Wednesday, 24 March 2010

acceptable in the 80s

this weekend we had an 80s themed party at mabuya camp in lilongwe. so we all went to the market to buy outfits. hilarious.
you can buy literally anything there, some of the things we got:
a sheer black top with sequined shoulders; a neon pink leotard; neon pink and green mc hammer trousers; a 50cent medallion; a multicoloured bumbag; a peach train driver cap; new york yankee hats; flurescent yellow basketball shirts.
the list goes on and on.

poppy's outfit won first prize. some high waisted curtain patterned spandex shorts, with a baggy white top tucked in, a bumbag, the peach hat and sunglasses with the lenses popped out.
rob looked like he'd stepped out of fresh prince of bel air in a flurescent shellsuit. luca went for a neon pink leotard with neon pink mc hammer trousers. every outfit was so so funny.

we had dinner at prosper and bless' house first and then hit mabuya, think there should be pictures up on facebook soon, but everyone went all out and it was an insane night.

every night in lilongwe is ending up mad, we can't stay away from the place.
going back to cape maclear this weekend to chill out and top up the tan. and my letters have finally started coming through so im currently a happy bunny :]

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

mhazza's surprise party

it was mhairis birthday on the 16th so we decided to throw her a surprise party the weekend before in lilongwe.

me and jessy sneaked up a day early [giving an amazingly acted out excuse] and organised things. we went out for a chinese [!] that night with the nkhoma girls, rob, prosper, blessing, saleem and max. it was lovelyyy. then we met prosper and blessing's cat which is the fattest cat i have ever seen.

the next day mhairi arrived and we arranged a taxi to a secret location [a posh hotel] where she got a massage done, then we took her back to mabuya camp which had been decorated with balloons and birthday banners :]


after a few [a lot.] of drinks, we headed to an indian restaurant called blue ginger, where mhairi almost cried because we'd secretly brought all the AVs out without telling her. dinner was amaaaaazing and we had got her a cake with happy birthday mhairi written on it. afterwards we went out to a few clubs with everyone. was a goooood night.

going back to lilongwe this weekend for a fancy dress party at mabuya, the theme is the market, so im wearing my 50 cent shirt obviously...

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

capemac

after zambia and some horrible bus journeys, we got to south luwanga and were planning to go to the national park, but it was raining so much that if we'd headed to the national park we would have got trapped there because the river would have flooded its banks.
so we left and went to lilongwe a day earlier. and did the same as the week before, hung out with prosper, blessing and co and went shopping :]


after a couple of days in lilo we headed to cape maclear. since we're soooo gap year right now, me, jessy, george, rob and the nkhoma girls all got in the back of our new friend reggie's pick-up truck and drove there that way. most amazing journey ever. we stopped at a random market to get some tomatoes and luca had bought a zambian cd so we were all dancing on the back of the pick-up and all the villagers came out and danced with us.

we got to capemac [gaia lodge] at night and just chilled out. then the next day chilled out some more on the beach and caught up on tanning. i made bomas with the kitchen staff at gaia, who asked me if i was married...
that night we had a BBQ on the beach, where some kids came and played drums and we danced with them and sang this song where you make a circle and take it in turns to go dance in the middle. some of the kids are just insanely good dancers.
there are a lot of vendors at the lake who sell bracelets and stuff, so we had been hanging out with them all day [one was called snoop, i kept introducing him as snoop dogg, there was also a kingston a.k.a. sean kingston] and at night we went to a local bar called hiccups. really good night and made a ton more friends, though i dont know how i didnt get a slap since i kept asking them to go find me ne-yo.


the next day we took a boat ride out to a little private sort of beach island, and just chilled out in the lake. xzibit [whose real name i cant remember] came out with us and was telling us his uncle was obama, sister was beyonce and his dad was george bush... think he was a bit out of it. we had a BBQ again and then came back home and were very sunstroked so just chilled in the hammocks and went to bed.
on our last day i was sooo sad to leave gaia lodge, they all said they'd miss us and the kitchen staff gave me a bag of cookies for free and a hug[!]. then i bought about 50 bracelets, anklets, necklaces and chitenje's and we headed back into a pick-up truck [just 3 of us this time because some had stayed an extra day]. they'd put mattresses in this time so we just lay back and enjoyed the ride, watching the nicest sunset ever.


im back in dedza now and back to school - gutted. but we're doing something special this weekend. i'll try and update sooooon.

buses.

cant remember if i added in the last post how much i HATE buses.

on our bus that left at night from lusaka to livingstone, some random guy got up and started preaching to us. they also played some amazing zambian film, probably the worst acting iv ever seen in my life. but so so funny, i thought i was hallucinating it.
all the buses stink of pee and vomit, and our bus from lusaka to chipata literally had pee on it, that ran down the aisle and soaked mhairi and jessy's bag. and after that journey we had to stop off in a 'lodge' that had a poiso nous spider on the wall, a massive gecko above our beds, brown disgusting sheets and no mosi nets. i slept wrapped in my chitenje with my hoodie over my face. depressing.


point of this: i never want to see another bus again.

