Saturday, June 16, 2012

Sun Dried Guava

This is seriously my new obsession. While I can only handle a few at a time due to their sweetness, dried guava is simply addictive. It is what I imagine an organic fruit roll-up would taste like (if I was ever adventurous enough to try one); part chewy, part grainy, mostly sweet.


Chankwakwa is a company that locally produces Zambian foods such as dried fruit and honey. 


Aside from the fresh fruits and vegetables grown here near Lusaka, local foods are not easily found. Most of the food in the grocery stores is imported from South Africa and beyond. While I do live on a farm and many of my foods come from my "back yard" there is still much that needs to be purchased at the store and unfortunately only a small portion of that can be found from Zambian products. Hopefully that will improve in the future but until then I will give support where I can - and when support tastes as delicious as this how can I complain?

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Office View

As I sit at work with a long to do list, including the always fun budgeting, I decided a quick blog post was due. The photo below is the view from my desk in my office at Levy Park which is one of the newer malls here in Lusaka. Bundled in a scarf (and often a jacket) to protect myself from the unnecessarily cranked up air conditioning I enjoy the sunny view of a parking lot and a bit of the city skyline. In front of me is our travel desk where our agents assist with trip bookings. To my right is the bureau of exchange.


Helpful hint: if traveling to Zambia the only place you can exchange Kwacha is right here in Zambia so be sure to change any leftover money back to dollars, euros, or pounds before you leave.... or you will just have to come back to Zambia to spend that Kwacha - which really isn't a terrible alternative. ;)


Thursday, June 7, 2012

Meet Betty

This is my car Betty, she is an immigrant to Zambia just like me. Hailing from Japan she is handling the heat, dust and potholes just fine. She has a solid sound system and a spacious rear end. She is good on gas, which is helpful because gas here is about twice as expensive as it is back home in the states (and I am working with half the paycheck on top of that). Driving on the other side of the road isn't that bad and in a month and a half I only messed up once - thankfully it was at night and there was no oncoming traffic.



During the day though, Lusaka traffic is pretty rough. You might not travel very far but you can bet it will take you a while to get there. If the traffic isn't slowing you down the speed bumps will. No need to pay for police officers to monitor the speed of drivers when you can just build numerous speed bumps and ensure that at all times all cars are slowing down. A far more effective way of slowing down traffic, although highly annoying as a driver. Between the speed bumps and the pot holes driving in Lusaka is almost like a Super Mario Brothers game.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

What is ZAManda?

I am starting this blog to document me, Amanda, and my life here in Zambia. 


You might find pictures and posts about people, places, work, entertainment, mishaps, or any other experience I have in Lusaka. If there is anything in particular you are curious about please feel free to comment and I will be sure to post about it! I hope you enjoy this and feel as though you are living here with me.