Ashley in Africa

So I’ll just share with you a story from my first night in Ndola.  I had been in Africa about four days, thankfully having been here before so some things came much easier and quicker to adjust to.  But we arrived into Ndola, after taking the bus, which is quite the experience, and hauled all my luggage to the ECZ Guesthouse.  We walked into the house which was to be mine, and there was absolutely nothing in it but a bed.  The kitchen is pushing it to call it a kitchen (but there is a sink with running water) and the bathroom is pretty skuzzy compared to what Westerners are used to.  We spent the afternoon pulling furniture out of the container they use for storage and kinda setting up house.  We also made a trip to ShopRite to get some groceries and a few things for the house.  But by that night, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed.  None of the locks worked, the hot water didn’t work, and there were problems with most of the plugs in the house.  So needless to say I was feeling pretty overwhelmed.

And then it was time for bed.  We had gone out to dinner and so I came back to a dark, and pretty empty, house.  My mattress was on the floor which didn’t bother me too terribly much.  Until I walked into the house that night turned on the light and watched a giant cockroach skitter across the floor, along the wall where my mattress was lying.  I freaked out.  Normally I can handle bugs of sorts and will kill them quickly.  But this time it just was the last straw for me.  I tried to step on it to kill it but just kept freaking myself out.  So I found the bugspray we had bought and attacked it with that.  After following into all the rooms in the house.  Where all my luggage was lying on the floor, open and very easily accessible.  I finally got it sprayed and watched it curl up and suffer.  And then I just sat for about twenty minutes, trying to calm myself down.  I never knew the depth to which I was afraid of roaches.  Thankfully last night was much better and I’m feeling a little bit more confident about my next encounter!  As for the lizards, I’ll take them any day over roaches.

But the best part of Ndola so far…..The avocado tree right outside my house.  Literally.  It’s limbs almost touch my roof.  And not those puny things they call avocados in the states.  But real, massive ones.  Oh, I’m excited!!  And the mango and papaya tree.  Maybe I’ll grow a liking for those fruits.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 9:17 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.