Baby Kittens
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European Whirlwind
Cat life best life
We have just finished the fourth week of class. It is Friday, and so Ryan will spend an hour or so excitedly tweaking a very complicated spreadsheet he made to keep track of finances and forecast future expenses. The kittens have opened their eyes and are beginning to get playful. We can now take them out for a few minutes before they begin to complain! We think Mtombe the cat has been having stomach problems. We only know this because on a few occasions she will come up to Ryan and Meow incessantly until he follows her. She will then lead him to a field dig a hole and demonstrate her inability to poop. This has provided quite the spectacle for many people and they like to laugh at the silly M’zungu watching his cat poop. It seems that things keep getting stuck and a good belly massage seems to get things moving again. (as she also proudly demonstrates)
After three weeks of being on the island we finally visited a beach to swim. We went to Mango Drift again to enjoy their pizza. It was beautiful and peaceful as ever, so far removed from the rest of the island. We went the weekend before to Ulisa bay to pick up some pottery Sasha finished, which was a small bowl with mountains. To remind ourselves of home, it says “PNW- Not all who wander are lost”. It is so small, that it is now perfect for M’tombe to drink from.
We took a different route back, and found some boys playing with bows and arrows they made for themselves. They let us have a shot, Ryan tried to decide if it would be a good idea to teach them how to build a trebuchet.
Police came to brief the students on laws, how to avoid trafficking, abuse, and more. Usually the students sit under a large tree in the shade for school wide presentations, but it began to rain very heavily so we all took shelter in the cathedral. As always with these things, the teachers sit in a line facing the students at the front. We were unhappy with the hour and a half of Chichewa that we had to look interested in, but we put our church-going skills to good use. Usually in church however, Sasha draws and Ryan tries to memorize Chichewa for this one we had the eyes of the whole school on us.
Before we came, there was Joanna who spent 6 months here. Before her, there was Derek and Katherine who have spent some recurring time here. He is now a priest, and she is almost a doctor. By most measures, they seem far better volunteers. They even brought us some cheese and lots of vegetables. Our meals have been significantly better with their shopping run. They were able to shed some background and history on events and reasons people did things, and told us about the placenta pit. Its locked away, and when someone has a baby you just toss in the placenta. They don’t want to burn it per cultural beliefs. There are covered over toilets everywhere, you dig a dirt hole, make cement walls, then fill it up. Once full, you add concrete on top and leave it. Now, they are everywhere and they are running out of room. There is one toilet remaining, and they do not want to dig more as they wish to get flush toilets. The placenta pit is near one of these toilets. One pit is full, and the second is halfway full.
The government came by a few years ago and built a beautiful mortuary at the hospital. But the power is too expensive, and so it sits dormant. Same with the blood bank. For now, when someone dies the family brings cloth, then takes them home in the cloth all within 24 hours.
We have now moved to the mothers union guest house and it is a much smaller space, but also significantly newer and nicer. We will probably stay here for the remainder of the term and hopefully move back to the bishops house in May. It is still very near the school, though on our way to class we have to hop large puddles of water at times. When rain has been bad, there are often only one or two other teachers present. Going to and from class, teachers often bring an umbrella. When it isn’t too rainy, we just go for it. Its still warm enough, and we dry quickly but people are always shocked to see us with no umbrella. We have stifled the temptation to explain the old Seattle trope, “Umbrellas are for tourists”.
Thursdays are club days, and while each teacher has their name down for a club, there has not been a meeting for any club in the whole time we have been here. So we decided to make our own. We couldn’t decide on any given club, so we are going with all the clubs! Each week, we will do a different one. One day is art club, next is drama club, debate club, perhaps yearbook club. Our first meeting was wilderness club, and we just set up the projector and watched the first episode of “Our Planet” in the classroom. 96 students squeezed in to marvel at it. They loved all the parts involving Africa and the flamingos- cheering on the wild dogs. Once it switched to polar bears and breaking ice, most had left. By the end, only a few students remained. One asked “That ice breaking- what was that all about?”. Climate change is difficult to describe to a people who have almost no influence on it, but who will probably be affected the most. The average Malawian emits 200 times less CO2 than the average American. They do know of course about climate change, but the visual of miles of ice breaking off into the ocean is new.
