One more day and still no car...

Well, just as I thought, another day has gone by and still my car has not arrived. I am truly losing faith in the idea of the car delivery ever really happening at all. Even the director of my department at Chancellor College sounded quite discouraged about it when I told him this afternoon. I'd been warned that it may take some time, but even he and my contacts at the embassy have now admitted that waiting almost 3 weeks is way too long. As you may recall, I actually purchased the car (wired money from my U.S. account for payment) on Sept. 20. If I do not see it tomorrow, it's officially been 3 weeks since the date of purchase, and still no car. 'Mawa,Mawa' ('tomorrow, tommorrow') seems to be the mantra in this case.

Now the latest promise is that the car will be delivered to Zomba after my classes end tomorrow. I was a bit nervous about this, as Zomba is a larger and much busier city than Domasi (which is really just a village), and learning to drive on the wrong side of the road in the wrong side of the car while shifting with the wrong hand in a busier city does not excite me at all. However, since this seems to be the only option at the moment, the dealer did assure me that the driver would "give me a few lessons" before leaving me alone in the car after taking him to the mini-bus station for his 4-5 hour trip back to Lilongwe. This, of course, would be followed by the sight of me weaving around the hapless pedestrians, cyclists, goats, and whomever else might be using the roadway, while grinding gears and repeatedly killing the engine as I think I'm shifting into first while really shifting into 5th (all you manual drivers out there...the shifting pattern here is the same, but backwards because you have to use the other hand... clear as mud, I know...I'll send pix). Ah, it should be quite the experience for all, and not with much rejoicing. I'll keep you posted.

The good news is that I didn't need to go anywhere today, so was able to avoid the dreaded mini-bus experience. Instead, I was content to stay in my office in Domasi, and complete, copy, and send-out essential paperwork necessary for reimbursement of funds spent for settling in after my arrival (also known by the feds as 'post-departure expenses'). Even though I'm working overseas, the U.S. government still requires a printed expense report complete with original receipts, each of which has to be attached to a 'receipt form,' and then sent via snail mail to Washington, D.C. (actually to the coordinators of the English Language Fellows Program at Georgetown University). Yes, it's as tedious as it sounds, and I was putting it off for awhile, so being "stuck" here today was the perfect opportunity to finish this beaurocratic joy in plenty of time to beat the deadline (60 days from arrival, thankfully).

My only interesting experience today was my first trip to the local post office, where a nice lady took care of my needs, but not without some difficulty. As I mentioned, there were a few pieces of paper involved (12, to be exact), and when I asked for an envelope, all that was available was a rather standard-sized business envelope labeled "registered letter." At first, I thought there was no way I could fit everything into it-- However, much to my surprise, I was actually able to stuff the entire packet of dead trees into that little envelope. I think even the nice post office clerk was impressed. Or concerned. Or both. Once I sealed the envelope, I did ask for some tape to cover the seal. However, this was denied, as it's not allowed. I wonder why. I guess they like to be able to look inside. I'm just hoping this works out better than the car situation.

So, once I got everything all stuffed and sealed, it was time to buy the stamps. Ya, this is a developing country. They don't have those handy-dandy meter thingies we have in the states. They use stamps. In this case, a lot of stamps. I think she packed about 20 stamps onto that little overstuffed envelope. They were beautiful stamps though, with butterflies and birds on them, and luckily she was able to overlap them a bit to make all of them fit. Soon my sister Heather will get something with all those stamps on it, since she won the special prize for the "guess what kinda bug was on my wall" contest. The free gin winners will also get to see the pretty stamps. See? Now aren't you glad you've suffered through all my ramblings and remained a loyal reader? Someday even you might get to see the pretty stamps from Malawi.

I was actually thinking about starting another contest taking bets on what day my car might actually arrive. Instead, I think I'll insert a poll on this posting, just for fun. I haven't tried that yet, so we'll see if it works. Maybe this way, I can find out how many truly loyal readers are still with me daily, or semi-daily, or just logging on for the pictures and contests.

By the way, the nice post office lady owes me 300 kwacha (about 2 bucks--the exchange is about 140 kwacha to the dollar), since she couldn't make change for 1,000 Kwacha (the highest bills here are 500 kwacha notes-- I've found that making change is a common problem here, so I need to remember to carry smaller notes with me). I'll be going back to collect tomorrow, since I need to go back to the post office after buying something to pack Heather's special prize into, since it definitely will not fit into a business-sized envelope.

Hmmm. Maybe we could have another contest for my 3-5 faithful readers, guessing what gift I'm sending to Heather! Yeah, that's it. Start posting your guesses in the 'comments' section now! (It'll take a good two weeks for Heather's gift to get there, so you can take your time... I hope she doesn't mind if we spoil the surprise. Better yet, I'll let her post the answer once her gift arrives! Ah, this'll be so fun!! Are you with me? Now, we shall see who is truly faithful--at least for the next two weeks or so... ;-)

Tiwonana Mawa!