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 24 March 2010
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...
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 :]
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 :]
Friday 5 February 2010
t.i.a.
i realise its been about 6 weeks since i lastposted anything, i actually am still alive, though only barely.
since 'this is africa' i doubt im ever gonna be able to get pictures up on this while im here. every internet cafe we find is dial up and i already have about 300 pitures so there's no hope. might try and send a disc home though. so sorrrrry but its pretty impossible to get pictures up.
ANYWAY, i'm still doing alright here in dedza [though im currently in lilongwe renewing my visa]. iv literally had about every disease i could get: a blister bug that was living in my sleeping bag. it bites you and that causes blisters which, when they burst, spread and make more blisters. also got bitten by bed bugs on my first few nights at the HOTEL which were really horrifically painful. then i got an eye infection. followed by some bites on my hand that have made it all swollen. and along the way iv had a sore stomach the entire time from all the carbs we have to eat here. but im a tank and iv survived it all.
our watchman, peter [a.k.a. petey, my future husband.] had to be fired the other day. he's a funny guy and has always seemed drunk, but took the biscuit the other day when he came to the house at midday, wrecked out his face and lying in our doorway asking for money. later on he was rolling in rubbish so me and george had to take him home. he came back 2 hours later to do his 'watchman duties'. so he got fired and my little heart is now broken. i made him a card though, with all his favourite things on [a machete, his cup, some sobo which is like orange juice, a pancake and a smelly rabies dog that he likes throwing stones at]. arthur made him a card too that said 'sorry you got pissed and we had to fire you' but we gave him my card instead...
schools going fine, im a rubbish teacher and mostly just make them draw. though the other day we got them all to dance and sing, most insane thing iv ever seen. they're so so confident.
we're in lilongwe for the weekend to renew our visas, and went out last night for jenni's [the former AV who was here building a library] leaving night. we got a 40 minute taxi to a club that was closed, like to mention the the taxi door was being held on by one of the guys, and i was sitting on the inside engine. then 18 of us were shoved in a CAR that broke down every 2 seconds, until we got to a police block. we slowly rolled backwards away from the police block and got out the car, only to have the policeman come over and ask if we'd all been in that car 2 seconds before. we were like "...no" the car then abandoned us in the middle of nowhere [in a prime raping spot] but luckily we caught a bus.
when we got back to the hotel we met a dutch jesus. most insane night of my life.
even i cant handle reading long shpeels of writing so im gonna stop now. and HOPEFULLY i'll be able to send pictures home soon to be put up.
away to get my eyebrows waxed [SERIOUSLY! IN MALAWI.] and then try and scout out a twix in shoprite, iv only ever found twixes in zomba which is 6 hours away from dedza :[ and the one i bought got stolen.
i'll try and update more, sorry for lack of pictures!
since 'this is africa' i doubt im ever gonna be able to get pictures up on this while im here. every internet cafe we find is dial up and i already have about 300 pitures so there's no hope. might try and send a disc home though. so sorrrrry but its pretty impossible to get pictures up.
ANYWAY, i'm still doing alright here in dedza [though im currently in lilongwe renewing my visa]. iv literally had about every disease i could get: a blister bug that was living in my sleeping bag. it bites you and that causes blisters which, when they burst, spread and make more blisters. also got bitten by bed bugs on my first few nights at the HOTEL which were really horrifically painful. then i got an eye infection. followed by some bites on my hand that have made it all swollen. and along the way iv had a sore stomach the entire time from all the carbs we have to eat here. but im a tank and iv survived it all.
our watchman, peter [a.k.a. petey, my future husband.] had to be fired the other day. he's a funny guy and has always seemed drunk, but took the biscuit the other day when he came to the house at midday, wrecked out his face and lying in our doorway asking for money. later on he was rolling in rubbish so me and george had to take him home. he came back 2 hours later to do his 'watchman duties'. so he got fired and my little heart is now broken. i made him a card though, with all his favourite things on [a machete, his cup, some sobo which is like orange juice, a pancake and a smelly rabies dog that he likes throwing stones at]. arthur made him a card too that said 'sorry you got pissed and we had to fire you' but we gave him my card instead...
schools going fine, im a rubbish teacher and mostly just make them draw. though the other day we got them all to dance and sing, most insane thing iv ever seen. they're so so confident.
we're in lilongwe for the weekend to renew our visas, and went out last night for jenni's [the former AV who was here building a library] leaving night. we got a 40 minute taxi to a club that was closed, like to mention the the taxi door was being held on by one of the guys, and i was sitting on the inside engine. then 18 of us were shoved in a CAR that broke down every 2 seconds, until we got to a police block. we slowly rolled backwards away from the police block and got out the car, only to have the policeman come over and ask if we'd all been in that car 2 seconds before. we were like "...no" the car then abandoned us in the middle of nowhere [in a prime raping spot] but luckily we caught a bus.
when we got back to the hotel we met a dutch jesus. most insane night of my life.
even i cant handle reading long shpeels of writing so im gonna stop now. and HOPEFULLY i'll be able to send pictures home soon to be put up.
away to get my eyebrows waxed [SERIOUSLY! IN MALAWI.] and then try and scout out a twix in shoprite, iv only ever found twixes in zomba which is 6 hours away from dedza :[ and the one i bought got stolen.
i'll try and update more, sorry for lack of pictures!