We taught one of the teachers a cardgame, and now he comes around often to challenge us. He has begun winning as well, so we taught him a new game to throw him off. He is beginning to win at that too! We will need more people, and perhaps begin a game night.
Years ago, Sasha worked at an infectious disease lab. When she told the PI of that lab where she was going, he was very excited. He wants us to interview different Malawians about the effects of HIV/AIDS and how it has changed throughout the past few years. We began finding people to interview, and everyone is extremely well educated on it.
A few dinosaurs and a few new parents
Island Life Again
After 40 hours of nearly sleepless travel from Madrid airport, to Rome (were a man from Costa Rica told us about his beautiful island), to Addis Ababa, and finally to Lilongwe. Along the way, border agents and the person giving out tickets in Europe both asked… “Lilongwe? Where the hell is that?”.
Our trusted Malawian driver was waiting for us at the airport holding a sign, and as we made the 5 hour drive to Mzuzu we almost didn’t recognize the place. Where once was red sand, there was now miraculous fields of grass and new crops. We started out in summer in Malawi. Went to winter in northern Europe. Warmed up with a Greek autumn, and then came back to a Malawi spring. We arrived at the hostel, Joy’s Place, and enjoyed the signature General Joys chicken. Joy was back in Korea to have a baby, but her husband was still there to greet us. They will be back in April and we can meet the new baby!
The next day, we got our sparse shopping done at the always well stocked though more expensive Shoprite before visiting a teacher at the hospital. He and another teacher were driving over the break when the brakes failed. In order to avoid a headlong collision, they had to swerve and ended up rolling the vehicle 5 times. The driver walked away with some bruises, but the Geography teacher had an impacted spinal injury. We enter the “Male surgical unit” to a room of 10 beds. Each person had a different injury and several had family visiting. The beds look old, the wheels wouldn’t spin, and paint is chipping off but it was clean and brightly lit. We greet him and give him our Christmas gift- a mug with some chocolate bars and a note saying: “We are lost without you”. We did have to explain the Geography Joke.
Also visiting was Maryfaith and her sister, who has sworn never to come to Likoma: “Too many bugs! And I cant swim!”. The four of us stuffed in the back of the car with no seatbelts to go back, failing to see the irony of just visiting a friend in the hospital from a car crash. We pack and repack everything for maximum protection, waiting for the Bishop to pick us up. He is around 40 minutes late, so still well within what is considered “on time”. The Innkeeper was in a shouting match with some workmen who want more money. This seems to happen often to azungu people here, they assume you have money so when you plan a job and agree on a price, they will try to do extra work without telling you so you have to pay them more. We wait to say goodbye and wait until he is done, though the bishop urges us to interrupt and let our goodbyes be known. The innkeeper shouts that they are trying to take advantage, then turns to storm away. We quickly wish him good luck and safe journey before ducking into the car. The innkeeper turns back with a big smile that was not there moments ago and wishes us good luck on our travels.
The bishop brings us to the building project, which will be huge with 3 floors. He offers Ryan to come here once a month or so to help oversee the project, to which Ryan is overjoyed, though a little confused on what exactly he would be expected to do. It seems he just needs a white guy to walk around and inspect it every now and then to keep the workers honest.
We pick up the man (Patrick) who has been helping us organize our housing and who has told us to move to the Mothers Union which we find out would put money in his discretionary fund rather than the Bishops. Technically (and the bishop has made this very clear) we are not paying to live in the Bishops house. It is a donation. With us all in the car the Bishop asks why we are being moved to the Mothers Union- and accuses him of being a good salesman which was quite funny and quite uncomfortable. It felt a lot like we had just tattled to our parents that someone had stollen our toy.
Once we arrive, we load everything onto the ferry, and go into town to get takeout. They hand over a plastic bag, with no plastic knives/forks/napkins. “we don’t have”. So we shrug and just eat with our hands on the ferry Malawi style. Lightning starts over the hills and starts creeping closer. It begins lighting the entire sky, and we hear loud thunder now. Since we arrived early, we got a seat in the third of the boat with a roof. Luckily people can go to the floors below, but many crowd into our area. Two forward thinking people have brought tents, and so they get the most room!
