October 12

It seemed that Canada was calling us this week. As we relaxed by the poolside at the Korean restaurant Tuesday, enjoying the lights and evening coolness, anticipating the arrival of our bulgogi, it suddenly dawned on me the background music was Anne Murray. Well why not, eh? Of course just to top that, the very next day, Jean-Marcel walked into school with a big grin on his face, wishing he’d had a camera with him since he had just passed a Malawian walking down the road sporting an Edmonton Eskimos shirt. On the down side, we are still caught in catch 22 with J-M’s medical insurance. One step forward, two back, Alice, I think we have passed through the looking glass. In the spirit of optimism, however, we are hoping they will have it sorted out by the time we return from Zambia. Otherwise, there will be some tough decisions to make.

Half term break is officially upon us. Jean-Marcel helped us celebrate by baking one of his world famous carrot cakes to share in the staff room Friday. Finding the ingredients was the usual multi store shopping adventure, but definitely worth it. This morning we had a very pleasant round of golf, just the two of us and our caddies (of course). The weather co-operated by being overcast which cooled it off a notch. We even had a few drops of rain this afternoon, very few, but enough to make everyone think the rains are not far off. And now we are happily multi-tasking as we pack for the safari, bake muffins for the morning, prepare a turkey filet experiment in tribute to Canadian Thanksgiving, and make this journal entry.

October 4

Another week has passed and I just realized I haven’t posted last week’s musings. So it looks like you will get a double dose. It has been a particularly bad week for power outages, three in the evenings and one during the school day. Good thing we had restocked our supply of candles, and I found batteries for the cassette deck in my classroom which worked out well since my lesson plans that day involved a recorded listening test.

This was a short week work –wise since Eid fell in the middle of it. I am not sure about the rest of the world, but in Malawi the government declared Wednesday the official Eid holiday so the school was closed. Apparently the president gets to decide which holidays will be observed, and some of those decisions come at the last minute, even when it isn’t a holiday like Eid that is decided more or less at the last minute everywhere. Although we knew there would be a holiday for Eid, we didn’t get the official word until Tuesday around noon. This is not a predominantly Muslim country, but it will be an election year next year so a holiday cancellation that would offend a whole group won’t be happening. Apparently last year Boxing Day was cancelled. That wouldn’t affect us anyway since we will be on holiday; however, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the calendar works out this year. Just as in Canada, the holiday didn’t seem to affect the retail sector much. Most stores and restaurants were open, unless they were Muslim small businesses. Banks, schools, government offices, etc. were closed and generally house staff get those days off as well. As for us, it meant an earlier start on the golf course and time to play 18 which doesn’t usually happen during the week.

As the weather heats up we are appreciating those early morning starts even more, whether for work or golf. It’s nice to have anything remotely physical done early or wait until the evening when it cools off. Fortunately the classrooms seem to stay fairly cool and there are windows on both sides so I can open them to catch the lovely cross breeze. This tends to play havoc with things I have pinned up for classroom decoration, oh well.

Earlier in the week we accompanied, Emma, one of the teachers from our school out to Chinsapo, to see the local school and discuss their needs. Chinsapo Primary School, with 5,000 students, is one of the six schools supported by L.E.A.P., the Lilongwe Educational Assistance Project. LEAP is a small charity begun by teachers at our school about 10 years ago, to help local, less fortunate schools. We had seen the Power Point presentation but visiting the school and meeting the children and staff is quite moving. The conditions in these schools are nothing less than shocking, 150 children to a primary classroom, most of which don’t have desks or tables, not to mention books or supplies. The children sit on the concrete floors and learn by rote from blackboards that stretch around the room. In spite of this, we were greeted with song, smiles, laughter and so much warmth. There are also outdoor “classrooms” but few that have shelter from the sun or rain, just a blackboard painted on the inside of the security wall. How the extraordinary woman who is principal of this school manages to keep it from descending into chaos is unfathomable. Coping with all that would be overwhelming for most people but she, like far too many Malawians, is also HIV positive and has been living with it for the last 8 years as well. Her house is on the school grounds and we were privileged to hold her brand new baby granddaughter before we left. LEAP raises funds to help the community paint walls and blackboards as well as build shelters, tables, benches and security walls so the little they have is not stolen or vandalized. LEAP is a small organization run completely by volunteers so every penny raised goes to the schools. For my small part, I am leading an activity with a group of kids at our school one afternoon a week. We are making wooden flashcards to be used as classroom aids and will eventually go out to the school to do some of the painting that is needed. In these schools, painting pictures on the walls provides visual aids for the teachers that will last longer than posters.

