Shopping

Hi everyone,
Yesterday I didn't leave the house all day--I was cleaning and doing laundry all day. It was interesting because this morning, when I got in the car and was taking the kids to school (via a driver), I realized that yesterday, I had forgotten I was in a different country, let alone on a different continent! At home, we've already made it seem like home in the US--TV, computers, our dog, favorite foods, stuffed animals on the kids' beds, doing homework, etc. I guess except for things like mosquito netting over the beds, and seeing the pots of boiling water all over the stove, things do not seem all that different. So this morning, when I went outside, I was a bit shocked, as outside of our home, things are very different!

Last weekend, we all went shopping together, as a family, in downtown Lubumbashi. We didn't really have much we needed to get, but just wanted to check things out. Our first mistake was going at 11:00 in the morning, instead of first thing in the morning. It was incredibly crowded! I knew that I needed to get to the grocery stores by 9:00 in the morning (when they open), or by 10:30 they are so crowded you can hardly get your cart down the aisles, but I did not realize the same was true for the downtown market area.

We went into several stores, just looking. It seemed that almost every store downtown was a store selling electrical things (washers/dryers, microwaves, radios), paint, or plumbing supplies. We did not see any clothing stores, or even any food stores. One store seemed to have a variety of everything (Target?). It was a tiny little store, and things were piled on shelves all the way up to the ceiling. They had things like WD-40, soccer balls, boxing gloves, sinks, beaded curtains, showers, baby jumpers, workout equipment, etc. But it was rare that they would have more than one of anything, so once they're out of it, you're out of luck! Every place you go to, you wait in line to tell them what you want. Then they write it out on a piece of paper, and hand you the paper. Then you go to another line to pay for it. Then you go to another line for them to stamp your paper, showing that you paid for it. Then to another line to actually pick your item up. Then they take your item, take it completely out of the packaging/box, and check it to make sure all the parts are there (there is no such thing as returning an item). And finally, as you are going out the door, they check your receipt again. It was quite the ordeal just trying to get a can of WD-40--a process that took about 20 minutes!

Downtown, out on the streets, there are people selling anything and everything! Little kids as young as 3 are selling candy. People are selling various types of sculptures, malachite, fruits & vegetables, shoes, hats, etc. I even saw someone selling something that looked like pieces of crushed brick! I'm not sure why someone would want that, as they were tiny little pieces, but I'm sure they had some use. As we are walking down the street, everyone is trying to get us to buy things--very much in your face! This is probably a similar experience as going down to Mexico. The kids were not very comfortable with this whole experience, but we wanted them to see what downtown Lubumbashi was like.

What I was most surprised about was the amount of traffic. Seriously, the traffic in downtown Lubumbashi makes traffic in Los Angeles look like a walk in the park. You have to understand that there are very few traffic rules, or traffic lights, in a city with about 1.2 million people. I think there are about 4 traffic lights in the whole city, and it seems that most of the time, they are ignored. I have not seen anything that resembles a stop sign. I see occasional speed limit signs (40 km), which may or may not be obeyed. Cars just make up their own lanes (there are no lane markings on the streets), and when they want to pass someone who is going slower than they are, they just honk or flash their lights and go for it, regardless of what may be coming in the opposite direction. There is no regard at all for pedestrians or bike riders. There is no such thing as pedestrians having the right of way. In fact, someone told me that a driver hit a little girl that was walking to school, and the driver got out of the car and yelled at her for being in the way! If you are a pedestrian, you basically are taking your life in your hands everytime you go somewhere. As cars drive down the roads, they honk at the pedestrians as a warning, letting them know they are getting too close to them. There is nothing like pedestrian walkways or crossing zones. It is quite scary being a pedestrian, but actually not much better being a passenger in a car. Most of the time when I'm in a car, I just look down or cover my eyes. I'm surprised we have not yet been in an accident. If we do get in an accident, we are supposed to call security (from Bill's company), and they will send another car to pick us up. In the meantime, we leave our driver to deal with the accident. They will almost always say the accident was our fault, as they know that we have money, and they will try to get money from us. All accidents are handled right then and there. There is no such thing as auto insurance or exchanging information with the other driver.

We are going to try shopping again soon, but will try to go first thing in the morning!

Just a little side note, not related to shopping. The process of ensuring that we have clean water to drink has now become more cumbersome. I bought something called a Pradeep. It is a water filter, with ceramic filters. It looks like a big, silver coffee urn--something that you might see at a catered event. So, first I have to boil the water. Then I have to let it cool down. In order for this to happen more quickly, I pour the water out of the boiling pots, and into glass bowls. Then, once it is cool, I pour it into the top of the Pradeep. From here, the water goes through/past the ceramic filters, and slowly drips down into a lower chamber. There is a little spigot coming out from the lower chamber, and I open that up, and one by one fill up little water bottles for us to drink from and brush our teeth with. We did bring our water cooler from AZ, so I am going to fill up our 2-3 gallon bottles and then use those with our water cooler. Again, it is quite the process, and I spend much of my day ensuring that we have clean water to drink!

Well, my french lesson is about over (obviously I have not been paying much attention), and it is lunch time, so I will sign off for now.

Laurie