April Update

So it’s the last day of the month. My last post was on the last day of last month, and it promised new posts filled with adventures. And, of course, this hasn’t happened. So I will get a quick April post in. It must be brief due to my current circumstances. I am sitting in a Blantyre backpackers with 1 hour 15 minutes left on laptop battery, and 18 minutes left on my wireless account. So that gives me 57 minutes to write. Actually, considering my last 24 hours, I probably won’t use the full 57 minutes. I will just describe a few things I’ve been up to over the last week. And then I promise, promise, promise to write more soon. Although I don’t know why I am so worried – “my friends with blogs” are rubbish and never post.

So, my week in a nutshell… (actually, let’s make it 8 days so that I can include going to court). I’ve been to court. Pleaded guilty. Paid a fine. I’ve sent yet another draft to my supervisor, only to get an automated response to say that he’s on holiday. I’ve been to a paradise island on Lake Malawi. I’ve been 25 metres below the surface, with the cichlids, the crabs and the eels (and my buddy and the dive master). I’ve driven up the escarpment of the rift valley from the lake shore to dedza and down again to Lilongwe. I’ve got home, unpacked, packed again and driven down to Blantyre, and then down to the Shire Valley to Chikwawa. I’ve been in focus groups with Malawian women farmers involved with fair trade sugar. I’ve sat on a beer crate in Chikwawa’s latest bar watching the UEFA Champion’s league semi final of Man U and Barcelona. And now I sit in a Blantyre backpackers. A cit backpackers – what a strange, transient place. Kylie sings from the bar, the usual suspect Blantyre crowd have their after work greens. A couple from a (unidentified) European country sit at the computer checking their emails. A Japanese couple are in the room next to me – listening to Japanese pop. I long to be at home but know not to drive to Lilongwe in the dark.

Till next time. I promise more.

Happy (late) Birthday

I missed my blog's first birthday!!! I feel very guilty!!! It was on the 8th of March.

So we have survived a year :)

Much has happened since my last blog - been busy busy busy. But things are slowly returning to "normality". And I promise to write about recent events soon.

The Choir

On Monday night I watched a documentary made by the son of a friend of my mum’s. Shot over six years, “The Choir” follows the lives of inmates in the choir at Johannesburg’s Leeuwkop Prison. I’m not sure how to get hold of a copy (I will find out), but if you ever get the chance, please see it. It is an incredible example of the healing power of music. It shows how valuable, a strong and positive leader can be. It is also beautifully filmed.

Lists

Lists, lists, lists. I am fascinated by lists. And, maybe I should warn the reader who has no interest in lists to stop right now. Read no further, this post will be dreadfully boring to you.

At this stage of my dissertation, much of my world consists of lists: to look up; to print; to do; to email; for literature review; for references; for acknowledgements etc etc etc. And a big part of the dissertation, I realise, will be managing to coordinate these lists. I need to juggle them. Make sense of them. I need to not lose any of them. Keep the number of notebooks with my lists in them to a minimum. Organise. Organise. Sort. Sort. Arrange. Systematise.

But what is most fascinating is finding lists you have made in the past. With all my sorting, I have come across some bits of paper with lists on them. “To do” lists can take you right back to a situation in your life and can be VERY interesting. They remind you what you were doing a few months ago. Some lists, however, are just puzzling.

• Secret Santa
• Wedding
• Gramsci

I found a document in the “blog” folder in my computer entitled “Toast and Honey”. In this document I found the following list:

• Toast and honey
• Name badges
• Biofuels
• Golden lion tamarin
• Agricultural subsidies
• Full moon
• Mushroom pizza

This list was obviously some ideas I was having for a blog post, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what on EARTH I was talking about. I must apologise to my readers for forgetting this, as I feel it would have been an interesting post.

I love randomness.

One more list. I typed something into the search box of wikipedia. They didn’t have exactly what I was looking for, but they did give me the following list of other pages that may help me. I will give a prize to whoever can come up with my original search words.

• Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment
• Jersey Zoological Park
• Biman Bangladesh Airlines
• The Late, Late Breakfast Show
• Bicycle Helmet
• Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance
• Doctor Who
• European Union
  

The decision

Decisions are funny things (can we call them things?). Some are easy to make – should I brush my teeth? Some are sometimes easy and sometimes hard – what should I have for lunch? Some are sometimes hard, but you know they are the right choice – should I go for a run? Some are easy and you know they might not be the best choice in all ways – should I stay out all night dancing? Some are very important and are very difficult to make – should I end this relationship? Some are very important, yet may be easy to make – who should I vote for? Some are unimportant, yet still seem to take much deliberation – what should I wear tonight?

You get my drift – our lives all full of decisions. Important, unimportant, difficult, easy, confusing etc. We make them everyday.

But every now and then, a decision comes along and surprises you; slaps you in the face and takes you unaware. Unaware that you even had to make this decision, that you were even thinking about it or that it was even an option. And before you know it you have made the decision without even thinking about it, without contemplation.

This happened to me last Sunday. While catching up with an old friend, discussing my next steps, living in London, my career – she asked me a simple question – “Why don’t you look for a job in Lilongwe?”.

And that was it. I knew that I was going to stay in Lilongwe and look for a job. Something inside me said YES. My state of mind changed. Everything felt right. The universe conspired.

So I am staying. Of course, if I don’t find a job, I will go somewhere else. But the positivity that I feel is overwhelming and I’m sure that I will find something.

2008 is going to be a good year.


A few snapshots of Lilongwe: (more to come)
Lilongwe River and the market

Area 2 market

A game of chequers

Old Town

Court number One.

When Monica and I started playing squash at the Lilongwe Golf Club a few weeks ago, someone said to us “Make sure you get court number 2 – as it is better that court number 1.”

So we’ve been playing in court number 2.

Until last Saturday, court number 2 was occupied. And then we understood the recommendation.

The debris that falls off the wall if you manage to hit the right spot.

The patch.

Monica in despair!

Ewen

Last week, I received an email from an old friend, telling me that a friend of ours from school had taken his life last Sunday.

Ewen was funny, truly funny. His quiet and dry humour entertained us all. His view of the world was spot on, his perceptions sharp, he would notice the little things and bring out their funny side. It is always so refreshing to be around someone like that. But more than that, Ewen was sincere and kind. And with the same subtlety of his humour, he was gentle person. He was a good friend.

He must have been so sad. And lonely. I think we all know what it’s like to be lonely, even when we are surrounded by people who love and support us. But his loneliness must have been just too unbearable. This is just too sad.

All I can think of now (forgive me for this selfish reflection) is how I would love nothing more than to sit down and have a cup of tea or a pint with him. To catch up on each other’s news. To laugh and be silly.


Come away, O human child!
to the waters and the wild
with a faery, hand in hand,
for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand...
- - - W. B. Yeats


We are all so fragile.

Rest peacefully friend.