Music and Malls (Day 2)

Today was really pleasant - we played at the house, the kids face painted their faces, limbs, backs and tummies (face paint isn't just for faces anymore), went to one of several upscale malls in Lusaka to a supermarket modeled on Whole Foods, and then had a party tonight with a group of Christie and Craig's friends. Super nice people and the whole thing reminded me of our dinner parties in Truckee - lots of kids running around playing, really interesting and warm hearted people who we'd be friends with and gravitate toward if we lived here, great pot luck food, and a music jam session with kids and adults on guitars, violins, tambourine, ukelele, drums and soprano sax.

You can't help noticing that the two lives do parallel each other (albeit without the gates and security guards in Truckee), and that ex-pat communities essentially pull from the best of home cultures to create a little utopia abroad. We talked some about the appeal for some folks of realizing a higher standard of living abroad (through tax breaks and generous benefits) than would be possible with similar jobs in the States, while for other people the dynamic feels odd and they eventually long (like Christie and Craig, who are moving to Seattle in December) to return "home" and set up a permanent base, abandoning the transient three year cycle of many Embassy and development positions.

The fact that the day felt so easy and familiar speaks volumes about Lusaka and its uniqueness among sub-Saharan African capitols. Expecting pot-hole filled streets with chaotic traffic and daring pedestrians, I was stunned to find as we drove about that most streets in the city are sparsely populated with cars during non-commute hours, are incredible well paved, and are often lined with beautiful jacaranda trees, which burst into beautiful purple blooms just before our arrival. It is an easy city through which to travel in the sense that you do not feel you have aged a year in stress by the time you traverse one side to the other. While the layout of streets does not make complete sense and it is easy to take wrong turns, as we frequently did despite Christie knowing the city well, even on backroads and wrong routes there is no sense of dread that you just made a very big mistake. I can't say the same of plenty of U.S. cities. For example, in Baltimore when we first moved there and were apartment hunting we looked at a map and followed a direct route between two locations. Halfway along the straight road we were traveling we stopped at a stoplight and we approached by an older gentleman who asked where we were trying to go. "Oh," we dismissively said, "Thanks, but we're not lost. We're headed to XYZ," and smiled, pointing to our map. He nodded and simply stated, "Trust me, you're lost. Because if you knew where you were you would not be here. Drive quickly."

So I can understand the appeal of life in Lusaka, and even though ex-pat kids being raised here seem remarkably similar to kids being raised in the U.S., undoubtedly there is a greater world view and a context for what the haves and have nots truly means that seeps into their broader conscience and just becomes part of their thinking. I can already see Dez's mind starting to whir with thoughts and he'll only be here for eleven days.