We have arrived!!!!

Hello our dear readers (I hope at least our mums are reading this!)

It seems that we have been a little lax in blogging over the last 2 weeks - probably because we spent most of our time saying goodbye and sorting things out [Like picking up two more Oximeters]. Thankfully these things have been done and we caught the plane yesterday evening..... so I am now writing this from Zambia. How exciting!

As eventful as ever my godson drove us to the airport and serenaded us with his best rendition of popular songs. The lady at the check in desk did not balk when we said we would like to check in 4 big bags (we had been told in advance we would be charged £11/kg for excess), tagged them up and then asked us if there was anything else..... errr, no!, and if you've forgotten to charge us for our extra 26kg then I'm not about to remind you!!!

Settling myself onto the plane I forgot about the time a few years ago when Geoff decided that watching Blood Diamond on the Oxford Tube on the way to a party was a good idea, and therefore asked him for a film suggestion. I am sure that 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is an amazing film but perhaps for sensitive types, who are leaving home to live in a developing country, it's not exactly what was needed...... However, I now have two mottos for this trip 1) 'If I can't pronounce it then I don't want to eat it!' and 2) 'Everything will be all right in the end, and if it's not all right then it's clearly not the end'

At immigration we dutifully got in the queue for permit holders. For some reason it was the slowest moving queue and at this point I considered making us move. However I filled the wait with watching the bags on the carousel. Yes, I can see 2 of the 4 bags, not bad, and that looks like a third. Oh now, that person's going to be upset - there's stuff hanging out of their bag. Hang on a second....that looks like our..... And we were at the front of the queue... we explained how we had the receipt for the permit application but so far no permit. This upset the man greatly! "Why are you here early? You cannot come in" Then "Leave me your passports and go and collect your bags and the man meeting you". Thank you! I'm more than happy to leave you a little red book that cost £100 - I'm much more interested in recovering our belongings from the carousel before other people do!!!

We were given permission to stay for 10 days and told to front up to the Immigration Office in Lusaka ASAP. A few hours later (I was hungry and there was the small matter of a letter to be written) we did so. There was no one on reception when we arrived and we managed to spend a good 10 mins finding someone to tell us what the process was - which was, obviously, waiting under the "waiting area" sign and hoping that someone would come...... We were sent to desk 7. No, none of the desks has numbers, why would they! And no one knows which desk number they sit at - why would they? From thence, we were directed to the lovely Winnie (desk 10 if you need her but she only does surnames Q, R and S). Yes, she had Geoff's work permit application but it wouldn't be decided upon until Tuesday. Can we come back next week? Of course we can, we only live 7 hours' drive each way from here, that will be no problem at all!

Thence to the confusing world of the mobile phone operators - I would recommend to others that they don't keep hold of their phones for 10 years or more - it's not that my phone doesn't work, it's that I don't know about all this new fangled technology. We have bought a router (but not the sort I'm used to!) that is wireless in every sense of the word (we are just reliant on electricity...) and data is about the most expensive thing - never again shall I complain about the cost of my broadband :)

Off to the hospital tomorrow - Nat and Will (you will hear lots about these guys) arrived late at night last week to discover that their house had nothing much other than furniture and bedding. Forewarned we will arrive prepared - with towels - oh and internet capability. What more could we possibly need?

Enough from us for now!
Charlotte (and Geoff - who is reading the Daily Mash)