1. Sorry not sorry that I skipped two weeks. I was too busy living in a bubble where days and dates didn't exist. It was fabulous, it was fun. We got to take Hartmut's parents to places that we love and together we went to explore new places. Malawi is a beautiful country with many different landscapes in a relatively small space. We hiked mountains, slept in a national park, swam in the lake, worried about the weather, played games, plucked flowers and watched elephants. Now we are home with a pile of laundry, less then perfect immune systems and a whole lot of memories.
2. It's 2:42 at night and I'm awake. I don't know why I can't sleep. Well, actually I do but I'm in denial. I had a quarter of a cup of (delicious) coffee yesterday and now I pay the price. Caffeine and I don't work very well together. I have been awake for a while so in my head I went over the travel schedule, relived some of my favourite Cape Town moments and made a potential food plan for when we live in Senga Bay. Now my thoughts are just aimlessly wandering between memories and dreams and I hope it will lead to sleep. My bed is in a tent in Liwonde National Park. Outside in the distance I hear unfamiliar noises. I can recognise the hippos groan and grunt and a lion roar but there are many other sounds that I cannot place. Suddenly I hear a noise much closer. A shuffling of legs in the bushes, something (or someone) pulling grass. I know what it is and my heart starts to beat faster. In the darkness my hands search for the torch and I get out of my bed as quietly as possible. I walk to the back of the tent where the tent is connected to an en suite bathroom (yay for glamping) and unzip the tent. This can never be done quietly and inside my head I am pleading with the creature outside to not run away. It worked. Right next to the open window is a big hippo enjoying his nightly grass meal. He is so close; I can touch him if I want. I watch for a little bit before he notices my presence and dissapears in the bushes. Now I am wide awake but I don't care. This was cool!
3. Open, close. Open, close. Her little hands go inside the fridge to feel the temperature of yoghurt. Her smile when she notices that its still cold, possibly even colder than ten minutes ago, is priceless. The fridge is like a magnet to Doris and she just cannot help herself! We've lived without one for over a year now and I think she was too little to really understand them before we left. We spend one day in our new house and in that time she opened it at least twenty times. It made her happy without fail. I wonder how long that fascination stays but I expect that the magic will wear of pretty quickly. Or maybe it will not stop but switch from fascination with the fridge itself to an obsession with its content. I would understand that. I cannot wait to have a fridge filled with yoghurt, cheese, milk (powder milk is just not the same) and left over food so that I don't need to cook a meal every time the girls are hungry (all the time).
4. One of my favourite things about this trip through Malawi was that we did it with Hartmut's parents. For obvious reasons (extra hands to help, laps to sit on etc) but also because it allowed us to share a bit of 'our' Malawi. The bits that we love and fell in love with but also the things that are difficult, frustrating and annoying. I can capture many things with words and pictures but you only really understand it when you have been here. It was amazing that they got to spend time at the lodge as well as our new house. We understand that Malawi is not an easy country to travel to and almost nobody will have a chance to visit us here and that's why we are extra grateful that they took the time and effort to come, that they made this holiday possible and shared a bit of this journey with us.
5. One of the best things about getting older (at least for me) is that I am less restless and have less fomo. I am generally content in my space and don't feel like I have to be everywhere and do everything in order to be happy. But... When I travel somewhere I always prep very well and do a lot of research about the destination. I make sure I know about all the things one can see and do and in my enthousiasm I usually want to do it all! If I planned our holidays without Hartmut's input, we would need a holiday to rest from our holidays because there would be very little relaxing and a lot of gogogo to see all the sights, climb all the mountains and taste all the food. That doesn't work with kids. Kids don't want to gogogo, kids want to be. Sophie and Doris teach me to be. Teach me to stand still, to not need to go away to see and taste and feel, but to stay where I already was. Right outside the tent. Where I can see the flowers, taste their mudpies (not really) and feel the sun on my cheeks. Thanks girls! Maybe in a few years you'll be ready for my gogogo, or maybe it will never happen because you have taught me to just be.
6. We are lucky that our girls are little lightweights because when we go for long big hikes we carry the girls in our carriers. When they are tired of sitting (or when our backs get tired) they get out and walk themselves. When they sit in the carrier I need to make sure that I pay attention to all the field flowers because when I pass one that they haven't seen yet I need to turn around to give it to them or deal with a grumpy girl for a long time. Both Sophie and Doris are obsessed with flowers and their favourite activity during hikes is making bouquets. We have made a rule that they can only pick one flower from each kind when we carry them because if we don't, we'll end up carrying them and 10 kilo flowers. It would not be the end of the world because I love flowers, but I also love my back ;-)
7. Now that we're back home we have plenty of things on our plate. The first thing I need to sink my teeth in is 'getting better'. All the travel hasn't been great for my immune system and I have picked up a bad flu that made the last few days less than fun. The girls are coughing too but are still as active as ever. I hope it won't take long for me to feel better (Hartmut is a great nurse) because the next three weeks we need to host some special guests, train our successors and pack up out life here so that we are ready to move in three weeks. Enjoy your week!
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| 3 generations Jagau at the Manchewe Falls. |
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| Can I live here a little longer please? |
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| Mosquito nets and a extra bed squeezed between ours makes a cozy nest. |
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| Nobody can escape their hunger for books. |
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| Our guide said that elephants are extra playful in the rain. I choose to believe him because it makes a cold wet boat ride on the Shire river more acceptable. |
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| Little big hikers |
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| My flower girls.. |
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| Mount Mulanje with her misty peaks, rugged plateaus and endless fields of flowers was amazing! |
