Thursday 9/18/08
Mike was off today and we went to Chingola again. Met the cleaning men at the house at 8 a.m. They spent a short time sweeping and mopping then took a break for the rest of the day! They are so slow! We have our own private 24 hr guard. In the day it is a nice girl named Leeda. A man comes and stays all night. This is to prevent robbery, not violence. They keep the gate locked and have to open it every time we show up. Everyone who works for KCM and lives around here has 24 hr guards. At Dennis and Suzanne’s house you have to go through two guarded gates to get in. Our yard has fruit trees. We have guava, avocado, lemon, papaya and a garden (which is currently weedy because the house hasn’t been lived in for quite a while). We ran into Dennis and went to their house for lunch. Suzanne is such fun. I will love getting to know her better. We went shopping downtown and got a Simm card for the cell phone, which now works. Shopped a little at the grocery and found out what kind of plug we need to charge the computer. Shopped for furniture for the new house. I kind of wish that it was already furnished with whatever, ‘cause it’s a lot of work to figure all the colors and stuff and do so within a budget of 24 million. (Kwatcha that is.) Divide that by 3500 and you get the dollars. Came back to Kitwe and shopped there as well. We actually paid some kid to stand at the back of our car and guard it while we shopped (his idea, not ours). They just do anything here to try and make money. Guarding a car is better than begging; at least he was doing something for the money. We paid him 10,000 Kwatcha (about $6). Its funny how there are no stray dogs here. Cindy and Bob have a dog, Spaniel named Lucy; and Suz and Den have a mixed breed dog named Duke, you've seen his pictures. He is so sweet and just beautiful. I think he looks part shepherd, part Irish setter, part lab, and who knows what.