CADECOM gets down

But first,
Since I mentioned volleyball in my last post, I should update...
Unfortunately, despite a valiant effort and in the absence of our 6'6" captain Bryce, Chambo with head could not pull into a 2 wins for 6 situation. We lost the first game, came back to win the second and played well through the third but were beated by the Undutchables. 9:45pm time slot sucks. We pulled the early spot for this week, but I will unfortunately miss the game as I will be out of town for work.

On Friday, I was invited to attend a good-bye party for one of my co-workers, Father Nampimba. It was my first invite to a work event. I am also looking forward to the pre-wedding lunch we are invited to the week-end after this one. Anyways, we pledged what we would bring (mainly drinks) and I guess there was a budget for food. I expected a couple of drinks and maybe some snacky food, an hour to an hour and a half of polite conversation and then leaving. Elizabeth and Jessica had invited me to dinner with them at Blue Ginger (Indian restaurant I hadn't tried before), so I accepted and asked them to pick me up at work at 8pm, figuring 6 - 8 would be sufficient socializing time.
At 6, I arrived at the party with my little offering of cheese and crackers to hear Sexy Back playing out of an impressive sound system...I was a little taken aback - I mean, is Sexy Back appropriate music for a priest's party? I got out to where the bar was set up, and there was a box of red wine, white wine, Malawi gin, altar wine and vodka. Yes, I said Altar wine....on the bar. It was a bit surreal and I couldn't resist texting Regan and Jules (family don't attend work functions here) to let them know what the party was like. Throughout the night I was impressed with the dance club music selection until I finally asked the DJ (my co-worker Paul) whose CDs they were. They belong to my boss's boss, the Secretary General (head of ECM), Father Joseph!
Anyways, after I arrived and Father Joseph and I had gotten our glasses of wine, another coworker took the floor to open the event with a prayer. During the prayer (as I stood there with my glass of wine), they didn't turn off the music, they just turned it down...it was truly a surreal experience. Anyways, after a glass of Altar wine and tons and tons of amazing food (my cheese plate looked so SAD), it was time to open the dance floor. They let the guest of honour, Father Nampimba, choose his dance partner (me, of course!). This was awkward - they played that kind of song that always led to awkward confusion in highschool (is it fast? is it slow) - add to this the whole priest complication and you can see what I mean....anyways, it was OK - we took it as a fast song and enjoyed the dancing.
When Elizabeth and Jessica came to pick me up, I wasn't ready to leave, so they came down for a glass of Altar wine and to see the whole spread. They were just in time for the dancing out of the cake. It was awesome - the whole of ECM formed a line behind the cake and danced it across the floor. During this, the SG came up to me and asked me if I wanted to hear my Kanye song now (I had heard 'Stronger' come on while Paul was testing all the CDs and said "Oh I love this song"). So I said "sure" - I mean, why not???
After Stronger played, Elizabeth, Jessica and I sadly had to leave...next time I will know not to make plans after a work function, since Malawian catholics party very seriously!!!