Back on the bureaucracy front, my previous optimistic report about Jean-Marcel’s health care insurance was somewhat premature. Although it is all set up and ready to go, the school is having difficulty paying for it. Not because they don’t want to, or don’t have the money, but because the Malawian banks question any money being paid or transferred out of the country. The local bank has finally agreed to put in a request to the National Bank in Blantyre. If and when it is approved, they can pay the bill to the Canadian bank. So that leaves us waiting, and hoping, again. Great quantities of patience and a sense of humour are prerequisites for living here, and I expect, most places in Africa.

Meanwhile, it is a golf and social weekend. With a staff party at one of the compounds Saturday evening and the big Zain golf tournament going on all weekend. More on that later since I will never get anything posted if I keep rambling on.

Cheers and best wishes.

September 25

Another week almost done. It has been a bit busier at school since the Form 2’s (grade 7’s) were off at camp and there was a general sharing of coverage for the teachers who accompanied them. We also had two of our fellow “newbie” colleagues out with food poisoning, always one of the hazards of travel. Unfortunately for them, it meant they also missed out on our Tuesday dining out experience. This week we tried an Indian restaurant which has been fairly recently upgraded, so we hear. The food, the setting and the service were all first rate. That one is definitely a keeper.

The golf charity tournament turned out to be great fun, except for the bruise, and a very worthwhile cause. The tournament was sponsored by the local Rotary club who are using the funds for “blind camps”. These blind camps involve going out to the villages and bringing elderly people into the city for eye operations that restore their sight. These are people who could never afford either the transportation or the medical care. The organizers seemed very pleased with the turn out and the amount of funds raised at the tournament. As for the bruise, well let me just say, I am much more careful about where I stand when my partners are teeing off now. Jean-Marcel toed one off the men’s tee box and drilled it right at me. I had been waiting a little further up just off the ladies tee box and had no time to react. A little higher and he might have cracked a rib, fortunately no damage done. I retaliated by scoring most of the points for our team, which had his caddy telling him, “Sir, you have to help Madam.” In the end, we scored better than many of our colleagues from school, although we weren’t among the prize winners, but Jean-Marcel did get a share of the deuce pot for his brilliant putting for birdie. He even redeemed himself with his caddy on that one.

Did I tell you about the weather? We actually had some a couple of weeks ago. One Saturday it was cold enough for me to wear my denim shirt and we had an ever so light sprinkling of rain, just enough to make us not want to hit the wipers by accident because it would have created an ugly smear. Then it warmed up and we were back to shirt sleeves. My caddy, Charles, was very concerned about this weird weather phenomenon. Apparently it was cause for much discussion and even some fear in the local population. Since then it has gone from warm and dry to hot and dry. We have taken to putting the fan on in the late afternoon and at night. October is the hot month in Malawi, feels rather Okanaganish so far. Hot and dry during the day, cooling off reasonably well in the evening. The days are also a bit longer now. There is definitely sun when I get up at 5:30 a.m. and as I write this, just after 6 p.m. it is twilight. Sunrise and twilight do not linger here. Within half an hour it will be pitch black.

We also made it back to Area 2 last weekend and had the usual shopping experience: bought several things, but found nothing that was actually on our list. The shop was quite willing to exchange or refund our money for the mosquito net but it was the biggest available so we are making do. It is definitely better than the one we had, and is attached to a frame which gives us much more room. No more waking up with a face full of mozzy net. This is definitely a good thing since mosquito season is approaching. We are also well armed with Raid plug-ins, hoping to fend off those little malaria carrying beasties.

And now the good news. Jean-Marcel found a Canadian insurance company that will provide medical coverage for him and the school has arranged payment. Seems they want to keep me. So he will be able to stay. Needless to say this is a huge relief and now we can look forward to enjoying the October safari together as well as planning Christmas holidays.

