7 quick takes...
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| Cake Pops.... if you want to believe that everything always works out in our house, don't read the rest of this blog. |
- ‘Stop, Doris, nooo! There is a car coming! Don’t run, just go to the side of the road.’ But she doesn’t listen and continues to walk in the middle of the road. I run, as fast as I can, but somehow she can run faster. Cars are hooting. There is utter chaos. And in the middle of it is Doris who runs and doesn’t listen to anyone or anything. That’s when I woke up this morning. How did you wake up? That might seem like an odd question but it is the common greeting in Chitumbuka (Language in Malawi) for any person that you meet before noon. I don’t think that the appropriate answer to that question would be to tell about my dream. Judging by the answer that you usually get, the people always sleep well. Or maybe it’s a question asked too early to expect an honest answer. Anyway, I woke up in a sweat and with a racing heart. Fortunately Doris had come to my bed in the middle of the night, so I could reassure myself right away that she wasn’t running on a random road but in fact sleeping peacefully right next to me.
- If the world was normal, this week would be about preparation and excitement. The girls would be bouncing off the walls, we would be planning, cooking and daydreaming about what was going to come, and we would count down the days and hours. On Friday we would get in the car and drive to Lilongwe to get some final groceries. Then we would go to the airport where we would pick up my parents for some weeks of much missed and anticipated quality time. We would show them where we live, the girls would introduce them to all the animals, we would go on big and small adventures and by the time they would leave, we would be sad, but also happy about all the new memories. They would understand why we love this country so much and from then on, conversations would be easier because they would understand the backdrop against which all our stories took place. The people in our stories would have gotten faces, the smells, the sights, the feelings would have an almost tangible place in their memories. But the world isn’t normal. Borders are closed and planes are still not landing in Malawi. We sigh, and Sophie says what we are all thinking ‘When is this stupid corona finally over?’
- What you see in the picture are four beautiful cake pops and two happy girls. What you don’t see is all the ones that failed, tons of frustration, too much wasted chocolate, a mom who tried to not give up because ‘that would be the wrong lesson to teach’ and daughters who didn’t get to help as much as they hoped because the frustrated mom and her perfectionism got in the way of that. ‘Easy steps to beautiful cake pops’ is what the book promised. It was even printed in big letters on the cover. The book lied. There was nothing easy about it. Perhaps they forgot to print the small letters. They should have said something like ‘don’t attempt to do this when you live close to the equator, with high temperatures and high humidity, because it will make your chocolate act in ways that will work against you.’ But in the end we got four duck-cake pops, two girls who were dancing up and down because they loved them so much and a pretty picture to show social media how everything in our life is picture perfect.
- I have probably said this before but I will say it again. I love voicenotes! It is the best way to connect with friends, especially those with children, because who has time for long calls at the exact same time that your friend is available too? Well, not my friends and me. And that’s why I am so grateful for voice notes that have the length of podcasts in which friends tell me what’s going on, what’s keeping them busy and what’s keeping their thoughts occupied while I hear their children play in the background. I am grateful for friends who take time to connect. Every morning I walk for half an hour in the garden while I listen to voicenotes and send out new ones. Without that, this season in Malawi would definitely be a lot lonelier.
- It’s hard to believe now. The wind is loud, the waves are roaring and it is cold! But yesterday was a beautiful day, the sun was nice and the lake was flat like a mirror. We decided to take out the boat to the island and look for the car. Years ago, somebody dumped a car in the lake, close to the island. Probably to make diving and snorkeling interesting. We got directions and Sophie and I braved the water (that was colder than I expected). Because it’s been stormy for weeks, the water wasn’t very clear, and we didn’t find the car. I guess we’ll have to try again just before rains season when the lake will be a lot lower and the temperature a little warmer.
- Covid in Malawi is depressing lately. Confirmed cases go up rather rapidly, tests are running out so the actual number is probably a lot higher, and we have no idea what the future will hold. Are things going to be as bad here as in the rest of the world? It would be naive to think that we will be spared. How long is it going to last? And how will our underfunded and overburdened health system deal with the pandemic. All we can do is pray and hope. Any answer to those questions is a wild guess. The president has announced more restrictions but as long as people continue to act as if nothing has changed, the course of the infection won’t change and it will be with us for a very long time.
- It’s my birthday exactly a week from now. Normally I am not that excited about it but this year was going to be different because I could celebrate it with my parents. It was going to be special. But because that isn’t happening we decided to make it special anyway, so that we wouldn’t think too much about what could have been. We have booked a really nice lodge in Nkhotakota, a wildlife reserve a few hours away from us. We have never been there but there are supposed to be many elephants, and we are looking forward to seeing them. It may not be the kind of anticipation we were hoping for, at least there is something to look forward to this weekend and for that I am grateful.
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| A game of hotch potch on the beach. |
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| My favourites in an empty lodge because all the tourists who would fill it can't come |
