fish

While away there was only one day that the doc didn’t eat fish! We also had a great morning at the aquarium where we saw fish and penguins.

 

back home

We had a lovely holiday and now it’s back home. It was nice to come home and the weather here is definitely better than it was in Cape Town. I spent a long time queuing at the bank yesterday to get money out for paying salaries and have just paid our staff their monthly wages. Usually the doc does salaries and I do day-to-day stuff for the staff. I feel guilty giving them their pay, I know that we pay good wages and they are in the majority, as 75% of people in Malawi live on less than $1 per day, but when I look at the paltry pile of notes and think about how we spend that amount of money.

 

Being a tourist on holiday was lovely, I wasn’t responsible for anyone (apart from the doc and the kids) the only decisions were what to do and where to eat lunch. We ate lots of lovely food that we don’t get here in Malawi and spent time with our friends, who joined us from the UK. There is something refreshing about being around people who have known us a long time, there is so much that doesn’t need explanation.

 

We played on the beach and swam in the sea (it is renowned for being particularly cold). On our last day in the city itself we asked the girls what they would like to do and rather drive down the southern point or see penguins they chose to ride the big red bus! We all really enjoyed it, we got a great overview of the city and its history (through funky red headphones) and it was warm enough to sit up top and enjoy the views.

Cape Town

We have just got back from 10 days in Cape Town. We stayed for one week at Camps Bay, the posh bit of the city on the coast just below the 12 apostles of Table Mountain. I am not sure when we last had a holiday where we stayed in one place for that length of time. The girls enjoyed the beach and the parks, they played for hours on the swings, slides and climbing frames. We enjoyed the food and the regular stops for coffee and cake as well as choosing a bottle of wine for dinner.

 

Cape Town took us all by surprise. My first impression was that it reminded me of Sydney, a laid back city with beaches and plenty of places to shop and eat and a large choice of museums and galleries. It certainly didn’t feel like Africa. The visible part of the population were mostly white, although most of the waiters were black. The curios and crafts reminded us that we were in Africa, the familiar beaded animals, wooden carvings, necklaces and vibrant ceramics. The architecture is amazing, with lots of older buildings as well as modern glass and concrete constructions. The waterfront is huge and the mixture of a working harbour with lots of boats and big shopping centre worked well. We didn’t do much shopping as the prices seemed really high, fortunately food and drink were much more reasonable.

2 weeks solo

My solo two weeks is almost over. I was not looking forward to it but with only a few hours to go I feel a sense of achievement. I have had lots of help from our staff and friends and a busy social life, all of which have helped keep me sane. The girls have been brilliant, we had a some issues at bedtime the first few nights but have got over that and they have been well and on great form. I am pretty tired and looking forward to not getting up before 6am tomorrow.

 

We had very few power cuts and despite the rest of Blantyre going down with a nasty flu bug we have remained healthy. We will leave for the airport in a few hours where we can eat or sandwiches, watch the plane land and the passengers disembark before waiting in arrivals.

 

The doc assures me that he has done lots of shopping and comes bearing gifts of chocolate, magazines, wine, jelly babies, books and clothes.

banking

Banking here is a very slow business.

 

Forget internet banking or doing it all through the cash-point, step back in time to: long queues (especially at the end of the month); forms for every transaction, that have to be completed in duplicate; cheque books; and different queues for deposits, withdrawls, transfers, enquiries, balances and statements. The bank stopped posting our statements (they’re not really sure why, we get a different answer every time we ask!) so we now have to go to the bank to request a printout every month. Yesterday I was in the bank organising a transfer from our foreign currency account, this was my third attempt as the transfer can take over 2 weeks, and after success thought I would collect our statement.

 

I took my place in the queue and passed over the completed slip, the cashier took her time and then asked if the account was still active. I said that I thought so, she disappeared for some time and eventually came back with a blank statement, apparently we’d had no transactions this month. I then checked the cash-point – we can occasionally get mini-statements - this too came back blank. On my way home I realised that we had made a few transactions and checked at home, this was a bit worrying. Discussing this over lunch with a friend she said maybe it was to do with changing our account numbers, this was news to me!

 

Another visit today and apparently we were told about the change of account number in October last year. Even with the new number I still can’t get a statement. The man at the foreign exchange desk who knows me quite well (and even let me take our youngest to the staff toilet) was able to check my balance and reassure me that the money is all in the account – phew!!

 

I then popped to shoprite to buy a plastic doll for a princess birthday cake that I’m  making for a friend and discovered that I had lost my purse! This involved driving home trying not to look guilty as the police are very present and failure to have your driving license is a fineable offence. The purse was eventually found in the car and I returned to shoprite somewhat flustered to complete my shop!

 

long way

Some things make us feel further away from home and other times it feels like we’re only just around the corner. Being able to talk to friends and family, especially when it’s a good line means that we keep up to date. The doc has been away a week now, and we’ve managed to email or talk most days which means that he knows the minutiae of the children’s days.  However, he has missed our youngest getting onto the bike. Her legs are only just long enough to reach the floor and she can’t get off but this has not stopped her having a go at scooting.