Local Chicken

Onto the week and it's been just lovely seeing my mum each day, being able to get as many hugs as possible. 

Following on from another khonde morning with plenty of cups of tea we set out to Zomba, an easy hour and a bit away. In DAPP carpark we met up with a man who Lynne gave photos and a suitcase to. All very spy like, and as we repeatedly said 'no thank you' to the numerous offers of fruit, cards and a like we then headed further into town to go to Kefie, the best and probably only Greek restaurant in Malawi. 

There we met two old friends of the family, Mary and Andrew and had a thoroughly nice catch up and meal. 

On the way back we once again stopped to rescue a man who needed to get to Limbe, which was on our way. The spare seat at the back of the car proving useful. 

On Sunday mum and I got up earlyish and headed to the Limbe catholic cathedral. Masses are either in English or Chechwa and we picked to go to the English one. It was familiar and different all at the same time. We knew when to sit, stand and kneel mostly and the hymns were familiar too, there were no hymn books so we guessed at some bits but I was struck by the lack of energy of the congregation and the relief of a shortish sermon. The end felt like a bit of an anticlimax as we just all got up and left. No priest to say goodbye to! But there is adjusts that sense of belonging when you gather and share common words. 

Later that day, after a short swim, and as is our normal routine we set off for frisbee in the afternoon, mum and Lynne choosing to watch and eat rather than join in. A very hot day but good to run around after a sedentary week. 

Monday for me was the usual and my house guests chilled out. They went to see A in the school show rehearsal which they loved, impressed by all of the students and loved hearing A sing.

 I made a vegetarian Sheppard's pie for dinner and we binge watched some Derry girls together. 

On Tuesday mum came with me to do my bus stop duty and I enjoyed watching how staff and students came to say hello. I was able to join them for lunch when a couple of my school pals came over to meet mum, keen to know what person had created such a wonderful person!  

My expert planning meant I had Wednesday afternoon off and I took them both to a lovely cafe and then we popped to a shop so they could buy some bits and gifts. We then headed to Annie's for dinner. Meeting up with my boss and her family. Home to a lovely chat with mum, just the two of us for a bit. 

I had planned equally well for the Thursday but Ahad taken the day off school with a bad stomach and during p5 I could sense all was not well with mine. I made it home and even had some lunch before that all came up! Happily it was just us two so BigA still got to take them to a live music night at the local arts center. They had a busy day, they walked to the nearest spa and had as mum described it, an unusual massage and more expected pedicure. 

I made it into work the next day, taking mum and Lynne in again to watch my year 9 drama lesson. It was lovely for them to see just how pleasant the job is, see more of the beautifully well behaved children are and how they work together. I sent them off after that and BigA took them to a very different school, the one we've all been supporting for nearly 6 years. They found it hard to see the level of poverty and lack of 'stuff' there. The contrast huge. 

A school friend had insisted that we try real Malawi chicken and had brought us one the day before. Our house keeper Joan had cooked it up for us the day before I'm s traditional way such made a lovely rich looking gravy. It was our Friday lunch, I normally would have joined in trying it but I still didn't feel quite right. It was enjoyed by mum and Lynne and I might be up for trying some today. It's tougher than shop bought with longer bones, full of flavour, boiled. 

That evening there was a WASEM quiz, (a local environment charity) BigA and Joe had written it. We all headed out and although we were second from last I was pleased we knew as much as we did. I managed a few chips and soft drinks. A almost ate half a plate of food too! I was feeling so tired and still a bit uncomfortable so it felt like a long and hot night. The questions were great though and, as always caused some of the older white quizzers to huff a little as Joe and BigA never make their questions UK centric. Home to sleep after a full week. 

Today were going to be leaving A for her Halloween party so more on that next week.