zambia: hanging out with a friend in lusaka

When I lived in Korea, one of the people I met is Amanda; we met through rugby and running. After both of us left the country, we kept in touch. Later on, I visited her a couple times in Istanbul, and she came to Kyiv. She now lives in Lusaka, Zambia. As soon as I knew I was going to southern Africa for my trip, I knew I would figure out a way to spend a couple days with Amanda.
I flew from Victoria Falls to Lusaka. It was a short flight, and a small plane. I was thrilled when they gave me a sandwich and some crisps.

The airport in Lusaka isn't very exciting, but I enjoyed a bit of people watching before Amanda arrived to pick me up. She brought her boyfriend, who is originally from Zimbabwe.
They figured out I was hungry, and Amanda is a foodie, so they took me to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Lusaka has a good number of immigrants from around the world. Dinner was fantastic, in that both the food and company were good.
We went back to where Amanda lives, and stayed up chatting for a little longer, then going to sleep.
Amanda had to work the next day, and where she lived was nowhere close to the rest of the city. Lusaka doesn't have a lot to offer, according to the guidebook. Normally I would still go out into a city, but I didn't really care, since I was basically here to spend time with Amanda.

I spent the next couple days hanging out in her flat while she was working. I watched episodes of various TV shows, looked at Facebook a lot, etc... I still had my Zambian SIM card that I bought in Victoria Falls, so I added a few photos to Instagram during that time as well.
One day Amanda's boyfriend didn't have to work until later in the day so he and I sat around chatting for a while. It was nice to get to know him.
One evening Amanda cooked dinner at home. SO GOOD. As I said earlier, Amanda is a foodie. I've never had a bad food experience with her, whether cooking at home or eating at a restaurant. Another evening we all met up with some other friends at a Chinese restaurant. Great food there, and nice to meet a few more people.

One afternoon while I was in Amanda's flat I saw a bunch of peacocks walking around, of course I had to take photos.
The last afternoon I was in Lusaka, Amanda left work as soon as she was finished. We met up with another friend of hers, then went for a girlie afternoon. Ashton got a pedicure, while Amanda and I got massages. Hands down one of the most amazing massages of my life.
Afterward, we went to dinner at an Italian place. It was a bit of an adventure to get there, since traffic was a bit wonky on a couple streets. The route we had originally planned to use would've taken us close to the house of the president. Since election results had been announced a couple days earlier, and many people weren't pleased, security people had blocked off access to the house of the president. Good food, and I'm glad I got to spend a few more hours with Amanda.
That night Amanda drove me back to the airport, and I flew to Johannesburg for the last few days of my trip.