2013!

So it’s been a while!

It’s now 2013 and I am almost halfway through my gap year. The weather at the moment is crazy – sometimes as hot as October but with proper torrential rain to go with it. When I started writing this (which was the 28^th of January – I am an expert procrastinator), I was watching a movie but couldn’t hear the audio due to the sound of the rain on the roof. We have to shout over the din just to make ourselves heard. Then today, Louise and I had to do a lot of walking through Blantyre and were absolutely dripping – it was so horribly sunny. Would love some snow please.

So I have been back in Blantyre for about a month now. My fortnight long holiday evolved into three weeks due to visa issues getting back into Malawi. However, I am here now and glad to be back in my little house again.

It was really great to be able to spend Christmas with my family and I’m so glad I did. It was much more difficult than I’d imagined to switch from my minimal living conditions to the opulence of Dubai. I found it difficult to deal with how much food and water went to waste while I knew how much people were going without back home. It was a lot to get used to – a little snapshot of the reverse culture shock we’ve been warned about for when we return home.

As soon as I got back into Malawi, African life hit me like a tonne of bricks. On the bus journey home, three guys were caught in the possession of cannabis through a routine police check. Everyone loved the show – a huge crowd gathered and lots of people were taking pictures and videos. The drive back was really lovely otherwise as the start of the rainy season had caused the scenery to change completely – everything has gone green and there is maize growing on every available patch of land.

The rain has been so heavy recently that we are often house bound by it. Last week it was the worst we had ever seen, so much so that we couldn’t manage to walk to work. We walk alongside a river that very frequently bursts its banks and trekking through the mud is like trying to cross a swamp. We felt very Malawian – the locals are defeated by the rain, choosing to take refuge under buildings and trees rather than walk in it.

Work at TST has been busy, as we have been doing Maths exercises with the children who aren’t at school. It’s so great to see them improving and they really seem to enjoy it. They come and demand ‘Masamu’ every minute – even when we’re eating lunch! I’ve also been doing a lot of first aid – mostly bandaging up toes and feet as many of the kids don’t have shoes. I am still astounded by the bravery of these kids as I attempt to reattach toe nails or bandage up a ridiculously deep cuts – very rarely do they utter a word of complaint. They even help to cut the bandages to size with their uninjured limbs.

I met a Med student from London on the eventful bus ride from Lilongwe to Blantyre who invited us round for cake last week. (The cake was amazing, thank you Angela!) There was a strange tree in the back garden with these massive blah blah fruits that Louise and I had never seen before. We took one home to try – it smelt really bad but Angela assured us it tasted better than it smelt. It is, without a doubt, the strangest thing I have ever eaten. It weighed about 2 kg with a spiny skin and was filled with tens of grape sized seeds. The actual flesh was really tasty, but cutting it up felt like carving a dead animal. Unfortunately, without a fridge, there was no way Louise and I could go through 2 kg of fruit, so the ants claimed the rest of it before we had to throw it out.

I am sorry this has taken so long to go up – I’ve got lots planned for the rest of the year so I promise more pictures and news.

TTFN

Notable Events

The other week, were on a routine minibus trip home when we were stopped by the traffic police. This is quite a normal occurrence and nothing usually comes of it. However, this time the driver was taken to the side of the road and, we presume, questioned. The driver did look a bit suspicious – he had one trouser leg rolled up and the other down, and made no attempt to rectify the matter. Lou, our fellow travellers and I simply watched as the policemen walked away with the driver without a backward glance. We followed the lead of the others by disembarking and then walked back towards the station to get another bus. It was one of those moments where we had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Our house and the Nama Simba nursery buildings are surrounded by a wall and we go in and out via the front gate. It has a padlock that is never locked. However, one day last week we came home to find it locked for the first time in 5 months, with our copy of the key inside the house. And this is why we were forced to climb our own gate to get into our house.

