Lazy Summer

We went on an early morning walk, planning to walk to the very north of the island: it’s small how hard can it be? After walking for about 40 min, we had made it almost halfway to the Southern tip of the island, and then turned back because of the beating sun at around 7:30AM. We are not adjusting too well to the heat, and largely cope by doing very little, but managed to reorganize the room a little more and got started on our coding practice. There is a lot to get used to living in the Bishops house, probably the largest is that we talk to the neighbors. People will also just stop by without letting us know beforehand. This would have really annoyed us back home, but here it is an exciting relief from boredom. Children are our most frequent visitors, and they are quite polite. (Some are leafing through our textbooks and vying for our attention as we write this) We will be sitting at the table and they just come and put their noses against the window until someone comes out to say hello. Precious is our most frequent one, he came by with warm potato samosas that he sold us for 50 MWK (about 7 cents) and his brother Confidence and sometimes the best friend of Confidence, Comfort. Their English is not very good, but they are very good at asking for money and biscuits. Confi in particular loves the binoculars. He looked through them for almost an hour at the trees and towards the cathedral, then Sasha showed he could turn them around and make everything small. Later, we realized we had never shown him how to focus but he seemed to enjoy it all the same. Precious always asks to have them.

Ryan caught a very interesting and skinny wasp in a cup and Sasha was sketching it. A Black and White Mud Dauber, very unaggressive but with a long and cruel needle-like waist. The boys came by and watched, so Sasha sketched them as well. There is a photo of them if we manage to upload it! Sasha wrote a message on the back and rolled it up for them to keep, and they did seem excited although in the end, they did leave them behind. They did a sketch of Sasha as well, and while there are some similarities it was not flattering.

We went to meet with all the teachers to see what we should teach, and met with the Chemistry & Physics teacher, and the English lit & grammar teacher. So far, Sasha is taking a Chem class, and Ryan may be doing English. We will know tomorrow (maybe) when the rest of the teachers arrive from the mainland on the ferry. Perhaps some will not come, and perhaps some will be in greater need of help as we can barely remember what an adverb is. They talked a little of the difficulties of teaching here as well, but we didn’t realize the extent until we wandered outside where all the grades were posted “Ahh that’s a lot of 9s, that’s good!” No… 9 is the lowest” Most students had failed overall, though had done alright in a few classes. We saw 2 rows of ones and twos and were excited, but realized those were the students that had transferred to a different school and we had just met in Mzuzu.

That evening a mob of some older girls with small children came by. Sasha traded clapping games with them, practiced whistling, and they showed her how they can pinch their nose and keep their nostrils shut. The older ones worked on writing a letter. A priest, Moses, came by to welcome us. He was a teacher as well (Bible Knowledge and Life Skills) and told us more about the church, like how we should go to the Chichewa service Sunday (instead of English on Saturday) as they had a translated book so we could follow along. The girls finished the letter and handed it over to Sasha, though it was in Chichewa. Sasha passed it on to Moses who could translate the first line “Beloved Sasha”, “We beg…” before trailing off to tell them they all could write English and to try again. They sat and giggled while he told them about how he felt they did not learn anything when they wrote like this! We looked up the words and could only figure one out- “Backpack”. It is understandable yet disappointing when everyone asks us to buy things for them, and sad as they probably do need it.

The next day, we got up even earlier for our walk and packed a water bottle. We managed to follow the road until it ended, and then we may have trespassed to get to the beach. It is more difficult to trespass here than at home because usually the people that own the property are actually on the premises and very likely watching you. It is also easier because we can assume no one has a gun, there are no fences, and people trespass on our property all the time. The entire walk we nodded at people and sometimes said good morning, but without fail if a kid sees us they will yell hello and wave until we respond. The beach had sticks and shelves to dry fish on, and men were repairing a boat. We made it back to learn that we were also paying our neighbors to clean our house. This apparently included our bedroom and we both felt a little ashamed at the mess we had left when we came back to find her taking off our sheets and folding things we had left strewn around.

We meet the teachers again in the afternoon, this time the Chemistry teacher Justice showed Sasha the schedule he has lain out for the term and the country requirements for each year. He is a brand-new teacher as well, so they were able to talk awhile about different points they will cover while the English teacher hands Ryan a syllabus and they sit in silence. The Chemistry curriculum starts off with two weeks of lab safety which is great, except they have no lab yet.

