7 quick takes...
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| we spend our evenings on the beach. |
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| Doris found this leopard print in the second hand shop and loves it even though it's way too big. |
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| This is what shopping for clothes on our village looks like. Huge unsorted piles of clothes that the west doesn't want anymore. |
- Everything is a bit delayed today but I have a good reason for that; we finally have electricity back after about 30 hours without. And without power you cannot use a laptop (at least not mine with a terrible battery) so the blog had to wait. Now the girls are napping, Hartmut is in a phone-meeting and I have time to write a little. I was noticing something interesting. When we lived in Ruarwe we never had electricity but did not miss it either because our life wasn’t built around having it. Now that we have it, it is suddenly super annoying when it’s not there because everything in the freezer defrosted (fortunately there was no meat or anything expensive like that, just fruit for in smoothies and ice cream.), you cannot charge devices and there is no light. I am glad it came back eventually and hope it will stay on for long now, but you never know here…
- While I type this I hear Hartmut speak ‘engineer’ on the phone with his colleagues. We will be hearing loads of that this week as he is working from home the whole week and won’t be going to the office in Lilongwe because the city is basically closed down completely. The protesters are organising the biggest strikes to date and hope to mobilise a million people in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu to protest against the election results. The elections are two and a half months ago and the protests have been going on since then but the president isn’t even as much as acknowledging it, which only adds more fuel to the ever growing and spreading fire. The protests are becoming more and more violent and I am nervous about this week. We are in a small village so we are safe but it is creating a lot of instability and unrest in the country. Please pray with me that conversations will start, people will feel heard and peace will return.
- ‘Did you close the duck house? Because I didn’t’. We both jump up and run outside to the duck house where they always walk themselves once it gets to the end of the afternoon. One, two, three…. We count again but there are still three. One duck is missing. We run around to find it but already know what has happened even though we do not want to admit it. It’s not very late but it’s a dark moonless night, the garden is big and our torches are not very bright. I was looking for it but when I find it, it still comes as a surprise and I almost vomit. Next to the path is the lifeless head of the missing duck. Nothing else. No blood, no feathers. Just a head. A big animal has done a quick but deadly job. Some irrational part of me wants to continue searching until I find the rest of the body. I can stick them together and it will be as of nothing happened. I’m not so sad about the duck but dread facing the girls and their sadness. When we tell them there are tears, anger and frustration. They say it’s good for kids to have pets because it teaches them a lot about life. I guess they are right.
- Our landlord had told us that we could use the kayaks any time we wanted and we were very eager but up until this weekend the weather had been windy and the lake choppy. But yesterday was finally a good day to explore the shore we live on. So we put on our swim clothes and sunhats, the girls got their life jackets and of we went. Right opposite our house, about two kilometres out, is a small island, called Lizard Island, that we see every day but we had never set foot on it so that was a perfect destination for our little trip. It did not disappoint; clear blue water, exciting rocks to explore and many birds and fish. We stayed until the afternoon was almost gone and paddled back in the setting sun. I had overlooked the point that Kayaking is not just fun but also great exercise and my muscles are telling me today that I worked hard. Double win!
- I am part of a nice facebook group for expats in Malawi. It’s a helpful place where you find tips about where to buy ‘Mzungu food’, updates on news that’s important for expats and answers to all your questions ranging from ‘Where can I rent a house’ to ‘Does anyone give ballet classes’ and ‘Where do you buy craft supplies?’. That last question was asked a few days ago and I followed as it is a question I have been asking myself too. Someone replied that she was selling her paint because she was leaving the country. I was lucky that Hartmut was already in Lilongwe where she lived and the next day he came home with three amazing sets of paint. Water colours and acrylic for me and tubes of craft paint for the girls. We have had lots of fun with it already and it opens up a whole new range of things we can do in school. Hurray for leaving expats!
- Sophie is done resting and downstairs, eager for me to be done. ‘Can we now finally make the presents for my friends?’ she says. Hartmut is going to Cape Town for work and Sophie has been very busy with planning gifts and surprises that he has to take for her friends. So sweet! We will miss him as he will probably go for a week but it’s also a little exciting as his trip to Cape Town makes that I can order food and school/craft supplies that I cannot buy here and that’s worth a lot!
- So that’s it for this week. Hartmut’s meeting is over, the girls are downstairs. Doris is painting her nails and singing as loud as she can and Sophie’s patience is coming close to its limits. I will spend time with her before I cook supper. Risotto with peas and beans. Sophie isn’t happy about that but Doris and we are and you cannot please everybody. Have a great week!
