Life in Lilongwe

March 5 - 8
So after we returned from our trip to Liwonde and the beach, we returned to our lives here in Lilongwe. It was to be a very short week at work - only 3 days - followed be a week away from work for our cultural orientation (but that's another blog).
We are falling into a bit of a pattern here - I have found an aerobics class to attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays with my friends Melissa and Carmen (who was kindly providing transportation before we bought the car). For my friends at the athletic club, I should let you know that the class is definately effective, but not the luxury class we were used to in Canada! The instructor must have studied aerobics about 20 years ago when it was still good to pulse while stretching cold muscles, and he just loves to do this crazy side kicking thing that is simply NOT natural. All this delivered in a steamy little room with 2 pathetic fans and a concrete floor....but hey, its active and fun and in Lilongwe, so it rocks.
On Wednesday (my Canadian volleyball team will be happy to know) I finally made the effort to go to volleyball night at a little bar called the Shack - it's beach volleyball and I was able to find a team short on players that let me play a drop in game (drawback on volleyball is that it is organized with existing teams only, you can't just join, you have to find a team who will take you). So at least it was a start! I stayed after the game for a few drinks (the convenience of having the bar right there beside the court - jealous?) and went home. When I got home, I discovered we had guests and they were just leaving for the Shack...so...back I went - it was a fun night but I stayed out past midnight and was a little tired the next day at work!
Thursday was a hectic day at work as well - there was a lot of flooding in the southern part of Malawi in mid-January - people were displaced from their homes and crops were washed away. In response, CADECOM is working with CRS and Caritas Malawi to deliver a flood response program to provide food, seed and survival kits to the flood victims, so we were busily trying to finalize the proposal amidst all our other work.
We also started looking for a car, but it is very difficult to really get an idea of what is available, since there are no real car lots – some lots have 10 – 15 vehicles so there is not much selection, especially in the used car arena. There are some boards at a few supermarkets where people (especially ex-pats) post items for sale, and the paper. We wrote down everything from the boards and the paper and ended up looking at a few cars, but we weren’t really able to make any offers or decisions before the weekend, and we knew we would be away the following week, so no action took place on that front!
Friday was our friend Claire’s birthday, so we went out for a nice fancy dinner and then to a nice bar to hang out (Chameleons – not sure if I have mentioned before – tame place, OK for Regan to go to, nice atmosphere).
On Saturday I had to put in some time working on the proposal, knowing I would be away the next week, then we mostly took it easy and had a quiet night in.Sunday we got up and packed for our week of culture, which is a whole other blog…