here, there and beyond

Saturday, February 27, 2010

weekend rain

So many plans and then the rains came. Saturday was to go to the waterfall. ‘Which?’ you might ask. The one at the end of the road and through the village. I don’t know any more than that. But we woke up and it was raining. And not just raining but proper downpour. All morning. But we had a stream of visitors come by (good thing Rhona had made brownies). That afternoon the rain stopped so we borrowed (rented) a truck and decided to go to Lilongwe for lunch…which turned into dinner as we didn’t leave until about 2:30. 7 of us ‘in’ the truck…a stop by the supermarket, open air market, and then Mammamia’s for pizza. And it was good pizza! (probably helped that we hadn’t really had any other food other than brownies/cake for the morning). The drive back was the most exciting as of course we put all of our shopping in the back seat of the truck and 5 of us rode in the truckbed. It was dark which is a time that we try not to be driving (I don’t really trust everyone to have lights on their cars here or to not walk in the middle of the road) and it was kind of chilly (not for those of you actually experiencing winter but hey). In the middle of one of the round-abouts there was a tent mosque going up which we found intriguing…who would use a round-about mosque? And it wasn’t there when we came into town. Home safe and sound and not too terribly cold.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

food

I’m sure you are all worried about me not getting enough to eat. Don’t be. Granted we eat lots of carbs- but our one vegetarian has left and one of the med students who arrived is an avid carnivore thus for his stay at least so are the rest of us. We also do very well on the dessert front. Cake is an almost everyday occurrence—chocolate, banana, mango, brownies, doughnuts, so many varieties. Key lime pie was a high light of last week as the guest house has a lime tree. We just got bananas from our own garden. This week the plan is banoffee pie (banana and toffee). So from Lilongwe we asked that the person going in pick up double cream (uk resident ordering). I got a text back asking what that was and responded with heavy cream or whipping cream but it turns out that my text never sent…when we got our shopping back we were missing a few things—chicken and fruit juice but it turned out to be at the shoppers house. We also had some extras—one of which was a pot of Nivea. We couldn’t figure out who in the house had ordered the lotion and then realized that we didn’t remember seeing any cream. Sure enough we looked at the Nivea and it was firming cream. Good for a laugh if not for dessert.

friday

Short day. There had been a teachers meeting on Tuesday in which the other teachers said that at the end of term we usually have a program and the kids get out early as their parents come to the program and then take the kids home. But there had been no planning as the calendar had been all messed up and so that was nixed for this end of term. At 9:45 I let the kids out for break and at 10 parents started arriving to pick up their kids…by 10:15 I had no kids left. Hmm. We had a little work time of moving things around and cleaning out to give us more room in the classes. 2 week break—here I come!

thursday

A good day. Had tips about keeping my voice down and the kids follow that example. It is amazing how well that works…not fool proof but great. Also to keep things the same. Introduce new things slowly even if it is something as simple as a high five after they do something right. Keep it simple. I left with such a good feeling. Good days are coming. Then it was pointed out to me that it could be that it was the next to last day before end of term…the other teachers thought that might have something to do with it. I don’t know that it has set in that I have 2 weeks of no school.

rain

Rainy season has begun in earnest this week. Tuesday and Wednesday it rained all morning. Things shut down here in the rain. I think at the public schools at least many do not come in the rain. At Ebenezer they just arrive slower. There is no electricity at the school which has its advantages and disadvantages. There are power cuts here often and I think that it would be very distracting in class to have lights on and then suddenly off with no warning. The windows are all along the sides of the room so on sunny days there is plenty of light. On rainy days (often when power cuts occur) it is dark inside. But we go on. This week we have transformed the room into learning centers (as previously mentioned) and the kids seem to enjoy it and are doing pretty well with the change. With the rain though we weren’t able to send them out for their break/recess time and that is a problem. There is only so much you can do in one room and there is nowhere else to take them for a change of scenery…the noise level just kept getting higher and higher…and all the noise just bounces off the concrete floors, walls and ceiling. Dorothy and I couldn’t really hear a thing by the end of Tuesday. Wednesday was better but then more rain through half of break so they had to come in early and I lost Dorothy because the first grade teacher didn’t feel well. Chaos reigned for the last hour.

the lake

Back to the lake. We rented a truck and 6 of us headed back to Senga Bay. (I say back but I was the only one from the first trip). The truck had a double cab but fitting all 6 of us in would have been cozy so in the African fashion we put 4 of us in the bed. Nice ride, sunny though we could see rains coming. Bartus lost his sunglasses off his head and we couldn’t find one of the lenses when we retrieved them. He then lost his hat which we went back to get and then tied it to him. We were quite the spectacle driving along-everyone looking at the truck full of muzungus (white people) (which you also hear as you walk or drive anywhere—“muzungu, muzungu!” Moved into our rooms, had lunch and to the water. Warm as bath water but still felt so good. Stayed in entirely too long but didn’t get too bad a sunburn-thanks factor 50…dinner of some of the toughest beef I’ve ever had and then there was no dessert. We tried the restaurant next door but they didn’t have dessert either. A walk on the beach under the stars and then to our rooms which were so hot and stuffy that no one got much sleep at all. And we were up and out of our rooms by about 5:30am. Happy Valentine’s! Watched a man boxing on the beach first with his daughter and then with his wife. We thought it was an interesting way to spend Valentine’s. It began to sprinkle and everyone scattered. Then the man was up next to us pointing at the water…Crocodile! In the lake right where we were swimming yesterday! Everyone was out of the water and crowded on the shore to watch. The boxer went to his car and got his shotgun—one shot and the croc went under for a while but didn’t actually leave. No swimming for us today so we packed up and moved out. Stopping of course by the Salima wood market where Alistair took an inordinate amount of time going through the shops and the rest of us looked bought what we thought we wanted and then sat in the shade and waited. I watched a man finish making a drum and then bought it and then watched him finish another. We told Alistair that the ice cream shop in Lilongwe might be closed if he took too much longer and we were in the truck and on our way quickly with that possibility. On the outskirts of Lilongwe I was given the wheel—left side driving, gear shift on the wrong side and a huge smile on my face…I love driving in different places, the challenges are so different—here it is avoiding all the foot and bike traffic on the roads as there are no sidewalks and the potholes could swallow the truck much less the bikes people are riding.