Friday 15 January 2010
aliveee
im alive and doing good in dedza. the computers here are soo slow so no pictures until next week when i go to lilongwe.
so i'll make this quick.
our house is lovely except no floor so ants everywhere, cold buckets of water are our shower and the long drop makes me want to spew everytime i go near it.
but the kids in our wee square are lovely, coming round to play almost an annoying amount. i have a video of them dancing to the 50 cent song 'In Da Club' which is the funniest thing i've ever seen.
The school is nice, but sooo many kids, there's about 90 in my class. and if you offer to mark anything then you get every child wanting all of their work marked, and they crowd around you until you've finished. scary stuff.
still missing home a bit but starting to love it here, everyone is so friendly and happy and we've been making good friends.
i have literally hundreds of pictures, and amazing funny ones of the kids so i'll try and post them next week!
xx
so i'll make this quick.
our house is lovely except no floor so ants everywhere, cold buckets of water are our shower and the long drop makes me want to spew everytime i go near it.
but the kids in our wee square are lovely, coming round to play almost an annoying amount. i have a video of them dancing to the 50 cent song 'In Da Club' which is the funniest thing i've ever seen.
The school is nice, but sooo many kids, there's about 90 in my class. and if you offer to mark anything then you get every child wanting all of their work marked, and they crowd around you until you've finished. scary stuff.
still missing home a bit but starting to love it here, everyone is so friendly and happy and we've been making good friends.
i have literally hundreds of pictures, and amazing funny ones of the kids so i'll try and post them next week!
xx
Sunday 10 January 2010
shoprite
the other day was hatty's birthday, they served her a surprise cake at lunchtime, which she skillfully managed to split between 24 of us.
here's the bronze rooms. actual guinea pig hutch. and inside they look like cells.
then we took our first ever trip to shoprite, which is like the malawi asda. big mistake. im horrific in supermarkets, literally try to buy everything. as you'd know if you were with me when shopping for sweden or any halloween event.
this is me looking like a tool, walking to shoprite. we got heckled all the way. and wee kids come up to you to beg for money so its quite upsetting. i dont look upset because id only just left the hotel :] all smiles.
left to right, alison, mhairi, hatty
shoprite yaaaay. i have no pictures from outside because there were SOOO many hecklers and people and i felt like a tourist. this is some dried fish. all my shoprite pictures are like this.
the brand of coffee is named coffee, this had me laughing for hours. think im heatstroked.
THEY SELL CHICKENS FEET
this is our torrential rain, soooo heavy. and we always leave it too late to run back to our rooms so end up getting drenched. not funny.
we had a free afternoon yesterday so played in the pool. my SKILLED photography caught this bad boy shot [after about 60 tries]. this is rob jumping in the pool and catching the little rocket thing at the same time. im terrible at explaining.
anyhow, im leaving for dedza any minute now and have to go grab all my stuff. slept in as usual and had to rush my last proper shower. won't be able to post a blog until i go to lilongwe on a weekend, the internet in dedza is meant to be painfully slow and you have to pay per minute, so i doubt its happening. i have no patience.
if these pictures have gone stupidly big again then im sorry, i tried to fix them! i'll try and sort it out next time.
here's the only chichewa words i can remember after our extensive lessons:
moni bambo! [hello to a boy.] im going to succeed in dedza clearly.
miss you's all [some people here have never heard the word 'yous' before, i was like 'but what do you do if you're speaking to more than one person?" and then received an english lesson. advanced higher english obviously never registered in my head.] xx
sick of korea
think iv figured out how to fix my photos but im not posting any until i can get to a faster computer, cause this is doing my head in!
im leaving for dedza tomorrow at 8, so have to get up at like 6 to have my last proper shower, gutting. i have photos of our shopping trip the other day and the rain here, which is straight up and down rain and insane.
i'll post something when i can, and gonna try and send out some letters too.
excited to get to dedza though and paint our house, and im sick of the korean food we're getting in our hotel, i've had the same meal every night almost, and they give you mountains of it so you have to feel rude when you hand back a plate that looks full.
the staff here are lovely though, really friendly and smiley.
actual shattered and gonna go sit by the pool with everyone else. i'll try and post more photos soon!
miss home so much! x
im leaving for dedza tomorrow at 8, so have to get up at like 6 to have my last proper shower, gutting. i have photos of our shopping trip the other day and the rain here, which is straight up and down rain and insane.
i'll post something when i can, and gonna try and send out some letters too.
excited to get to dedza though and paint our house, and im sick of the korean food we're getting in our hotel, i've had the same meal every night almost, and they give you mountains of it so you have to feel rude when you hand back a plate that looks full.
the staff here are lovely though, really friendly and smiley.
actual shattered and gonna go sit by the pool with everyone else. i'll try and post more photos soon!
miss home so much! x
Saturday 9 January 2010
on verge of killing someone.
