Fuzzy bugs, Fancy prison

Hello, again... For those few faithful who may have noticed, I have to apologize for not getting my post in yesterday, but I when I actually did get online yesterday evening with the intention of entering a short 'blurb', the connection to blogger wasn't working... though everything else online seemed fine. Perhaps the site was down. So, not entirely my fault, but it was Sunday, and I was feeling a bit tired and 'out of it', so I guess I just needed a rest day anyway.

I did take a short walk (well about an hour, which for me is short) around campus yesterday afternoon, as the rains seem to have come back again (finally), so it was so much cooler than usual...heaven for me. I also felt a walk might do me good, since I'd been cooped up in the house all day trying to grade those research papers. Ya, fun stuff. Why did I give that assignment, anyway? Can't imagine what I was thinking...(Ya, all you students out there... the grading is the payback for the big projects, in case ya didn't know...)

I was accompanied on my walk by a young man named Chikuni (the guy we met at Liwonde National Park who played the 'Bawo' game with Deliwe). He was in the area, and is a driver by trade, so I wanted to talk with him about helping me with my trip to Lilongwe on Friday, as I need to drive there (4 hours away) for my flight to the U.S. on Saturday. He agreed to help me with the driving both ways (I was especially worried about coming back in January, as I'll likely be VERY jet-lagged).

As we walked along, there were two VERY interesting things we spotted. One was this very strange, but beautiful bug. It looks like it's made of felt, or velvet, and is shaped a bit like a deer tick. It's a bright orange color, and when you pick it up, it compacts itself into a little tiny ball. We kept seeing them everywhere, and Chikuni picked all of them up and carried them around for awhile. I also did, but felt badly about the little guy all curled up like that, so put him back. Chikuni joked about eating them later. I think it was a joke (???) I saw one in our garden the other day as well... they're so interesting... they don't actually look real. I'll try to get a pic next time of one of these little guys. Maybe one of my faithful Malawian readers can help me with the name of this creature??? (Chikuni didn't seem to know its name, and I likely would've gotten it wrong here, anyway...)

The other interesting thing was the Domasi Prison. Though I knew where it was, I had never actually walked near it before. It actually looked like a pretty nice place to be. I didn't realize it was a prison until Chikuni told me it was. There was a guard sitting out front, talking with a young woman and her young daughter (maybe about 7 years old). Of course, they both lived there at the prison, and Chikuni told me the woman must be an inmate. He also said that there are serious criminals there, accused of crimes as serious as murder, though you'd never know it from looking at the place. It actually looked like nicer accommodation than many people enjoy in this area. It was a brick and concrete structure, surrounded by very nice landscaping and gardens, very green and lush. The building itself looked quite pleasant from the outside, and the only true security (besides the one guard) seemed to be a metal perimeter fence made of wire with coiled barbed wire at the top. That's it. I wonder if I should be worried about that at all... hmmmm....

I'm not sure if the woman inside was a convicted murderer, but had I been alone, I would never have suspected she was a prisoner, or that the place itself was a prison. Maybe the inside looks much different from the outside. I suppose I'll never know. At least I hope not.

So, that's my story for today. Tomorrow, I'm off to Blantyre for a quick doctor's visit and to buy a couple of things in preparation for my trip home. It'll be good to get out of town for a day. Been feeling a bit 'cooped up' lately...Tiwonana mawa!