Hello,
It has been an eventful, full first week in Malawi. Since last I posted for you, I have moved into a stunning new house, been joined by two American compatriots in said residence and dove into work (which I realize I owe an explanation of at some point in the near future).
First, after looking at a serious number of houses to inhabit, including a series of 6-7 bedroom palaces. I have found a nice open house in convenient Area 3.
Tangent: Just like District 14, the layout of the city is numbered, randomly, there are maybe five street names and everyone's address is given by their Post Box #. That means when I build a new house on one side of Lilongwe and it is given P.O. 1157, someone on the other side of town who builds the next house and registers is given P.O. Box 1158. Sometimes, logic escapes this country's planners.
The house is fantastic, complete with a Western-style kitchen and washing machine!!!!! And the guy I wrote about in the last post wearing a ski suit. That is our nighttime guard, Abrams. His latest get-up is bright orange with a fur lined hood. He also salutes like a Star Wars stormtrooper when we enter or leave the compound. One day, I'll be wealthy enough to build an army of orange-snowsuit-wearing-Chichewa-speaking-perpetually-grinning guys to guard my castle in Belarus or somewhere. I can dream.
My two new companions here are Noah Schumer and Lydia Wallace, whom some of you might know. They have taken to the country very well, although each has had to deal with the vicious cycle of arriving here. Lydia's flights were cancelled, she spent the night in Nairobi and got here 12.5 hours late. Noah flew over two war zones: Libya and North-South Sudan, to transfer through Ethiopia to get here. I gave them a day and a half of my attention and they are now adjusted.
Finally, a quote: On my initial trip to pick-up Lydia at midnight the Saturday I got back, I decided I would go to a bar to watch sports and sip a caffeinated beverage over two hours to widdle away the time and psych myself up for an impending wait at the airport (every flight takes forever to process through customs and baggage claim). While watching an intriguing match of australian-rules football, I began chatting with a Malawian about the new president, Joyce Banda, who everyone in the West and here in Malawi is obsessing over. She is like the extremely attractive transfer student at a small liberal arts institution, everything she does is perfect because she is replacing a dearth of talent before (Ironically, I don't think Joyce Banda would fit that analogy). This is what this guy, a lawyer had to say. (Almost word for word)
"The lady president, she takes what Bingu had and reverses it. Everything she gonna do, for six months is great. But what people will realize, is that she is pushing the restart on the computer, she has no plan
for how to upgrade. She figures, like everyone here, that she will just be downloading the upgrade from somewhere in the West. She's no Bill Gates."
Before you jump on a bandwagon in Malawi, remember to check that there are horses to pull it. Seriously, there aren't a lot of horses here.
Steven
It has been an eventful, full first week in Malawi. Since last I posted for you, I have moved into a stunning new house, been joined by two American compatriots in said residence and dove into work (which I realize I owe an explanation of at some point in the near future).
First, after looking at a serious number of houses to inhabit, including a series of 6-7 bedroom palaces. I have found a nice open house in convenient Area 3.
Tangent: Just like District 14, the layout of the city is numbered, randomly, there are maybe five street names and everyone's address is given by their Post Box #. That means when I build a new house on one side of Lilongwe and it is given P.O. 1157, someone on the other side of town who builds the next house and registers is given P.O. Box 1158. Sometimes, logic escapes this country's planners.
The house is fantastic, complete with a Western-style kitchen and washing machine!!!!! And the guy I wrote about in the last post wearing a ski suit. That is our nighttime guard, Abrams. His latest get-up is bright orange with a fur lined hood. He also salutes like a Star Wars stormtrooper when we enter or leave the compound. One day, I'll be wealthy enough to build an army of orange-snowsuit-wearing-Chichewa-speaking-perpetually-grinning guys to guard my castle in Belarus or somewhere. I can dream.
My two new companions here are Noah Schumer and Lydia Wallace, whom some of you might know. They have taken to the country very well, although each has had to deal with the vicious cycle of arriving here. Lydia's flights were cancelled, she spent the night in Nairobi and got here 12.5 hours late. Noah flew over two war zones: Libya and North-South Sudan, to transfer through Ethiopia to get here. I gave them a day and a half of my attention and they are now adjusted.
Finally, a quote: On my initial trip to pick-up Lydia at midnight the Saturday I got back, I decided I would go to a bar to watch sports and sip a caffeinated beverage over two hours to widdle away the time and psych myself up for an impending wait at the airport (every flight takes forever to process through customs and baggage claim). While watching an intriguing match of australian-rules football, I began chatting with a Malawian about the new president, Joyce Banda, who everyone in the West and here in Malawi is obsessing over. She is like the extremely attractive transfer student at a small liberal arts institution, everything she does is perfect because she is replacing a dearth of talent before (Ironically, I don't think Joyce Banda would fit that analogy). This is what this guy, a lawyer had to say. (Almost word for word)
"The lady president, she takes what Bingu had and reverses it. Everything she gonna do, for six months is great. But what people will realize, is that she is pushing the restart on the computer, she has no plan
for how to upgrade. She figures, like everyone here, that she will just be downloading the upgrade from somewhere in the West. She's no Bill Gates."
Before you jump on a bandwagon in Malawi, remember to check that there are horses to pull it. Seriously, there aren't a lot of horses here.
Steven
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