I'm off...

...to Zambia!

A tourist to Zambia.

Underneath my supposed calm and understanding exterior:

• You can enter Zambia as a tourist... hmm... okay... does this include a tourist itinerary? A Christmas vacation perhaps...
• However, not sure if we can get you a flight in the immediate future, since it is the start of high season… umm, what?! By immediate future, is that this week? December? January?
• Apparently, original passport photos were not sent/received... hmm... someone is walking around with eight scary headshots of me
• Travel agents pulled some magic... your flight has been rebooked for Thursday
• Thursday?! This Thursday!
• Damn, now I really need to get things in order... crazy how an uneventful weekend was able to sufficiently tuck Zambia away in my brain.
  

With this kafuffle, I have joined the family visa mishaps club... just a week ago Mom’s visa got stamped with a date a week old, effectively shortening her one month visa to three weeks. Shitters.

I should probably be more proactive and figure out what a tourist visa entails. And, aside from the photos, what exactly is holding up the work permit? An issue, which I apparently need to approach with caution. Hmm... okay... what? I’m not going to try and decipher what that means from an email. Anyway, my new departure date is Thursday, November 30. Let’s hope it is an actual, get on the airplane, leaving date.

ps. M is for Monday and Mefloquine. Maybe a dreamy night ahead... as long as it isn't about missing airplanes or invalid visas!

Cozy in Calgary.

Confusion has set in. Is Zambia happening? My bags and piles of stuff in the living room are starting to seem out of place. I may just be at a loss of what to do with myself. I recently abdicated my role as a bad advice dispensing, extremely single friend. My climbing gear is stored away. I'm avoiding Christmas parties and shopping. Although, that hasn't prevented me from falling into lazy Christmas mode: lying in front of the fireplace, eating desserts, watching awful made for TV movies, and writing up MEC wish lists. It is a very snowy -25C(-13F) in Calgary and being buried under my duvet with woolly socks on my feet is super. However, in an effort to keep this blog Zambia related, here are some mildly relevant things I've been up to:

Games
Boggle is coming with me to Zambia. If you cross paths with me, you may be enticed/forced to play. I have also rediscovered Guess Who. Yes, a very kiddie game, but a Canadian working in Guyana enlightened me to politically incorrect Guess Who. ie. Does your person look like a convict? A conservative? A feminist? Would you let this person into your house? Sit next to you? Go on a date with? etc... Interesting to see the range of stereotypes/opinions/preferences. Doesn't sound particularly fun here, but I promise it is highly entertaining.

Zip lock bags
Bringing lots. Always come in handy. A culinary inclined boyfriend of a Peace Corps volunteer once made garlic and herb butter thanks to an available ziplock bag. Then, there are the clean pairs of underwear sealed in a ziplock for the momentous one and two years in-country. Trust me, they will be a memorable occasions... unless I'm underestimating the laundry facilities.

It is +25C(77F) with 90% humidity in Lusaka. Is there such thing as climate shock? My pasty skin and winter hair will go into rebellion...

Expect the expected.

One more day until Zambia. I am temporarily back to an undefined number of days until Zambia. A week ago, the documents needed to process my work permit were held at customs and could not be released. I have no idea what that actually means. Perhaps, trying to be serious in my passport photos might have been too frightening a sight. Lonely Planet writes, "In Zambia anything that can go wrong usually will. But until it does, there's no point in worrying." Oops... I guess worrying about my visa weeks ago was not to my advantage. Although, I'm surprisingly not all that frustrated or disappointed (okay, maybe a little, but subdued thanks to mefloquine). I will get to Zambia eventually, just probably not for another week or two. However, the thought of longer than that gives me a panicky feeling, so I hope I will not to entertain that. Now what to do for the time being... options: (a) renovate house with Dad, (b) ski, (c) work... more money = more travel possibilities.

The Beginning.

Welcome to Melinza! I have a feeling I am the only one that finds the play on my name amusing, but it was a satisfying ha! moment after spending far too much time deciding a blog name. Here we are approaching the eve of my departure to Zambia. It has been a long process from looking at internships/placements in the spring to having a date to circle on the calendar just a month ago. But, even as I’m packing for warm, humid weather and stocking my personal pharmacy, it still doesn’t quite feel real. “You must be excited,” friends say. Absolutely! I’m excited for the opportunity to fall in love with a new country, land, and peoples, but I can’t seem to conjure up the euphoric excited feeling typical of new adventures, new relationships, or for me finding a perfect pair of pants. Admittedly, I am cautious about having too many expectations, but more than that, I want to ease into Zambia without feeling that my mere presence there is something significant. I’m not off to Africa in some grand sense, but making the move for the opportunity to live and work in one Southern African city. Perhaps, I might find myself a part of something and that would be grand.

Some background info: I’m done with school (for now) and setting aside my biochemistry days to consider pursuing international development and public health as a career and future studies. In Lusaka, Zambia, I will be working with a local community schools non-governmental organisation to support their programmes, build the capacity of the organisation and teachers, and mainstream HIV/AIDS programmes. Over the course of two years, I hope to find my role in somewhere in those objectives.

To learn more about Zambia, I’ve put some handy links in the sidebar. BBC country profiles are good for general information. IRIN is an excellent news network for exploring news not often picked up by North American networks. And, for your perusal... the Zambian tourism and Lonely Planet website should you feel inclined to come and visit. I will eventually put up my mailing address - if you enjoy real mail, email me your address and I will write you. I hope this blog will not serve just as a place for me to ramble, but also a platform for a dialogue on development, poverty, globalisation, and really how we all have a part.

So here’s to the beginning...