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.

First Impressions

We have already spent a week in Malawi, with only a few days being at our new home in Mzuzu. Malawi is everything and nothing that we expected. How can you prepare for somewhere you have never been before, or even heard about before having the opportunity to travel there? Lilongwe was big and full of people, mostly friendly, and very intimidating. The market was intense with every little nook of space being occupied by a vendor or customer. In the market you can buy everything from fresh fruit to electrical commodities to rope to clothes and everything in between. And yet there was still some modern elements with stores such as game that reminded us of something like a walmart. 

As intimidating as Lilongwe was, right next to the city is Kauma Village. We walked there our second day in Malawi to visit the village chiefs and were automatically transferred from a busy city to a rural environment that had mazes of housing and hundreds of children. When thinking about Africa, Kauma Village is what comes to mind.

With our brief introduction to Lilongwe over, we travelled north to Mzuzu by bus. Mzuzu is definitely more where we are suppose to be. It has the city element with the market and stores for shopping, but it is literally in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains and trees. The people are friendly and it is just small town enough that everyone knows who you are. We always have random people come up and say "Are you at the university? Where are you coming from?" Of course it's easy to recognize our team - we are the newest white people to arrive. It's not so bad being a visible minority - not as different as I thought it would be. Of course everywhere we go we get looks or calls at us, but that is easy to get used to. It is especially interesting to experience the difference in treatment when I am with Mike to when I am not. Whenever we are together Mike is always addressed first, but mostly people don't approach us. When I am on my own I have almost every other person saying hello.

So far = so good. Settling in and unpacking is keeping our minds busy, and so far that is a good thing. Now we just have to get used to getting up with the sun - at 6 in the morning. I think that we will be just fine over the next 9 months; Malawi is starting to grow on me.