A Look Back

Many of you know by now that we are no longer in Zambezi, but are safely in Livingstone. We left Zambezi on Wednesday, and have had a packed few days, including an overnight safari full of elephants, giraffes, hippos, and lions. Also, our hostel is great, but the wifi is suspect.

As we left Zambezi, our group was split for the two and a half hour flight with Katie making a surprise and extremely quick entrance when we realized that Andy’s flight was supposed to have five passengers who were still asleep at the convent, not the four who were packed and ready at the airstrip. Aaahhh, communication. Props to you, Katie. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 06 hours, so we were not sent off in proper Zambian fashion. There was no singing or dancing and no children surrounding us or yelling “Chindele!” With heavy hearts, experiencing one of the only low-key events to take place during our stay, we departed from the place that we called home for the last three weeks and that will forever hold a piece of our hearts. To cheer ourselves, we have been reflecting on ten of the funniest moments to happen on our journey thus far:

1. While still in Lusaka at the beginning of our journey, Josh insisted that we have dinner at a random curry restaurant which his friend had suggested. Curry in Zambia? A strange combination if you ask me, but we were all starving and eager to “lean in and say ‘yes.’” The restaurant was dark and could barely fit all of us, so it took nearly an hour and a half to get our food. We spent that time speculating how many of us would get food poisoning from the “Systematic Restaurant,” as it was called. Once we finally got our food, my table was left with no utensils. Curry is kind of hard to eat without utensils. You know what’s worse than waiting an hour and a half for your food? Waiting another twenty minutes for your fork. However, the funniest part of that evening had to be the restroom; we had to walk through a little passageway with a sink and head outside to find a small room with a toilet. LaShantay and I ventured out with a borrowed headlamp (side note, never forget your headlamp in Zambia). We kept the door open in case of rats, and when it was my turn to use the facilities, she started talking to me. I replied, “I can’t hear you. My pee is too loud.”

2. The rumors about huge and frightening African spiders are true and we came to encounter these creatures many, many times on our trip. Some of us are hardly even scared of spiders (or cockroaches) anymore. The first encounter happened on our first night in Lusaka, right after we checked in to the lodge we were to stay in. As a few of us were waiting to be shown to our rooms, we heard a cringe-worthy scream from a room full of male students. We exchanged nervous glances and concluded that they must have seen some kind of creepy-crawly thing. Turns out, it was a spider and Collin is scared of spiders. They also fessed up to jumping on their beds for fear of an attack. I had my own encounter with an enormous African spider during an emergency visit to the toilet. The lid was up when I went in, but I closed it after finishing up only to find out that the biggest spider I’ve ever seen was right behind my back the entire time. He easily could have attacked me, so I screamed. Venezia came to check on me in the bathroom because she heard me from down the hall. I never put the lid down again for fear of seeing more spiders.

3. One of our first cultural immersions was seeing the Makishi dancers of the Luvale people. That was an experience itself that ought to be tackled in another post. However, Father Dominic, one of our cultural guides, provided some comic relief by introducing us to his friend Brian as, “This is my friendship Brian.” From then on, none of us were friends, but rather we were “friendships.” He also spent the night wearing a strange headband that looked like a diaper on his head and passing it around to strangers. Sometimes the tailors here don’t quite understand what you’re looking for. I apologize in advance to friends and family that receive souvenirs made of chitenge, good intentions, and interesting construction.

4. Zambezi is filled with flattened, dried up chameleons. One day, a small group of people went for a walk, and—unbeknownst to the rest of us—brought back one of these creatures. It happened to be my day to write the group journal, and when I went to read aloud what I had written during reflection, I let out a piercing scream and threw the book on the floor. I was so shocked and overcome with laughter that I couldn’t answer any of the “What happened?” questions that came rolling in. Maryclare picked up the book and opened it, repeating my act. This time, the chameleon flew out of the book onto the floor, exposing itself to the room. I belly-laughed for a good three minutes while Nick picked it up with his bare fingers. The chameleon continued to make the rounds throughout the week, hiding under a breakfast plate one time and between a stack of readings another. Father Dom then told us it was probably poisonous because a snake bit it (he was likely joking), then played football (soccer) with it through the kitchen. He got distracted and left it on the floor until some brave soul taped it to the wall where it remained for the next two weeks, a constant reminder to be ever aware of your surroundings.

