Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sauna or License Renewal office

On my way into town I was stopped by the police which by the way is a sometimes daily occurance. I knew my licence was about ready to expire but had forgotten until I saw the cops on the road. Lucky for me I had one more day to go to the office and have it renewed. So after I did my errands I drove to the Renewal office and parked in line for a car inspection. It was almost eleven so I knew my time was short. I walked into the inspection office and asked what I needed to do, partly because I had forgotten and partly because I figured if you play dumb they are more likely to help you get through the misery of the job at hand. The men told me and half guided me to the office and line I needed to be standing in. Mind you there were 6 lines and 80 or more people standing in those lines inside a room that was about ten by ten feet. The fan in the room is broken, I was in the line closest to the door so at least there was some hot fresh air coming througth the door. After a thirty minute wait, It was my turn. I waited patiently because it keeps your blood pressure down and there were already 40 men moaning, groaning and complaining not to mention yelling in the room. Apon receiving a piece of paper they sent me to the bank,which had air -con. I'm not sure how long I waited there but it wasn't long enough to cool me off. I was sent back to the first room to stand in another line. This time I was as far back in the room as you could get. It was steaming there, but there was a glass seperating the waiters and the workers. That glass had two holes in them at each station. The workers had air con, so there was some cold air coming out of the two holes. I tried to get as close to the window as I could in hopes of getting some air. Before I said a word,the man behind the window looked at me and said you need to be patient madam. To which I replied : Thats eazy for you to say sitting in Air Con. He laughed and somehow gave me mercy. I put my hand in the lower window and fanned the hole in the upper circle to get more of the air out of his room into my room. After about 20 minutes he gave me my paper. But it was time for lunch everyone in the cool room left and the "Sauna" emptied out. I knew I needed to get this done but lunch is lunch and no man works during lunch. Besides by that time I was ringing wet and tired of hot have air and listening to all the angry people. So I decided to go home and perhaps come back early in the morning. On my way home my friend called and said the guest I was expecting weren't coming, so I planned on returning to the "Sauna" after lunch. At about two I returned and took my paper to the car inspector. There was a wait there too, so I decided to turn on the radio. It was a good African Station so I listened and tapped on the drivers wheel as if it was a drumb. The guys around smiled and enjoyed the music with me. Suddenly the inspector came and started his work. He was shouting commands and I was doing my best to follow, but finally he said if you would turn your radio off it would be eazier for us to work. Of course, by this time there were 20 men all standing around watching the inspector and I and I got the giggles. Why are you laughing? he said. I told him I felt like this was a tv show so all the men slowly turned as though they hadn't been intertained watching as I tried to follow his instructions. He sent me off to buy reflectors which I think was more to give him time to have my papers ready. Now back to the Sauna I went. My guy was gone, but after a few minutes returned. A man came in the room and started yelling in my ear. I asked him why and everyone laughed . Stupid woman . He said. Then another guy was fanning himself and I asked him if he would fan a little faster. He wasn't pleased. At anyrate finally the papers were done and so was my sauna. Apon handing me the papers the man said: See you next year and smiled. It was a long painful day, but all in all it pays not to get argry and just to take it as it comes, sauna and all.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Showers and a Funeral

On the possitive side. We have Hot Water thanks to Scott Emerson an MK from Liberia days. Scott came for dinner and before we fed him, in the thirty minutes he had before sun down he climbed up on the roof of the house and hooked up the electrical wire so we could have hot water. Now to figure out how to get the solar part working.

A student at ABC contracted Malaria and in less than five days he was dead. I felt so bad for his family, but he's a fortunate guy.

We are up on the news in both Libya and Japan. Mom and I took flowers to the Japanese embassy to express our sorrow. We met both the Ambassador and his Assistant. They had a book for expressing your condolances so mom wrote a message in Japanese and I in english. We were the only two who had come in to show sympathy. I must say Malawi looks better every day when looking at the rest of the world. Thanks for your prayers for us here.

Ladies in Class




Tuesday, March 1, 2011

When looking for Snakes don't Jump at Frogs

This morning the ladies were digging in a broken brick pile and I heard some noise about snakes. I thought they had killed one and his skin was there in the heap. But in fact they had just seen it slip down a hole and they were looking for it as they picked broken bricks which we call Maduga off the pile. I was afraid for them because you never know if you find one if there will be more in the same pile. So there I was leaning toward them with my head and shoulders with my feet and legs trying to move away from the whole scene. As one of the ladies pulled one of the bricks back with her shovel I saw a reptile and jumped back squirming and flapping my arms like a helpless baby chick. While my head know it was a frog my body was saying snake and thus the antics. Everyone laughed at me. They know I want to save frogs because they eat Mosquitoes but they were taken a back by my antic. Anyway I left and had to take mom to her class.

I quickly dropped her at COTNI and then drove to town. As soon as I got out of the car I noticed a guy with one leg, his other leg was curled up into a ball. That was a normal sight, but what caught my eye was a nasty burn he had on his crutch arm. That's the arm he uses to move around with. Anyway it was oozing and looked painful. I asked someone to ask him what had happened and he said it was a burn. Anyway I took him to the hospital to have it looked at. The doctor put him on medications and had the nurse wrap it up. We paid a the bill and then took him back to where he sells pictures to make money. The crippled guys all used to just beg on the street, now they are trying to make a living by selling pictures.

After Picking up my mom, we went home and they said they had killed the snake. The left it where it was and tip toed over toward it to see it from about 10 yards. I'm not to keen on snakes. later that afternoon the dogs found it and started to bark and then they tipped toed up to see it. I just plane didn't want him or her around dead or alive so I asked one of the men to move it to a better home or burial ground. Wearing gloves and boots he got a stick and hung it off the stick caring out the gate. I pray that snake is the first and the last. They say snakes don't like smelly plants so guess what I'm going to look for.

Well folks, I've taken my malaria pill and sat up long enough for it to sink to the bottom of my stomach. They tend to burn holes on the way down if they don't get to the stomach so you have to wait until they make it there. Now for the fun part. Sleep. Sleep packed with crazy dreams that is. Which is a side affect of the drug.

Its raining so that means it will be a fresh and cool night.