Sunday, 28 February 2010

z-z-z-zambia

its half term at dedza primary so we've come to zambia for the holiday. had to get a bus at like 5 in the morning from lilongwe [STRESSFUL] which took like 15 hours to get to lusaka, in zambia, then we decided on the spur of the moment to get a night bus to livingstone so we didnt have to spend an extra day travelling. i slept on the floor of the bus, not fun.

our hotel is really close to vic falls so on our second day here we went out to do a gorge swing, flying fox over the gorge and abseiling. since im horrifically afraid of heights i was too scared to do any of the above, but none of it looked at all appealing so i dont regret not doing it :] but i watched, and it looked insanely scary. the gorge swing is a 4 second free fall then you just go swinging across the gorge. we got videos and its very disturbing.

the next day we went white water rafting down the zambezi river, supposed to be the best rafting in the world. annoyingly you had to climb down the gorge to get to your raft. literally the worst half hour of my life, its a steep as anything climb and they've made a proper shady ladder which is just bits of wood nailed together, half of them broken. the guy had to hold my hand the entire way down.

our boat was the funniest group ever, we named ourselves team seabiscuit [after some inside joke from the day before] and i was laughing so much all day that my stomach hurt. the rapids are INSANE, but so much fun. our boat managed to hang in there until rapid number 20, the terminator. our boat flipped [our guide flipped it on purpose] and we got thrown out, literally like a wall of water coming at you, so crazy. i managed to grab the boat again but we were gonna be pushed under while they flipped it so i stupidly let go and floated ages downstream, had to be pulled back in.
was overall just such a funny day, i want to go back and do it all over again even though im now a walking bruise and my legs are in constant extreme pain.


today most people did a bungi jump, but because im a wimp i stayed at the hotel and got a massage :]
really need to go now because we're getting up at half 4 to catch a bus to south luwanga national park. i'll try and post more often, and still sorry about lack of pictures. we got professionally done ones from the rafting and a dvd [including our flip] much love.

petes birthday

sorry for the stupidly long length between posts, lack of internet and my own laziness.

last saturday we were invited to lilongwe [accomodation and food paid for :O] by our new friends Prosper and Blessing, who are literally african gangsters who own a BMW. they're lovely though. we'd been invited to their friend pete's birthday party, i'd met pete the week before, one of the nicest guys ever [also owns a lot of businesses and orphanages]. so us girls hit mr price first, mr price is the urban outfitters of africa. they sell river island/new look style clothes. we went MAD.

later we went to a bbq with prosper and blessing, but the bbq was pretty rubbish, then we headed to mamma-mias for petes meal. it was the 6 of us from dedza house, pete, prosper, blessing, then their friend saleem who is also lovely and max who's malawian but lives in london. no jokes he IS dizee rascal, he can freestyle rap so well its insane.
dinner was amazing and just a really good atmosphere and blessing paid for everyones food [thank god.] then we went out to a club called oasis and had some banter.


amaaaaazing night, its good to be making friends here and these guys are even helping the boys get sponsorship from one of the big phone companies here for their football tournament theyre setting up.
the day after the party was hectic as anything, jessy had gotten really sick so me and her had to stay in lilongwe an extra night, then rush back to dedza on sunday to pack for half term [which i promise i'll write about while im on this computer!]
iv also decided im not leaving africa, dont want to come home anymore!

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

lilongwe continued.

after the major disaster of thursday night, we went out again on friday. after our house spending a ridiculous amount of time laughing at sunglasses on a pineapple... [easily amused] and only just renewing our visas before immigration shut, dedza are a happy house because we have no sense of urgency.

we went out to a club called shack which had a volleyball pitch and a dancefloor and bar. there was much dancing on speakers and failing at volleyball. we then got a ride to another club called twiga, in the back of a pick-up truck [i missed out and got a car instead, gutted.]
when we got back to our hotel, dedza house went a little mad and george decided to throw water at us and break alisons mozzie net. fun all round.


lilongwe was a mad, mad weekend. i went out again on saturday night with sabine which was goooood. met 2 people from aberdeen, you have no idea how happy i was to hear a PROPER scottish accent, almost cried. and they live in dedza too so im no longer gonna be deprived of real scottish slang.



we got back on sunday and found out our house had been broken into by 2 kids, they'd stolen ipods and bread [and before this they'd stolen my twix, ragin.] and other stuff. but our watchman petey managed to catch them.
this was like peteys moment of glory because his job was basically gone after turning up to our house, drunk out of his mind. Then shouting at us, rolling in some rubbish and had to be walked home by me and George. so he definitely wasnt in our good books. he is now though, keeps showing up to work in hawain [there is no excuse for my spelling] shirts and cutting all the grass and getting us buckets of water. iv forgiven him, but he's always had a special place in my heart.

oh and there was a snake in our long drop, scary as anything. its not dead, just gone missing so there's a constant snake threat now.



anyway i realise big bursts of writing are quite boring so im gonna stop now :]