Well there goes the power, right in the middle of dinner preparation. Jean-Marcel is not amused. Good thing the pasta was already in the boiling water. Time to sign off and save the battery. Another candlelight dinner in the offing.

September 18

Where has the time gone? It certainly is slipping by quickly for somewhere that moves at a pretty slow pace. Still no gas canister in sight for those power outages. It is an ongoing challenge. But we do have a barbeque happily installed on our patio. Hopefully soon to be accompanied by hand carved chairs and a table. They are on order from our last trip to the lake, and should be arriving the first week in October if all goes well.

Those who have checked out the pictures I posted know that the weekend at the lake included a variety of wildlife sightings: baboons, monkeys and a couple of hyrax. I am told that those little hyrax critters that look like some kind of rabbit are actually next of kin to the elephant. You probably have better Internet than I do if you want to check that out. Anyway, they are pretty cute.

As for those pesky power outages, this week we started a Tuesday evening dining out club with the other school staff who live in this complex. Since the power seems to go out with some regularity on Tuesdays, eating out with good company seems the best “go with the no flow” strategy. Naturally, the first Tuesday we tried out this theory the power stayed on, but the food and conversation were most enjoyable anyway.

Jean-Marcel also managed to borrow a drill in the last couple of weeks and install the few pieces we brought along with us from Switzerland. Add a fig tree from the local garden centre and, voilà, the place is beginning to feel a lot more home like.

The problem with not writing for a couple of weeks, of course, is sifting back through and trying to figure out what to say. Note to self: It is much easier if I write regularly. So with that in mind let me see what comes to mind.

Malawi is most certainly a land of entrepreneurs. There is someone selling something at any given moment of the day, wherever one pauses. The fruit and veggie sellers wait patiently by the speed bump just outside the school gates. They appear out of nowhere in almost any parking lot. And although I am getting better at fending them off if I make the mistake of waiting in the car while J-M pops into a store for a quick purchase, I have to admit it can be very draining on days when I am tired and just want to get home. Fortunately the other day I was able to see the lighter side of the instant market place phenomenon as J-M stopped in front of a hardware store in search of a step ladder. In the brief time he was gone I had the opportunity to explain, with good humour, that unfortunately today I did not need strawberries, sunglasses, running shoes, batteries, or a metal whistle. Of course, they didn’t have a ladder. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile on the bureaucracy front, it looks like the medical insurance situation is about to be resolved favourably and Jean-Marcel will be able to stay. Until the school pays the bill and the policy is delivered it’s not 100% sure but it’s looking pretty good right now. Having it completely settled will be a huge relief.

On the sports scene, we are playing more golf than I ever have before. Hopefully, I will start to show some improvement one of these days. I can only count on my caddy’s sense of humour holding up for so long. J-M seems to be enjoying his time on the course and looks forward to improving his game. He has been playing with the guys and getting out for some practice rounds with his caddy as well. This Sunday we are playing in a charity tournament. Should be fun.

With only three weeks left to the mid-term break we are really starting to look forward to the safari. It will be hot and dusty but apparently it is really good. Some of the staff have done it four times and would go back for more. Naturally, I am hoping to have some good pictures to send after that.

Meanwhile, I will try to upload a few I took on our excursion to area 2 last week. Area 2 is a shopping area that caters to locals more than tourists. It has a lot of small shops, owned mostly by East Indian folks, which carry the most amazing assortments of things. Getting there is a bit of a logistical challenge as the roads are always crammed at that particular juncture for some odd reason. Finally we discovered the best thing to do is leave the car in a safe parking area, outside a café or food market, and make our way on foot. This involves crossing the Lilongwe River and you will find some pictures taken from the bridge in the new upload. There is a large market just on the other side of the river as you enter Area 2. We haven’t ventured in there yet but hope to this weekend since we have to go back to exchange the mosquito net we bought in Area 2 last weekend. The package said King Size but the contents turned out to be Double instead, sigh. Oh well, the table cloth we had made and the rechargeable lantern purchased the same day have been successful purchases.

