Crazy Week

Its 9.15 on a Friday night, and Im so tired i reackon if I'ld fall over over if I tried to stand up. What a week- filled with highlights at both extremes; beautiful familiar western-ness and precious glimpses into the life of my host culture.



Some highlights from the village:

Dancing and singing with the women for over an hour at one of the village meetings- we were then treated to a meal of dried fish and ugali. I realised I don't feel self-conscious dancing with the women anymore. its the highlight of their week and mine.

My solo vist to the village of my 'rent a friend' was better than I could have hoped. She was a perfect host- made me feel comfortable, repeated herself exactly if I didn’t understand (instead of launching into a huge explanation resulting in more confusion) and took me around her daily afternoon chores: we pumped water and carried it back to the house. My attempt at balancing my teeny tiny bucket on my head was aborted when we realised the hole was bigger than anticipated, then we washed her clothes & laid them out to dry, sieved maize flour and lit a fire with the dry corn cobs to cook it, began pounding maize for the next day, finished making the ugali (my wrists weren’t strong enough to stir it in the end), fried some teeny tiny fish, ate, washed the dishes, held the babies, they tried to plait my hair, prepared the greens for the evening meal- all while chatting. I was amazed at the amount I understood and was generally able to make myself understood even if it wasnt grammatically correct.



Some highlights that reminded me of home:

you wont believe it, but the smell of anticeptic mopped hospital corridors put a huge smile on my face. I was in Blantyre dropping off a very sick colleague at one of the private hospitals for checks...and the smell reminded me of home. yay for western style hospitals when you're feeling super crook.

While he was getting checked out I went and sampled a nearby Italian resteraunt (?!! so exciting). I cannot rave enough about how perfect my cheesless pizza was. crispy edges, toppings still moist...the first salami Ive had in 6 months...heaven...

Although the hospital tests showed nothing, my mate was evidently very ill, so we stayed in Blantyre and headed back to the hospital that night when his symptoms were more prominent. He got a diagnosis! :) amoebic dysentry and malaria combo- so we decided to celebrate with a late night munchie run to the servo nearest the hospital. I actually did a dance when i stepped through the doors- it was a real BP servo!- with shelves crammed with lots of different kinds of goodies, a drinks fridge- operational and clean, an icecream freezer, the dodgy hot food corner and rows of choclates and chewing gum at the counter. It was such a special moment hehe I brought oreos and jellybabies and the patient got some jellybeans and a milobar. milo bars in malawi (wiping away a tear of joy).

ok im really tired and prolly over reacting- but it was cool.

But before I go to bed- i cannnot justify summarising the past week without at least one whinge about the traffic. I will leave you with one scene from today: in front of me, from left to right across the rough edged, narrow bitumen road- all going in the same direction were; a bicycle piled high with goods teetering on the outside edge of the bitumen- refusing to go into its rightful place on the gravel- the rider with no helmet, a truck dangerously overloaded travelling at about 110 km/hr, a minivan with about 12 on board passing at about 130km/hr who had pulled out from about 2 cars behind me to pass us all, a pedestrian- as per bicycle ...all approaching a corner with an oncoming vehicle iminent.

Im back to Blantyre tomorrow picking people up from the airport on Saturday and Sunday. please pray for my safety. missin you guys- drop me a line sometime.