and the adventure began...

The road to the cottages is dirt and sand so there is no stopping along the way or the truck would get stuck. So we barrel along and as the roads are not marked we think we are lost for a while but don’t feel like stopping to turn around and try again. No worries we made it to the main road just at a different point from where we turned off that morning. Stopped in the market to get fish from the lake and on we went. There are many police blocks on the Salima road (and Malawi roads in general) that you slow down and go through, sometimes you are waved through, sometimes you are asked for your driver’s license or they check your car insurance. About 5:30 (dusk) we are driving along and see a sign for a police block. Start to slow down (take foot of gas) and suddenly there is the police block. Step on brakes and nothing happens and so we barrel right through. Oh my goodness. (so glad I wasn’t driving) just like the movies when someone drives on the sidewalk and scatters the fruit news stand. The truck in front of us slows down and pulls across in front of us (not good if our brakes still weren’t working, but the jolt seemed to have gotten them working again). We stop and it is a police truck—they file out of the back with their machine guns. Why didn’t you stop? Didn’t you see the police barrier? Where are you going? Where did you come from? You have a flat tire. Can we check your brakes? We tried to stop—no brakes, yes we saw the barrier (as we went through it), home to nkhoma, senga bay, the brakes are working now (as we stopped before hitting you), sorry, sorry, sorry. I can’t believe this. Of course we have gathered a huge crowd and then the woman officer begins to arm her gun and scare off the people hanging around. She then explained that there has been lots of crime there. Getting the spare tire off proves to be difficult as the jack pieces don’t all fit together correctly, but we (they) finally succeed. Change the tire and the police say ‘you know what these things happen and everyone is ok. You can go. And we are leaving.’ We can go?! Ok! Thank you thank you thank you. And sorry sorry sorry. The police leave and we let the car down off the jack. As the tire hits the pavement all we heard was hsssss. It was flat. Supposedly not too far to a gas station (where there would be lights) so we pile in and on and go—very slowly. 20 minutes and there is no way. We shredded the spare. So we pull over and wait. In the meantime we had been calling anyone we knew in Lilongwe to see if they had a spare that would fit. Two of Reinette’s friends come out but none of the spares they could get their hands on would fit. So we call Reinette’s husband to drive from Nkhoma (+1hour) with a spare. Success! And so we continue on our way back to Nkhoma arriving about 11:15pm…giving thanks that it was not jail we were sleeping in.

thursday

Back to the lake for the day. Since I’m on holiday and haven’t figured out what to do or how to get out of town yet I went in with Reinette and James and some workers to do some work at the CCAP (Presbyterian church here) houses at the lake. In the truck with 9 people (3 in each seat and 3 in the back) and lots of furniture off we go. Call along the way so that the caretaker is aware that we are coming and yet when we arrive (3 hours later) he is not there. The houses he is supposed to take care of are in a state and really need to be cleaned and aired out. I don’t know how people would stay there other than it is right on the lake and a very pretty spot. Had nsima and relish for lunch (nsima is a kind of paste made from maize flour—thicker than mashed potatos that you eat with your hands). The relish was made of cabbage and tomatoes. The mzungus were served first and on plates and the Malawians sat around the bowls and ate communally. It was a good meal and quite filling. There were 2 types of nsima-one had been pounded to a very fine flour and the other not. Most prefer the pounded one but I thought that it didn’t have any taste at all. 3 of the workers had never been to the lake before so after lunch we finished up our cleaning and had some time in the water. About 4:30 we had to pack up and head home.

tuesday

So I’m on vacation…no plans (never really been all that good at planning—something I think I might want to work on). Since I was awake early (5:30) and up (6:30) I decided to go into hospital with Rhona- see what she does, maybe see if I can do anything (that sounds funny to anyone who knows how weak my stomach is). Morning report is the changeover from the night staff—new admissions, surgeries, problems…seemed pretty routine today (though I didn’t catch most of what they were saying). Then asked about any issues that needed to be brought up—why the goundstaff got new uniforms and the nurses didn’t, there will be 100K taken out of each paycheck each month for employee well-being but without a meeting for discussion or anything…and the list goes on. Then Rhona had a patient who went to surgery but didn’t have a blood donor and she needed blood. So we had to find a donor which wasn’t too hard but quite time consuming. Ward rounds to check on all her patients. Seemed pretty routine as the patients had been there for a couple of days. Getting through the interpreter (nurse) is interesting as you have no idea if they are actually translating what is being said (and sometimes they don’t). I didn’t see anything too bad (good for me) and yet in the middle of the check of the 5th patient I started getting very warm, dizzy and light-headed, so I excused myself to sit outside in the fresh air so that I wouldn’t fall over in the middle of the hospital. Recovered but decided that might be enough of the hospital for the day. So I left for a while but then had to go back to talk with Rebecca for a bit—on my way back I passed Rhona and Alistair headed up to the Guest House with a chicken that Alistair had just been given by a patient. The look on his face was priceless as he carried around a live rooster in a plastic bag.

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.

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.