everyday life

The days are starting to take shape and we seem to have weekly events which the girls and I look forward to. The eldest goes to nursery Mon and Wed mornings and the youngest and I go to a ladies Bible Study group on a Wed morning. Tues and Thurs mornings are spent pottering at home or running errands and I have a Chichewa lesson. Friday mornings we join some other mums at the local café for baby group. Wed afternoon there is another baby group with older children and this meets at people houses. We have got to know other families and we meet up to play with them two or three afternoons per week.

 

on safari again

Without the camera!! It is working but we forgot it this time. We went to a small park called Nyalo and saw giraffe and a zebra (well its bottom as it stalked off) and monkeys, impala and birds. The giraffes were amazing, the first one was so tall (and close) that we could only see its legs and then we saw a group running, they were so graceful, the movement is hard to describe as they move the back legs together and then the front. The park is within a large sugar plantation and we had a lovely cooling swim and lunch at the club. The sugar appeared to be grown in rotation so we saw the cane in all the various stages; the irrigation and sprinkling systems were vast and very efficient. The journey to the park was quite exciting, the road goes over a mountain and twists very steeply up and down. We had to get past lorries that were moving very slowly and a couple that had broken down, they were laden with big bundles of cotton. The views looking down onto the valley were spectacular. The pics are from Mvuu safari and taken by my bro in law.

 

time

I do have time to do things with the kids because someone else is doing a lot of the shopping and the cooking and laundry. This tee-pee was designed by my bro in law and made by my sis and I but it shows that I probably have too much time. This is all about to change as I currently have three different offers of activities with which to fill my time! The Society of Malawi have an archive which could easily occupy me for any spare time, they are also planning an oral history project to record memories of the last 50 years and I have been asked to help with the development of a small museum/display related to medical research. All this help around the house is great but we still have bad days with the kids and in some ways having people listening to me or the children hysterical is a bit embarrassing! I am really struggling with our youngest, it’s not unusual for her to scream all the way through a meal and at other times when things don’t go the way she wants or expects. I find it hard. I am also bracing myself as there is a nasty D and V bug going around, those who know me well will remember that I fall apart a bit when people are throwing up so here’s hoping we avoid that one. Although, we have been very blessed so far with good health, to have managed 2 months with only a couple of colds is good going for a family with toddlers.  

outdoors

I love the outdoor life here. We spend the whole day outdoors, running around the garden or lounging on the khondi (veranda thing). We are looking forward to some khondi furniture which will make the lounging more comfortable. Our eldest spends most of her free time helping our gardener Jonas who is very patient and used to young children. She was watering the plants with her wellies on today as it was slightly cooler (only 25 C) and her feet got muddy! When we go to other people’s houses my children usually end up in the sand pit getting grubby.

mvuu

Pronounced ummmvu not moovu, I have been the cause of much mirth among friends who have been laughing at my pronunciation. Mvuu means hippopotamus, which is Greek word for water horse. They cause the most human deaths by wild animals in Africa. They spend the day in the water because their skin is so sensitive to the sun, but only the babies can swim, the adults walk along the bottom of the river and come up for air every eight minutes. We watched them pop up for air and they make a snort as they empty the water out and unfurl their ears. At night they leave the water and graze, it is when they are moving between land and water that they are dangerous. When we stayed at Mvuu camp we heard the hippos moving about the camp and being chased back into the water by the guards. Our eldest was delighted by the slosh slosh noise the hippos make when they walk, this is the water in their tummies!

700 mkw

MKw stands for Malawi Kwacha and 700 K is about £3 depending on the rates. So what does 700 K buy you?

4 bunches of bananas

500 credits for a mobile (this lasts me a few days)

Cake and coffee at or favourite cafe (aka The Park Cafe)

5 bottles of Carlsberg Green (beer of choice in our house)

An international newspaper (weekly with change for a coffee)

3.5 litres of petrol (yes this is about the same price as the UK)

A lot of electricity

A decent chicken (for eating)

3 ½ litres of milk

36 eggs fresh from a friend’s chickens

One and half days work by one of our guards (that’s more than double the going rate)

One chitenje, the brightly decorated cloths worn by women over their clothes

 

The really frustrating thing is that the largest denomination note is 500 K and everything is paid for in cash so we have to carry enormous wads of cash. Apparently there is concern that if higher notes were introduced the kwacha would be devalued. Getting cash takes a long time. First we pay to move it from the UK into our international account, then we pay to convert the pounds into kwacha and transfer it into our kwacha account and then we draw straws to see who will go and queue for a long time in the bank to get the cash. Taking cash out involves writing a cheque, signing it three times and having it stamped many times. Fortunately the bank staff have not yet noticed that our surname is spelt wrong!

 

on

 

.... without a camera! We have just got back from an amazing couple of days at Mvuu camp with our first visitors my sister and hubbie) and before I had taken any photographs the very fancy digital camera broke!! We have a few shots taken on the video camera and when my sister returns I will pinch some of their amazing shots! The camp is very plush and all inclusive, so there is a boat trip in the morning and a drive from 3.30 until 7pm with drinks at sunset – very civilised. The first day I took our eldest on the drive and we took along a sandwich for her, the youngest stayed with Dad and had dinner at the camp. The second day we felt brave enough to take them both and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Each drive and boat trip was different from the others. We go very close to hippos, both in and out of the water, elephants, baboons, impala, kudu and lots of birds. The guides were very knowledgeable and obviously excited by what we were seeing and keen to share their enthusiasm. Once it got dark we saw different animals, well on the first evening we saw nothing but the second evening we made up for it with lots of smaller mammals. We saw elephants most trips and on our final boat ride a herd of about 30 at the river’s edge. The children enjoyed spotting the animals but maybe we saw to many because when I pointed some elephants out to our two year old she said that she had seen some already. The children were great in the jeep and the boat although it was a little hairy without any barriers or seatbelts particularly when we drove off the edge of an embankment into a stream.

