TIA

For those of you who haven't heard there is a phrase used here that we've had to adopt ourselves: "TIA," it means "This is Africa."  It's something that both Kerri and I are learning to say many times here in Zambia.  Today's blog is about some of the situations that we have encountered which left us kind of befuddled and the only thing we had left to say was "This is Africa."  So, in no particular order...

• The other day we were in Game, a store similar to WalMart but much smaller and with kitchen appliances.  Now that I think of it, a little more like SEARS.  Anyways, we were there to exchange a heater that we had purchased which did not work.  When we picked out the new heater, we asked one of the salesmen if we could plug it in to verify it was working properly.  He kindly replied, "Uhhhhhh, (looking very confused) let me call a service man for you."  We were standing right beside an outlet!  In the end, all of the service men were at lunch and we weren't allowed to plug it into the outlet there on the sales floor.  Instead, we had to take it to customer service on the way out of the store.  This is Africa!

• Today, we made a second appointment with someone who works for one of the government offices here in Lusaka.  And for the second time, when we arrived for our appointment, the person was gone attending another appointment.  This is Africa!

• One time Kerri was out to eat--a simple meal, pizza.  She ate half the pizza in the restaurant, but wanted to take the other half home.  When it was time to leave she asked the waiter if she could have a to-go box, or take-away box as they call it here.  The waiter replied "You are eating in and didn't order it as take-away.  I'll have to ask someone in charge if it's okay."  This is Africa!

• I got pulled for speeding.  The cop didn't even have a vehicle of her own to chase me down. She just simply stepped out into the middle of the road.  This is Africa!

• All of the local grocery stores at different times have run out of sugar and trash bags and cheese and ...  Basically they run out of every item you might want to buy on a given day.  This is Africa!

• When choosing between different brands at the grocery store, it's not very difficult.  There are usually only 1 or 2 choices.  This is Africa!

• When having an ultrasound done, it is impossible to find someone who will tell you the sex of the baby.  They all believe that it is bad luck.  This is Africa!

I hope this doesn't sound like complaining.  We're really happy here, it's just comical sometimes the differences we see here.  Zambians are much more concerned about relationships than getting tasks done.  Us Americans are not, but we're trying to learn.  It has really taught us patience and has forced us to slow down our American pace and lessen our often too high expectations.