14.4.06
Chisicone Market
Chisicone Market, what an adventure. After a sleepover with Elaine and Lauren in the guesthouse (where Elaine is staying, behind the Kopa house), Nancy picked us up. On our way downtown we didn’t have to detour like she did in the morning (because of a riot at the university). We parked downtown, and when the usual guy – Moses - who watches the Bersaglio’s car came, we headed to the bank, and Nancy went to Shop-Rite.
This was not like a bank that I had ever been in. The room was as long across as a typical Safeway checkout area. It was incredibly crowded. There were a whole bunch of branches represented, with large groups of people lined up outside each booth. The booths were little cubicles, with glass windows, so everyone could see what was going on, and how much money was transacted. Also, along the wall next to the street, there were windows, with benches in front – every last one of them occupied. Lauren and I waited for Elaine to exchange her money, and read the sign on how to tell if American money was real or not. [Side note: the new American 50’s have colour – pink! So much for green money.]
We continued down the street and went in a store that sold fabric. Elaine wanted to get a dress made, so the clerk brought her some fabric. All of the fabric (the traditional kind, with cool designs and colours) felt like a tablecloth – it was waxy, and would probably be rainproof. There were very few cottons.
Lauren pointed out that all of the stores are the same. They are all the same shape- narrow, rectangular, high ceilings, and dark. Also, the products are the same- random things like baby strollers, speakers, linoleum rolls, fabric, and lots of trinkets inside the glass counters.
We went into some clothing stores, which were neat. All of the clothes were westernized, pretty much. There was an amazing shirt full of dollar store English about knitting that made no sense.
Next, we went to Chisicone Market. We started out in the Curio section, which are the craft souvenirs - wood carvings/jewelry - that everyone brings home. The tables were so neat, and right away you get swarmed with people wanting you to buy from their table, or just look, because, ‘looking is free.’ I ended up buying a black, carved wooden bead necklace. (The same idea as pearls, but black…and wooden…)
I also helped Lauren choose a pair of sunglasses from a stand outside. There were about 7 stands lined up side by side, but each one was selling almost the exact same thing. The sunglasses had their ends stuck into a big, white piece of Styrofoam, and other trinkets were at the front of the stand. These included batteries, alarm clocks, and adapters. Lauren started at one end, and each time she was finished, she moved to the stand beside it. So finally, when she was at the last stand, she had a swarm of about 7 men around her, trying to get her to buy sunglasses.
When Elaine was finished buying her souvenirs, we ventured into the actual market. The clothes section was the part we went to. It had booth after booth after booth. Each was built out of brick, or wood, and pieced together with black canvas or other material. Each shop was about the size of a large bathroom. They were side by side, and there were walkways, making ‘blocks’ of shops. The pathways were all uneven, because they were covered with rocks, cut up brick, chunks of pavement, garbage, and potholes. Lauren said that most of the clothes being sold were new, but there was also a section of used clothing. The weirdest thing ever was when Elaine saw the exact same shirt that she had tried on in Canada last summer.
In one of the shops Lauren found a pair of jeans that she really liked, so she decided to try them on. There were no change rooms in any of the shops, so the lady who owned the shop gave her a Chetenge (an African skirt) to wrap around her. She took off her shorts, and tried on the jeans – with a whole bunch of men outside of the shop trying to sell us things. It was really funny.
We wandered around the clothes section of the market for a while longer. One man tried to sell us men's shorts. I saw ‘The Lion King’ shirts, Cinderella bed sheets, and a really cool bag. Everything was so extreme there.
After the market we went to Shop-Rite. It was my first time there, so I didn’t know any different, but the other two said it was stocked incredibly well. They had things the Bersaglio’s hadn’t seen in 7 years. (2L plastic pop bottles, chip dip…) Nancy found out that it was because the highest up owner/manager of all the Shop-Rites was coming to visit.
At lunch we talked about Canadian restaurants for 10 minutes. Then, when the water came with Lauren’s food, and noticed a particle of food stuck on the plate. He didn’t appologize and get her a clean plate, he didn’t even ignore it. He reached over her shoulder, and with his finger nail, scratched at it for a good ten seconds. None of us could contain ourselves, and we all burst out laughing after he had taken two steps away from our table. It was so funny!
Shout Out:
- Kristin, I saw a phone booth called Mpalo & Mwambe.
# posted by alanna @ 9:31 PM 
Comments:
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You have to tell me which restaurant that was! Although I could guess it was Mona Lisa? That's soo funny! You know I never got to that market. They say Lusaka has better stuff in their markets anyway, but I'd still like to check out the Kitwe stuff. Maybe on my next visit, wanna hit up the market again with me? Then when you visit Lusaka, I can take you to the Sunday market, and you have to make sure you check out the Dutch Reform one - Chinese food and cotton candy.
sweet sixteen and never been kissed? arnold mpena down the street is awfully cute... your haircut is hot. i cut my hair too. everyone but me likes it. kristin and i are watching mean girls tonight so we're wearing all pink in honour of you. let's have a massage chain! i can't wait to get there! i'm just going to zonk out of my mind getting backrubs. you should teach the VOH kids to give you backrubs. i hear marvin gaye playing in the background. let's get it on!
love, shelby
love, shelby
# posted by 
: 8:51 AM
: 8:51 AM
creeper. side note: i now own the CRV haha!!! WOOHOO!! but im broke. haha. k sweet scratching plate story. just wait till you eat a beetle like lauren ha.
# posted by : 2:48 AM
: 2:48 AM
OH! ALANNA! Was the thing about knitting a sort of japanimation bear? Like one of the prizes at our tea party talking about knitting - and I quote - "a nice burial gown"??
That sounds like so much fun, and we miss you here!
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That sounds like so much fun, and we miss you here!
# posted by : 3:07 AM
: 3:07 AM << Home