after honestly 2 days of trying and almost throwing this computer at the wall, i FINALLY have some of my pictures up. need to find an easier way of doing this though or i will spend all my days here screaming.
so hereeeee they are for you, if this doesnt work then im coming back home.
they're in the wrong order but bear with it!
my heavy heavy bags. was about to spew on the london underground just by how heavy they were. i helpfully said this out loud to my mum, on a packed train. my mum was like "are you alright" and i go "actually need to spew right now" perfect.
standard plane photo. travelling from lusaka to lilongwe. we landed in lusaka and had to wait on the plane for 45 minutes. i spent the whole plane journey to lusaka going "OH MY GOD WE'RE ON THE WRONG PLANE" i was just being an idiot though cause we were 'in transit'
how safe our compound is...
we are literally in a cage.
this is mhairi, she's from edinburgh and knows what cav is! she's going to be living with me in dedza [we go on monday] and these are weird ornaments in the restaurant bit. where i have been served the same veggie meal every night and lunch.
our massive table for the 21 of us. ridiculously big.
im living in the 'gold' part of the hotel, which is 2nd best. we have a hot shower and carpets! and even a tv that we've not used, and a fan. pretty classy stuff really. the bronze roomers have a shared shower for all of them, like lino floor i think, no electricity and one of the boys roofs caved in and his bed got infested by ants. gutted.
malawi mr guins! i asked the restaurant waiter what the cats name was, but he only got his job here about 2 days ago, he said he'd find out for me though. there's tons of cats here, and there's meant to be thousands in dedza.
this was us getting off the plane in lilongwe FINALLY. worst travel of my lifeeee.
our amaaaazing pool, that iv not been in yet. but it looks nice.
leaving lusaka airport, or landing in lilongwe, who actually knows? i was on the verge of crying if i had to see another safety video.
so hereeeee they are for you, if this doesnt work then im coming back home.
they're in the wrong order but bear with it!
my heavy heavy bags. was about to spew on the london underground just by how heavy they were. i helpfully said this out loud to my mum, on a packed train. my mum was like "are you alright" and i go "actually need to spew right now" perfect.
standard plane photo. travelling from lusaka to lilongwe. we landed in lusaka and had to wait on the plane for 45 minutes. i spent the whole plane journey to lusaka going "OH MY GOD WE'RE ON THE WRONG PLANE" i was just being an idiot though cause we were 'in transit'
how safe our compound is...
we are literally in a cage.
this is mhairi, she's from edinburgh and knows what cav is! she's going to be living with me in dedza [we go on monday] and these are weird ornaments in the restaurant bit. where i have been served the same veggie meal every night and lunch.
our massive table for the 21 of us. ridiculously big.
im living in the 'gold' part of the hotel, which is 2nd best. we have a hot shower and carpets! and even a tv that we've not used, and a fan. pretty classy stuff really. the bronze roomers have a shared shower for all of them, like lino floor i think, no electricity and one of the boys roofs caved in and his bed got infested by ants. gutted.
malawi mr guins! i asked the restaurant waiter what the cats name was, but he only got his job here about 2 days ago, he said he'd find out for me though. there's tons of cats here, and there's meant to be thousands in dedza.
this was us getting off the plane in lilongwe FINALLY. worst travel of my lifeeee.
our amaaaazing pool, that iv not been in yet. but it looks nice.
leaving lusaka airport, or landing in lilongwe, who actually knows? i was on the verge of crying if i had to see another safety video.
Friday 8 January 2010
actual deedza
after about 20 billion hours travelling [and nearly taking some woman out the game on the plane when the flight attendant woke me up] im finally here. though not at my actual school yet, we're staying in a korean hotel type thing, thats proper nice. not exactly preparing us for the wild...
been having language lessons [and failing so much, its like standard grade french all over again.] and finding out stuff about where we're staying. our house doesn't have a floor. literally walking in the mud. gutting, but it'll be an experience.
everyone's lovelyy and its sooo green here its unreal. we passed tons of trucks with people just crowded into the trunk bit, singing. and about a million police just casually standing at the side of the road. its not THAT hot here, like iv been freezing sometimes. but its not exactly snowing.
cant get the stupid photo uploader to work and every other way iv tried is taking an ageeee! so sorry caro and steve for no photos, but i'll put them up when im next at an internet place. but caro, jsyk i found a malawi meow, its more of a mr guins though :]
love you all xxxxxxxxxx
been having language lessons [and failing so much, its like standard grade french all over again.] and finding out stuff about where we're staying. our house doesn't have a floor. literally walking in the mud. gutting, but it'll be an experience.
everyone's lovelyy and its sooo green here its unreal. we passed tons of trucks with people just crowded into the trunk bit, singing. and about a million police just casually standing at the side of the road. its not THAT hot here, like iv been freezing sometimes. but its not exactly snowing.
cant get the stupid photo uploader to work and every other way iv tried is taking an ageeee! so sorry caro and steve for no photos, but i'll put them up when im next at an internet place. but caro, jsyk i found a malawi meow, its more of a mr guins though :]
love you all xxxxxxxxxx
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