Real estate in Lilongwe…

Sorry it's been a while since my last update - internet access is so limited, it is really frustrating. I can't believe I don't get internet at work (it is on 2 computers there, my boss's and his secretary's)! I get to use them, but since I have been out house hunting every lunch, I haven't had a chance - hopefully once we get settled, things will improve!!!

So an update on our jouney to find a house in Lilongwe.
We have been so unsuccessful, iot is a bit mind boggling…we found out that WUSC used to assist volunteers by finding homes but stopped as it caused the office here too much work. If it’s that hard for a local, I am not sure how tyhey expect a bunch of transplanted mzungus to do any better.
We have already toured a few disappointing houses so far, and today was really frustrating. It started when I picked up Heather (our future housemate (if we ever find a house, that is)) and drove downtown to see an agent. After calling him for directions (to the house, we thought), we went instead to his office. Our driver went up to talk to the agent, then came down and told us we needed to talk with him. We walked up to the third floor of a rickety building and entered the office, where we were told to take a seat (??). Anyways, he spoke with us about two ‘promising’ properties but then let us know we couldn’t view them until the afternoon. After totally wasting our time, we left and called a few houses from the paper. We saw a gorgeous house that was about a 45 min walk to the nearest transport (our driver told us we would definitely need a car while the real estate agent was saying, no, no, transport very close). And a tiny recently fumigated home (cockroaches EVERYWHERE) that was close to transport, but is a bit small for our needs, given that there are 4 of us.
In the afternoon – back to the morning agent, who we had to pick up (seems most agents don’t have their own transport, so you need to pick them up for them to show you around). He took us to the same cockroach house we’d already seen in the morning and then to a house that is double our price range, totally wasting our time again.
We are getting a bit down at this point, and the houses we toured last weekend that we found depressing are looking much better….
On a more positive note, we have met some nice people at our guesthouse and have had nice group dinners on the porch every evening as the day starts to cool down.Wish us luck – hope all is well with everyone in Canada!!!