An old fashioned Monday morning 7 quick takes.

This is not even 10 minutes from our house.. So beautiful!

1. Since we moved here my phone has mostly been in flight mode. That way it used less precious electricity and it did not make sense for my phone to be searching for network anyway because there wasn't any. But a few months ago, when we went up our mountain to connect to the net we found a group of men smashing big rocks into smaller ones. When we asked them what thwy were doing we were told that they were building a network tower! Every villager who was strong enough to get up the mountain several times a day had a job in the months that followed because countless buckets of water, bags of cement, iron poles and other supplies had to be carried up the steep path. From our home we could see how the 70 meter tall tower slowly grew and a few weeks ago we took our phones out of flight mode and suddenly whatsapp messages came in. It is easy, and that is great. But I will miss the undistracted times, the peace and quiet. It was great to not feel yourself drawn to your phone all the time because there would be nothing new anyway. I have installed an app (Appblock) to keep myself out of social media for most of the time because the past year has taught me how wonderful undistracted time is but I also know that eventhough I love it, I am not disciplined enough to give it to myself (silly, isn't it.) What I am really enjoying is more connection with the world, friends and family and I have decided that I from now on will try to blog more again because it won't be such a mission anymore tompost something. So here's to my first normal Monday morning blog in a long time. (And even some.pictures because internet is now fast enough for that.)
2. I feel a bit grumpy because I did not sleep well. I was in a deep sleep when, close to twelve, one of the night staff knocked on our door (read: hammered the door almost of the hinges) to tell us that he had found a key. Seriously? Could that not wait till the morning? Anyway, my adrenaline after that was sky high and I struggled to fall asleep again. Then, after 3, Doris came in our bed because of a thunder/rain storm and she was super restless for what felt like the rest of the night. So dear people, please be patient with me today ;-) It's not all bad though, I woke up to a long email from a dear friend (hi Cleo), we already did some sport, and the girls have been lost in their imaginairy world since they woke up more than an hour ago.
3. I have never regretted that I am not a coffee drinker (if I drink it I don't sleep for days and my body acts all funny) until I moved here. The reason is that, according to most guests, our coffee is top class. We source the beans from local farmers in the hills behind the lodge, roast them on an open fire and hand-grind them in our kitchen (the smell is amazing!). Our guests often want to buy some to bring it home but there was never appopriate packaging. People would get an old plastic bag or an envelope with beans. Hartmut and I love coming up with creative solutions so we designed new packaging and we sell more coffee than ever before. Right now Hartmut is very busy packing a package that will go with the ferry today. A happy guest loved our coffee so much that she ordered 6 kilograms for her home in Blantyre. So cool!
4. On the lodge was a dog. His name was chicken because he used to be scared of everything but now he was so old that he had lost most of his brain and forgotten about his fears. He usually hung around the kitchen en despite the fact that he was mostly skin and bones and absolutely not a cuddly playful dog, he was the girls' favourite. When we got to the lodge a year ago the owner already told us that Chicken would probably die soon but somehow he continued to live. The last months it got worse and worse and seeing him live was torture so we googled strategies on how to give a dog a peaceful passing. It turns out that there are no animal friendly diy methods for this, especially if you live where we live. In the end we convinced a vet to come (we obviously had to pay him) to make it happen. He came on the ferry, armed with the fatal injection but also with enough rabies vaccinations for all the village dogs. Many people have dogs, not really as pets the way the western world adores them but these dogs are half wild creatures that often need to find their own food. In the weeks before we tried to do everything we could to convince our village and the surrounding villages that they should come with their dogs because rabies is so dangerous for both animals and people. We once saw a rabbit dog on the lodge and that freaked me out! To my frustration it felt as if our message fell on deaf ears but when people saw that the vaccination really was for free they slowly came and brought their dogs. (At least those they were able to catch) and more than 30 dogs got vaccinated. Chicken's life ended peaceful and the girls handled this much better than I ever expected. They helped to dig his grave and threw sand on him to cover him. Now they tell all the guests about the dog that was and he frequently features in their play but I don't think they were traumatised but rather empowered by the ordeal. I am so grateful!
5. Next to my bed is an ever growing pile of books that I have finished reading. I have always loved reading but the last years I found myself reading less and less. I blame children and the internet for being the distractions that kept me away from books. But here, with very little distraction and a surprisingly large library of good books left behind by travelers I am back to devouring books in record speed. I hope I will never lose my refound love again.
6. 'Sophie, how are you feeling today?' Two tumbs up and a broad smile is the answer. Doris and Sophie sit on the mat and we do school. They like routine and therefore we always start the same; with singing a song about the days of the week, discussing the months (which almost always ends in tears because Doris realises that her December birthday is much further away than Sophie's June birthday but she wants to discuss it anyway) and a check in on everybody's emotional well-being. When we do school Sophie and Doris are always happy. Especially now that both Marci and Celia brought new maths workbooks that Sophie loves. If it were up to her she would work through one semester of maths in a week. "Mathematics is my hobby" she declared this morning. Well Sophie, that sounds like a very sensible and safe hobby that won't get you into trouble so keep it up (and I will remind you of those words when you are 16 and unwilling to do your maths-homework).
7. 3 more weeks. Doris can count it out for you on her fingers. She is getting less confused by the day as her counting skills improve while the weeks are rapidly decreasing. 3 more weeks until we hope to get on the Ilala to not just go to Mzuzu but to travel via Lilongwe, Lusaka and the Victoria Falls to Namibia and after that to Cape Town for almost a month quality time with friends and family. Bucket lists are made (Sophie wants to go to her favourite museum, Doris wants a sleep over at her friends, Hartmut wants ice crean at the Creamery and I want sushi), the tickets that can be booked are booked and no day passes without us talking and dreaming about our journey. 3 more weeks people... 3 more weeks!