I'm always remembering things that I meant to blog about. For example when we were flying in from London and were about to land after a 9-hour flight, the captain told us that we could not land and would have to circle around for about an hour because the airport staff was not ready to serve us and some machines needed to be removed from the runway which is currently under construction. The British Airways stewardesses were rather pissed off and one frustrated passanger stood up and exclaimed: "Welcome to Africa!" But fortunately we only had to wait for about 20 minutes before we could land.


The fact that I had already been to other African countries has definitely helped me adapt to this environment. However, in some ways things are so different here than for example in Malawi that I got a bit of a culture shock to begin with. In Malawi the people are very poor, but it is such a rural society and everything is clean and beautiful. Although the people generally have more money here, dress in nice clothes, have cell phones and there is a lot of fancy cars on the street, most of them live in overcrowded and dirty peri-urban settlements. Garbage removal is not very effective which also puts a mark on the city and the environment and sometimes the senses, especially the sense of smell. The gap between rich and poor is shocking. Is it really worth being filthy rich when you have to face other people's misery everyday? (That is, when you're not staying in one of your villas in a different part of the world).

I can't remember any more stories right now. Things are already getting familiar and I think I'll soon stop seeing things that I notice to day and find interesting and sometimes comic. We're getting to know our way around the city a bit and sometimes go for walks in the lunch break. We still have to depend on our hosts for a lift to and from the city, but are thinking about getting a car later on.

Have a nice weekend everyone!