To try to encourage volunteers to explore and get to know where they are living, Project Trust recommended that we draw a map of the local area and send it back to Coll. Louise and I decided to make ours out of our rubbish as nothing goes to waste here. We used bottle tops, plastic bags and receipts to recreate Baluti. We have also recycled various items around the house to save money – we have a door stop made out of Fanta bottles, empty peanut butter tubs holding our cutlery and a shower curtain that PT provided us with cut up to make a washing line, to store our fruit away from the ants and as a curtain for the bathroom window.

This month I also received a letter from Freya at home that had been missent to Malaysia! No wonder it took so long to come. Thank you Freya! 

The rain is here!

End of Week 8, it has officially been two months!

We’ve be so busy this week, but I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say!

Nama Simba wasn’t very eventful this week. I did feed a child phala for the first time. Most of the children are old enough to feed themselves, but this was one of the younger ones and she kept missing her mouth. I also discovered that the children that I thought were called Loofa are most likely called Ruth. It gives you some indication of how people speak here; even when they speak English it is often a challenge to understand.

This week we spent a lot of time doing Maths lessons, helping to assess the abilities of 4 new children that have joined TST. I actually had to teach Louise how to do long multiplication – she’d been taught a ridiculously complicated method and therefore had no idea what the kids were doing. I also got to teach algebra! I love maths so much, it’s insane. We also taught ICT again. Precious, who didn’t know how to use a keyboard when we started, was typing his name by the end of the day. It’s amazing how fast these kids learn, it makes us so proud.

On the 31^st of October we had rain. And I mean real rain, torrential thunder storms that leave you soaked in minutes. As there had been no sign of it when we left the house that morning, we walked home in the wettest conditions in months with no coats or umbrellas. Two men saw us going in our gate, soaked to the skin, and applauded our efforts. The mornings have started to feel very cold since the rain has arrived and while on a hot day a cold shower is very welcome, this morning I was rather glad I could use the fact that we had no water as an excuse not to wash.

This Friday we went to a friend’s Hallowe’en party as Mario and Luigi. We were very proud of the costumes we made on such a low budget. I even had to stitch Louise’s hat by candle light one night when the power went off. I am extremely dedicated to fancy dress.

Mairi will be happy to hear that the Quotes and Anecdotes section is back this week. I may leave it a bit longer before writing another blog post, so I have more to say next time.

I will try to find some pictures of our Mario and Luigi costumes on Facebook – TTFN

Quotes and Anecdotes

We thought we were going to be teaching a lesson on conjunctions, so we started writing out example sentences using and, but and because. All I could think of was really depressing ones about the kids, like: I want to go to school, but I can’t afford an exercise book, My parents have passed away and now I live on the streets, I have attachment issues because I was sexually abused when I was young. We decided these were not quite suitable.

This week I fell over spectacularly, and skinned my hands, while trying to show the kids the lotus position to prove that I was Buddhist.

Louise: I was going to mark Mary’s work, but her head’s in the way and I don’t want to wake her up.

A turkey (nkhuku tembo) wandered into our classroom this week. While the kids just ignored it, I attempted to chase it out whilst doing my amazing turkey impression. There were two Malawian volunteers just outside the door, who gave me extremely weird looks.

There was a window sticker in one of the minibuses that read: STOP GOSSIPING OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT BE RELATIVES INSIDE.

During our ICT lesson, it started raining. I ran to the window to see, only to hear Louise tell some of the children: ‘Come on, sit down. I’m sure you’ve seen rain before.’

We met 7 year old Chippy on our walk to work, so we took him back to TST with us. He was slow and kept stopping because he wanted me to carry him. People kept asking him if he was okay, because it really looked like we were doing a Madonna and kidnapping him.

We were passing a market and the stall owners kept trying to get our attention when one man shouted: ‘Madam! Orange!’ I took it really offensively, thinking it was a ginger dig, but he was just selling oranges.

"There's no food that I really feel like I'm missing... apart from bagels."

