Are you for scuba?

In Malawi, Mother's Day is an October holiday and shuts the place down. Murph and I took advantage of already having celebrated our mothers and headed for the lake to meet up with Biff.

The bus ride was not exactly comfortable. Halfway there we were stopped by immigration officers and told we'd have to abandon our bus comrades 'cause we weren't carrying more than photocopies of our passports (poor decision). Maybe it was because he took pity on us, maybe we were convincing when we explained our visas had yet to expire, or maybe it was obvious we were newbs and much to clueless to be troublemakers, but in the end he let us go. When we finally got back on the bus, a fellow bus-mate let us know she'd prayed for us. I suppose we seemed like we needed some higher assistance, but at that point the thought of spending a night in a foreign small town was pretty distressing and we'd have taken any help we could get.

Apart from the uncomfortable seats and sardine-like associations, the bus offered up certain conveniences. When we pulled over for pit stops people would come to the windows selling a vast array of snacks or Fanta plus some useful thatched mats. With all the stops the trip was 9 hours  and halfway we felt like livin' on the edge, so we opted to try the bag-o-fried potatoes and coleslaw (with a slice of tomato for the health conscious). It was pure sketch and we were well aware we may pay for it later, but with ample salty, oily carb goodness, it was worth it. This act prompted the newest motto, 'go big or go home'. Plus, in the end we were in the clear and our stomachs remained happy campers.  

The first night we stayed with Biff at the college next to the lake. It was here that I realized African life can be hotter and sweatier, but while we were in town heaps of band members were camping out at the residences for a local music festival. Positive: amazing live entertainment; negative: 5 am wake ups to gospel choirs.

Next stop: Cape Maclear

It was an odd combination of swanky expats, sweaty backpackers and relaxed locals, but thus far it tops weekend destinations. The town isn't big and lacks some essential amenities like an ATM, but easily makes up for it with perfect weather, nightly picturesque sunsets, and being 80% beach. Our days were spent finding shade, cold beverages, and water activities and the nights were spent finding cold beverages, food, and beach chairs. Prior to the trip I was a scuba virgin, but once I master equalizing and that damn mask clear, I'll be unstoppable.

Conclusions: It may not be environmentally friendly, but there's something to be said for ketchup-size, packets of gin added to pineapple Fanta. Also, sharing a bus with live chickens seems much more difficult than it is.

Biff, Birthdays, and Bunda Mountain

I'm already falling behind so this one has turned into a recap of my Birthday weekend.

Normally I'd celebrate with Turkey dinner (minus the Turkey) and a lil' drinkin', but this one was special not only because I'm overseas, but our bud Biff finally made it over here. The combination of the two, along with the new media he's brought along (latest Mad Men episodes), made for celebration.

We celebrated with some beer pong and balloons. It wasn't as social as the dinner party the weekend before, but there was substantially more singing and reminiscing.

The next day we prepped Biff for his lakeside departure meaning we headed to town for supplies while recovering from Birthday shenanigans.

Fall has always been my favorite season. I know it mostly relates to my Birthday, but who can beat those colourful leaves and perfect, almost-jacket temperatures. As it turns out October is the hottest month in Lilongwe. It's at least 30 degrees everyday and after our hike on Sunday, I realized SPF 45 didn't cut it.

The trek up the mountain was a shock to my poor legs, but my lungs were the most upset. Once we got to the top, the view was well worth the struggle; purdy flat, farmland, sporadic trees, and less-than-friendly birds. Topping it all off were the very informative convos with our new grad student pal. He's studying in Edmonton, but originally comes from South Africa so it's a combo of smarts prompting discussion.

So conclusions (or things I learned this Birthday): I should not participate in beer pong after drinking an entire bottle of wine, doing laundry by hand is a workout, and hikes are always worth the early mornings.

The beginning of African Adventures

So I packed up two suitcases of clothes and personal affects (mostly toiletries, medicine and books), headed across the Atlantic, and down to Southern Africa. This begins the 6 month CIDA internship in Malawi where I'll be mashing up lots of research with travels and general adventuring.

Bugs.

Surprisingly, after all the preparations I didn't think about any bugs other than mosquitos. This is a prelude to a short cockroach story for your enjoyment. Murph and I are staying at a guest house on campus and it's equip with the amenities you'd have at home. Now, there are differences between the home-kind and the here-kind, but for the most part it covers all the bases.

The first night I was here I walked into the kitchen during one of the scheduled brown-outs and watched two cockroaches run across the counter. I can only conclude that these cockroaches were trying to show up their fellow cockroach buddies and decided at some point steroids were the way to go; frakin' massive little guys. I did what any girl would do and let out a scream, but got it together pretty quickly drawing on heartwarming memories of Wall-E and his little buddy. The next day Murph exerted his manly instincts and sprayed some insect killer, most likely taking years off our lives. That night we witnessed what can only be described as a horror scene with gigantic cockroaches vacating the cupboards under our sink and running across our kitchen floor. This is where Murph was stationed for stomping. I think memories of that will haunt me for a good, long while. I know the war isn't over, but we won the first battle

I think sharing that story was part of the healing process and you were the lucky recipient(s).

First attempt at banana bread with a 4 hour time difference.

It was an honest attempt. And by that I mean Murph and I discussed it beforehand, bought the flour, and consulted the 'Country Guide: Local food' section recipe.

I think I should have sensed the bad omen when after preheating the oven I realized Joseph, the house helper had left (or permanently keeps) a used roasting pan in the oven. I tried to let the smoke air out, but I'm pretty sure there's a hint of smoky meat-taste in the bread. It wouldn't be all that bad if the flour I used was all-purpose or some version of gluten-y grain flour, but as it turns out, we got the big bag of corn flour that's used to make the ever popular nsima porridge. So, the combination of that, the smoke, and my suspicion that their baking powder is in fact soda made the first attempt gritty, smoky and salty. I was proud of my cast iron makeshift loaf-pan greasing ability though. And somehow I managed to cook it perfectly so it's nice and moist gritty, smoky, salty banana bread.

London in 12 hours.

You'd think with excessive tiredness and lack of food the London trip would be mediocre at best, but not even a little. It started off with the long lineup through customs,which probably represented the low point of the day, but after warding off the urge to pass out while standing we tackled the subway to Piccadilly.

The day consisted of brief tourist-y attractions including the likes of Buckingham Palace (where the ladies mastered the jump-shot) to Herman Melville's house (completely by accident).

Caffeine breaks were required to get us through it all, but after the final espresso shots we meandered through Soho and pub hopped for the rest of the afternoon. This was only interrupted by a quick 'Coronation Street scene' where a man chased a pickpocket down the street yelling, "Police! Police!". It could have been the beer buzz , but it was shocking!

Conclusions: The African crew is a bunch of very cool-cats, Caputo and I are going to move to London, and drinking in (or near) pubs is acceptable anytime of day.