Culture Mash-up

Another wonderful week in Zambia. As I was taking the minibus (15 passenger van) in to town, packed in like a sardine, listening to music in a language I can’t understand I thought of how happy I am to be here and how I will soon call this place home. It’s really such an interesting and beautiful place. I have to imagine that the Garden of Eden resembled the gardens here. There are so many varieties of trees and bushes with flowers of every kind and color blooming on them. The animals too are so beautifully colored- birds and lizards and butterflies.

The mixture of cultures is intriguing too. I’m sure that in everyplace at one point in time there is a period of time where there has been a meshing of two very different cultures between the traditional and the modern. But I have not ever witnessed this. Here you can see people in town dressed in traditional garb- women wearing handmade skirts and wraps while in the next moment you’ll see a young girl walking down the street in pink skinny jeans and a tank top. Vendors line the streets selling everything from tomatoes and fish to nail polish and cell phones. Yet there are grocery stores and a growing number of fast food and clothing chains. The ‘western’ culture is very evident here, and while I appreciate the conveniences it affords me, I still very much value a culture different from my own.

On a different note: When I went back to the immigration office on Friday I found that I was only allowed one more 30 day extension. So I will be heading back to the states on May 21 and will remain until our wedding in October.