Malawi & More

  After I got up I had a lovely chat with Rosie using the miracle of face time and then headed to the sick teachers flat with leftover macaroni cheese and cans of Pepsi.  Then I pottered about getting water in and picking the weeds out of the strawberry patch, only to hear A shouting MUM from the bathroom. I had been booked to dye her hair. Purple this time. I love these moments, she asked if I ever did it with my mum, but I was never brave enough to dye my hair. But I've had plenty of bathroom chats and remember fondly the joy of peeling off my mum's face mask. We laughed as I tried to avoid getting the dye on her face and ears and neck. It looks great, not quite what I was expecting. BigA took her over to a friends for a sleepover and then we watched films and an Arsenal game. Our pal came over and fell asleep in the second half.  Sunday was a day for me in the garden mostly, my seedlings had mainly survived and I enjoyed planting out the lush looking basil seedlings. I...

 The journey to our next stop was simple enough, the roads getting lower in quality but still ok, wide in most places. The scenery turning more hilly and in most places lush and green.  Our night stopover was a very pleasant place, a view of a river from the bar and, if we had wanted, a short boat trip over crossing into Mozambique.  A lone female backpacker was struggling to figure out how she could get money she needed, and true to form BigA stepped in and gave her what she needed, with a promise she would pay him back. With a lot less stress in her voice she set off for Mozambique. Then we unpacked, set up and got into our swimming costumes and headed to the pool. It was beautiful, still a little cold for perfection but really lovely.  Unfortunately the machine that issued visas wasn't working and so she came back that evening, arriving in a taxi looking like she was rather bored of it all. I think she was trying to stay positive. Poor thing, all in her own so we ...

  I think it is law that if you are in Victoria falls, you go and see the falls. We got the tram there, crossing illegally into Zambia, all ok apparently, if you're on the tram. We took a short walk to a couple of viewing platforms and it helped me decide I was not up for any of the adrenaline activities on offer. We had a cup of tea in the middle of the bridge, the first one which was commissioned by Rhoades over a century ago. Very impressive and great to see the water, falling. The drop of around 129m. Still one of the natural wonders of the world. I was impressed, having seen Niagra falls, this was better.  This area is still in a national park and as if to prove that we saw a few elephants just off the tram tracks.  We lounged by the pool for a few hours after that, too cold to swim in but refreshing to dip our feet in. Camping in berks places helps you appreciate the importance and value of a good shower. The ones here being the best so far. Proper hot water, guys f...

  I won't keep you in suspense any longer. The meal that reminds me of aunty Ros is... Lamb shank. I've never had one as good as hers. I think it might be that she uses more orange than most, or more likely, a lot of wine.  Another long one... The Saturday began with a rather frustrating search for money. The economy here is, to say the least, fragile. Most places prefer dollars to the actual Zimbabwean currency. But it's hard to find and extremely hard to get anything below $10. Given the number of toll roads and just normal bills it's annoying but at least just an interesting part of our adventure.  We picked up my literal scans and the disc to go with it and then hunted for diesel. We got there in the end. Bulawayo looks like someone stopped the clock on it in 1950 and then a few places sped up, but stopped again around 1990. The buildings look sturdy and tired. The people are kind, we stick out as tourists. The shops have clothes that, while modern, just somehow are...

 Warning, this is a long one... You might want to get a cup of tea.  The last jobs to be done, rapid tests, I got my 4th booster and photos for who knows what and the rest. So done KC invited us over for an evening meal, which was lovely. BigA packed up the Bongo in the most logical way, I only helped by taking things near it. BigA did some final checks, and realized our fire extinguisher was out of date and set off to get a new one. Which it turned out to be very important as during our travels it was checked quite a few times.  Then on Sunday, bright and early we set off to try our luck at the Mozambique border. We had so many bits of paper, yet still didn't feel 100% optimistic about getting through.  We got through, it wasn't stress free but because of BigA's diligence and good humour it went well. The cheapest we had hoped for too, in terms of the visa. It nearly went wrong as we had accidentally 'left' Malawi illegally but luckily BigA noticed we lacked th...

