Top 10 List

So in celebration of our 2-month mark of living in Zambia as newlyweds we wanted to share a top 10 list with y’all. More specifically, the Top 10 Things That Should Bother Us But Thankfully Don’t Anymore.

10. These terrible screeching noises we hear at night. We thought it was an animal dying but when it happened at the same time every night, we googled to find out it’s probably a Barn Owl. The sounds that used to keep us up at night (and terrified) are now muffled out by the best deal we’ve found so far- a $14 fan at a Walmart equivalent. Now the sweet hum drowns out the sounds of screeching owls and wild dogfights.

In the continent's most expensive city, we found this steal/treasure/gem

9. Downpours at any moment of the day. It used to be a bit overwhelming when the skies opened up to dump out a flash flood. But after we realized crazy rain = no internet, no meetings, no one daring the roads, our attitudes changed. Yay for a chance to breathe and chill out in the middle of the day.

Rains are much more aggressive than they appear in photo.

8. Moldy cheese. Stop reading here if you’re easily grossed out with food sanitation. Moldy cheese used to feel like a moment of great defeat, but when we realized the magical trick of just cutting off the moldy part for it to look as good as new, everything changed. The $10-15 investment in a block of cheese felt more doable knowing it could even outlast its inevitable meeting with the Mold Monster.

7. Being called a muzungu (foreigner). Honestly, it’s a bit tiring to always stick out and for children to constantly shout out at you as you travel through the compound areas. But if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So if people think we’re something different, that we shall be, and we shall wave at and greet any child who wants to scream “MUZUNGU” at the top of his lungs inviting 20+ of his closest friends to also do the same.

We don't have any photos of children yelling at us, so we figured a photo starring the "muzungus" themselves would suffice for this one. 

6. The constant company of large flat spiders (we’re talking up to 3”wide) and miniature geckos in our home. We’ve taken more of a Charlotte’s Web approach to these little critters. Since we know they won’t bite and we don’t have any chance of dying in their presence, why not keep them around? Maybe they’ll choose to battle it out with our enemy mosquitos some day.

He's only hiding because it's daytime. Come night time, this guy isn't the least bit shy, and he even invites his friends.

5. Laundry. UPDATE: My parents surprised us with the most gracious gift of a dryer after reading the horrific tales of the Putzi Fly in my previous post, and after I sent my mom a photo of the LIVE Putzi Fly in my kitchen where I was drying a load of laundry during the rains (little jerk). Laundry is now 1000x better, even enjoyable and worth celebrating to have good smelling clothes, larvae-free, without a scratchy stiffness, all in a reasonable amount of time. Monumental changes around here for real.

The Lifesaver 3000 aka the most beautiful dryer in the world.

4. Variety of food and the outrageous prices of such. So muffin mix costs $10 to make 4 of them. Cheese, as you read, might as well be bricks of gold. Olive oil kills us at $30 a bottle. And there were strawberries on sale for $21 last week. Get the picture? To picture it fully, realize that we’re on a very tight newlywed/support raised budget. Ain’t nobody got money for that. So instead of living in shock, we now peruse the grocery aisles as if it was a museum, a form of entertainment, while we stick to a pretty strict vegetarian diet (not because we don’t like meat, but because it costs entirely too much and can be pretty sketchy).

No this isn't an ant farm in Tupperware, it's our new fave: Lentils and Brown Rice

3. Ants. Not just an ant problem, but an ant infestation, outbreak, any other synonym you prefer. They find the smallest crumbs in the farthest parts of our pantry. They call all their friends for an ant party. And the time we used to invest in killing them all via paper towels and water is now spent resting as we just let them be. Once they eat all the food we left behind, they’ll leave. And that will be that. Paper towels and water are saved, and these ants live the high life.

They were all camera shy today, but picture these few guys times 3000 and you get the picture.

2. Driving on washed out roads. With it being rainy season, muddy roads dry into horribly bumpy dirt roads with potholes big enough to eat your car. This high stress event has transformed into an adventure for us. We like to picture it as an urban safari, saving hundreds more dollars on some good ole dirt road fun. There aren’t cheetahs or elephants to look out for, but there are some pretty crazy chickens running around. And the adventure can also double as a free massage when the roads are really destroyed. Not so bad… until we have to pay to replace the shocks. But until that day, we will adventure on.

1. Our own body odor. It’s hot here. We don’t have air conditioning. We both work outside a lot of times. So we smell. That’s all there is to it. I used to try to spritz myself with some expensive perfume I brought over, but as I saw dollar bills flying out with each spray, I quickly abandoned that habit. Now that Wyatt smells, I’m allowed to too. And our clothes smell until that Monday laundry day rolls around. The sniff test is often used here, even for date night clothes. Gross? Yea probably. But again, if you can’t beat ‘em (the heat), join ‘em (and stink).

Sniff test: Check. With a passing grade, this swanky shirt was approved for last night's date night.

Cheers to 2 months of Zamlife with a few lessons learned a ton more to go. Same rule applies with our 4-month young marriage, as we don’t quite have a top 10 on that one yet. That post is sure to come, though, as we’re told we’ll become experts in how to be married by month 6, right?! ;)

A more serious life-update post is in the works and will actually be coming soon so be on the look out for that. But until then, enjoy this silly one and have the most wonderful Sunday.

Joy to you all,

Amy (and Wyatt)