Latest night so far...

Last night, I think I broke the record--no, I'm 100% certain I broke the record-- for my latest night up so far in Malawi. The 'Muyende Bwino' party for Leah went quite well, ending very late in the evening, with me hosting one member of the party (Carlos, another IFESH volunteer based in Zomba) on my very uncomfortable vinyl and wooden couch... ouch! Poor guy. The best part is that Carlos can out-talk me. That's right. Those out there who know me well are surely sitting there in a state of shock to imagine the meer suggestion that someone out there can talk even more than I can, and it's Carlos--which is truly amazing, as he comes from Puerto Rico, so English is not his first language... but indeed he can out-talk me in English. I can only imagine the volume of speech he must produce in Spanish. I was truly impressed.

Because of an over-abundance of people needing to sleep at Betsy's house last night, Carlos graciously offered to stay on my incredibly uncomfortable couch featuring a thin layer of vinyl padding over a wooden frame, complete with some sort of bar that sticks out right around the small of one's back (Which I attempted to cushion with the big fuzzy blanket I bought in an Egyptian-owned shop after my first night sleeping in a makeshift grass hut in Lilongwe...haven't felt a need for a blanket since, much less a big fuzzy one). Ya, that couch was sent straight from a Chinese prison, methinks. I did offer to endure the couch and let him use my bed, but he insisted on testing his resolve. He has lived in several countries in Africa for the past few years, and though word has it that he currently enjoys relatively 'cushy' accommodations in Zomba (4 bdrms, huge patio, on the mountain, yadda yadda yadda), he assured me he'd slept in much-worse circumstances, and so should be able to survive this minor discomfort.

By the time we left the party, it was past midnight, and then we (well, mostly Carlos) talked until about 2:15 a.m. He had to get up at around 6 a.m. to catch a cab back to Zomba to get back to work. I did mention that Deliwe might come out and whack him with a heavy object, as I didn't have a chance to warn her that there might be a guest. He wasn't too phased by this possibility. In the end, the poor guy got only 3 hours of sleep before rising at 5 a.m., apparently due to the couch situation. Hopefully he'll still want to be my friend after that experience. I suppose that's how you find out who your real friends are, eh?

In addition, this morning it looked like Leah might need to stay another night, so I finally asked Mr. Banda if there might be an extra bed around that I could put into my extra bedroom (which currently has no furniture). In true Mr. Banda fashion, he agreed to look into it, and since I haven't been home yet, I'm not sure what the final outcome is on that one. I'll keep you posted.

The other big news is that it looks like Leah's trials and tribulations are finally coming to a close. Hopefully, as I'm writing this, she's now enjoying a comfortable hotel room in Blantyre while awaiting arrangements for her new volunteer post in Namibia. That's right. Last night, the IFESH organizers back in the U.S. looked into her issue seriously, and luckily had the objectivity and sensitivity to really assess what was going on, taking Leah's perspective into account (wow, what a concept--way beyond the scope of possibilities for many people in supervisory positions I've come into contact with... at least this gave me hope that perhaps some people running things out there are not complete idiots... though for me, the jury's still out on that theory). In the end, a compromise was proposed involving a post in Namibia which suits Leah's qualifications as a Special Education teacher quite well, as well as providing the in-country support she clearly did not enjoy while here in Malawi. After receiving the good news, Leah was much-relieved last night, and eventually had a chance to enjoy the bottle of wine that Jeff was able to open properly with his awesome bottle opener/corkscrew that far surpasses that sorry excuse for one that I've got. Hmmm... I sense a pattern... Time to get to Blantyre and buy some decent stuff!

Speaking of going to Blantyre, that's where Leah was headed this afternoon, to enjoy her evening in a fancy hotel room reserved for her as a peace offering in the midst of the housing mess she encountered here. The plan is for her to head to Namibia by week's end to start her post. I saw her off this afternoon, and hopefully she'll be able to touch base with me at some point this evening. I may even try to go down for a visit before she leaves, if I can bring myself to brave the mini-bus for the first time, as I'm still awaiting the arrival of my car. I may just need to 'suck it up' and brave the mini-bus, just for the pictures and story that would likely result... stay tuned...

Speaking of my car, I actually had an anonymous reader comment on my last post, anxiously awaiting news of my car! (I have 2 anonymous readers that I know of so far... this is so exciting for me, as I thought the only readers I had were those 3-5 that I bug on an almost daily basis, making sure they're keeping up with my daily ramblings. Perhaps these anonymous malawi blog readers are just hopin for a shot or two at (and of) that free gin offer...;-) We shall see!!--Whatever the reason, I'm pretty psyched about the random readers, and now hope they don't get turned off that I'm all ga ga, gushing, and even blushing at the extra attention. Hey, I finally inserted a rhyming couplet! Are you all still with me? Oh, no, don't go! (couplets couplets everywhere...) Alright, I'll get on with it now... (And there was much rejoicing...)

OK, OK, about the car. Actually, I hope it's not a big build-up to a big let-down, but the good news I received yesterday from my embassy contacts is that I no longer need to go all the way up to Lilongwe to pick up the vehicle. As it turns out, the dealer will be able to arrange for a reliable, trustworthy driver to deliver it to me, hopefully this Thursday or Friday. This is a much better proposition than what I originally expected, which was to get driven back up to Lilongwe with 2 drivers from Domasi College--one to get us there, and the other to get us back, due to the fact that I'm wary of the wrong side of car, wrong side of road, wrong hand, backwards shifting pattern thing. With the delivery, I'll only terrorize those in my campus community and the surrounding villages, rather than all of the hard-working pedestrians and cyclists trying to make their way on the road between villages from Lilongwe to here (just a reminder... Lilongwe is 4 hours drive north of Domasi... it's a lot of road to cover (not to mention pedestrians/cyclists to terrorize), especially twice in one day).

So, for now, that's the saga of the car. I know. It's not all that exciting-- yet. However, be forewarned that there's likely to be some sort of road trip in the very near future, possibly to one of the lakes I'm dying to visit. Of course, Lake Malawi tops the list, so I may be cruising up there this weekend, as long as I can figure out the left side, left hand thing. Wish me luck, and of course, stay tuned for more pix and stories of the 'crazy Muzungu in Malawi driving adventure!' Hmmm... sounds like a (really bad) movie title. Tiwonana Mawa!