While I wait, I bake:

It's been 3 weeks since we arrived in Malawi and so far we have travelled to Nkhata Bay twice and I've tried my hand at baking and cooking. And (shocking!) I am actually not that bad at baking. Since this is my life right now, you are going to hear about it. In Mzuzu there are lots of groceries to buy. We are in the middle of nowhere, but that doesn't mean too much anymore. Sure we don't have the same things we would at home, but if you are patient then you can get anything you want. We get our dry groceries and dairy (mainly Mike's peanut butter in bulk, yoghurt, milk, butter, pasta, beans, spices...) at the grocery store. Shipments seem to be random currently so when we see something we like, we buy lots! Especially when the biggest jars of peanut butter come in. Currently, we are patiently waiting for Knorr 3 cheese pasta sauce to come back! Bread we get at Vipya Bakery, which is both fresher and cheaper than the grocery store. Any veggies or fruit and eggs we get at the market - right now its tomatoes (so many!), carrots, cucumber, green peppers, avocados and bananas (although these seem to be disappearing).

                                 

What I miss is the variety of breads (tortillas, pitas, English muffins, bagels) that we have at home. So we are going native and making our own. First try was tortillas - I got bored half way through making the dough so Mike stepped in to relieve my ADD, which is the only reason it worked out. We don't have a rolling pin, so we used a cup (next time we will use a glass bottle) and we don't have a frying pan, so we used a pot. Improvisation is key when cooking in Malawi, which is good when my creative juices get flowing so I don't change the recipe - too much. They didn't so much become tortillas but more like Naan, and they were delicious! Since that was a success, we tried more. Next was peanut butter cookies. First batch was great, didn't burn the bottoms too much. Second batch was good too - but the bottoms were super burnt. Our oven and stove have 2 settings, on and off, so the art of watching cookies is becoming well-honed by both of us. Last we tried banana bread, which was a huge success!!! It was so good, I can't explain. And while it was baking it made our house smell great! (Our house, in one word, smells dank, so this was a huge accomplishment). Also, we can cook rice - and not the microwave kind. In a pot. Without burning. This is a miracle to say the least. Due to my current retirement phase before work starts, I am always thinking about baking. I think this comes from my mom. And I really hope this stays the whole time we are here, because not only does it make us eat better, it also makes us feel accomplished and less home-sick.  Who knew

In the Meantime...

So far our time in Malawi has been a mini-vacation. I know what I will be doing for the next 9 months - time just goes on a different way here. I have had meetings and discussed what I would like to do with quite a few people, now it is just about waiting for the official start of my internship at Mzuni. For those out of the loop, I will be working with the ICT department and the University Library to develop and expand the technical side of the university's web server and internet-based learning initiatives. Also, I will be working with the Children's Librarian, who absolutely loves proposals. With him I will be writing, writing and writing proposals about new partnerships, existing partnerships, new initiatives, funding, etc. for the university. Both areas will be interesting and help me gain experience, but the proposal writing will be closer to application of my degree. What I am both excited and nervous about is an opportunity to teach a couple of classes of a course within the land management department on development policy. I will be doing an introduction to policy to the level 2s - this is directly related to my degree. With all this work ahead of me, right now I am just relaxing and having a bit of a summer, even though right now it is winter in Malawi.