We sleep hunched over the table, wrapped in a few jackets from Europe and a scarf. When a teacher comes by, we lend him a jacket too.
The boat leaves only an hour late, the earliest it has ever left. The rain begins to slow, and we have a peaceful night. When the Illala docks, a pair of tourists from France peering over the side ask how you’re supposed to get off. Being the locals that we are we answer: “you just go for it! Push your way to the front and try to get the big boat, that’s free but, the smaller ones are only 100mwk”. Our books, clothes, even laptops, are tied by a rope and lowered into a waiting boat below. This is the most nervewrecking part, but as always, they are successful. Despite the significantly leaky boats all of our stuff remains in the boat and dry! We elbow our way through and clamber across another boat to settle into ours. Along with us is an ex-priest, a friend of the bishops from Virginia. He is around 70 and clambers along with the rest of us.
We left the island with a half full bag each and managed to come back with almost more than we could carry. We got lots of laughs from locals as we made our trek. With what we have brought, we have doubled our stuff. Most of it is books. We dig and find our nice clothes, and rush off to morning assembly still half asleep. Only 4 of the 13 teachers were there the day before, as they all came on the Ilala. We were the only extra ones that came to assembly, and the head teacher asked us to give a speech- as many thought we were not coming back. Our speech was “yeah we’re back like we said- see you in class tomorrow” and with that, we picked up our finals and fell asleep. The ensuing days were a flurry of test grading. It was heartbreaking, though not as bad as we had feared. And some of the answers that students gave were quite humorously incorrect.
Once we had a good night sleep we noticed that Mtombe, our cat, had really fattened up while we were away. Then we realized that when she lay down- her sides would move. The next night, she was very loud and restless. We prepared a nest for her, out of the kitchen and not in our bed. Cats of course never use the nest you prepare (the first time, we set up a few great ones and she still went for the stinky kitchen storage room) but when we got back from class, we came back to a writhing pile of skinny tails and pink paws in the nest we had made. It took awhile to figure it out, but there were three!
In class, Sasha taught students to say “Feliz Navidad” too much excitement. She also taught an effective tool from her Spanish teacher in middle school. “listo!” in Spanish is “Ready” so she slams on the table and yells “LISTO” and they bang on the table and responds “SI LISTO!” and then everyone stops talking and pays attention. We have perfected the use of the projector, and it is far nicer than writing everything on the chalk board. The only thing is they take forever to take notes. It makes sense, there are so few textbooks, so notes are highly valued. They also copy absolutely everything down, important or not.
The ex-priest was very busy, but we caught him in a quiet evening before he left. He and his wife helped begin the first deaf school in Malawi 25 years ago, and come back often to visit. His advice- “never do anything for someone that they can do for themselves”. When the Bishop came to visit Virginia, he spoke to the congregation. The church has signs like “we accept everyone” and was clearly LGBTQ friendly. Some in the church were quite nervous about what he might say with Malawi (and the Bishop being a Trump supporter) being so homophobic, but it went fine. A gay couple walked up to him holding hands, and had a jovial conversation. He had never met such a pair, and said they were lovely. Changing minds one friendly conversation at a time. We spoke later to the Bishop, who explained he was republican, and while not liking everything Trump did, he did like the US being loud and strong arming people who may cause harm.
This whole time we have been hiding that we are not married, answering the question with vagaries like “we are together” since we figure the worst thing we could do is lie. When the ex-priest asked the bishop what the deal was with us, if we were married or together the bishop responded with “don’t tell anyone- but no they are not married!” It seems like most of the people on the island haven’t figured it out though.
Joanna set up a lunch program each Wednesday, and the day has been dubbed “Joanna day”. The one day students all come to class. Funding is running out, so she must make another request to her friends and family. Sasha went around to take photos of the students lining up for lunch, getting lunch, and goofing off afterwards. A teacher had pointed out that many people with English as a second language are pretty good at speaking in an official sense- they can learn in it, they can take a test or fill out a government form in it, but it is very difficult to chat. If they chat, it is in Chichewa (or one of the other many many languages).
