Is this my Life?

Today it was boiling.
Hair stuck to scalp, sweat dripping down face, equatorial summer BOILING.
And it was meant to be drama day, but the thought of standing up was exhausting.
'Hands up, who is keen for a swim!'

8 children jump into swimming costumes and trot down to the lake.
8 children pile giggling, slipping, sliding, onto an old windsurfing board.
8 children shout as their beach ball floats out into the lake, colours bright and somehow...  artistically unrealistic...  against the natural colours of the lakeshore.
8 children cheer as a heroic young man gallantly swims after it, rescuing it from a life of aimless drifting.
8 children laugh hysterically as said young man tries to return the ball to shore, every push in the right direction reversed by the pesky breeze!

1 very contented teacher, marvelling at this place, this life, this waking dream that seems to go on and on. Day after sunny day...

Scorpion Showdown

I, Tarrah Macdonald, have killed my first Scorpion.

Since arriving here in Malawi, I have heard about these mythical beasts from everyone who has spent any amount of time here. Ranging from gigantic ones, larger than a large man’s foot, crawling into offices during work hours, to little teeny tiny guys who deliver lethal bites that send paralyzing pain shooting through your body for hours.

I have, therefore, been casually careful about shaking out my clothes before putting them on, and occasionally remember to check my shoes before wearing them.
I will be a whole lot more careful from now on!

Ok, so here in Malawi we have a range of exotic, and really quite beautiful, insects and spiders. Far from being afraid of them, I have actually grown quite fond of them, and everyone here loves looks at them up close to admire nature’s beautiful designs.

One day as my roomie and I were working away on the Kondi, I opened up a dust covered binder of the girl’s past work, to find what I thought was a little wee beetle snuggled in the spine.

“Ooooo, look at this funky little cutey!”, I exclaimed, as I put my nose right level with his little bod, to get a closer look.

This was when I noticed his 6 little legs, and the suspicious looking, upward-curling tail coming from his behind.

“Ummmm…. ChiPallyWally…. What do scorpions look like?”

“Not sure…. I’ve not actually seen one yet…” she replied casually, not even bothering to glance up from her work.


“gulp, gulp… ummm… do you think they look like this?”

We looked at each other wide-eyed, then slowly backed away from the coffee table as we discussed our course of action…

“Maybe its dead? Its not moving…”

“Well we’re not leaving it just in case!”

“And we can’t just toss it in the garden! It will come back for us! Or the dogs!”

“Ok, I will just go and get my shoe….”

At this point I snuck into the house to get my trainers, which I casually slid half way on my feet. Then, confidant that he was dead, as he still had not moved, I gently picked up the open binder to carry to the garden.

“Waaaaahhhhyhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! He’s alive and MOVING!!!!”
I screamed as he made a mad dash across the open cover and leapt through the hole, falling past my bare legs to land just beside my partly-shoed feet.

He turned to face us, stinger posed and ready, and I felt like I was in an arena with an armed gladiator, not frozen on my sunshiney Kondi with a scorpion the size of a penny.

“Killlllll it!!!!”, Pally shouted encouragingly, as she huddled across the Kondi in her chair.

Stamp stamp stamp stamp stamp X55.

I fully expected one of two things to happen:

a) The scorpion to jump back to life and pounce when I least expected.

b) Venom to have punctured my shoe and slowly seep through my toes and up to my heart, resulting in a slow and painful death.

Clearly, neither of these things came to pass, and we swept him farrrrr into the garden where he would be of no harm to anyone.

And that is the tale of how ChiPallyWally and I bravely massacred our first scorpion.

The End.

Or was it?

There was a hysterical ending to this story, when a friend of ours came to visit this weekend. The pile of binders (one of which contained the terrifying beast) are piled in our living room up against the window.

A, having heard the tale of the scorpion, casually asked “So where was this scorpion anyways?”, as she swung her legs up on the window sill, her bottom centimetres away from the pile of binders….

“Ummmm…..”
Bah hahahahahhahahaha

When we informed her, the look on her face, and the speed of her reflexes, were a sight to behold.

Here's to Sunrises and Enjoying the Now

      This morning I gave up trying to visually capture the scene I see before me.

      How to capture the brilliant golds of the rising sun, contrasted by the ominous darkness of a storm cloud steadily encroaching as I watch from the Kondi, sipping my warm coffee and listening the to haunting sounds of Florence and Machine floating from inside?

      How to capture that cloud slowly descending, blotting out the morning sun inch by inch, cloaking us once again in darkness, only minutes after the sun has risen?
     The first winds and splatters of rain to reach my face cool and refresh, and convince me once again - this is not an image that can be captured for face book, but one people will just have to come experience for themselves - with all their five senses.
     Here are some of my past attempts at capturing the magic of the sun on the lakeshore:

6:00am
1 March 2012
By what magic do I find myself curled up on my Kondi (veranda) with my wonderful new roomie, watching the wind blow through the trees and the waves crash on the lakeshore below, sipping my coffee and preparing for another teaching day?




