black tie in the tropics

We celebrated St Andrews day here in Blantyre with a ceilidh held by the Caledonian Society. Unfortunately the doc left his kilt in England, although the sporran seems to be here in Malawi! We had a great dinner, which included haggis lots of wine and a bottle of whiskey per table! The ceilidh itself was great fun although I think some were a little surprised by the doc’s fast dancing! He managed not to injure anyone and I don’t think he stepped on my toes. Going out in formal dress felt strange, we spend most of the time here dressed very casually, wearing as little as convention allows. Our housekeeper, Dorcas babysat for us and was excited to see us dressed up, I did feel like the ugly sisters, leaving Cinderella - our tickets cost almost as much as her monthly salary. In our defence the money raised from the evening will go to the paediatric wards of the hospital. There were almost 200 people there many of whom we knew and it really shows the range of jobs which bring people to Blantyre – local NGOs, sugar, tobacco, tea, haulage and medics as well as charities. There was quite a bit of discussion about the political situation here, the lack of diesel is not making a big impact yet but the shortage has been going on for a month now and it is symptomatic of bigger issues.

more paradise

We have just had an amazing weekend away with friends. We stayed at a beautiful lodge called Fisherman’s Rest about 30 minutes drive from Blantyre. There were 14 children and a similar number of adults staying in two lodges and some tents on stilts. The views were stunning and the weekend was so relaxing; the children played or swam and we spent quality time with lots of friends. It was lovely to escape from the city despite the lack of diesel and spend time chilling out. The last few weeks there has been talk from some ex-pats about moving on as life here becomes more difficult but it was good to get things in perspective and appreciate the beautiful country where we live.

me

For those of you who complain about the lack of pics of me (maybe it was just my mum who said that)!

The Rains

The Rains are here. They began last week and it’s very exciting. It gets really hot and then suddenly there’s a rumble and then a few spots and then it rains. It’s hard to describe but it rains really, really hard and just when you think it can’t get heavier it does! The downpour doesn’t usually last long and is often in the afternoon and once it’s finished we go and jump in the puddles, although they dry up very quickly. The garden is looking even greener and we might have some grass soon. I thought that I was doing quite well as far as bugs were concerned but I didn’t realise that there is a whole extra set of creepy crawlies that appear in the rains. The bongologos (meaning lots of legs) are enormous centipedes, I saw one about 20 cm long and really fat but I am told they get bigger. The flying ants are not so cool, they swarm just as we are putting kids to bed and then by the time the kids are asleep the ants are termites (or is the other way around) and their wings are everywhere! There are obviously more mosquitoes; we had one in our bed net a few nights ago and in desperation (we were sleeping badly anyway) got up at 1am, sprayed the net and watched an episode of “Sex and the City” and returned to bed 20 minutes later! The crawling ants have been driving us mad, one crumb and within minutes there are 100s of ants. We can’t leave dirty plates on the side in the kitchen because it would be covered in ants. And cockroaches, I don’t think that I have seen them before, but they are really nasty. Apparently you shouldn’t squash them with your foot as that releases all the eggs onto your shoe! One more top tip for this time of year, don’t wear white t-shirts in case you get caught in the rain!!

coming and going

We are about to say goodbye to a family that we have got to know really well in a short space of time. They have four children of similar ages to ours so a playdate with them is always good value! They have come to the end of their two years here and head back to the UK next week. The photo shows their eldest with us at a fancy dress party last week. It’s the nature of the community here that people come and go but because it’s such a small community maybe we feel it more.

filling time

I am still working out how to fill the days. I have not been feeling very well this week which makes things worse as I feel lethargic so don’t really want to do very much. The doc’s diagnosis is a reaction to a yellow fever immunisation I had last week; getting the injection was typical Malawi: we waited 40 minutes because the driver had taken the bigger car to the airport then the eight of us arrived at the private hospital to discover we needed a prescription and that the cheque was not for exactly the right amount, this took some time to sort. The vaccine was duly mixed and then we waited for a long time for someone to give us the injection. In fact we waited so long that we gave up brought the vaccine back to our place and persuaded the doc to give it to us!

 

Anyway the days are filled with the children and seeing other people with children. Errands can be turned into events and it is easy to call in on other people. It is interesting because quite a few friends think that I need something to do but I am still trying to work out whether I really do. I am meeting an American lady this week who is looking for someone to take over teaching English to women but it is in the afternoons which is more difficult for childcare.

red cake

The food colouring is quite scary but the results were satisfactory!

hot party

Birthday parties here are not too much different from the UK. It was a busy week, we had been warned that there might be no electricity so we did a lot of the cooking beforehand and decided not to order a (very cheap) bouncy castle. The day started early with a very excited toddler who enjoyed the presents that we brought with us from the UK and the birthday cards that my sister brought out in Sept. The power stayed on so at the last minute we got a bouncy castle. Everyone (including our staff) loved it! It was an extremely hot day so the paddling pool (borrowed from a friend) was also popular and there were quite a few naked children.

waking

A good nights sleep becomes relative with two small children, but last night I slept until 4am at which point my body thought that I had had enough sleep! It’s strange the things that can wake us here. The children go through phases of good sleep and bad sleep, we have had 4 weeks of not so good sleep probably due to sick bugs, colds and teeth but once a week we all sleep worse after taking anti-malarial tablets. Then there are all sorts of other noises that wake us in the night: the neighbours dogs (in our garden); the call to prayer from the mosque (4.15am); the local nightclub (sometimes until 6am); the neighbour’s cockerel; the dawn chorus; rain hitting the metal roof (louder than you think); the water coming back on. And it’s beginning to hot up again which also hinders sleep.

flurry of activity

There is a flurry of activity on my blog as I have at last got some child free time. It has been a long few weeks of d&v bugs and colds. The youngest is still suffering so we are all lacking on the sleep front. However she has got the hang of walking and does short distances un aided, which causes lots of excitement from her big sister!

Poppy

This is Poppy the Puppy. I was hoping to have some cute photos of her with the children but they are still not entirely compatible! She is a gorgeous puppy and I am not a dog person but I may be converted! The children are getting used to her and love to know where she is and going to see her but she is quite jumpy and they are still slightly nervous.

bathroom

I thought that it was about time that you (my lovely readers) saw some pics of the fabulous interior design of our house. There are five bathrooms and these two photos show two and yes the rest are just as lovely!

cuts

I can sometimes forget that we live in a developing country, but yesterday we were reminded that there are so many things we take for granted. Yesterday there was no diesel in Blantyre, we had an almost empty tank because last week we had cash flow problems so I hadn’t filled up, then the water was off for a few hours. Temporary cuts are OK but the worry is that the water can go off for days at a time and you just never know which it will be. The lack of diesel is apparently due to the difficulty with changing money and buying goods from outside the country. I did find some fuel yesterday, I got half a tank after a long wait in a very noisy petrol station and I got another half tank at a station that had just had a delivery. I had not appreciated that most of the mini bus drivers buy fuel a gallon at a time in jerry cans because each driver puts his own fuel in the vehicle. The stations were busy with these drivers trying to fill their cans, there were less people trying to fill their cars. Anyway the water is back on and our bath filled up in case there are more cuts.