water woes....

This week both ESCOM and the Lilongwe Water Board has had their fair share of problems.  This translated into very limited electricity and water for many folks in various parts of town.  Usually, the area in which I live is considered relatively high priority (because of the proximity to the President's House....not because of me - although I can see how that could easily be confused!)  and the issues get sorted relatively quickly.  This week, however, the issues persisted.  

Tuesday evening the pipes gurgled loudly and then the water stopped.  Wednesday I rolled out of bed, went to work (sans shower), played volleyball, and returned home wishing and hoping that the water was back on.  It wasn't.  During the day, our power had cut as well, so by night time we gladly settled for 1 out of 2.  The next morning there was JUST enough water dripping out of my shower to allow me to rinse off.  Then the water disappeared all together again.  The same for Friday except for the water actually completely stopped for 5 minutes while I was at the peak of my shampoo lather!  Fortunately, it returned just enough to allow me to rinse it out.  When my roommate woke up this morning, she took a nice long shower.....and then the water stopped about 10 minutes later.   

Not having water is one thing - I mean, it's relatively easy enough to plan accordingly.  It's the uncertainty that has made it difficult!  This afternoon my other roommate went for a run.  When he returned, K helped fetch some water from our tank (we have a reserve tank but no pump - so we always have enough water for a few days, it's just not pumped automatically to the house).  No more than 2 minutes later, we heard that crazy gurgle of the pipes....

...and then 3 minutes after that, it started to rain.  And not just any rain.  But a downpour.  Perhaps I should just go wash my hair outside?  

**As I finished typing this, the power cut out.  So for most of the week we had electricity and no water, but now that the water is back, we have no power.  Guess you can't win them all, can you?  

The weekend in photos

I've always heard amazing things about the Zomba Plateau.  I'm ashamed to admit it, but despite being here for nearly 1.5 years, I'd only ever passed through Zomba....until now!!!

This is Zomba. 

this is the cottage we stayed at in Zomba

B working his magic to get the fire going

is this cozy or what?

the next morning we woke up in a cloud....

that cleared up into a beautiful bright blue sky!

we enjoyed a nice brunch outside

and then prepared to go on a hike

but then...the rains came...and stayed...for a few hours...

finally, it cleared up for us to give it another go (i was bonked on the head with my own camera!)

everything was extremely slippery

and, not surprisingly, I fell

....into a puddle

then we acted out "Men who stare at goats" (really, he was tangled up so we were trying to decide whether or not we could free him)

then we crossed over the reservoir

stopping for a photo op

 

team USA

so peaceful and serene!

E&O making every weekend count!

happy that we avoided the second rain cloud that seemed to be following us

I really loved getting away for a bit and, even though it rained, it was actually really nice!  We cooked a lot, watched a few movies, had a few impromptu dance parties, and just enjoyed each others company.  There's something calming about big rain storms and, other than our shortened hike, it was pretty much the perfect way to spend a rainy weekend....  With that said, hopefully we'll get to go back sometime soon - the views were pretty spectacular through the clouds so I can't imagine how gorgeous it is when the sun is shining!!

Spadrick's Day

Some people think it's lame to share your birthday with a holiday.  My roommate, for example, shares his birthday with New Year's Day.  I'd say that's pretty much less than ideal.  Every once in a while I get to share my birthday with Columbus Day, but let's face it, that's pretty boring.

Our friend T, on the other hand, shares her birthday with good old St. Patrick's Day.  Now THAT's a good holiday with which to share your birthday!

bday gal working the braai...

before B took over...

chocolate stout cake & a very green bailey's cream cheese frosting

St Paddy's day = incomplete without a little serenading on a green guitar...

Note:  I'm running out of ideas for baked goods including alcohol.  I've done red wine chocolate cake, whiskey cake balls, scotch cupcakes, bourbon banana bread, and this stout cake.  Any other good ideas out there? 

big money!?!