On Sunday, we walk to the airport in 40 minutes. We walk by the man we met on the ferry who quickly opens his shop “It is free to look! Free to look!”. The airport is one long runway, with a small office next door. We made our way home and got ready for Church which starts promptly at 8. We were finishing up getting ready when Moses came by to check on us. Resplendent in white robes, he showed us to some seats. The seats were largely empty in this large cathedral, with just a few nuns, a woman breastfeeding, and others scattered throughout. The priests filed in (the one time perhaps that there are more priests than people) and began chanting and lighting candles. Around 8:30 a lot more people began to trickle in, including a man that came and sat next to us and said hello. Around this time we realize women all sit on the left, men all sit on the right and we had both sat on the right. Someone else comes to brought the thin translated book, published 1981. It did not help too much with us keeping up with service, though when Sasha went to service before she didn’t understand too much either. She remembers church dragging on for forever (around an hour), but at least there were good biscuits at the end and the adults would chat- which is what she had expected here. It was very different, there are at least 4 different choirs, including one that sits high in the back which causes some very impressive sound throughout the service. We waited through hour one expecting communion to start any moment. Half an hour later someone tapped us on the shoulder “Is this your first time here? They want you to speak. Go up now” “What? Are you sure?” “Yes go up the side here” so we walk about a mile up the side (It is a very large cathedral) and the microphone is handed over. Each seat is taken by now, there are almost 300 people watching. “Hello yes this is Ryan, we are from Seattle, and we are staying at the Bishops house” ”Hello, Sasha from Seattle too, we are teaching at the school so we see some of you Monday”. There’s some scattered applause and we sit down, confident communion will begin soon. One hour later, a man reads a long list of prices for different things and then a nun points at different rows to go up. People march up to a choir’s music, we think the youth choir, that dances while they sing. We go up as well and are confronted with about 10 different blue bins and baskets with Chichewa words on them, we end up putting money in the biggest basket, and rushing back. It is really beginning to be hot now, but we can watch a little circle of light (from a small hole in the roof) travel up the aisle while we wait another hour before getting communion. It ends around noon and we stagger back to our house about a 2 minute walk away, and chug some water. The service was beautiful, our favorite part was all the colorful outfits the women wore and the fantastic choirs. It was just a little longer than we were prepared for and it was conducted fully in Chichewa.

After we had recovered some, Sasha began on a large periodic table of elements for the class, when a mob of the older girls and some smaller kids came by. She must finish, so continues working as they watch. She starts to whistle, which they copy, and hum the tune of Indiana Jones which they hum to as well. Then Camp Songs which they can hum too. Ryan comes out and we sing “Bumble Bee” together to lots of laughter. Then they produce another letter, this time in English. It is perhaps asking for a backpack, but mainly asking for Sasha to text the grandmother of Doreen (The oldest girl) so they can talk. They start asking for photos, so Sasha  took a few and tried showing them as many fingers swiped each way. The older ones again started braiding Sasha’s hair, one exclaimed “ehww!” and rubbed her finger in her scalp. Yes there will be dandruff if there is no water for a few days! Some little ones climbed on her lap, and then Patrick was walking up the road. She summoned Ryan and he explained how Edith would be cleaning for us now, and asked if everything was going well. Then he invited us to a sort of bride and groom give away celebration. They will be wed in October but are having the celebration now. We soon understood why. We watched from the outside as 5 woman in the same subtly psychedelic dresses and their partners began dancing their way in. The group is known as the “Dancing Queens” and they earned that title, although no ABBA was played. The room was full of rows of colorfully dressed people, with a small stage. Someone with a microphone made an announcement and then people would dance to the center, then throw money in a basket. Someone began handing out apples “If you get an apple, it means you must dance up and pay 2,000 MWK!” we both receive an apple, and self-consciously tried to dance up to the front. We once had to leave a country dancing lesson at a fair in Seattle because Old People were running us over, this had us even more outmatched. It turns out as well that you do not need to know the same language to very successfully make fun of someone else’s dancing.
We sit back down, and the rounds continue, people dancing up and giving more money. The goal was 2 million MWK to go towards the wedding. Patrick informed us that weddings are very profitable.
we go back, and children are waiting for us again. This time one had brought an older brother of perhaps 15, the oldest one we have seen on the porch. He was very quiet and would not respond to questions, but did sometimes laugh at something I said in English. He patiently waited his turn for the binoculars, and when he did look through them I wanted to show him how to maneuver the focus, and noticed his hands were entirely covered in small warts, with a few large bumps going up his neck. There are so many conditions here that you only sometimes hear about in the states.

The sun sets and we can hear the very annoying beeping sound again. Tonight, we decided to get to the bottom of it. With our trusty cat in tow we set out and locate several trees that the sound seems to be coming from. Probably some bug or animal. Not a very satisfying answer, but at least now we know its not something in the house. It did bring us outside to appreciate a beautiful red full moon.