Text Message sent March 9:
I am just sipping my coffee on the Kondi, listening to old school tunes pump over at the Jeti, and watching the fishermen paddle in off the lake with the first catch of the day, and thinking… geeeeeez, life is gorgeous.



March 15
A stream of gold cuts the lake in two and pours through my window pane, waking me gently from one dream land and guiding me into the one that exists in reality.
A rainbow of colours paint the surface of the water, gold glows on the Kondi, the wicker, the leaves, the door, me.
Pitter Patter.
Here come the first drops of rain….
And now a torrent, loud enough to block out ‘Coldplay’ blaring ‘Paradise’ from the speaker in front of me. Loud enough to block the Jeti from view, to dull the light of the sun.And I can’t help but smile.
Because I know all will turn out just as it should. As it has to. The best and only way it can.

Moment of the Week

Making Flapjacks with my afternoon crew. Telling them to go put on some tunes and have a dance party on the kondi while I wash up. Going out there ten minutes later to see them shaking their booties like wild maniacs to “shake it out” by Florence and the Machine. They have FAB taste in music!
Then playing an exhausting game of tag in the garden, and collapsing on the grass to munch on warm, sticky flapjacks.

The perfect ending to a wonderful week :)

Pic of the Week



Some of my children playing ‘What Time is it Mr Wolf?’ on the overturned boat at the Beach Bar.



Book of the Week

I am giggling aloud as I read it on this lazy Saturday afternoon! Not to mention I feel quite close to him, being just south of his current location in the book, and being part of the strange “species” of people that are ex-pats in Africa! Hehe

Good, in its purest form...

(March 15)

I was feeling a little off this afternoon, so after teaching I went and bundled up on the Kondi with a cup of tea. A few minutes after settling in, one of my darling girls arrived, and told me this story to make me feel better:


Once upon a time, there was a girl who was freeeezing cold. So her friend, A., scooped up some sunshine in a net and poured it over her to warm her up! 

 Gorgeous, priceless, perfection.
Warmed me to my core. :)

An 'Elegance of the Hedgehog' Style Weekend

After having spent so many weekends enjoying the wonders of Chilumba, Pally and I decided to venture 20 min down the road and get a change of scenery by hiking Livingstonia moutain. Here are some photos and excerpts from my journal:



ChiPallyWally admiring the enchanted forest

   We are sitting inside a cloud.
Sipping foamy coffee, shooting slingshots, listening to thunder boom and watching cloud race past.
Cozy, and just a bit cold, for the first time in weeks!
Perfection.

We are in a cloud!

 I take it back.
We are, in fact, in an enchanted mountain kingdom. A magical garden straight from Siobhan’s deepest daydreams.
I stand under a banana frond and take in all the life around me, mouth hanging open in wonder…. (Until a mozzie flew in! hehe)
Lilypads and bamboo.
Bunnies, and butterflies of all shades flitting through the air like secret wishes.
Bright red spiky kite-shaped spiders suspended in the space in front of my sunburnt nose.
Florescent red and orange toadstools and prickly mushrooms and cascading waterfalls.
People who live in treehouses!!! (Just like I have always been daydreaming of!)
Hibiscus, perfect in reds and pinks and white.
And a view… a view that leaves you quite breathless. Speechless.
Infinite hues of green, blue, gray, changing every moment as the clouds shift across the roof of the world.
Eagles swoop and dive, as a rain cloud passes by, a hazy mist obscuring the valley below.
And accompanying this otherworldly perfection?
The commentary of a child, so innocent and oblivious of his own charm, his ability to fascinate, as he casually shares a knowledge that for him is commonplace, growing up in this land of wonders.

I am laying in bed, cozy under my quilt, and watching the sun rise over the Tanzanian mountains, clear across the lake.
Enough said.

We finished by coming home and having a lovely dip in the lake, and are now feeling fully refreshed and ready for the week ahead! (And a wee bit sunburnt! )
Hope all your weekends were equally magical, and full of moments of absolute perfection and peace! :)

Friday Fun!

Listening to Goldfish while coaching the afternoon group in tennis.
One of the girls pointing at me and giggling, then imitating my shoulder dance in time with the beat!

From Ios to Africa… the beat lives on! ;)

Once Upon a Wing...

A new round of blog posts dedicated to making everyday seem magical have been posted by my dear friend Siobhan.

Once again I am reminded of how much brighter the world around me becomes when I begin my day with a dose of life through her eyes!

If you are not already a reader of onceuponawing.blogspot.com, check it out ASAP!