  Saturday started with a longish drive, 4 teenagers, which happily meant they slept mainly and I listened to my podcasts. It's a rather dull 4 1/2 hours of long roads and lots of speed traps.  Then almost straight into frisbee, Blantyre won. I played a little bit but not very much on the Saturday then quite a bit more on the Sunday. One nasty smack to my broken finger but I have a feeling that may have helped! BIgA got really nasty cramp but it sorted itself quickly. A played very well, until she got a painful muscle. But I'm pleased to report it meant she didn't do any homework over the weekend and gotta proper brain break. Much needed in my opinion. Monday rolled around, a public holiday and for us an appointment at the British high commission in Lilongwe, to get A's passport sorted. No such luck. Despite us telling them it was a holiday they booked us anyway and then we weren't able to have it as no Malawi staff were there. And they said the £100 for the appoint...

 It's been another week in grey wet England and what a lovely time we are having. Despite the lingering worry of catching COVID things are peaceful and restful. Christmas day was a lovely one, I went to church with mum, I'm still a little annoyed by how many 'with your spirits' that have cropped up in the prayers and call and response. My feet were very cold but is was good to get a descant of O Come all Ye Faithful out, even with the mask muting me a bit.  I was very pleased by the feast I cooked up, enjoying an oven that stays at the temperature it says it is and, despite getting the pan size a little wrong I was very proud of the yorkshire puds that came out. We laughed lots, ate well and drunk a good amount of prosecco. We played cards and by 6:30 I was done in, in bed and fast asleep by 7pm.   The rest of the week, filled with cuddles, kisses and a few walks, able to catch up with a couple of friends too. Outside to be safe but very happy with the milder te...

 We spent a lovely day on Saturday with a small self drive and lunch at another lodge with a lovely pool. Then we set off for home. Sadly when we got back I saw that Kanga had a very swollen leg that looked like it had been chewed, it was infected, really nasty. The vet came and after a very long time, 3 injections, she performed minor surgery on Kanga on our table. As you know, sadly he died on Tuesday. The vet thinks the infection was too far gone. Frightening how quickly it got him. The next day we found out that yet another campus cat had been attacked and killed. In a odd chain of communication it was up to bigA to tell his owner. That's 4 cats in a month. All linked to the stray dogs.  Easter Sunday was quiet, the hunt for Kanga, after he's got away that morning, was fruitless but was followed by a hunt for eggs. She still really loves it and it was a great distraction on not being able to find Kanga. Then A and I made cloudy lemonade and lemon sorbet...

  Last Saturday started with me sending you the weekly email (you can tell me to stop!) I had all sorts of good intentions of using these few days to be a bit fitter and eat less but then then I remembered I'd ordered a huge breakfast. I suspect if I weighed myself now I'd be much heavier than when we left! Oh well, it's just so lovely. The sun was shining on the beach and if you recall from last week there were a few friends there with us. A spent hours in the water with S & L, splashing over waves and laughing so hard. What a joy to witness.  That evening, K a friend from campus came for sundowners with her son Levi, I'm so impressed by her being here in Malawi as a single parent. I'm not sure I could have done it. We ate on the beach as a large party of 11, lovely food again and celebrated a lady called Andrea's birthday.  The lake was beautiful, just the right balance of hot and windy, no lake flies and soft white sand. On Sunday we went to a place calle...

 The morning we left Tongole we had an wonderful elephant sighting. A small herd were crossing the river, the two smallest ones having a play fight and holding onto each other's tails as they went.  The drive was quite long, we stopped off in Mzuzu for lunch, at a Kips, a fast food place. I was given a really horrible cup of tea that I couldn't drink. I think mainly made with full cream milk rather than water and a lot of sugar!  We had a little car trouble, one of the fan belts and air conditioning belt shredded. Luckily we were heading down hill and it was a cool day. So BigA spent a lot of the time working on a solution. He was in his element really! All fixed we hope, so far so good. It was a reminder of just how wonderful people in Malawi are, do willing to help and go the extra mile. I'm this case literally as a man was sent by mini bus to Mzuzu to get fan belts as the ones they could find locally didn't fit.  And it was fixed at the next place, The Rondaville,...

  The move went well, it felt very intense but we're in and the house is slowly feeling more like our place. It won't quite feel like home for a while but BIgA has been busy putting up mirrors and sorting things so it already feels more like our place than it did on Wednesday when we moved. When you don't choose your home I think that's what is to be expected, and A pointed out that she's never been and to choose.  She was a superstar this week, she didn't want to move and she hated her room to start with, but she saw her counsellor on Thursday morning and came back with a really positive attitude, put lots of her art on the walls and collected various colour sample strips for the paint.  She's been helping BIgA with a few DIY jobs too. Proving to be as practical as her dad. He's much more patient with her than I remember my dad being. In fact I used to hide away whenever he attempted any DIY, it was one of the few times he swore.  The cat is going to th...

