passion

clockwise: butternut squash, avocado, sweet potato, red chili pepper, natchi (clementine), lemon, orange, passion fruit, and the middle (slightly green) guava


I don’t think I’ve ever discovered passionfruit or granadilla before. Fresh that is. And it is amazing. It looks odd. Since moving into Maralise’s I get at least 5 a day from the gardener (there is a tree just out back. They have a smooth yellow/green shell…though the ones that others are used to are often purple on the outside and wrinkled. And these wrinkle after a few days and I think those are a little sweeter (once wrinkled) but I often don’t wait…and the taste is tart and rich. It really just hits you.
Great in yogurt…with fruits in salad…and icing (maralise made some and told me to put it on a cake…but I ate it by the spoonful so I will try not to make that again)…
Avocados are still in season as well! makes me so happy.

missed meeting

Many of our parents from school haven’t paid school fees for the term that just finished…and as the end of the month was coming while we were over break we thought that we would give them 2 days (7-9am) during break that they could come to pay their fees as their child would not be allowed to start term 3 without being fully paid. I was therefore at the office for 2 hours on a Wednesday over break and no parents came…I did some other jobs so it wasn’t worthless but really. But then it was also before the last day of the month and things are often late anyway. So there was a second date on the second of april. I had gotten it into my head that the second was Tuesday…completely convinced. So Monday morning I woke up and it was pouring down. I was quite happy there was nowhere that I needed to be. Took my time and the rain let up so I went to the hospital to do some of the paperwork (found some emails that had been missing) and then at 9 (when the office hours would have been over) I got a text ALL IN CAPITALS (that is a normal Malawian way of writing) asking Reynier Ter Haar to let his wife know that people were waiting for me at school. But I couldn’t figure out who or why people were waiting for me.
I finally tracked down that it was a parent waiting at school and they had been there for ages…but of course no one tried to contact me any earlier…I looked at the announcement I had sent home and I was wrong…supposed to be there on Monday…oops. But then I also notice that people here don’t wait for azungu whereas they will wait for hours upon hours for Malawians. So I rushed over to school to find one parent there and he just wanted to assure me that he would pay as soon as he had gotten paid…also that there had been other parents there but they left. So I still collected no money. Willeke offered to be there on Tuesday morning so I sent texts to all the parents who still owed and I think 2 parents might have come to pay. So 2 down about 20 to go…

lake

Back at the lake for another overnight. It was over Ute’s birthday ( a good way to get out of a big cake party)…she was busy busy for the week with visitors from her organization and then a hospital board meeting on Saturday morning so I went in with her on Saturday and then did a few errands and then after the meeting we went to the lake. A late lunch at Red Zebra for fish and chips and a beer and then to the cottages where we were told there was another family in the big house but we didn’t see anyone that night. It was cloudy and the waters were cool but it was great. Watched the storms over the lake until we got rained up to the porch with guacamole, blue cheese, crackers and wine…spent Sunday sleeping, swimming and reading and sleeping some more. Brunch of pancakes. Only saw the kids from the house next to us and they were very quiet—wouldn’t know they were there. At 3 we were surprised at where the day had gone but decided since we had to get back tonight that we should get ready…so another swim, showers and pack up the car, even fill the car with petrol from the jerry can and we were on the road home by 4…we do travel well together.

bushwhacking

You are possibly tired of pictures and tales of my mountain climbing as it is all the same mountain (but they are short—and beautiful). So on Sunday after church I thought it would be good to get out again. But we came out after church and the mountain had disappeared. It was cloudy and low and there really was no mountain. So though I had mentioned the hike to a few people I figured it wouldn’t be a good idea. Went home for tea and then my options were limited…I would either go to sleep and hibernate for the day or get out and go. When I looked out I could see blue sky and the top of the mountain was visible again so I went for it. rounded up Ed and Rebecca (couple of English doctors here for a few months)and then Lillian and Anelin (dutch nurses) and Mattias (dutch med student) came too. So we were a good crew.
When we reached the mountain hut it looked like the clouds and rain were coming back but they wanted to carry on. So we rested a moment and continued up. Picnic lunch on top of the mountain and then I fell asleep while they did a little more exploring and peak climbing. We watched rains come through Nkhoma but they didn’t come up the mountain (everyone was shocked that we went up the mountain and didn’t get wet because it poured in the village). The way is quite overgrown and we got off the main track on the way down so I retook the lead and bushwhacked our way back over to the mountain hut. It was much thicker here even than our trek to Mbalabala and I am still sporting some of the scrapes and scratches…and I think I ran into some kind of poison ivy because my legs were itchy for about a week after.

in town

Saturday I went to town…got a ride in with Ute who had a dinner/cultural performance for her organization with donors and got dropped off at Miriam’s. we relaxed for a little while and then went for Indian food. The atmosphere was nil…loud and plain, but the food was quite nice. And then we went to Diplomats which is a bar that had been redone…all shiny and new inside…the walls were unfinished wood but the pillars and inside areas were shiny tile. The music was pretty good and it was a nice time. But they haven’t redone the bathrooms…too bad…well there were new toilet seats…

move

I moved back into the cottage when Barbara got back and felt good. I think I lived in all the houses I was going to live in in nkhoma. And then the Tuesday after I moved back (on Monday) I was asked again to house sit…and how do you say no when you’ve done all the rest of nkhoma…it took me 2 days to decided definitively that I would do it…had to take some time to get my head around moving again…Maralise has left for 2 months leave. And I am now living in the guesthouse…well closer than I ever have before (on the left side of the picturethe stairs lead to the guesthouse entrance and my porch)…strange though because I don’t know anyone in the guesthouse right now and yet it is full (of dutch people I think). So I’ve moved in and for the moment I have 4 cats (3 are kittens) who are very entertaining…playful in the extreme. Though with each other not me…they are the most skittish cats I think I’ve ever known. But they do pounce in the night.

rainy day

Craft time last week with third grade. There are two dutch girls who have been super helpful at school—reading with the classes, doing arts, doing PE, and doing office things (laminating, making books and memory games, checking that there are full sets of the classroom supplies). But of course they can’t be everywhere at once (though we try to be, and I might have to be next week when they are gone). So I did crafts…I found a cut out of a man in a raincoat with an umbrella and took that it…color, cut out, glue and even fold a bit to make it more 3d. as I was in explaining it to the kids I asked that they put in a background as well and all of the kids said oh yes it is for Valentines day! (it was the day before and I had completely forgotten)…so I think that mom’s probably got some pictures of rainy day scenes for Valentines day…but I suppose as we aren’t in the commercial places I won’t be stigmatized for sending those home.