Sports, starvation, sunburns, split ups, scribes, Santa
Well, how’s everyone doing? Another week has passed, and what have I been up to? Well, I just watched Man United beat top ranked Chelsea yesterday. Good to see some football, European style. I listened to an old Freedomize sermon and worship set, which was cool, and meant I could stay at home and avoid the heat. It’s really not much warmer than Canadian summer here, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have unpleasant summer days. It saps the energy a little bit, but I’m not going to complain cuz I’d rather have this than Canadian winter. I just got an email from a friend in Tanzania proposing we spend Christmas day on the beach wearing Santa hats. If this happens, I’ll be sure to send pictures. I will certainly miss my family, especially the joy of my neice, on that day, but I feel certain that I am where I am supposed to be for now, and what I gain from this year will outweigh the events and people that I miss.
What else have I been up to? More squash and golf. I may get the hang of this squash game yet. As for golf, I’m not sure I will ever get a feel for what passes for golf courses here. Oh well, it sure beat work on a Friday afternoon, so I’m not going to complain. I attended a Chinese cooking class the other day, that was put on as a fundraiser for a childrens’ group. I was one of about 3 guys there, and got a cheer for volunteering as a cook. It’s good to add some more options to my cooking slate. I tend to stick to the basics, but they taste good and I’m eating much better than the overprocessed, overpriced fare that was my typical Canadian meal. Like I said, when I lived in Toronto, I lived 5 minutes from work, and in those 5 minutes I passed 3 pizza places, 2 burger places, a sub place, a falafel place, a crepe place, 2 thai places, and a Chinese place. So my chances of making it home without stopping to pick something up were minimal. Here, there is very little option to eat out, and even less option of eating out and getting something palatable, so cooking is a necessity. But I’ve made some good friends just by having them over for dinner, so it works out well. And I have a gas stove, so I can cook when the power goes out, which will apparently happen more in the rainy season. It usually goes out a couple times a week for varying lengths. It’s just another thing to get used to, and isn’t the major crisis that it was in Canada. After all, over 90% of the people here don’t have electricity at all.
Thank you to those of you who have sent me articles about Malawi from the Canadian or US press. It’s interesting to read how this country is viewed from afar. I am still amazed at how easy it is to even live here and only be vaguely aware of the problems of starvation, malnutrition, AIDS, etc. As my boss said, people will come here and think that things have developed well, because certain areas are well developed. My boss has been here 20 years, and it sounds as if the rich have gotten richer and developed their area, but the poor have not gained. So someone can come and see the improvements in some areas, but not recognize the problems of the vast majority of the country. I sometimes think even the leadership of the country only has a vague idea of the real problems affecting the average rural Malawian. As for me, I figure I will learn more about this over time, as I get to visit more villages, and learn a bit more of the language.
I got to experience my first Malawian wedding on the weekend, only for a brief period of time. I went with one of my co workers, who was attending 2 other weddings that day, so we were only there for about an hour. The music was beautiful, and everyone was celebratory. It had a great peaceful and joyful feel. The portion of the reception I was at was where they were spending time collecting money for the bride and groom. There is an MC who is hired to rally the crowd, and they play music and everyone dances around the bride and or groom and tosses money at them. I know many of you would pay to see me doing this, but I really didn’t do much dancing. Same as in university, I played the old ‘stand in a large crowd of dancing people and just move a little’ game, and threw money from the stack of 10kwacha (about 10 cents Canadian) notes that I brought with me. The standard is to throw a big pile of 5 and 10 kwacha notes at them. I think I may have mentioned it in a previous post, but the man getting married is my day guard. I’m wondering when I’m going to see him back at work again (hopefully someone comes to do my laundry soon anyway)
I’ve also had more time to play guitar. I wonder at one point my fingers will stop developing calluses from playing. I keep thinking eventually this won’t happen, but after a couple hours they always seem to come back. I’ve been trying to write some stuff, and I’ve got a couple of melodies that are looking for lyrics. I used to be a poet who couldn’t come up with original melodies, now I’ve got music and no words. I had a good friend send me some poetry for inspiration, so I hope that helps. I think I’ve been reading too much CS Lewis, and it has curtailed my writing much like listening to Laila play piano sometimes makes me want to give up the notion of ever playing. I know I’ve said it before, but CS Lewis is a genius. I just finished reading ‘Till we have faces’, and 90% of the way into the book, I still wasn’t all that impressed. Then he goes and turns everything on its head. Brilliant.
