- Good morning from
Lilongwe! Hartmut is in the office, Imke is packing her suitcase and the girls
are in their own world of imagination. Sophie is a mother duck who is
constantly laying eggs and Doris is the
caretaker who needs to make sure that all the eggs hatch well and all the ducks
are taken care of. Sounds great.
- Our own ducklings are
now big and strong and not very cute anymore.
We still like them but they no longer like to cuddle. When Sophie saw
that somebody in our street had ducklings she came up with a great plan. She
asked the owners if she could swap our big ducks for a few ducklings and the
people agreed. We can fetch them next week, when the ducklings are big enough
to be separated from their mom. It’s a great deal for everybody because we like
cute fluffy ducklings and the people will like our big and very well fed ducks who will probably become a great meal.
- My normal Monday mood
is energetic and I’m always ready to tackle things. Not today. Because today we
need to bring Imke to the airport from where she will fly back to Germany. It’s
hard to say goodbye to people you love, especially after you had a great time
together.
- Malawi is a beautiful
country and having guests is a great opportunity to travel a little bit. With
Imke we spend a few days at one of our favourite beaches and after that we went
to Mzuzu to stay with Italian friends who have a lodge there. Mzuzu is not much
of a tourist destination but it used to be our big city so it means a lot to
us. We also went to Kande Horse, a place
that was new to us. We had heard a lot about it but never had an opportunity to
go. It’s a stable in a forest close to the lake and I am pretty sure we will be
back. Sophie went for a horseback ride in the forest and wants to learn horse
riding now and Hartmut and Imke went for a long ride to the lake where they got
to swim with the horses; I am pretty sure that that was Imke’s Malawi highlight. It was fun to see how both
the riders and the horses enjoyed the water so much, and who knew that horses
are such good swimmers?
- Bright lights, a DJ,
beautiful people, many high heels and short skirts. It almost felt as if we
were no longer in Malawi! The lodge we were staying at in Mzuzu hosted the
Mzuzu Fashion Week and we got to go and see the shows. It was fun, and
especially Sophie loved it. We got a front row seat and watched the dazzling
outfits from seven Malawian designers being showcased on the catwalk (We did
not actually see all seven as we were too tired to last the entire show). What
I loved most was that it was all home grown, celebrating Malawi as a country
and Africa as a continent. Almost all designs used traditional fabrics and the
models looked stunning! So refreshing in a country where people most of the
time only seem to aspire all the things that come from overseas!
- Lights off, doors
closed, mouth closed. That’s what we should have done when that cloud came. But
we are rookies and left the lights on. Now we pay the price for that. The cloud
was made out of flies, countless little flies that penetrate the tiniest gaps
with ease. Leaving on a light, any light, is a bad idea as it attracts them.
But we had work to do, and had no choice. They like the light from a laptop screen
but fortunately they prefer the brighter light in the kitchen. Still, we sit
with our mouth closed and eyes half shut for we don’t like to eat them or get
them in our eyes. I can’t concentrate. The constant buzzing, flapping and
tickling drives me nuts so I go to bed. There
we discover the biggest mistake. The light in our room is still on and our bed,
our mosquito net and our walls are covered in flies. Darkening the room and
luring them with a light to the corridor helps. Somewhat. But that night I eat
some unwanted proteins. The flies come
from the lake and every now and then, when the wind is in the right (wrong)
direction; they get blown to the shore where the locals catch them with big
baskets to make fly burgers and where they annoy everybody who isn’t into fly
burgers. Well, it’s an experience and imke was lucky that she got it ;-)
- The girls are still
tending to their imaginary ducklings but Imke is done packing. I think it’s
time to show her a little more of the Lilongwe we love before she gets on the
plane. Tomorrow we will drive home and we haven’t planned anything special for
the rest of the week. It’s fine with me because it means that we have more time
to enjoy each other before Hartmut has to go on yet another work trip (to China
this time) sometime in the next few weeks.
ps: Plans changed and we are already at home. Things change quickly here...
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| She wanted to go horse back riding, but the horse was a lot bigger than she anticipated. She loved it though! |
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| There are many colourful fish in the lake (cichlids) but it's hard for the girls to see them. We went to a fish farm where they catch them and sell them for export. So cool to see them a bit better! |