It took a week and a half- but we finally got settled in and unpacked for the first time in a month and a half and it felt so good to finally have a place for everything that wasn’t the bottom of a backpack that you would have to repack the next day. We finally got around to defrosting and bleaching the freezer, and hanging all letters from our friends and Ryans Family. Our enjoyment was short lived as the very next day we got a text from Patrick saying that we would need to move out of the Bishops house to the mothers union. The ceiling had started to fall down and upon further investigation it was discovered that the beams of the roof were so badly damaged by termites that some were no longer there. So we need to move out so they can do some emergency repairs before it comes crashing down on us in a heavy rain. We were able to do one more movie night before we left. We had two teachers this time and watched Men in Black. Its easy to not think about it if you aren’t paying attention, but most movies are filled with white people. It’s a bit of a struggle to find movies with a black person as a leading character.
The rainy season continues and some of the storms are simply awe inspiring. The thunder shakes the whole building sometimes. The rain usually starts around 3am, and goes by the time the sun is up but sometimes it does last into the early afternoon. We have discovered some great new dieting methods- eat nothing but eggs rice and beans
Europe part 2
We packed up our stuff and set off to meet up with Sasha’s family. After a reunion in a hotel lobby, we set out on beautiful drive through the Greek country side. After many narrow roads and steep cliffs with leaves changing color, we made it to the small town of Olympia. We visited the museum, saw the ruins of the Olympic grounds and many huge ruined temples. We even got to race on the original Olympic stadium. Most importantly, we were reunited with Ricky baby! (Rick Steves) Who told us all the long history of the place
Greece was completely deserted this time of year and we couldn’t figure out why. The weather was just right and it only rained once while we were there. Everyone was happy to see tourists and we got the whole place to ourselves. 18% of Greece’s economy is tourism based. In Malawi, they will offer a huge book of a menu. You will pick a first, second, and third choice, and they will have none of it. You will end up having beans and rice. Some Greek resturants had a similar set up, although no nsima. One completely deserted place even took us back into the kitchen to show us in person what was available! They did give us a pile of free and delicious oranges too.
Next stop was a little town on the water called Stupa. We stayed at a fantastic place with a view of the water and a hot tub on the second floor. We had a great time eating traditional Greek food including Moussaka and exploring old Greek castle ruins. On one small roadside town, we came to the one open restaurant. The waiter explained the kitchen was closed, but he would whip something up for us. He came back with a selection of fish, tomatoes, cheeses, and meats to put on our bread. We are learning to ignore menus, as the surprises always seem better.
Another perilous drive later we arrived at the ancient fortress of Monemvasia. It was basically a huge rock that someone carved a small town into, with a fortress ontop. Only a small jetty connected it to the mainland. In all its history, no one had been able to take it by force. There were also literal swarms of cats wherever we went. We counted 32 at one restaurant. Ryan found a little church tucked into the cliffside about half way up that involved a little bit of faith in a benevolent god to get to.
Having gotten our fill of the little towns we went back into the big city of Nafplion It was known for a similarly impenetrable mountain fort with 998 steps to the top. Ryan, Sasha and mom raced up, only to have Kara and Dad drive up and beat them. We also stopped at the nearby Mycenae, which according to Kara is the picture they use in all of the Greek history textbooks. This castle had a deep well with steps to the bottom. The stairs had a rope across them, but no sign so Ryan and Kara figured that meant they were open for business. The tunnel down was very steep and made with large boulders overhead. There were also several turns so by step 40 or so it was absolute darkness. The tunnel had held, for thousands of years, but the stairs started getting slippery and they decided to head back up.
