7 quick takes...

09 September

7 quick takes...

On the boat during one of the better moments.

I have picked up my phone to check the time about a gazillion times but it doesn’t make it go any faster so writing a blog is my next strategy to kill the hours. It feels like all I have been doing today is waiting for Hartmut to come home and I am feeling so impatient. He got on the plane before we got out of bed this morning and since then the girls have asked me about every other minute ‘Is he here yet?’. Now he is almost here, he has landed in Lilongwe and is in the car on his way home. It’s been a little over a week and we have missed him.
The girls and I had already planned to go to Likoma Island last weekend to go to the birthday party of a little friend. We did not plan it that way but it worked out nicely that it overlapped with Hartmut’s worktrip to Cape Town. It was fabulous as always. The island is a proper tropical island with stunning beaches, palm trees and baobabs everywhere. I was a bit nervous about the journey because I had never been on the overnight ferry alone with the girls but we had a nice cabin and it went better than I expected. We stayed with Andrew, a friend who is building a beautiful private house that he will rent out from early next year (ultimate holiday destination!) We have stayed there several times since we live in Malawi and it has been great to see the progress. The party was festive, the beach was nice, the water was blue, and the company great.
Likoma was great, but being there alone without Hartmut to co-parent made it hard too. Do you want to read about my cup that was half full or half empty?
- The boat floats on the azure blue water as we make our way around the island. The wind isn’t strong enough to sail; we tried but the jib kept flapping against us, so we tied it back, but at least there is a cooling breeze. There is sun too, lots of it. Soft jazz music is playing in the background and I am lying on a mattress at the front of the boat and stare into the water. The waves are small and the water is clear so I can see the rocks on the bottom and the little fish that have made them their home. We will stop to snorkel and swim and it will feel like we will be immersed in a massive aquarium. Later we will take the boat to the beach and enjoy a lazy lunch while the kids play on the beach and at the end of the day we will watch the moon rise and sail under the stars. I am so lucky to be here!
-She was keen to go on the boat but I forgot to tell that wearing a life jacket was going to be part of it too. The moment she sees it I can sense that here mood is going south. I miss most of the beauty around us as the first 90 minutes are dominated by angry screams. ‘I don’t want to wear this life jacket. I don’t want the sail to be flapping against us! I don’t want to be here….’. Everything that happens, be it good or bad, seems to send a new bout of anger. Somebody starts singing a song about the friendly sun shining down on us and she screams ‘the sun isn’t friendly and I don’t want her to shine down on us.’. Somebody else offers her water but it’s too cold and too wet. Only the audiobook on my phone seems to bring some calm and I just lie quietly next to her, scared that any word or movement will make things worse. I stare in the water and look at the fish, do fish children behave like this too at times? Things seem to get better as the day progresses but I have to be careful as any small misstep and any wrong word from my side cause a new eruption that doesn’t only make it hard for me but also for all the other people what we share the boat with. The others convince me to come and snorkel too but I can't really relax because every few minutes I go to the boat to make sure that the girls are ok. When we go to the shore to eat some lunch it takes a long time before the food comes and the girls are getting 'hangry' so I need to get all the entertainment that I have in my bag out in order to manage moods and keep it fun for everybody. At the end of the day, after the sun has set and darkness comes in, I am exhausted. But then she moves closer to me. We hug and enjoy the silence. She doesn’t say much but I know she means sorry..
You see? Half full or half empty. Different ways to describe the same day. I naturally tend to be positive and focus on half full part. I honestly even forget about the difficult things but I think it’s fair to describe that side too so that you know that absence of certain stories doesn’t mean that it did not happen but just that my brain doesn’t really want to relive it by having to dig up things that were already half forgotten just to write it down.
My head and heart have been in Cape Town a lot the past week. For obvious reasons (Hartmut was there) but also for very sad reasons. The media in South Africa has woken up to the frightening high occurrence of violence against women and children. The trigger was a brutal murder of a student at a post office in Cape Town (one where I sometimes used to come) and the kidnapping of a little girl (who was fortunately released a day later). These are not stand alone events but rather the next beads in a long chain of horrible crimes. Obviously women in South Africa feel scared and have been expressing and discussing their fears and anger on social media and in a big march in Cape Town. Something has to change and I pray that God will bring that change in the way women are forced to live in fear because of the actions of men.

(He is here! Excuse me, I’ll be gone… ;-))
It’s now Monday morning and I am writing with a big smile on my face because we had the best breakfast. Hartmut traveled back with some cheeses and a nice sourdough bread in his suitcase and that, together with Hartmut’s specialty (fried egg) made a very nice breakfast. When he was away I made fried egg and although I’m not a bad cook, I cannot do a nice fried egg. Even the girls looked at it and asked me what it was….( Hartmut also brought a croissant from my favourite bakery but that was eaten right away because there is nothing better than a fresh croissant.)
On the way to Cape Town, Hartmut’s suitcase was filled with letters and presents that the girls wanted to give to their friends. On his way back it was filled with presents and letters from the friends for the girls. The girls did not really care why he had to go to Cape Town, all that mattered was that he was their postman. We were supposed to start with our new space-theme today but we’re giving school a skip because they are way too excited to play with their new toys, read their new books and craft with their new crafts. Reading all the letters and seeing all the gifts made me realise once again what a special community of friends we have in Cape Town. That city will always have a piece of our hearts and it will always feel like home.
The girls are playing, Hartmut is working (right next to me, hurray for working from home) and I am typing this blog. Nothing special and so special at the same time. It seems like this is what most of our week will look like as we don’t have big plans and I love it. The girls wanted to learn about space so we have prepped a lot of learning activities for that which we are all really looking forward to so that will keep our brains and hands busy. Have a great week!