 PS there are no pictures because we can’t find the cable for the video camera!!

 

This is the version with pics from my brother in law!

pims on monday afternoon

For all those of you who have just finished a hard day at the office, we have completed a very social bank holiday weekend with Pims and a bar-b-que. The bank holiday is because today is Eid, but we weren’t sure until Saturday as it depended on the moon. We had a birthday party on Saturday at our neighbours house (Malawian colleagues of the doc) followed by another Barbie. Friday night was curry out with more doctors. Yesterday we cooked curry for Sunday lunch with friends and today was a lazy morning followed by another barbie. The weather has been hot but not unbearable and it is easier planning these things when it almost certainly won’t rain!

dogs and nannys

Those of you who know me well will know that dogs are not part of my plan for a happy family life. But, we are contemplating one: it would be a great opportunity for the kids to get over their complete terror of dogs, they would be a good deterrent for intruders and there are some really cute lab puppies up for grabs.  I also said that I would not be one of those ex-pat ladies who have a nanny, especially when they take them along to look after the kids while mum drinks coffee. These ladies always wear white and manage to look immaculate whereas I am as grubby as my children. However, I am looking at childcare for our youngest so that I can get involved in some projects. Our eldest goes to pre-nursery (like pre-school) two mornings a week and the youngest could tag along with me but we have a lovely housekeeper who is quite happy to look after the children so again I may be proved wrong. I may yet wear white and stay clean.

On safari

.... without a camera! We have just got back from an amazing couple of days at Mvuu camp with our first visitors my sister and hubbie) and before I had taken any photographs the very fancy digital camera broke!! We have a few shots taken on the video camera and when my sister returns I will pinch some of their amazing shots! The camp is very plush and all inclusive, so there is a boat trip in the morning and a drive from 3.30 until 7pm with drinks at sunset – very civilised. The first day I took our eldest on the drive and we took along a sandwich for her, the youngest stayed with Dad and had dinner at the camp. The second day we felt brave enough to take them both and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Each drive and boat trip was different from the others. We go very close to hippos, both in and out of the water, elephants, baboons, impala, kudu and lots of birds. The guides were very knowledgeable and obviously excited by what we were seeing and keen to share their enthusiasm. Once it got dark we saw different animals, well on the first evening we saw nothing but the second evening we made up for it with lots of smaller mammals. We saw elephants most trips and on our final boat ride a herd of about 30 at the river’s edge. The children enjoyed spotting the animals but maybe we saw to many because when I pointed some elephants out to our two year old she said that she had seen some already. The children were great in the jeep and the boat although it was a little hairy without any barriers or seatbelts particularly when we drove off the edge of an embankment into a stream.

 PS there are no pictures because we can’t find the cable for the video camera!!

 

On foot

I was offered the chance of a childfree walking safari at 6am. Three of us set off with our guide (Henry) and an armed guard we got to look at tracks, birds, poo and insects. Henry explained that if we saw any elephants we would be walking the other way because while they are quite happy with people in jeeps they do not like us on foot. We had been examining some fresh (warm) elephant poo when we heard an elephant off to our left by the river and then we saw another two in front of us. We paused, the elephant indicated that he knew we were there and we beat a hasty retreat. Another group of walkers on safari were closer to the river and as we were backing off we saw the elephant charge towards them. These beasts might be big but they can move fast, a few warning gun shots followed and with both our guide and guard looking a bit twitchy we moved off in the other direction. This caused quite a bit of excitement when we returned to the camp with Henry announcing that we had lost a couple of tourists. For those of you ever confronted with an elephant you should back off, take cover behind a tree or termite mound, failing that a few shots should scare it otherwise the guides carried whistles that would also scare it. If we ran we had to stick with the guide or we could end up hopelessly lost.

 

little miss muffett

Not been blogging much this last week as I am too busy entertaining visitors and managing staff! However, the appearance of the most enormous spider has driven me to write. I don’t mind spiders but this one was just outside my bedroom and it was huge. It wouldn’t fit into a cup to put it outside it needed a bowl! Even our guards were impressed by the size. I now have that tickly itchy feeling that makes me think something is going to be tickling my toes. It’s a good thing that we sleep under a mosquito net! Although we have had some issues with mosi nets this week. Our tailor came to make a set of curtains and a net in preparation for our visitors. The doctor drew a beautiful drawing of what we wanted - a big box to hang over our bed with openings in the side. It took all day but the net was ready by dinner time. There were very smart openings in the side but they didn’t close, leaving a large gap for the mosis to come and join us in bed. I have employed another tailor, who speaks English to re-hash the net so that we can sleep in peace. Note for my mum – we have bought a cheap net so we’re not sleeping unprotected!

online from my sofa

I am very excited, we now have internet at home. It is one tenth the speed of broadband back home and we have to pre-pay but it works! The doctor has just pointed out that I should be doing this offline because we have to pay as we go! So I will go back to e-mailing updates into blogger and get on with some surfing!

paradise

There are some perks to be married to a dr. Conferences in nice places is one, we are staying at Club Mac on the southern shores of Lake Malawi. The hotel is very posh and has its own secluded 600 M of beach, which we have had to ourselves during the day as the doctors are all at the conference! It is really beautiful, the lake is so big it might as well be the sea. The girls are enjoying the huge beach and the swimming pool. We don’t plan to swim in the lake this time, there is a snail that passes on a nasty disease via its eggs, it’s very treatable but as we can’t go snorkelling it’s not worth the risk.

not alone

Just to prove that we did bring the children with us!