uggggggggghhhhhhhhh

while i am very happy to be coming home; to soon see family and friends; to soon eat good food, listen to good music; to soon be a consumer, watch a movie; today i woke up very sad to be leaving malawi.

Get comfy...

'cause i think that this is going to be a long one. At least, it needs to be, but to be honest i am entering my 12th hour straight in front of this blasted computer, and well, we will see what i can squeeze out.

first, i should say, that i am really good. it may not sound like it from this email, but i AM good. these last few weeks, i have had some real success in my life - both personal and professional, and that feels great. but i am sure you will be able to tell from the email that i am also a bit frantic, stressed, overwhelmed. but hey, who wouldn't be in my position?

so Ali was here, and now she is gone, continuing her adventures in tanzania. it was awesome to have her here... first of all, she has to be one of the most flexible people i have ever met. Ali, we are doing this - "eh, whatever..."; Ali, our plans are changing for the 1,264th time - "eh, whatever..."; Ali, we have to drive 40 hours today - "eh, whatever...". it made her visit so easy. only tough thing was that i was a bit in an "eh, whatever..." mood myself, so it did take us a while to figure out what we would do. but we came up with the perfect itinerary. 1. (overnight and) pick her up in kasitu (more on that later) 2. drive, drive, drive (3.5 hours) back to LLW to see, gasp, HUGH MASAKELA live in concert under the african sky. i cried. i'm cheesy, and i cried i was so moved. 3. drive, drive drive (4 hours, back through kasitu) to stay at Nkhata Bay (the northern part of lake malawi) 4. drive, drive, drive (3 hours) to Luwawa Forrest Lodge 5. walk, walk, walk (3 days) back to the lake, in order to 6. drive, drive, drive (3 hours) back to the airport.

so more on 3 and 5. Nkhata Bay - we stayed at this cool backpackers. total hippy joint, and beautiful. it was built into the mountainside, and so no matter where you sat, you had a great view of the lake. and i love the lake. but well, it was perfect, but i don't know if i need to go there again. part of it was that NB is loud but not bustling. so i am willing to go to a loud place if it is full of things to do, people to see, and most importantly, places to eat. but this was not NB; it was just loud. and then i wasn't sleeping well... there was something about our place that just didn't settle quite right with me. maybe it was the dog that climbed through our window in the middle of the night, or the mosquito that kept getting trapped in our net instead of out. but stunning, and fun peoples, and so am glad that i went at least once.

and the hike was great. but long. about 22 km on day one and the same on day two, and probably 15 on the last day. the views were unbelievable, especially on the first day and a half when we were on the plateau and could see literally forever! the first night, we counted at least 10 satellites in the starry sky; the second night had the most beautiful sunset. the bizarre bit was that there was NO wildlife. there was some evidence of wildlife - scattered bird feathers, porcupine quills atop an old fire mound - that indicated what wildlife was there was being quickly hunted. but we did meet some poachers who were surprisingly enthusiastic about having their photos taken. huh? we made it to the end, but i am not going to lie, it was physically tough for me (porters and all). Ali wins the trooper of the year award, because she hiked the last day with a nasty cold. she didn't complain once, just got real quiet.

so now she is gone, and i am back to my crazy life. i have been working very hard, but also playing quite hard, and thankful that most of the time i can work hard and enjoy it enough that it almost feels like playing. this past weekend, i spent saturday morning with a good girlfriend getting pedi's and massages - she really needed to be spoiled, and i hated to abandon her there! and then a lovely afternoon (full of several fantastic conversations) at the dam. then a fun night out with ann. sunday, i slept in late (8am), spent time just being, finished editing a paper i got ages ago, spent some one on one time with my favorite fella - my cute godson Jo, and then dinner with some colleagues. i guess i am trying to make the most of it while i can. and i am really trying not live one foot in and one out of malawi. this is home for now.

ok, i have hit my computer limit. so more on kasitu and tiwale cultural group another time. but know that they are both progressing VERY well.

tuanana!

sometimes, it ain't easy

i have fooled myself into believing that living in malawi is easy, that i am 100% comfortable, 100% at ease. that perhaps, malawi is becoming home. but it takes about 15 minutes of running errands to send me all into a tizzy of confusion, frustration, annoyance. that is 15 minutes in a 4 hour adventure....

so today is 4th of july, which is great - i get the day off while the rest of malawi "works", so this provides a perfect opportunity to get things done that are impossible otherwise. and it is great the the 4th comes after the 3rd because on the 3rd i was stopped by the police who discovered that one of my stickers (my "certificate of fitness") on my car was expired. THAT is a story, but one that i will not blog about...

so i needed to renew that sticker, take a sewing machine in for repairs, stop by the post office, buy some chipatis. simple.

not simple, not ever. get to the road traffic authority, and nothing is labeled. but finally figure out where to go, pay my money and then find out that mr gondwe is not in and so i can either go to the really chaotic office or wait for an hour. so i try my luck at the chaotic one, and it REALLY is chaotic - people everywhere, pushy hawkers trying to sell windshield wipers, and not one single sign. so then i figure it out again where to go, only to find a line of 9 cars waiting to be inspected, and not a single person around to help. so i leave to the fabric store. and the traffic causes the 2km trip to take 20 minutes. maybe it would be more pleasant if there wasn't so much smog and exhaust. cough, cough. get there, and of course the simple repair could take as long as three days - who knows why. no really WHO knows why? so then back to the first road traffic office, because at this point an hour has passed and maybe mr. gondwe is back. and he is back. actually, he was both nice and competent AND didn't need any extra "persuasion" to help me get a certificate of fitness. post office and chapattis, fairly straight forward except for the hawkers, fighting for parking, the fact that the post office was out of the larger denom stamps, and so all of my letters required at least, i kid you not, 40 stamps. four hours later, i realized that i wasn't breathing...

after all of that, i did go to the ambassadors for a 4th cocktail lunch party. it is pretty great to live in a country so small that when you attend these, you meet the who's who of malawi. chatted with the deputy speaker of parliament, toasted with the head of the malawi broadcasting station....

and then, i FINALLY made it to the office, and am making the tiniest dent in all of the stuff that i need to do.

ali is here!!!!! actually, right now, Ali is in the village! and apparently doing really well. oh, so many stories with her visit already, and an update about a drum/dance workshop that i organized, but i am late for an appointment with a tailor (who probably won't even be there when i show up)! ciao!