home sweet home

things are finally starting to come together here; i suppose after nearly two months i would expect that they would, but it feels really nice to finally have my own house and am enjoying making it into a home. Ann and i moved in a week ago - 22 october instead of the original move in date 1 oct (long story, one that i have already chosen to forget). after a full day of house cleaning, and over exposure to bleach, good friends Mindy and Helen brought us dinner, and we had our first "home cooked" meal. it was home cooked, only in Mindy's house. we had no real furniture, just one bed and a carpet. so we had a little picnic. it was so comfortable, and felt good to finally be in there! so exhausted, Ann and i piled into our one bed (we have since had another delivered) and though it was rather hot, we immediately fell to sleep... for about two hours, until a nightjar, the LOUDEST bird i have ever heard in my life, found his way to a bush just outside our window. really, it was so loud that it sounded like the bird was perched on my pillow. so loud that we recorded it, and i hope to find some way to upload the audio file. come to find out that nightjars are not exactly good omens, but who really believes a thousand years of african folklore???

work is going really well; i finally feel very engaged in many projects, and comfortable enough, and accepted enough, to put myself out there for initiating new projects with new partners. the biggest time commitment that i have now is working on an HIV drug resistance threshold survey, where the government of Malawi, in partnership with the CDC and WHO are trying to track the level of drug resistance transmitted in the population. i go out weekly with two fabulous women from the ministry of health to collect samples and data and run quality assurance checks. we are also trying to push a monitoring survey protocol through a review board, and while its not using my biostats training (yet) i have learned so many (painful) lessons in the process. i am also working on a protocol to evaluate an electronic data system that the ministry will pilot at antiretroviral clinics in order to help facilitate the quite remarkable treatment scale up occurring here. then there is a little of this, a little of that. its not entirely different than what i had anticipated, and am thankful that everyone is giving me room to learn and grow.

and i am feeling more settled in my friendships - i am very lucky that all of my colleagues are so supportive, very caring people and have really gone out of their way to make me feel at home. i have also gotten involved in a wide range of activities - volleyball, dance aerobics, running group - that helps me meet people. most fortuantely, now that i have my own home, i look forward to being able to invite people into my home!! lessons learned over the past few weeks.... well, there is nothing wrong with Malawian time i suppose, i just think that i am way too american. in my need for things to happen on a schedule, or to not spend entire days waiting for people (ie repairmen to fix things on the house), i just ended up frustrated, now i am just trying to go with the flow, a very, very slow flow. almost a trickle. and its working. so the fact that a week after the promised delivery date for our furniture that i am still eating dinner on the floor. well, hey, picnics can be fun. chairs, over rated. to be fair though, i should mention that the guy who is building these things did just deliver a couch and two chairs, and they were absolutely gorgeous. worth every bit of frustration.

so on that note, i am going to spend another hour or two working on this beautiful sunday and then join a friend for dinner. Cha bwino, cha bwino.