Finally it was time to see Athens! Isabel finally was able to fly in as well. After a delay and some disappointing tea, we got into our AirBnb and visited the Parthenon and the Greek forum. We had just come from London were the stone art was kept, and so it was fascinating to see the original homes and pieces of the puzzle. The heart of the city was much like any other European city. Huge beautiful buildings and churches located right next to a McDonalds and H&M store. But the people were all very friendly (except for the pushy waiters in the more touristy areas) and it felt like a very safe city despite all of the deadbolts on the doors. Ryan did get a chance to go see a dentist for a chipped tooth that had happened in Malawi. He sent out a blast of emails to various dentists in the area. Especially ones that had English letters in their name. one person got back right away and said that she could arrange for her associate to put a temporary filler in tomorrow and do the real filling when she got back from holiday. Ryan asked for her address and set up a time to come in for 1 pm. The next day we went to the address and arrived about 10 minutes early. We rang the bell and received no answer. It was in a shared building so eventually someone let us in. The office was on the 4th floor so we started climbing. After the 2nd and 3rd floors, there were no lights which made for an odd experience of climbing up a random flight of stairs in a strange city in total darkness to go see a dentist that probably wasn’t there. We finally got to the office and it was a dimly lit door that had (as far as we could tell) the same Greek letters as the one we were looking for on google maps. We arrived ontime, so prepared to use our new waiting skills in this dimly lit staircase for about an hour figuring that maybe with the holiday season it would be more like a Malawi time kind of appointment. After an hour we figured something was probably wrong. Neither of our phones had service so Sasha went to go wander the city in search of free Wi-Fi. She wandered into city hall who kindly lent their phone, and called the number that Ryan had given her only to find that it was the number to a different dentist Ryan had also been looking at going to. After some confusion she came back to get the real number. Meanwhile Ryan had managed to get a 20 min free trial of Wi-Fi. With a little sleuthing on the internet he found that the associate he had been sent to see actually worked at a different dentist office down the road a little ways. We headed there and upon getting to the building encountered a very similar set of stairs. 2 hours late at this point we arrived at a very closed looking dark door. We knocked anyway and another patient opened the door to let us in to a very nice and brightly lit office. There was no receptionist, so Ryan peeked his head around the corner. A hygienist saw him and told him to sit down before I could explain who I was. We sat in the waiting room for about a half hour before Ryan tried to get the dentists attention again. Halfway through his explanation the dentist said: “Yes I know why you are here. Go sit down” another 20 min passed before Ryan was called in. The procedure took about 5 min. We tried explaining that we had been given the wrong address, but he seemed annoyed at how late I was all the same. Once it was over he said: “Okay you can leave now” Ryan asked him who we should pay on the way out. He just said no and to leave. So we walked out and arrived home from our 5 min procedure 6 hours later, for a temporary filling that fell out in 3 days. The actual procedure was far smoother and more permanent. And it only cost 70 euros and that’s the cost without using insurance! Yet another crazy cheap medical experience outside the US!
Then it was on to Santorini for Christmas, an island in the Mediterranean that was a ring of islands forming the rim of a now underwater but still active volcano. We went on a few hikes and visited some of the other towns on the island, but mostly we just kicked back and enjoyed the incredible views from the cliffside. The only theater on the island played Mamma Mia and My Big Fat Greek Wedding on alternating days. We had dinner Christmas Eve at an extremely Greek restaurant, with a somewhat drunk owner learning none of us ordered drinks and so gave us plenty of wine for the table. We were all a little giggly by the time he started calling “Ope!” and smashing plates on the ground. Christmas dinner was an organized and delicious affair, in a restaurant surrounded in plants. Just like the Rainforest Café but with real plants, and less dinosaurs.
Our last stop with Sasha’s parents was in Artemida. Ryan and Sasha did not fit in the 4 person cab so we decided to find another way to the town of Artemida. We settled on a nice walk on the side of a busy freeway (the taxi was a whopping 30 euros) to an area marked with lots of do not enter signs, a quick hop through a hole in the chain link fence and a long ride on the bus. We needed to have bought bus tickets, but the bus driver did not speak English so just waved us back. It was a lovely beach town that was clearly popular with partygoers in the summer, but deserted this time of year. We did a much needed load of laundry, had a steak and potatoes dinner and said our goodbyes the next morning. And then, it was off to Portugal!
We only had a day in Lisbon, but we managed to do a lot of walking all over the city, including the Rick steves walk, eat lots of food, see the views from the castle on the hill, and visit one off the coolest churches we had seen so far. It caught fire in the 60s and was repaired to be a usable church, but much of the damage was left, including the exposed brick where the plaster was damaged. It was very interesting to see such a massive beautiful church that was a bit more real.