Time to sign off and get this message out.

Week 3 August 31

Things are not always what they seem. Take the power outage Sunday morning for example. There was Jean-Marcel in the middle of frying up the bacon, with eggs and toast waiting to be cooked and poof. No power. After a cursory glance at the breakers and checking that the whole house was out of power, J-M packed everything up and went next door to Pam’s to finish cooking brunch. Naturally, it wasn’t until a little while later that he decided to investigate the electrical situation further, only to discover this wasn’t one of the random roving power outages. Instead we had somehow managed to trip the main breaker for the house. Problem solved, power returned, another lesson learned.

With the second week of classes under way, I am feeling only marginally more prepared but I am beginning to understand the layout of the campus, recognize some of my students, and understand my timetable. The language challenges are being overcome as well. By language challenges I am referring to English, not French or Chichewa. Translating British English in its English, Scots and Irish variations is an ongoing challenge around the school. I frequently find myself asking “does that mean…” just to be sure. As for Chichewa, the local language, that will take more time and I am hoping the offer of language classes will materialize.

Another great success on Monday: the washing machine is now operational. Martha, our housekeeper, seemed as fascinated by it as we were when we finally figured out how to get it going. Looks like she and Jean-Marcel will have some fun figuring it out in the next couple of days. We’re hoping he can find the cycle that takes less than an hour and a half. Otherwise washing will be a rather slow process around here. But at least this means we don’t have to ask Martha to wash everything by hand. Many people do rely on hand washing but it tends to reduce the life span of the clothing rather considerably we hear.

Differences here? Well, the rhythm of the day is different for starters. I wasn’t sure how I would take to the early mornings but so far I am actually enjoying them. Mostly, I think, because it is light out even though I am up so early. The sun is rising as I get up at 5:30 and definitely up by the time I leave for school at 6:15 so it doesn’t seem difficult at all. The sunsets are indeed beautiful but when the sun goes down it really does disappear. By 7 pm it is very dark which makes it feel much later, and actually helps when one needs to go to bed early enough to make that 5:30 wake up call.

The school day is from 7:15 to 1:30 Monday to Thursday and 7:15 to 12:15 on Fridays. There are two half hour breaks in the day, one on Fridays. Thursdays there is also one less class to leave time for assembly. And although I have more classes and more students to teach this year, it doesn’t feel like more so far. I might revisit that assessment in a few weeks. We’ll see. Activities haven’t started yet and the marking is still light. It’s only been two weeks after all.

Have I mentioned the weather? Warm and dry, dry and warm, dry, warm etc. Does make for a fair amount of dust at this time of year. And smoke. Dry season seems to be burning season. Apparently there is an ongoing need to burn off grass and maize fields. Not quite sure why, but depending on the wind direction it can certainly feel like the Okanagan in forest fire season. It can also be quite chilly in the early morning hours, which is quite refreshing but does mean we need blankets at hand to get a comfortable sleep. This does seem to be changing as it is getting warmer already and a fan is on our shopping list. I expect we will need it soon.


The dry season also has the added benefit of making the ball roll farther on the golf course, and since this course is 7,000 metres that is most welcome. My caddy, Charles, has a good sense of humour. Very important if he is to survive watching me play. If he can maintain his current level of patience, who knows, I might even get to be a better player. This whole business of playing with a caddy was a bit unnerving at first and also creates quite a crowd on the course when playing with a foursome, pretty strange.

So here we are at the end of three weeks, driving on the left with confidence. The windshield wipers come on a lot less now. We even anticipate the potholes and speed bumps on our usual routes and can find most places we need to get to without much difficulty or anxiety.

Ongoing challenges include getting our medical coverage organized and driving at night. The former is a bureaucratic nightmare and the latter is just a little hairy. Local drivers use their high beams indiscriminately. Local pedestrians seem to wear dark clothing. Cyclists are not equipped with lights, nor are most of the broken down or ailing vehicles stranded along or on the roads. It goes without saying there are few street lights to help with any of this. The best strategy seems to be to drive as little as possible at night and stick to our well known routes when we do.