  BigA was quiz master supreme on Saturday at the PTA quiz night. An event that I was quite worried would be a flop in terms of attendance but turned out all right on the night. We turned a profit (probably - despite having to have the generator on) A had a really lovely mini party and BigA and I stayed out of the girls way in the morning. So much sugary food but hey, it was a celebration.  A sadly wet and bad weather week meant that we had to postpone sports day. But a good week really, lots of finishing up on things and lots of teaching too.  I was a guest in my first ever podcast. A Twitter linked one called teacher talk radio. I had fun, felt like I did ok I'm it. A massive 18 people appeared to be listening.  Yesterday was the postponed sports day, we originally intended it to be on Wednesday but the weather was nasty... amusingly for you Brits it was a unpleasant 16 degrees. Yesterday at around 20, it was better. A did well, despite her hip flexor injury. A ver...

  I've just watched my sister and her son dancing in their back garden, all filmed by K, looks like a lot of fun. I did giggle!  Saturday I was definitely coming down with a cold, but having slept in the roof of the bongo I was in a much happier, warmer state than everyone else in the field. Kettle on and tea for the assembled staff. I was so pleased to have the kitchen in the bongo, good ol'bigsA. After all the students had left I drove the tiny journey home. The day brightened up and I spent most of it with Julia. They only have a few weeks left so it was lovely to get to be with her for so long.  Sunday I hosted a baby shower, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been worrying about passing on my cold. It was nice to be around a lot of different people and make the mum to be feel special. She's had a horrible year so she deserved to feel loved. The week began well, Tuesday THE BOSS and I delivered our second senior leader training. It went well and I...

  The long weekend was lovely, we set off for Zomba, there was a arts festival which A was super keen to go to.  We stayed overnight at an Airbnb with The Currens. The festival was ok, some good music and some not so good. Mostly art that I'd seen before and frankly not as good as our students work. We did get to eat at a new Greek place, I had the meatballs which were really very good. We went back for breakfast the next day and I had a pitta breakfast. It's the only Greek restaurant that I've seen in Malawi so a real treat.  Sunday, frisbee day was also lovely, we had a little party after with a braii and fire. Two lovely women who were here a few months ago are back joined us. They are stroke nurses setting up a clinic here and so kind of come and go as they have to still do clinic work in the UK. They are so much fun so it was great they could make the party.  PCR tests are no longer required to get in and out of Malawi. Which if we ever get A's passport means tr...

  We had a couple of parties out last weekend, all very nice. And a great brunch on Sunday at a pals house off campus. I found out that a good friend will be leaving Malawi in July which made me feel sad. That's them and a whole lot more staff here that we hang out with a lot going. Plus the new Americans that we like and are good fun are off in July too. It's going to feel very different in September and not sure how I'll feel. Even though the new staff look lovely I can't imagine finding a new pal, let alone one I want to hang about with on holidays etc.  A's has had a nice break so far, a bit of time with friends and doing some art work. We offered to take a friend of hers away with us but she wanted it to just be us three. Which is lovely. She's been looking at places to study, once she's done her GCSEs. I seem to be losing the battle of her wanting to stay here.  Kanga was injured last week too but a trip to the vet, an injection and some tablets seem t...

 BigA discovered an avocado tree in our garden this week. That's how big it is! So we've had guacamole and smashed avo aka Nigela Lawson. All very fresh.. Something went wrong with our water, last week, there is a certain irony to the rain so heavy that you could shower in it, falling outside your door, but it isn't coming through your taps. I half considered grabbing the shampoo and washing outside, the fact that you can see me from the school field meant I didn't. Then the joy of it's return on Sunday. Straight into the shower and the washing machine on. We have so many 5liter bottles of water saved up for these occasions so it isn't quite as bad as all that. But I really appreciate it when it is back.  School continues to be the bizarre mix of events, never dull. We're carrying out a pastoral review. My job to will be to sum up all the findings in a 3 page document that I hope gets read. Happily on this one, I'm not responsible for getting all the act...