7 quick takes
- Good morning! It's 7:30 but I'm sitting with the girls at our dining room table. They wanted to 'do school' and work from their books. Because they do that fairly independent, I can use this time to write a blog.
- We have mostly loved the first month at our new home and settled into a nice routine. We go for walks to watch the birds, we learn loads,we read a lot of books AND figured our how to use the kitchen best. Our highlight of that was figuring out that we can bake on the gas braai. There is no oven in the house so learning to use that gas braai feels like a real win.
- One of the things we have been busy with is planning for our next adventure. (If you don't follow me on Instagram you might have missed it, but after we're done here in March the plan is to fly to Europe, buy a camper van and explore the continent for the rest of the year d.v.). Right now there is a lot to plan, but we're so excited about what's coming!
- Our house has a thatched roof. It's beautiful but has the same ability to protect us from the rain as a colander would have. And because it's rainy season, every day we're reminded about the great qualities of our roof. I have never mopped a floor as much as I do here, but I never get to enjoy the results of my labour for a very long time as even the shortest drizzle results in a small river through the living. Last week some people came to fix it and although the flow is reduced, there is still a lot of water coming in. It would be best to take the roof of and redo it, but that's impossible because it rains every day. I guess we'll just have to live with it. It will be one of the things that will make it easier to leave Malawi in two months.
- Let's talk a little more about rain, as it was about the only thing people in Malawi talked about last week. Tropical cyclone Ana hit the country in the most devastating way. Some parts got over 500 mm of rain in just over a day. Roads, houses and bridges are destroyed, complete villages are flooded and many people lost everything, including their loved ones. It's heartbreaking to see how damaging water can be and it will take months, and money that people don't have, to rebuild. Many farmers lost their crops and it's already clear that this coming year will be one of famine. We were on the edge of the cyclone, and we did not have as much rain and wind, but it was definitely enough to do some damage. Once the storm had left, the girls and I walked to the village headman to ask how our village had survived the storm but fortunately there wasn't too much damage.
- There are always crafts everywhere. On the table, under the table, on the floor and basically everywhere else because the girls love committing themselves to elaborate projects that don't have a clear goal so that there is always something that can be added, which means that it's never really finished and, most importantly, can never be thrown away, because IT'S NOT DONE! I love the creativity and commitment but at times it drives me nuts because I can never really clean up. I also keep on telling the girls that they can't do this in the camper because there won't be space, but I guess they want to make the most from what they have now.
- The girls are done, and so am I. Time to put away the laptop and clear the table so that we can play some games. The girls love games, but refuse to play against each other as that inevitably ends in tears. Something to work on! Have a good week.
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| Elaborate craft projects everywhere. |
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| Sometimes they do help me ;-) |
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| There is water everywhere |
