What You Need*

A thousand apologies for slacking off on the blogging front recently. I suppose it’s the result of a nasty combination of ridiculous amounts of studying (one of our lecturers keeps going vagabond-student on us and playing truant), catching up with tons of old friends and a (rather sad) realization that I’m not particularly interesting. LOL! No, but seriously – life, other than a few only-I-would-appreciate type sparks, has been rather quiet.

But, I guess that’s the very essence of Life In Lusaka. Quiet, relatively unchanging, comforting and stifling all at once. It’s like a hug I guess. So warm and lovely in the beginning…but after a few seconds turns into an experience that is just horribly awkward and asphyxiating. (New readers, I have queer metaphors/analogies…just deal, OK?) Just to be clear: I’m not at the blue-in-the-face stage yet. Not even close. But this hug is slowly losing its tenderness…

I’ve been trying to do lots of things to spice things up (OK, you can drop the creepy hug analogy right about here) in this boring *cough* not-busy city – I’ve been revisiting places that remind me of my child-and-early-adult-hood, I’ve been reading a lot, I’ve been teaching English to my lovely children (note to World: Congolese kids are going to rule the effing world!), I’ve been taking classes, I’ve been transcribing/shaping parts of my thesis, and I will soon learn to play the guitar and (wait for it) DJ (we’re starting with Minimal and Electro and then moving on to Trance eep!)! Ooooh Oooh AND I found out on Monday that my Trance radio shows can all be streamed right here, in mi casa! Oh, joyyyyy! [No, but seriously…I was listening to music that was like 4 weeks old. Unacceptable in my world. OK, I digress…] Also, I’ve met some ridiculously nice people since I’ve been back – the kindest, most interesting, down-to-earth young people I’ve met in a very long time – which means my social life hasn’t exactly been rotting away in a dingy dumpster. And, honestly, I’ve lost a lot of that horrible nagging emptiness that followed me around during my years away at Uni. I’m definitely reconnecting with old parts of myself and (perhaps more importantly) discovering new talents that I never knew I had. But, there are also a lot of things that I do miss about le developed world…Boston/Cambridge, in particular.

Smoke alarms. The MAC store on Newbury Street. Mobile internet (that actually works). Casual street chat. Walking to and from my destinations. Cafés. People walking their dogs. Whole Foods. Antique wine shops. Creepy waiters (who woulda thought, huh?). Netflix. Joggers. Credit cards (ooh how I love me some plastic!). People minding their own business. Used bookstores and the owners who live for their trade. Pesto pasta. Phone conversations (versus SMSes that read like “wer r v mtng 2nyt?”). Happy Hour(s). The MBTA!! Burdick’s (although I’ve definitely lost 3 or 4Kgs because there isn’t one here…mmm, chocolateheaven). Being near all my smart-cookie East Coast friends.

*sigh* But no, this shan’t be a whiny post…because, I really am enjoying my time in Lusaka immensely. I suppose it’s only natural to miss what you’ve left behind. I know I used to whine about living in an uptight, warm-sunshine-less city all the time when I was in New England. Basically, iHappy…if not entirely content.

At this very moment, though, I’m thinking that my malcontent stems from a morbid lack of carbs in my system. Only one cure: ice-cream and a movie. Lemon-cherry sorbet (hah! Bet you didn’t think we get this fancy-shmancy stuff in Lusaka, did you?!) and Delhi 6, I'm thinking. Without any OMG-I-should-be-reading-this-450-page-book-on-political-theory guilt?

Umm yeah…suddenly the hug feels all warm and fuzzy again.

Hugs of the non-metaphorical variety,

S xxx

*I couldn't think of a title for this post, so I decided to just use the name of the song I was listening to when I started writing. Which, it turns out, fits quite well :) And, in case you're interested, this is le song. Warning: it's a belter, best heard loud :D