Big news.  According to the Nyasa Times, The Reserve Bank of Malawi will begin printing and circulating 1000MK bills this summer.  This is the equivalent to $6 (bank rate) or $3.50 (black market rate).  Either way, it is twice as large as the current largest denomination of 500MK and will significantly reduce the size of the gigantic wads of cash that people seem to carry everywhere. 

I think this is about half of what was required to purchase my car.  Can you imagine buying a car with bills that are only worth $3?

In the US, currency has changed appearance, but has otherwise remained constant for many years.  In Malawi, however, it has changed significantly even during the last few decades!

20 kwacha notes [the smallest currently in circulation] were introduced in 1983. 50 tambala notes [1/2 of a kwacha] were last issued in 1986, with the last 1 kwacha notes printed in 1990. In 1993, 50 kwacha notes were introduced, followed by 100 kwacha in 1993, 200 kwacha in 1995 and 500 kwacha in 2001. source

It's no surprise that a new bill was necessary, especially considering the extremely high inflation rates over the past several years.  The real question is - what will it look like?  John Chilembwe (a national hero) is on all of the current bills in circulation so one would assume he'd be the face of the new 1000MK bill as well; however, rumor has it that Bingu wa Mutharika (the President) may get the honor.....

Bad luck comes in 3s, right?

If there were such a thing as a bad luck quota, I think I've met mine for March.  In a 24-hour time span, 3 odd/bad/strange/hilarious things have happened.  Good thing bad luck comes in 3s (or so I'm told, not that I'm superstitious or anything).

1.  Last night this happened.

I am attached at the hip to this thing - it's almost sad how dependent I am on a functioning laptop and, since my personal one was stolen in Joburg, this is all I've got...and now only a fraction of the screen works.  It was totally my fault, but still...this is not good.  It is SO not good that instead of freaking out, my initial reaction was to laugh.  In other words, hysteria set in almost immediately.  

2.  This morning I opened my car door and a BIG spider that had been hiding in the crack of the door scurried inside my car.  We looked for it....(and I use the word 'we' rather loosely here because I was scared out of my freaking mind) but we couldn't find it.  I considered walking to work but decided to suck it up instead.  I made it to work just fine but I'm pretty sure he's still waiting in my car....you know, to pounce as soon as I let my guard down.  I've gotten much better about spiders after living here for nearly a year and a half...but let's face it....being trapped in an enclosed space while operating a motor vehicle is not an ideal time to come face to face with one of those suckers....

3.  Due to my bum screen (refer to #1) I have borrowed my roommate's extra computer and his awesome LCD screen (which actually totally works in my favor).  However, somewhere between home and the office, both computers were completely inundated with miniature red ants (fortunately not the biting kind).  I tried to brush as many off as I could, but they just keep crawling out from under the keys on the keyboard and waltzing right up my arms while I worked....to my neck, and my hair....I seriously had ants all over me.... All. Morning. Long.  

....Better than a big spider, I guess!!

To Senga Bay we go!

I know what you're thinking.  The lake?  Again?  Well, we had some members of our global team in town this week and after several trips to Malawi over the years, they had yet to get to the lake.  This week was pretty grueling and since this weekend was a 3 day weekend,  we thought we deserved a quick get away to the lake.  We ended up in Senga Bay for a night, just to give them a taste of the beauty that is lake Malawi....

having trouble kick starting the weekend....PUT.  DOWN.  THE.  PHONES!

the view in the morning

 

'relaxing' by reading an old Economist.  (although it doesn't look like it, I DO have a bathing suit on)

 

B opted to kayak

I was planning to kayak as well, but floating (aka laziness) totally won out....

"But why is there still a toilet and an engine in there" (this boat was grounded about 2.5 years ago.  Potentially not the safest thing to climb on, but oh well)

trying to plan our next holiday (TO CAPE TOWN) via my slow (but amazing) iPhone....

just one of the many baboons who kept us entertained

particularly this adorable little baby