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7 quick takes...
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| The base on Likoma |
- Good
morning! Hartmut left for work and the girls have decided that it’s a good idea
to mix the pieces of their puzzles before making all of them. They will be
entertained for a while. I have just made my smoothie (banana, peanut butter),
done some core exercise, written my to-do list for the day and now it’s time to
write my blog. Lately I am feeling a little uninspired to write the quick
takes, so we’ll see how far I get before I give up and how far you get before
you fall asleep because it’s that boring.
- The weekend
was exactly how a weekend should be. Friday night was pizza-and-movie night.
Something we often do. We watched Shrek, and I am very pleased that the girls
have decided that Shrek is better than Frozen. It seems like there is light at
the end of the princess-tunnel. Saturday we went to Salima for some grocery
shopping. We also needed some things from the hardware market which is always a
funny experience. Almost every stall looks like the salesperson raided the
content of their grandfather’s workshed with rusted screws and lots of other
bits and pieces in various state of completeness and disrepair. But somehow you
always find what you want, somewhat, if you’re not too critical. At least it
makes you creative. While Hartmut looked for a socket (I think) the girls and I
went to the kaunjika-section. ‘Kaunjika’ means ‘to pile up’ and that’s exactly
what it is. Piles of second hand clothes, some heaps more sorted than others.
The girls found a unicorn legging that they loved and fitted. We can say that
it was a successful trip.
- The
afternoon was reserved for the ladies meeting from church. We were hosted by
one of the woman who lives in our street and it’s great to get to know more
people who live so close to us. Even though people are really friendly, I find
it hard to move from ‘friendliness’ to ‘friendship’. Not understanding each
other’s languages is obviously a big hurdle. But I feel that it’s even more so
because it’s hard, to really relate because our lives are so different.
Spending time together helps, and I am grateful for these opportunities.
- Sunday was
for church, for relaxing and for sushi! We all love sushi and really miss it.
So when we were in Lilongwe and saw sushi rice, wasabi and seaweed in the shop,
I didn’t really check the price but just had to get it. We eat mostly
vegan/vegetarian so the sushi was vegan too. I was a bit nervous that it would
be ‘boring’ so I looked for recipes that seemed exciting, and I was blown away.
So tasty! I roasted carrots in a miso-marinade, had crunchy fried onion, deep-fried
shiitake mushroom, avocado, toasted sesame seed and soy-marinated tomato. We
just made rolls (I did not have a sharp knife anything more ambitious would
have been a disaster) with different combinations of those fillings and it was
great! I am so glad that we have some left overs for lunch.
- I made a
video about the girls and all our animals. When we moved here we did not really
plan to have all these animals around us. It just slowly happened and now we
love it! The girls love them more than anything else and I believe that they
are learning so many life lessons from taking care of them and watching them
grow and interact with each other. (scroll to the end for the movie)
- I almost
forgot that it was only this week that we got back from Likoma. We had a great
and relaxing time there. When we were going back, Doris said that she hoped
that it would be super stormy on the boat and Sophie said that she hoped for
the exact opposite. Doris got what she wanted and during the night, the boat
was moving quite a lot. We hoped that the storm would calm before we arrived
home because if the waves are too big the Ilala doesn’t stop right in front of
our house but in a bay, a bit more north. That bay is very shallow so in order
to get off the boat you have to climb on the strong shoulders from one of the
guys who walk through the water to the boat. It’s awkward and a little
stressful to sit so high on a stranger’s shoulders while you still get wet in
the waves anyway. Unfortunately the storm didn’t calm, so we had to throw
ourselves in the chaos. Fortunately the gardener from our compound walked all
the way to the bay to help us which was very kind. He carried the girls to the
shore while 3 other guys carried Hartmut, me and our luggage. It’s a great
opportunity for the strong young man in that bay to make some money and they
always try to get out as much as possible. We all had a good laugh when one of
the guys told us that he deserved money too because he had carried the ‘mwanas’
(kids) while he was standing next to Nota, the gardener, who had actually
carried them. Oh well, I can’t blame them, mzungus are easily fooled in the
chaos there.
- Ok, time to
get to the rest of my list. The power has disappeared and I wonder when it will
come back, so I will first do the things that don’t require a laptop. Have a
great week!
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| Home made sushi |
