sick

I hate being sick. Well I guess everyone does but really…I went to school on Monday and was feeling a little funny. I thought it might have been nerves (ok not really) as ken and colleen were leaving and I was therefore in charge of the school…I don’t want that much responsibility…but there you have it I’m headmistress for the last week of school with all sorts of administration responsibilities and the keys to everything. I made it through about 3 hours and then decided that was enough…went to the cottage to pick something up and laid down on the bed…couldn’t get up for an hour…then walked up to my other house where I crashed for the rest of the day…sore all over, nauseous, not wanting to move…made myself a cup-o-soup but after the first sip gave that up…Tuesday I was feeling better so I went to clinic…I made it until 930 when I crashed in the middle of clinic…actually had to have natasha walk me home where she made me a ORS drink (disgusting stuff—oral rehydration salts—8tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt, 1 liter water)…and I stayed there in bed until about 5 when Natasha drove me home again…Wednesday was close to the same—feeling ok when I got up…went to school for an hour and then came to sit on the veitches porch…the best place to be when you can’t move…people around and a great view…things are looking better this morning (thurs) but i'm still not really hungry...

house sitting part 2

Moved into another house…big one—family of 6 kids…still trying to find things in the kitchen…loving having a shower (the cottage only has a bath tub)…and as it is the medical director’s house it has an internet connection! Not that it works all the time or quickly but it is in the house—I don’t have to go anywhere for it. I once again have a great porch overlooking a beautiful yard. I’m on the other end of nkhoma—everything is downhill from here (which means coming home is all uphill)

creativity

Creativity seems to be lacking…and it seems to be a cultural thing. I know this is stereotyping and it isn’t all across the board but at the moment it is feeling quite pervasive. If one person has an idea, everyone around does the same…if there is one chips stall there will be 3 more right in a row…same in the markets with tomatos, potatos, you name it. And you find it in school too. They don’t seem to think for themselves…if I do one of the crafts as a model…just for ideas…the kids try to get the same color paper and make it look just the same. (I know that kids do this everywhere but I’m feeling like it is all the time and they don’t do anything for themselves) i know that they are usually taught (in the other schools) to just memorize and learn by rote but it is hard to understand. But then they probably usually don’t have all the same incentives to create…it is more to survive. the wood markets all sell the same stuff…if you see it one place you can probably easily get it somewhere else…unless of course you really like it and then it seems to be out of stock…

arts cards

Christmas cards for all the classes this week is the art project…well 3rd grade did last week but they are having end-of-term exams this week. So we’d done them last week. Cut out angels and put on other Christmas symbols (trees, candles, stars, etc) using small papers that we have and can cut more of. They were very excited about them. For kindergarten through 2nd grade we had cut outs of the manger and a baby Jesus that would fit inside it. So glue them on the outside of the card and then write the message on the inside. And then with the little ones I photocopied angels on half sides and merry Christmas on the other…turns out that I did them backwards but I’m sure they will still work…and then I went into the preK class and teacher Rabecca had already gotten hers ready…she just asked for help getting them to glue them on the papers. Lovely week done.
If you have other ideas for art projects for any of the groups (age 3-8) I would greatly appreciate them…for all times—not just for Christmas (and actually not for Christmas as it will be over by the time I can get it together…school ends on the 9th)

mango jam

When we returned to nkhoma after our night in town, ute dropped me at the cottage and we looked at the jars we had assembled because we knew that we had a lot of mangos and we wanted to try making mango jam before they all went off…but we thought we would put it off until Monday evening…well the mangos were at ute’s house and when she got home she said the smell of very ripe mangos was too much…so I headed over with the jars and we got to work with the mangos. Lots of mess—if you’ve ever tried to cut mangos…and then these were quite soft and squishy…but they still tasted good (it was like picking berries…some for the pot and some for me)…then lots of sugar and some water and boil until you think the consistency is right…we had two pots so we added orange juice to one and vanilla to the other…cinnamon to both (adapted from recipes found online)…and I’d have to say we did a pretty good job. We did run out of glass jars but we coped…and I think that it is a good thing we like it because ute has 5 mango trees in her yard and I have one out the back of the cottage and now at the new house there are more in the yard again…

rain and a pool

Took the Saturday afternoon and night to stay in Lilongwe with Linn who was in nkhoma for 10 months on a Norwegian nurse exchange and is back working at the big hospital in town through the norwegian peace corps. Her house has a pool and a nice yard and is in the middle of town. So we arrived and sat by the pool in the heat of the day…so nice. Got a bit cooler when the sun went down and we got ready to go out for dinner. Went for Chinese and then to listen to some music at Chameleons. The band we were told was good—had good lyrics about stuff that was going on but then it was in Chichewa so we just enjoyed the beat. And then it started raining…not too hard but a constant drizzle that lasted all night. It was cloudy and overcast Sunday and too cool to sit next to the pool. Just our luck really…but then it was a nice break away and relaxing…we’ll just have to go back again for the summer feel…

christmas tableau

the set
main movers (king, registrar, inn keeper, joseph, mary
wise men and star holder
our choir of angels and herd of shepherds
And the day after thanksgiving was our Christmas pageant. After a scare that we wouldn’t get the church as planned we just had to move the production up an hour. (the nurses’ graduation was kicking us out even though we’d booked a month in advance). We also had to share the stage set up with the graduation décor so our stable didn’t have quite the backdrop we’d imagined but then not much is the way you plan it here. There was no power so our attempt at getting a sound system working was thwarted (I was relieved as usually they are turned up so loud you can’t understand anything anyway). Our narrator was our kindergarten teacher and you could hear her very well. The songs were accompanied by Dr. Barbara Nagy on her guitar. We had a registrar and innkeeper, mary and joseph, main angel, king herod, star holder and 3 wisemen. Everyone else was in the herd of shepherds or in the host of angels. We sang silent night, away in a manger, long time ago in Bethlehem, twinkle twinkle little star and joy to the world. It was short and if you were late you most likely missed it…which was too bad but then we had to get out for the graduation. Here are a few pics that I have…wish I could put up a video but that would be pushing my internet capabilities and time…