End of Week 5! Only, like, 47 to go!

So it's getting hot. October is the hottest month and, man, are we feeling it. I have discovered that there's nothing better than an ice cold shower after a sweaty walk home.
This week has been pretty busy; on Monday at Nama Simba we were asked to do some teaching... which was quite a fail due to the massive language barrier between us and the kids. And between us and the care givers, for that matter. We also don't really have the authority to hold the kids' attention. Like when Catherine, one of the care givers, shouts "Alphabettie Lettas!", the kids scream back "ALPHABETTIE LETTAS!!!". But when we do the same, they just look really confused and mumble to each other in Chichewa, perplexed as to why the azungu entertainers are shouting weird things at them. I have also discovered this week that the kids love being lifted up, twirled around, tickled, held upside down etc. However, they never want me to stop, no matter how many times I say I'm 'topa' (tired). The nsima and ndiwo was really good this week, though. It had potatoes in it! :D
Been doing bits of teaching at TST, mostly Maths with some adjectives and nouns on the side. At the end of the English class, Louise came up with the idea to get them to describe what they were wearing, as I had been pointing to my clothing to show that t-shirt is an noun, but then the colour is an adjective. However, this proved tricky as my colour blindness meant that I couldn't actually decide what colour my t-shirt and skirt were... and I didn't have the confidence to correct them when I suspected meant they green, not blue, or brown, not black... Urrrrgh, it was such a stress. I'll be leaving that to Louise next time.
I was also asked by one of the older boys what 'anxious' meant... far more difficult than I thought! I said upset, sad and another adjective that I can't remember, didn't even think of worried. I am the worst English speaker ever.
On Wednesday, some Med students from Queen Elizabeth Community Hospital came to play a football match against the older boys at TST. We helped the girls to make a massive fruit salad for all the kids - it was the most fruit we'd eaten in a month! Unfortunately, the QECH boys won. We'll get them next time.
I think I'm starting to get used to life here; there are little things that I'm sure would have shocked me in the first few weeks that now feel normal. For instance, that we found a kitten living in the pet food aisle at our local supermarket, or that minibus drivers often run out of petrol in the middle of the road and have to fill up from a bottle they carry around with them. Today I even said to a minibus driver 'There's plenty of room!' when he said he couldn't fit Louise, 4 carrier bags, 2 back packs, a mirror and myself into his nearly full minibus. I'll have you know that we did fit. Ha.
On the other hand, I wouldn't say we're completely accepted here. On the walk home one day, I was walking behind a man who had a child on his shoulders. The child burst into tears at the sight of me. We are constantly a target for beggars or street sellers in Blantyre and men are always striking up conversations with us that include the sentence 'Are you married?'
While I say we've been busy, we did find time at TST this week to play 'I spy', but Louise said she wouldn't play anymore when I got bored and used E for Existentialism. Also, we often don't have power past 6pm and it's no fun trying to catch the cockroaches in the dark. So that's why you'd find me in bed at 6.45pm on a Friday night, making shadow puppets against my mosquito net. At least until I accidentally made one that creeped me out, then stopped before I gave myself nightmares.
In other news, we watched a lizard eat a live cockroach on Tuesday. Louise cheered it on: we love lizards and despise cockroaches so it was great entertainment.
Next week promises to be busy too, with more time being spent at Nama Simba and around Baluti. Plus, we're gonna make a cake!
TTFN

Quotes:
We'd just been going over adjectives
Stella: Louise's hair is LONG.
Catriona: Yeh, well done.
Stella: Your hair is LONG.
Catriona: Nah. my hair is SHORT.
Stella: Well, it's a little long.

Nice man we met on the way home: Don't get burnt! It's too hot!

The power had been off most of the day
Catriona: (looking at phone) I'm gonna turn off my phone to save power.
Louise: Well, I've got mine on.
simultaneously
Catriona: So, if anyone desperately needs to reach me...
Louise: So, if a murderer comes...