5. Zambians like to give gifts to their visitors. These gifts are often food items and are sometimes still alive. In total, we received five chickens (Hannah got one of her own) and FOUR goats. Each time was comical in itself, but the first left us with some casualties. We left the goat tied up under the seat and the chicken with its legs tied in the vehicle while we crossed the bridge at Chiningyi after leaving Dipalata. Somehow, the goat got loose! We came back to a terrified goat, a chicken with its feathers a bit ruffled, and a jacket and bag covered in farm-animal fecal matter. Trying to get the goat tied back up while getting four people with unstable digestive systems back home was interesting. Props to Logan for being the goat master.

6. The plague. What more can I say? We had twelve out of nineteen students suffer from the Zambezi plague during our stay, and I think we all suffered from some unfortunate digestive issues. In almost all cases, it was a simple 24-hour stomach bug. While the illness in itself was not funny at all, the fact that an anonymous student fessed up to sharting caused a roar of laughter. Perhaps more remarkable is the fact that a normal and completely not-awkward conversation for us usually consisted of some reference to our bodily functions. My roommates and I often fell asleep to talk of such things and thought nothing was odd about it. Seems that no matter how old we get, potty humor is never not funny.

7. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Zambians really like to sing and dance, and find many occasions to do so, including when welcoming guests, around a bonfire, when saying goodbye to guests, and when dedicating a library. At the library dedication at Chileña, the GU students were required to perform a song and dance as well. Most of us are not skilled in the performing arts, whatsoever, and we struggled to come up with a song. “Uptown Funk” was tossed around, but deemed inappropriate for a Zambian crowd. Somehow, we settled on the classic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” for which only about three of us knew the words. The night before the event was spent frantically trying to learn lyrics and a dance, but there was no way we could impress a Zambian with our moves, or lack-there-of. During the performance, the music kept cutting out, we forgot the words, and they tried to get us to stop, it was that bad. Not to fear, we persevered through the song with no background music and received a hearty pity clap from the crowd. At least we can laugh at ourselves, right?

8. I have been blessed with the ability to fall asleep anywhere, but I personally have provided a great deal of laughter for the group because I have not been blessed with the ability to stay awake anywhere. Seriously, I can’t control it. Shelby continuously tells me that there is something wrong with me, because whenever anyone looks my direction during an extended period of sitting (more than five minutes) or just about any time after the sun has gone down, I’m sporting the sleepy eyes and rockin’ the head jerks. Jeff and Josh, I promise it’s nothing personal!

9. Reflection is a time at night where we sit in candlelight and discuss readings and challenges. While it is very meaningful (I think; I’m usually asleep), it also provides for some great laughs. For example, we all got a good laugh out of Jeff’s face turning purple from laughing so hard at an off-handed remark that Shelby made. One night, Katie was in the middle of making a remark when she let out some gas. “Sorry, I farted,” she said and continued on nonchalantly. A joke that continues outside of reflection is the sassy nicknames bestowed upon Jennifer and Shelby, Jenny and Shelly, respectively, during a sarcastic skiff between the two. Last, but not least, was Shelby splitting her chitenge pants while striking a yoga pose.

10. To preface the final recollection, there is a Zambian tradition of pouring water over the head of a person having a birthday. It was necessary that we orchestrate this happening for Nick’s recent birthday. We managed to pull it off, but not without Shelby accidentally hit him in the head with the bucket while pouring water on him. Oops.

Our time together in Zambia is coming to a close, but we are continuing to reflect together on the funny, blessed, and challenging moments that we have had thus far, and we are embracing the remaining moments that we have.

Blessings to you all and see you in just a few days,

Lauren Benedict, Class of 2015

P.S. We were able to fly over Victoria Falls on our way in to Livingstone. Just seeing it from the air made me sure of its standing as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Exploring it in person on Thursday proved to be just as magnificent and provided us with many more funny stories, including baboon attacks!

P.P.S. We’ll have one final post from Livingstone tonight, so stay tuned!