Our last stop on our whirlwind tour of Europe was Spain. It was nice to be somewhere that we could speak the language at least a little bit. We met up with a very friendly British woman who was associated with the Anglican church of Madrid to pick up the books that had been donated. It took a few hours to sort through all the books and find the ones worth carrying. We swapped stories with the woman who was organizing the donation as she had spent a good amount of time in the bush all over the world, and so was familiar with our plight.
On new years eve we went out with some of the people we had met at the hostel and tried to make it to the famous del Sol square, but many others had the same idea and we only got within a few blocks. We did however eat 12 grapes at midnight one for each month of the year. Apparently seedless grapes have not made it to Europe yet, which made the whole prospect more difficult. There was also a huge opportunity missed by the people making the 20 20 glasses. It seems like common sense to line up the zeros with your eyes. This thought apparently had not occurred to the people designing these glasses. As the eyes lined up with the 2’s. All the same we bought some light up ones for 3 euros.
New years day was a frenzy of shopping at the “Chinese shops” for everything and anything we might need back in Malawi. We still don’t know if it called a Chinese shop because of the people working there or because it is all Chinese made stuff, but it seemed to be a common descriptor across Europe.
We woke up bright and early packed all of our many bags and took an uber to the Train station. We arrived in Cuenca despite the best efforts of two very poorly signed train stations right after the sun had risen. Luckily, when we did find security, they were understanding of our plight and got us were we needed to be. Unfortunately, we very quickly discovered that it was very cold at the higher elevation and we had also just missed the only bus of this very small town. The cold proved not to be too bad as lugging all of our bags a mile uphill warmed us up very quickly. We hope someone on their way to work got some enjoyment out of what must have been quite the spectacle. Ryan carried one of the bags on his head like a Malawian and Sasha dragged the broken roller bag we found for 3 euros behind her with a tied on jacket.
After a bit of a recovery we ditched the bags and saw the sights of Cuenca. We saw the clock tower, met a guy who loved America because we could own lots of guns, walked across a somewhat underwhelming famous bridge and got off the beaten path for a hike up a hill to a giant statue of Jesus. We went on our last hike among oddly shaped rocks, and saw the last frost.
On our final day we went to the Science museum and were surprised to find one of the best ones we had ever been to. It was far more modern and interesting than our own Science Museum. We just wished we could bring our students to any room inside. There were so many cool science experiments we could show them. There was even a self forming tornado that you could touch and blow on. We went back to the hostel for lunch and treated our self to a big bread cheese and fruit meal followed up with a bunch of pastries of all kinds for dessert. We took photos and tried to savor the tastes, as it would be a long time before we got such a feed again. After lunch we went to the Dinosaur museum. It wasn’t as cool as the science museum, but we got some great pictures of the giant dinosaurs towering over the ancient city at sundown.
The next morning we made our way back to the train station only to find out that our train was to be delayed by 3 hours. This didn’t exactly jive with our flight time so we frantically searched for another option. With 200+ pounds of stuff in tow we found a bus to another train station on the other side of town, purchased new tickets and ran to catch the train with seconds to spare. From Madrid we went on an extremely fruitless shopping trip before boarding the subway to the airport and making our way back to mother Africa!
Family +1 in GREECE
European Whirlwind
The fortnight began in a very warm Malawi, and has ended sitting in a rainy and fortified Athens apartment. Two weeks ago, we had no idea we would be here. And yet, here we are!
We spent the last days in Malawi making a study sheet for our students and taking individual photos for the teachers and printing them out on the tiny printer. They were beyond excited, and we tried out many poses and lightings with each one. One of Sasha’s students came by with a letter that she wrote which was very charming. It appears that when we announced we were leaving, it wasn’t made obvious we would be returning in January to everyone. Sasha pulled out the watercolors for the first time since inktober to make a little card as well.
In more bug news, we found our first scorpion on a walk to town. Fortunately it was already dead; though it served as a good reminder that we do not want to ever meet a live one. In pursuit of a clean dish Ryan went to the kitchen and was astounded to find no less than 19 live cockroaches in our sink. Who needs clean dishes anyways? We dropped the cat in, who promptly hopped back out.