I saw some temperatures last week, and it looks like you guys got a touch of warm weather. Enjoy it while it lasts. And I have now heard that the Tea Party broke up (thank you Rachel; for telling me, not for breaking up the band). For those of you who still don’t know and are confused by my email address, the Tea Party was a Canadian band. Jeff Martin’s ego got too big to fit into a band (see info on Billy Corgan for more details on this). I’ve been meaning to change my email address anyhow, and now may be the time. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if I do.
Well, that’s about it, I guess. Until next time, go Habs go! Montreal leading the conference. Whoda thunk it?
What else have I been up to? More squash and golf. I may get the hang of this squash game yet. As for golf, I’m not sure I will ever get a feel for what passes for golf courses here. Oh well, it sure beat work on a Friday afternoon, so I’m not going to complain. I attended a Chinese cooking class the other day, that was put on as a fundraiser for a childrens’ group. I was one of about 3 guys there, and got a cheer for volunteering as a cook. It’s good to add some more options to my cooking slate. I tend to stick to the basics, but they taste good and I’m eating much better than the overprocessed, overpriced fare that was my typical Canadian meal. Like I said, when I lived in Toronto, I lived 5 minutes from work, and in those 5 minutes I passed 3 pizza places, 2 burger places, a sub place, a falafel place, a crepe place, 2 thai places, and a Chinese place. So my chances of making it home without stopping to pick something up were minimal. Here, there is very little option to eat out, and even less option of eating out and getting something palatable, so cooking is a necessity. But I’ve made some good friends just by having them over for dinner, so it works out well. And I have a gas stove, so I can cook when the power goes out, which will apparently happen more in the rainy season. It usually goes out a couple times a week for varying lengths. It’s just another thing to get used to, and isn’t the major crisis that it was in Canada. After all, over 90% of the people here don’t have electricity at all.
Thank you to those of you who have sent me articles about Malawi from the Canadian or US press. It’s interesting to read how this country is viewed from afar. I am still amazed at how easy it is to even live here and only be vaguely aware of the problems of starvation, malnutrition, AIDS, etc. As my boss said, people will come here and think that things have developed well, because certain areas are well developed. My boss has been here 20 years, and it sounds as if the rich have gotten richer and developed their area, but the poor have not gained. So someone can come and see the improvements in some areas, but not recognize the problems of the vast majority of the country. I sometimes think even the leadership of the country only has a vague idea of the real problems affecting the average rural Malawian. As for me, I figure I will learn more about this over time, as I get to visit more villages, and learn a bit more of the language.
I got to experience my first Malawian wedding on the weekend, only for a brief period of time. I went with one of my co workers, who was attending 2 other weddings that day, so we were only there for about an hour. The music was beautiful, and everyone was celebratory. It had a great peaceful and joyful feel. The portion of the reception I was at was where they were spending time collecting money for the bride and groom. There is an MC who is hired to rally the crowd, and they play music and everyone dances around the bride and or groom and tosses money at them. I know many of you would pay to see me doing this, but I really didn’t do much dancing. Same as in university, I played the old ‘stand in a large crowd of dancing people and just move a little’ game, and threw money from the stack of 10kwacha (about 10 cents Canadian) notes that I brought with me. The standard is to throw a big pile of 5 and 10 kwacha notes at them. I think I may have mentioned it in a previous post, but the man getting married is my day guard. I’m wondering when I’m going to see him back at work again (hopefully someone comes to do my laundry soon anyway)
I’ve also had more time to play guitar. I wonder at one point my fingers will stop developing calluses from playing. I keep thinking eventually this won’t happen, but after a couple hours they always seem to come back. I’ve been trying to write some stuff, and I’ve got a couple of melodies that are looking for lyrics. I used to be a poet who couldn’t come up with original melodies, now I’ve got music and no words. I had a good friend send me some poetry for inspiration, so I hope that helps. I think I’ve been reading too much CS Lewis, and it has curtailed my writing much like listening to Laila play piano sometimes makes me want to give up the notion of ever playing. I know I’ve said it before, but CS Lewis is a genius. I just finished reading ‘Till we have faces’, and 90% of the way into the book, I still wasn’t all that impressed. Then he goes and turns everything on its head. Brilliant.
I saw some temperatures last week, and it looks like you guys got a touch of warm weather. Enjoy it while it lasts. And I have now heard that the Tea Party broke up (thank you Rachel; for telling me, not for breaking up the band). For those of you who still don’t know and are confused by my email address, the Tea Party was a Canadian band. Jeff Martin’s ego got too big to fit into a band (see info on Billy Corgan for more details on this). I’ve been meaning to change my email address anyhow, and now may be the time. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if I do.
Well, that’s about it, I guess. Until next time, go Habs go! Montreal leading the conference. Whoda thunk it?
posted by Chuck @ 1:47 AM
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