of hers was hosting. To provide some background info, Diwali (from what I understand) is the Indian celebration of light and good conquering evil. There is a massive Indian population in Zambia- so Diwali is widely celebrated here. Anyways, the dinner was great- dhal, etc was available for one and all. Dessert was ice cream and oreos (OMG, I haven’t seen these in ages- a true North American classic) followed by a small fireworks show and sparklers. Dinner invitees included a lot of Canadians (there are no Canadians here, for real. Most volunteers are American or British) which was pretty awesome- I was able to use words like “Hamilton”, “Westdale”, “Governor General”, “Hockey Night in Canada”, “Yonge and Bloor” and “Newfie”. I haven’t used that vocab in ages. It was a great group of people to meet and enjoy fireworks, sparklers and good food with.
This weekend has been fairly uneventful due to the sweltering heat. Its so hot that I have developed a coping strategy- don’t move, just breathe and drink water. It works and you cool off very quickly- but it does get boring. Saturday was spent doing this, and then that night I went out with Tom for a drink. Today I am skyping and grocery shopping- also enjoying the book “Q&A” the story that inspired Slumdog Millionaire. And now to conclude with a story of today’s minibus adventure:
On my way here (the internet café), I was being squeezed into the back row of a minibus. While I am by no means fluent in Nyanja or Bemba, I know enough words and lingo to figure out what’s going on usually. The conductor was trying to squeeze a fifth person into the back row that I was in (more people means more money), even though there was no space. I was squeezed into this row with a mother with two cute kids on her lap, an elderly woman and a business woman. There was no way a 5th person was going to fit, so everyone in my row started telling the conductor off, including me (I use words like “nawwwwwwwww” or “Ah! No.” ). The conductor insisted that we weren’t leaving until a 5th person squeezed in, so this bigger lady tried and couldn’t fit. This big, loud lady then decided the tell the skinny girl in the row in front to take the spot, but she refused. A big cat fight ensued. The skinny girl said to the bigger lady “I am refusing to sit there. What right do you have to tell me where to sit? I shouldn’t have to sit there, its not my fault that you’ve gone and gotten yourself so fat”. I couldn’t help it- I burst out laughing. These two women continued to argue until this skinny guy decided to give a go at it and eventually squeezed himself in and light out a big and loud sigh (“ahhhhhhhhh”), which made us all laugh. And with that, we were on our way- the 5 of us (plus the two kids on the lady’s lap next to me) practically glued together by our sweat (it is so hot), fighting for breathing space. The trip was made tolerable by the baby in my neighbour’s lap, who grabbed my thumb and held it tightly all the way to my bus stop. Very cute.
Given this “fat” incident, I should probably note that once of things that I absolutely love about Zambia is that weight is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if you’re fat, skinny, etc. Women carry themselves with pride- with their hips and curves. All women can be beautiful- it doesn’t matter what your weight is. In fact, I haven’t seen a single add campaign for weight loss in the 4 months that I’ve been here. People openly call eachother fat or skinny, and no one gets upset, and people complement eachother on weight gain. Gaining weight means that you are eating well afterall. When I explain to people that in muzungu culture, you have to be thin to be beautiful, people are shocked and even laugh. They don’t understand this culture of skinny, and they are shocked when I tell them about things like anorexia. They laugh even harder when I tell them about people going to the gym- why would you need to go to the gym if you walk to work? Life is one bug gym.
Anyways, that’s all. Until next time. Photos to come soon!

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