7 quick takes...

Only superdads can be on conference calls talking 'engineer' and comfort their sleep-drunk daughters at the same time.

1. The porch has become my favourite place to sit. It's surrounded by trees and shaded, there is almost always a slight cooling breeze, I can see the lake and on the lawn in front are monkeys playing. It's my preferred spot to write this blog. The girls are helping Hartmut who is fixing one of my herb planters that fell down in the night (I hope the basil survives). Maybe they are also planting some new coriander. I hope so. I can hear their happy chatter but not distinguish what they are saying. On the floor in the living lies their abandoned picnic that they were so keen on when they asked for it. Cut up apple,carrots, tomatoes and an orange... 'We are so spoiled' Doris said when I gave it. A beam of sunlight pokes through the trees and lands on my face. It's a good morning.
2. While I sit here I hear how my neighbour switches on his generator. He is getting ready for his morning toast. I told him that we make toast in the pan when there is no electricity. He chuckled, 'That's just not the same. I'm too old for that.' He is probably right but we don't have a generator. There has been talk about buying one though. The electricity situation has been dreadful lately. Malawi has a massive power shortage and to compensate for this we have daily power cuts that last about 6 hours. We got a schedule so that we would know when we would be without power and the first few days they stuck to it beautifully but since the weekend power just comes and goes (actually more going than coming) and I'm very grateful that I can cook on gas.
3. Sometimes it feels like we live in the middle of a nature documentary. I'm pretty sure that we could each write up a thesis on monkey behaviour with the hours of observation that we have done. This morning we witnessed a real gem. Hartmut had fed the ducks but they left some of the food in their bowl. The monkeys love this too so the moment the ducks left, some monkeys took the opportunity to help themselves. This was not what the ducks had in mind so they charged with noise and flapping wings back to the bowl. Successfully. Because the monkeys got scared and ran away. Until the biggest monkey decided that ducks were not dangerous enough so after a few initial careful jumps towards to ducks (followed by nervous jumps backwards because by now the ducks and the monkeys are the same size) the monkey ran towards the ducks, chasing them away and working one of them to the floor. The ducks gave up and the big monkey invited the others back to the feast. Which they didn't really get to enjoy because Hartmut chased them away and against him they had no chance.
Nature documentary
4. This weekend must have been the most social weekend we have had since we moved here. Friday night we had drinks at our neighbours, Saturday night a friend of a friend who was for work in Malawi came for supper and yesterday the only other Dutchie in the village came for lunch with his girlfriend. It was wonderful and fun and I'm also kinda happy that today is a bit more quiet. Being social is a muscle that needs to be trained and I think that our hermit life has left me a little unfit in that department.
5. 'Can I choose something from the wardrobe?' she asks from upstairs. It's a bit of a funny question because that's where the clothes are kept. But she asks it every day and the answer is every day the same. It's been months since I decided what the girls should wear and although it means that I sometimes have to endure girls that are dressed like heavily decorated Christmas trees, it also means that there is one less reason to have conflict about. When Doris walked upstairs to get dressed I asked her what she was going to wear. 'You will see' she said with a mischievous smile. It usually means the worst. The worst for my taste, but the best for their sense of self and that's more important. It wasn't all that bad today. Her surprise outfit was a blue and white striped dress, a checked ribbon in her hair and she had topped it with a unicorn hairband. 'Am I not pretty?' she asked with a proud and confident smile. To that question was only one answer possible. 'You are beautiful!'.
6. Sophie is the world's most excitable party planner, any reason for a party is a good one. Now that Hartmut had been away we needed to plan a welcome home party which we celebrated over the weekend. To her it didn't really matter that he was already home for a week from a trip that only lasted just over a week. The party had to happen. So she made decorations, planned activities and designed a very elaborate cake. I'm always glad that she finds as much joy in the preparations as in the party itself because half of what she planned did not happen. It was still a great party though, and I hope she'll never stop planning them for us.
7. This week we have no big plans. We'll be at home, work on our space project (such a fun topic!), go to the beach a lot (it's getting very warm) and prepare for Hartmut's birthday party which we will be celebrating next Sunday. Enough to keep us busy and excited! Happy new week!

Our neighbour flew his drone and the kids were fascinated.