Then take a walk down the street, and look around you just a little more carefully than usual. Does the mundane not suddenly sparkle with a new life and humour?
:)

Pancake Wednesday

Last Wednesday was less joyful…

I still loved Malawi oh-so-much….
I just had a painful realization about how much I have left to learn about life here… How ignorant and thoughtless and unaware I still am.

In any case, previous to this realization (and partly the cause of it…) we got to make symmetrical pancakes for one of my students math classes! Yum!

We had an absolute blast, and I couldn’t help giggling as we sat on the kondi munching away at warm pancakes with melty chocolate squashed in!

Here is a gorrrrgeous picture one of the girls took… doesn’t it look like it should be an advert?

(As a side note, no, we cannot get maple syrup in Malawi. That is honey…. Though I have heard that some industrious Canadian ex-pats have been known to boil down maple extract to make their own maple syrup! :P)

Of course this escapade also made me think of the JAHsome pancakes that used to be made on the 5^th floor in London… Miss you my Wee Tmac! <3

A Dearth of Onions

The lack of onions is a form of oppression and weighs heavy on my sweaty soul…

Where, oh where have you gone, you delightfully strong flavoured vegetables? What is my life without you? My food is so bland, with endless days of bland meals stretching ahead into the future…

I dream of the day that we are reunited once again…
I can see it now: Squeezing down the narrow alley of the market, braced for disappointment once again… I will see you out of the corner of my eye, gleaming golden in the dusty light.
Oh the joy! I promise to pay any price, just to have your sweet flavour tainting my breath once again!
Mmmm….

Never, EVER take onions for granted.
That is all.

The Loneliest Soccer Pitch

We stumbled upon this forlorn (though I assume well-used!) soccer pitch on a lonely and wind blown hilltop, after having hiked along the ridge for 3 hours last weekend. 
 The scope of the sport never fails to amaze :)

Fish with your Fanta?

I hearted Malawi so very much on Tuesday….

Here were my top 5 moments (and these had to be seriously considered, chosen from a list of about 25).
#5 The Malawian Gov choosing to let me stay another 60 days! Yippee!

#4 Arriving at work and finding a Valentines card from a lovely Bostonian! (Ironically also the day I chose to bring Brit the Giraffe to work! J )

#3The froggies singing me a song as I bounced down the path on my bicycle.

#2 Following a rain cloud the entire 15km to Sangilo, and being lightly spattered by its cool, life-giving droplets.

#1 Stopping in to see my Tumbuka teacher on my way home, and hanging around for a niiiiiiice ice cold Fanta…. Mmmmm.

“Would you like some fish with your Fanta?” she asked me, as I took my first refreshing swig.

“Pardon?” (clearly I had not heard correctly???)

“Yes, most people enjoy them with their Fanta, as a snack. I have just fried some!”
(As it turns out I had heard correctly…)

“ Oh, thanks! Ummm…. How do you eat them?” I asked, innocent of the world of Usipa….

“These ones we just put in our mouths and chew.”

Just. Like. That. Tail, bones, head, and all.
Yup.
Even their cute little fried out eye sockets…

And the most unfortunate? Because I feigned having greatly enjoyed them, I will now be expected to order a side of usipa each time I go for a Fanta…..

Hahahahaha

I <3 you Malawi!  :)

(Monday, Feb 27th, 2012) - A wee bit late... :)

Oh dear… I have been shamefully absent from internet for so long! My apologies to all of you who are waiting on replies to emails! Coming soon, as this weekend is a holiday in Malawi, so I am hoping to do catch up!

No one likes excuses, but every time I try to check my emails I just can’t seem to bring myself to brave the mosquitoes! We can get internet at our place, but only on this rock out in the front garden. At weekends, this is delightful, and it suits me just fine to let the sunshine warm my skin while I check the updates from home! However during the week, this means sitting outside at dusk, braving the swarms of mosquitoes that smell blood and are drawn to the light of my screen!
It is actually UNBEARABLE! Like, I have tried so many times,
but am literally choking on the mozzies that go down my nose every time I take a breath! Blech!

So until a proper update can come, I thought I would type this up for you on my lunch break… A few stolen moments of peace and quiet, here on my veranda, overlooking the breakers on the beautifully stormy lake….

Hmmm… wonder if I can get a photo to upload to go with this post! I shall try! Again, more photos to come, when I ever find the time/bandwidth to get them uploaded! J

Wish you all were here!! J

I'm connected! For now...

Ah!  My apologies for my blogging absence!  The internet has not been kind to me the last couple weeks!  However I HAVE been writing blogs, just have not been able to post them online!  So look for a steady stream the next couple of days... as long as this connection holds up!
Hope your world is as sunshiney as mine today!  :)