On the plus side, we have not only located the nearest vegetable market, close by but in a direction we hadn’t ventured previously, but we also found the Italian restaurant recommended by folks at the school. We tried the gelato and have promised ourselves a return trip the next time we have a dinner time power outage, unless we find a gas canister first. The gas canister is definitely on our shopping list.

Week 2

August 24 2008 Week 2

The week started extremely well. Both of our shipments of goods, from Switzerland and Vancouver, not only arrived at the airport but were liberated by customs and delivered to us. Even better, we have found only one broken coffee mug. Everything else appears to have made it intact. We do indeed feel blessed.

Opening our boxes has felt a little like Christmas every day. I can’t remember when I have been so happy to see a decent can opener. We are certainly getting great joy out of small conveniences these days and these have offset the down times when the stress of trying to get things organized felt overwhelming. There are just so many little things to deal with and everything seems to take more time than we expect. It’s all part of the learning process.

Classes started Monday as well, and although I felt completely unprepared, the kids have been very tolerant of my small goofs. My colleagues are also both cheerful and helpful. Tuesday and Wednesday I felt completely frazzled but by Thursday I my equilibrium was returning. Perhaps it was the lovely dinner Arnaud cooked for us that helped. Bœuf bourguignon and a nice glass of red wine certainly help raise the sagging spirits.

Somehow we managed to get to the end of the first full week of classes reasonably unscathed. Friday classes ended early, as promised, at 12:15, and the whole staff was invited to lunch in the garden at the director’s house, a very congenial affair. Lunch was followed by a round of golf: nine holes for me with the ladies and 18 for Jean-Marcel, who had started earlier since he didn’t attend the luncheon.


Successes of the week:
• The arrival of the boxes.
• Getting all the papers and stickers for the car so that we can drive legally.
• Finding the bank and depositing the first pay cheque.
• Getting the bank to give us some cash from said cheque.
• Only one power outage so far.
• Finding the food store that has better quality produce, bread and meat.
• Finding the Korean restaurant again and enjoying a meal there.
• Finding Dedza, the town with a well known pottery, and purchasing a set of locally made dishes.
• Buying some delicious local tomatoes from the roadside vendors on the return from Dedza.

Week 1

Malawi 12.08.08

Here we are in Africa! The flights all went quite smoothly, only minor delays with Ethiopian Airlines and our luggage arrived at the same time as we did. Now that’s impressive. We even have news that our shipment from Switzerland is here in Lilongwe. The next challenge is liberating it from customs. Fingers crossed.

It’s Tuesday, I think. We are definitely working on overload at the moment but holding up well all things considered: 19 hour flight from Washington followed by school orientation. The people have been wonderful on all counts. Everyone is exceedingly friendly and helpful.

Our house is a little bare at the moment but very comfortable and one of the most secure complexes in the city. Two of the other new teachers, Jen and Pam, have houses in this complex as well so we have had a great time together working through the little trials of settling in.

This city of about 750 000 has a very rural feel to it, particularly out where we live, in one of the newest areas. We certainly don’t hear traffic noises around our house but we do hear the rooster in the wee hours, and lots of birds, not to mention some pretty strange dog fight noises in the middle of last night. We’re hoping that won’t be a nightly event and that we soon stop popping awake at 3 o’clock in the morning. The joys of jet lag.

“Go with the flow” has become the mantra of the week, and quite probably the next two years. So far it is working quite well and has helped us see the humour in what could have been some stressful moments. Our first visit to the grocery store Sunday ended in a blackout and no way to pay for all the lovely things we had so happily heaped in our basket. Fortunately we still had enough left from our box of welcome goodies provided by the school to keep hunger at bay.

Monday we picked up our car with great expectations to revisit the grocery store, only to discover there was a city wide petrol shortage and we only had enough gas in the car to get home from the school. That, in itself was a rather hair raising adventure with Jean-Marcel at the wheel for the first time in a left hand drive car. With Jen and Pam our British neighbours, in the back seat because their car had a dead battery that refused to be boosted, Jean-Marcel not only had to cope with the challenge of the driving but three nervous passengers as well. It’s certainly a good thing we had one beer left in our barren refrigerator. Good fortune continued to smile on us however. We made it home safely, with fumes remaining in the gas tank and Robertson, the school driver, came to our rescue with a jerry can and enough gas to ensure we wouldn’t be stranded the next day. He also transported us to the school’s evening social event at the golf club and allowed us to stop off at the take out food place on the way home. Not the best food in town but certainly better than what was left in the house.

