Day to day life

I have had a few questions about day to day life here, so thought I would try to answer - it's actually a bit difficult, since in many ways, it's not that different. You wake up, go to work and come home and have dinner.
One of the main differences is the security concern - our house has a brick fence with glass sticking out the top, and a gate that is padlocked at night. We have two staff (which is taking quite a bit of getting used to), one night guard (Thomas) and one day guard (Grant)/housekeeper. Since washing machines are even more rare and expensive than stoves, it is nice to have Grant do our laundry, as it must be done by hand. He also keeps the house tidy, and helps prepare food for dinner. Poor Thomas's job I fear is less interesting - stay awake all night and keep an eye on the property. I really don't know if the risks of being broken into are as high as people think they are or if it is somewhat overblown, but best to be on the safe side I guess.
Another hige difference is the disparity between rich and poor - there was a big difference in Brazil as well, but it seems even more striking here. There are people who walk large distances into town (like 10k) since they can't afford the 90 kwatcha mini-bus on their 2000 kwatcha monthly salary (minimum wage was just raised to 125 kwatcha/day (the Canadian dollar will get you 135 kwatcha). Other Malawians (and ex-pats) live a very different lifestyle, employing many people and having huge homes.
Transportation is by mini-bus or walking or taxi (see last blog for more on the taxi service here!) if you don't have a car. I walk to work, but it is quite far...I generally get picked up on the way by a co-worker (see last blog for more on the Malawian walking allergy - I guess once you have a car, you use it!).
The work environment is definaltely different - we have computers - Jules and Heather (our housemate) both have internet at work, but people haven't taken to outlook etc the same way that my blackberry addicted workplace did back home. My workday is long, but with many breaks - I am actually going to try and reduce the lentgh of my day at some point once I am more familliar with what I am doing. The scheduled breaks are different for me as well. My day:
7:30 - Arrival
7:45 - Prayers (most organizations do start with morning prayers)
10 - 10:20 - Tea (my workplace provides tea, sugar, bread and butter)
12 - 1:30 - Lunch
3:30 - 3:50 - Tea again, no bread this time
5:00 - Leave
Jules's workplace is less regimented! As a volunteer, my workplace doens't mind if I take a bit more flexibility (thank goodness!).
Access to buy things is limited. My workplace is isolated and there is no cafeteria, so I am getting used to being prepared - if I am not, I have nothing to eat or drink!
Even in more bustling areas, you can find somewhere to sit down and eat, but there are less places to ust pick something up.
At night, you basically hope you have all groceries you need by 6, as that is when it gets dark, and is no longer advisable to be walking around (last night, we realized we were out of bread - Thomas gets bread and tea every night, so we had to make some rice so he would have something to eat!). You can also go out for dinner - a few places that mostly cater to ex-pats (though there are generally Malawians there as well) are open in the evening, but it will cost 1000 kwatcha each way for transport and you can be stuck waiting for a taxi that isn't coming (that happened to our friends last time we went out, and we had to send our taxi back to get them after we got dropped off).
That's our routine for now...will let you know how things change as we go on!