Francis who often comes on Saturday mornings to work on Chemistry stopped by after class as well, Intermolecular Forces are still outside his grasp. We spoke for awhile, he asked if there are indeed black people in America other than Obama. He asked about what their lives are like, to which we didn’t have a good answer. How does one explain American Racism to an African? We brought out a few pennies and American money for him to look at. “How much is this $1 worth?” (enough to feed you and the family for a day) “around 750 Kwacha!”. We asked about the history of each of the Kwacha bills, which he only knew a few of. It is in the past, and so it does not matter. A few other students from the soccer team saw him sitting with us and so came to talk as well. We don’t know them as well because they often skip, but they were nice boys outside of the classroom. They too were entranced with the USD and coins. There are Kwacha coins, but they are rare as the largest one is worth about $0.00002 USD. We have never seen them on the island, only as change on the mainland. Before he left, Francis looked Sasha in the eye and begged her not to hate him. He explained there was a Chemistry textbook in Yofu, for 2000 kwacha. It was only him and his mom, his dad had died at 6 years old and so he did not have the money. We ended up giving it to him on the terms he tell nobody else, and keep studying hard. He brought it by the next day, and it had a note from a previous student written on the inside explaining how this textbook helped him get into university, to try hard, and a few bible verses.
The Form 2 mob came by to work on math. They did have one chemistry question, and Sasha apologized we couldn’t do the experiment as we had no Acacia leaves. “yes we do! That’s one over there!” one piped up, and then collected some leaves. As they worked on math Sasha prepared the indicator and hoped it would work. Unfortunately, it did not but it looked cool. When everyone understood math a little better, we went to the cathedral and took photos of everyone. Each sheet is 50c so we told them we’d give them only one, or it was 1000kwacha each, or 2 apples (which are impossible to find though the students claim they know where to find them). They told us it would start a fight, so not to print out only one photo. When we come back we should have a steady stream of apples from students wanting photos.
Maryfaith, a fellow teacher, came by with her boyfriend Thomson for us to meet. They posed all over the cathedral, and got some very handsome photos. Whenever one didn’t turn out, Maryfaith would accuse Thomson of being too black, and we would blame the suns location. In the end we got some nice photos, and went to drink cordial on the porch as the sun went down. Thomson is a private teacher on the mainland and was horrified with stories of our students laziness and sassiness.
We spent the evening packing up the last of our things. The Headteacher has been promising to stop by and get to know us since the first week of school and finally stopped by at 9 pm on our last night to talk. It was somewhat awkward as we had been about ready to go to bed, but he said when we came back we should go on trips with the bishop to see other parts of Malawi. This does sound like a lot of fun, and so we hope we can do it. Unless services all over Malawi last 4 hours.
We spent our last night under the mosquito net, and the next morning got up early and carried everything to the Mothers Union. Ryan gave the last of our expiring food to passing students who, after an initial polite confusion, attacked it with a ravenous passion. Sasha made her last cup of coffee, and a few girls that love to work on anything except Chemistry during class came by. They appear not to take being yelled at personally, and said they will miss her. They grabbed a few mangos from our tree in very clever ways, took a few photos, shared some hugs and they hurried to class.
Maryfaith and Thomson walked us to the airport. We bought our last mandazi and some crackers. We wait at Yofu, and took more photos. The plane comes in, and we say our goodbyes. Nobody has ever ridden a plane, so they request photos from the air. We get the big plane- the 12 seater and with only a 7 kg backpack each we leave behind the island we spent so much time in. It was an interesting change in perspective to see our tiny spec of an island shrink in the immense blue of Lake Malawi.
We arrive in Lilongwe, then head off to Ethiopia. It was a trek, but the airplane food was delicious for once. The Addis Abbaba airport is huge, and Ryan confidently tried on a pair of jeans that he hadn’t worn in months. He had recently told his mom that he hadn’t lost any weight in Malawi. He found hubris when the jeans comically didn’t fit and easily fell to his ankles. We bought a nice new leather belt and searched for Ethiopian food. Unfortunately, the only food was 3 London Cafés.