Early Tuesday morning Jean-Marcel braved the trip to the petrol station unescorted, his first solo driving on the left side of the road. Not only did he manage the driving, round abouts and all, he even returned with a full tank. This meant we could get to school on our own and, even better, we finally made it to the grocery store. The passengers were much less nervous and Jean-Marcel was suddenly handling driving on the left as if he had been doing it forever. Well, maybe he still has trouble finding the signal lights, keeps turning on the windshield wipers, a small thing.

Life is good. My colleagues, in the language department in particular, and the school in general, seem quite delightful and co-operative. We have a golf date for Friday afternoon with folks from school, Saturday there is an excursion to the lake and we are already signed for a safari in Zambia in October. Apparently this is one of the best safaris in southern Africa.

Wednesday the whirl of activities and information continued with more meetings at school and continued success in our little shopping expeditions. Jean-Marcel, however, has started reacting to something, probably food related and our first cooked dinner at home was less than successful.

Thursday included the first full staff meeting and the onset of information overload. Aside from the intestinal bug that is getting J-M down at the moment, he also had a Malawian electricity moment to deal with today as we started the day without power. We, of course, thought this meant we had run out of our prepaid electricity credits. So J-M, with assistance from our new housekeeper, Martha, dragged himself off to buy more credits. As it turned out, however, the problem was a power failure. So now we have lots of electricity credits, for when the power is actually working.

On the plus side, the washing machine we bought from one of the departing teachers has finally shown up and now we hope the promised plumber and electrician will follow, to complete the installation.

On the minus side, Robertson was unable to complete the necessary transaction to register our car today as the officials wanted the former owner’s passport, not just a copy. Of course this is impossible as he is already back in the UK. The consensus of opinion is that if we get a letter from the director of the school and J-M goes with Robertson in person all will be well. Go with the flow. Tomorrow is another day and with any luck we might get to keep that golf date.

Friday was a better day for the most part. Jean-Marcel managed to get the car registered but it meant missing his golf date. I, on the other hand, did get to play with the ladies and it was great fun even if my score was miserable. My caddie, Charles has a great sense of humour so I think we will get on well.

Saturday, my first visit to Lake Malawi! I joined a group of teachers who went out for the day. We had the small school bus and driver so it was quite enjoyable. Jean-Marcel decided to stay home and take it easy, a good day to recuperate. Those of us who made the excursion spent the day relaxing at a lovely lodge on the lakeshore with kayaks, swimming pool and a delicious lunch of local fish. And I had my first wildlife sighting as a family of baboons wandered through the grounds. Pictures to follow.

The people continue to be very friendly, which helps a lot when everything is so new. On the way back we stopped at a craft market and I got a chance to work on my bargaining skills. Definitely rusty since our visit to Morocco. I did manage to pick up a few baskets to use in the house for laundry and such and will leave the rest for another day. It was great to have experienced people with us from the school to guide us through the whole market experience. It is so difficult when not familiar with local prices and quality but there do seem to be some interesting things worth returning for. I am in love with the chieftain’s chairs and there are a number of other intriguing carved items as well.

Now it is Sunday, I am at school, supposedly preparing for tomorrow but as you can see finishing up these notes has taken over. Great procrastination technique. My first success today was in driving the car from home to school. Thought it would be a good day since there is less traffic and I have been relying on Jean-Marcel and my neighbours all week. J-M then took the car to go golfing, his first chance to try out the course. Hope it goes well.

Did I mention the weather? It’s winter here so none of the clouds that drift by have rain in them. We are not to expect that until November some time. I don’t know what the temperature has been during the day but it is quite pleasant and sometimes even hot. The mornings and evenings have been chilly, sometimes requiring a sweater and blankets at night. It’s rather like summer in Edmonton minus rain and mosquitoes, those come later.

Well time to get to work. I really do need to get ready for tomorrow.