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…Of Marta Metro’s and Mini Buses


Town mummy! town mummy muyenda??? For many years around 4am when all is peaceful and quiet this is the Alarm that woke me up and told me it was four am. That is the price I paid for living near the bus station, it was the sound of the zealous bus conductors calling out to customers mostly the women who sold in the markets going to order their merchandise which included live chickens, vegetables and many other goods for resale.

I am in the United States and yes my fellow leader Chris is always there to remind me that am in the US. Things are different here I have to walk a good 15 minutes to get to the bus station that takes me to the train station where I have to get on a train that takes me to my final destination and that is how I travel to work and around Atlanta. One thing I realize is I have lost work. I took a look at myself in the mirror and I almost couldn’t recognize myself I just said wow I cannot afford to loose weight but again all the walking I have done in the last 7 days beats the walking I do in a whole months.

Atlanta has so many hills and walking there is more exercise than just walking and surprisingly am beginning to enjoy it and the US transport culture beats me! In Zambia we seem to be so comfortable in maximizing the use of cars than our legs that even a short distance we just hop onto a bus and hope off at the next station. Here, it’s interesting because everything is timed the buses are always rotating a timely basis. I was marveling at the culture and patience of the people after moving back and forth I got on a bus heading home since the bus took a while to arrive there were many people and no sooner had it arrived than it got full. I was smiling to myself and thinking how I would make it back home in good time.

Surprisingly the bus remained parked for over 25minutes, when I looked around everyone seemed calm and quietly sat. I just went straight home and thought of how commuters would react to such behavior. I thought of the many times I got on a bus where all that was needed was one person yet there would be a serious demand from the commuters that the bus departs as they had business where they were going.

Every time I take a train or bus ride in Atlanta I can’t help but marvel at the way people just seem to be engrossed in their own affairs, they sit with headphones plugged into their headphones.  Or just doing their thing. I tend to drift off  to Zambia where you hop onto a bus and all sorts of discussions will ensue depending on what time you are on the bus in the morning and afternoon its usually politics of the day and updates on happenings while in the evening it will be the drunk people telling you all about their escapades and what they would go and do to their wives! And me being the information disseminator I am would have a field day sharing the information on FB and letting all my friends have a laugh or conversation based on such talks.

I can only say the United States Government has really offered me a great life changing opportunity that is making me appreciate different societies. While patience is a virtue I do not possess I want to believe that the way things are going I will be a changed patient person and again maybe I will be also be a fit less lazy person who will be able to walk around from Lusaka town to Manda Hill and Arcades for a movie and yes I plan on taking all my friends on this walkathon journey !

Comments

Unknown said…
Nice narrative of honest everyday experience in a new society. So glad you do not make value judgements about which society is the better or worse. Enjoy your stay over there!
11:36 PM
Unknown said…
Am glad you're embracing the change positively. Count me in on the walk from Lusaka to Arcades for movies :-)
8:42 AM
Brenda Nglazi Zulu said…
It is just nice to see you blogging my friend. I believe in creating content
4:34 AM
Susanm said…
Thank you for the feedback Brenda, Florence and Mudu i will endeavour to share more of my observations
5:41 PM
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