chicken chat

We have been talking a lot about chickens this week. We (well our gardener) is building a chicken run and house so that we can have about 10 chickens for eggs. The doc has been reading too much Hugh (Fearnley-Whittenstall) and would also like some broilers that we can fatten up for the pot.

 

We tried eating a “local chicken” this week, I wouldn’t recommend them although our eldest does now understand about where chicken comes from and has a handful of feathers as a memento! Fortunately neither of them saw our gardener chasing (what I assume to be) a headless chicken around the garage. The vendor who came to the gate allowed us to choose a chicken and once we had selected he put the rejected ones (still live) back into the basket beak first through a small opening, I’m not sure what Hugh would say about that.

getting along without me

I am sure that this is not unique to living abroad but I am beginning to see that my children can get along very well without me. Our youngest has just started nursery and is enjoying it and our eldest has told me that she would rather stay at home (with the staff) than go shopping with me! It’s very nice that I can leave them but until now they didn’t want to be apart from me.

 

I am starting to plan my few hours a week that are child-free, I have got involved with an archive here and hope to be able to do some work looking at their collections and we are still waiting to hear about two grant applications that would lead to some (paid) work doing exhibition stuff and an oral history project. The few hours currently gets used up having a Chichewa lesson, running errands and paying bills; the latter takes longer because we have to pay most of our bills in person, of course in the UK these would be direct debit. It’s not just the time taken to go to the right office but also the queues and then waiting while the teller counts the cash and provides a receipt.

FW: the doc

The doc is a happy man. He is now able to be a real haematologist, his kit has arrived from the UK, he has done bone marrows and some slides and he has appointed a research nurse. Some of the clinics are up and running, the plan is to have seven clinical sessions per week which is going to keep him very busy. We are still waiting to hear about the recruitment of another doctor to the project and lots of things move very slowly -including the nurse, apparently the doc tells her which ward they are going to and meets her there because she walks so slowly!

 

no novelty

Now that we have been here 6 months there are some aspects of life that have definitely lost their novelty. Last week I went on two trips with Jonas our gardener to buy supplies for building a chicken house and run; the first was to buy poles at one of the stalls at the side of the road. When we pulled up alongside the huge pile of tree trunks the car was immediately surrounded by men, all shouting. Jonas took charge and gradually the group dispersed until we were left with the owner and a couple of guys who helped saw the trunks and tie them to the roof of the car. I am learning Chichewa but it is frustratingly slow and I am not sure that I shall ever know enough to tell everything that is being said. Our second trip was on Sat, the doc had offered to go but he was still asleep at 8 am so I agreed to go. This experience was slightly more civilised we greeted the men in the sales office, discussed our requirements and waited a long time for the planks to be sawn up. I am getting used to the waiting, the extra cost just because I am white and the extra money for anyone who has helped. Actually the last bit I mind less as it feels like an easy way to help someone; the guy who helped us at the sawmill had a flip-flop on one foot and a very ancient trainer on the other, I was surprisingly disturbed by this.

long way

Some days you just feel a long way from home. Other days life here runs smoothly and the sun shines and the UK feels a long way away.

 

A new family have just arrived and I have had a long conversation with a friend who is getting ready to move on, the comings and goings here mean that we are always conscious of the finite length of our stay. Maybe it’s different for those who are purposefully out here but for a hanger-on like me our adventure sometimes feels like an interlude to the rest of my life.

 

umbrellas

I had an exciting traipse around Limbe last week. Limbe is the place to go for shopping, it’s busy and chaotic but cheap! After spending a lot of money on material for clothes, mosquito nets and sheets I went to buy umbrellas, you really can’t have enough umbrellas in the rainy season. For 800 MK (about £4) I bought 3 umbrellas. Then we went to buy mops it was a long walk to the market and then despite my best haggling I paid more than I would have done if one of the staff had gone to Blantyre!

you win some

So it was a bad day on Fri but good days Sat and Sun. Fri began with a trip to the dairy for cream and cheese to find they had none, then got home to no internet so unable to search for alternative ice cream recipes (for dinner party that evening). Children woke up grumpy and afternoon naps were perfunctory so the grumpiness continued. The afternoon improved after some sanity at lunchtime and we got the kids to bed and began to prepare for dinner when the power went off (for an hour and half) the steamed pudding bubbled away on the camping stove and the rest had to wait until power resumed. We had a lovely evening followed by a dreadful night when we were up much of the night with our youngest – it might have been teeth ….

 

Despite the early start Sat was lovely, nice and cool and friends called around for coffee and stayed for lunch. Sunday we had a really good service at church, our eldest went to Sunday school solo and we heard the whole sermon and then enjoyed a late lunch with friends which lasted until children’s bedtime – perfect! For those interested in sleep (only other mothers I expect) we have had two good nights sleep so I feel human again.

social whirl

We are in the middle of a social whirl! I had baby group at ours yesterday (at very short notice) followed by a Rotary dinner (the doc was the guest speaker) then out tonight with some doctors (I’m the moral support for a friend) and then entertaining here tomorrow evening, with coffee and cake on Saturday and an invite out for Sunday oh and some extras for lunch today. So not much time left for blogging.

smoking

Last week we had an interesting day out at a tobacco farm. The estate covers 40 hectares and although there is a strong anti-smoking lobby in the west, tobacco sales continue to increase. Most of the labour force are employed part-time so that they can tend their own crops on their small holdings. We watched the leaves being harvested and then saw them in various stages of being dried out. Our eldest was delighted to spot some sheep on the farm and they are also growing macadamia nuts which are ideally suited to the Malawi climate, although difficult to buy in Malawi as most are exported! On the walk back from the drying sheds our eldest and I got separated from the rest of the family and our waterproofs and got properly soaked as the rain began in earnest. We travelled back with the heater on in the car – that’s a first!