After spending all week wishing it was the weekend so that we could go to the lake, Laura, Banda and I unsurprisingly spent 2 days out of our 3 day weekend lounging on the shores of Lake Malawi! We hitched a ride into town on Saturday morning with the school car, crammed in the back, hugging our knees, wedged between Madames’ open legs. Good thing space bubbles don’t really exist here! It’s times like those that I can only laugh about being in Karonga…. It’s a weird combination of being so uncomfortable and yet still grinning and laughing because the funniest moments also seem to happen in those situations. Made it to town and had a very efficient shopping trip. Was pretty proud that we got everything done with time to spare! Had a heart-swelling moment when we went to buy mangos from our usual lady. We got Banda to translate that we wanted to know what color the inside was (because last time we bought yellow ones instead of orange ones… not as tasty). So he tells her this and she cut up the whole mango for us to taste! We were just expecting her to peel back the skin. But instead we ended up standing in the middle of the market, savoring the best mango I’ve ever eaten, sun beaming down on us (but in a good way now that we remembered our sun screen!), a nice breeze, with two of my favorite people in the world! It was just one of those happy-to-be-alive moments for both Laura and me!

Once all of our shopping was done and Madame Kaunda had promised to take it back to campus for us, we hopped on bike taxis and headed to the lake. Laura was jazzed about her first bike taxi experience… myself… not so much. Haven’t missed them at all lol. Plus I somehow got talked into sitting like a lady – side saddle – which doesn’t seem all that secure for me. And we weren’t on a paved road. Beautiful. But we made it there and I enjoyed Laura’s happiness lol. Had a lovely time at the lake as always, but even moreso because it wasn’t scorchingly hot. It actually looked like it was going to downpour on us, but it skirted around the lake. Lovely day! Capped off the day by joining the teachers in the staff room to watch the Chelsea football match. I haven’t been going as often since I always seem to be busy with household stuff, but I wanted to make the effort since I’ve missed hanging out with the Chaminade teachers. And we had a great time, especially myself as I laughed while listening to them continue the same (good-natured) fight that they have had every single game for the last two years. It never fails to make me smile! And water came at 2 am. Only the 4th time it’s come in our 3 weeks here. Bah. My next home will be down the hill when water comes every day. I’m so over this ‘let’s be constantly worried about water’ life.

Had my first ever trash burning experience! Laura couldn’t stand to do it to the universe. We even prayed/apologized first… but what can you do? No trash collectors here. Fairly successful event. There are still some stubborn pieces waiting for a Malawian touch, but I was proud that I managed to burn most of it! And my pyro-self kinda loved it.

As previously mentioned, we also went to the lake on Monday because it was a public holiday – Chilembwe Day! Chilembwe was a freedom fighter during the independence movement, inciting an uprising. Great lake day – ‘rented’ the car from the brothers so we didn’t have to deal with the hour commute otherwise. Laughed hysterically as Laura pretended on multiple occasions to be a crocodile sneaking up on Banda, never failing to evoke shrieks of terror. Too cute. She also had her first experience of harassing drunk men at the beach… shockingly enough a frequently screamed “Hey White Girl!” failed to woo her into a relationship with the beau. On the way home Laura wanted to pick up some bananas so she went into the market all by herself! I was impressed. I definitely never woulda done that only 3 weeks in. Sounds like she had a fun time. And a short time later I heard a roar of laughter and turned around to see Laura sauntering away from a crowd of bike taxi guys. Apparently one kept asking her for a banana and she shot him down, much to the amusement of some nearby madames. Love it.

I’ve also been practicing my Bawo skills, which have dropped severely during my time away. My counting has just gone up in smoke. Bawo is like Mancala by the way and is a favorite here. It’s very addictive so Molly and I used to play all of the time. Banda keeps destroying me (cockily and with great joy of course) so I’m determined to improve. I beat Abraham twice one afternoon so I was feeling good but then I lost spectacularly again to Banda later that night. I often forget how smart he is, but then I hear him vocalizing all of the counting that he’s done in his head (Molly – he counts out everything… he knows exactly where the play will end, even if it’s 7 or 8 steps later! Wowza, I stop after 2 and say good luck!). And it’s then that I remember that he got 1s on all of his subject exams. So basically he got the best possible scores in every class and was one of the top students in Malawi. Oi. Great Bawo opponent, eh?

One of the things I’ve most wanted to do since coming back is perfect my nsima making skills. Because 1. I’ve developed a real appreciation for the food. I actually am disappointed when they serve rice instead of nsima at MIRACLE for lunch. So I’d like to be able to make it for myself. And 2. No one is going to marry me if I can’t make nsima. And what will little Wanangwa Youngpeter eat?! :p But yes, in all seriousness, it was on my to-do list. So Banda said we could come over to his house and he’d teach us. Whoop! So I prepared beans for relish, grabbed some mangos as a thank-you for having us present, and we headed over. On time – they must have died with surprise. Banda has 3 student teachers living with him at the moment, so it was really quite the nice dinner party. I particularly enjoyed getting to know Raymond, upon whom Laura and I have decided to force our friendship. Love doing that. But anyways, he seems like a very sweet kid, so we’re hoping he will join us on our beach trips and airport outings. Raymond ended up being the nsima teacher for the evening, showing us the steps, letting us stir at different intervals, and quizzing me halfway through to make sure I was paying attention. I think I’ll end up with some huge muscles by the time I’m good at nsima preparation! Takes a lot of work. But I feel a lot better now about the process. Next time we visit them, we’re going to prepare the nsima and they’ll just stand by and make corrections. I’m excited for that! My love for Raymond was first bolstered when I saw him take a second helping of my beans and then later cemented when he asked me to teach him how I made them because he enjoyed them so much. I am always nervous sharing food I make, so I was thrilled! Had a lovely time, not only with the cooking lessons, but also watching music videos (favorite pastime of many Malawians) and getting to know each other. Side-splitting laughter as I looked over at the end of the night and Laura was covertly shoving a mango in her basketball shorts pocket. She wasn’t thrilled about having to give up so many of them since they were the best ever… so she was sure as hell going to get her mango serving…. Even if it had to be on-the-go and on-the-sly. And dripping wet… because that’s right, she pulled it out of a tub of water.