We landed in London. It is strange how such a strange city can feel like home. We went to the hostel and enjoyed a huge free breakfast, with disappointingly instant coffee. After freezing our way through the very creative Tate Modern Art Museum (and admiring the best free view of London) we go straight to the Primark and purchase 2 jackets, a scarf, 2 hats, 4 gloves, some underwear, a belt, a pair of jeans, and a shirt for only 30 US and are instantly far more excited and cozy. We splurge on delicious dim sum and Phad Thai, and go to sleep at 8pm along with 3 other hostel mates. Turns out they were simply napping before going out for a crazy night, as they were gone at 2am when Sasha somehow got food poisoning.
The British museum was massive, and we listened to the dulcet tones of Rick Steves and wandered through Ancient Egypt. We visited the 4 story M&M store, and resisted the temptation to learn our m&m color. We found cheap tickets to a show and enjoyed some very British humor with the “man in the white suit”.
We set out for Amsterdam, and found a beautiful city with many bikes and very few cars. We dropped our stuff off at the very fun “Flying Pig” and went to explore the city. We get up early to book tickets for the Anne Frank house. After a very somber visit, we enjoy a coffee and cake overlooking flowery bikes and canals. We listened to Rick Steves again and found hidden free art museums, silent courtyards were single women used to live and help the poor, armies of pigeons (causing pooptastrophes), and many, many marijuana coffee shops. Ryan had an early bedtime while Sasha talked to an Indian man working in a German scientific lab. She lamented the lack of books in Likoma, and he suggested reaching out to Anglican churches and schools around here, to see if they could donate. He also said there’s no problem with the current research environment, as everyone thrives only on competition. The next day we reached out to an Anglican church in Madrid and got a quick and excited reply!
In not nearly enough time, we head to Venice in a $21 flight. It took a long time to find our hotel in the dark and web-like streets of Venice. We woke up to a warm croissant, orange juice, and a foamy cappuccino made by a deeply Italian woman who silently watched us eat from 3 feet away. We wandered the beautiful and decrypt maze that is Venice, finding many dead ends and picturesque squares. St. Marks square was not underwater, as the media had led us to believe, and we peacefully strolled through. We learned about the bell that rings up to 100 times a year calling Venetians to hurry home and roll up the carpets on the first floor before floods come. The pillars as well of St. Marks Basilica are all different types of marble from their vast trading empire. The Doge’s palace is a huge pink and white building, and we decide to go in, for $25 a person. But luckily, we still look like students (and Sasha still has the student ID) and so are able to get in at half price. Inside was a gorgeous gold art museum in each room, with more than a few sculptures that made us both think we could do that ourselves. We crossed the bridge of sighs- twice. The bridge is the spot that the convicted would pause, “ponder their future in the dark, dank prisons; look out and got one last view of joyous Venice… and sigh”. Everyone from Casanova to Byron to Hemingway looked upon this bridge as they visited Venice (the “Las Vegas of Europe”).
We have enjoyed the pizza of Venice, and have had it for almost every meal. Its an excellent price, is very diverse, and so, so, delicious. The next day we excitedly sleep in, then went for a walk over another famous bridge through a very rainy Venice. We got a photo of ourselves (the man we asked was excellent- taking about 15 photos at different angles) before Ryan succumbed to his cold and returned to sleep for the rest of the day. Sasha continued to admire the Frari cathedral, (saving a staggering 1.5 e with that student ID) and saw some fantastic art in its original location. It was extremely tempting to try to borrow a single chandelier to bring back and adorn our own cathedral but figured that wouldn’t fit in her carry-on.
We got up early and flew out of Venice- this time with our passports! We arrived in Athens, and bus out to our hotel. It was an apartment with a bedroom, full kitchen, small bathroom, living room and patio for only $26 a night. And as a bonus it came with 12 deadbolts on the door, pulldown metal grates on the windows and very solid walls. We’ve never felt so insecure in such a secure place! We’ve spent these past 2 days recovering, doing laundry, venturing out to gather food and cooking for ourselves for the first time in 4 months. We are excited to see Sasha’s family tomorrow!
Thanksgiving
Sasha found the one wheel on the island, at the beautiful Ulisa bay and made some classic mugs!
Ticket to Anywhere 