5/09/09

It rained during the night, hard enough to wash away footprints, and give me and Ruben license to sing “Africa” by Toto again. I haven’t made many appeals, but seriously, you need to feel an African rain. It felt so much more... correct than in the US, with buildings and roads that don’t erode or lead to water. I was supposed to get wet; I was getting in the way of those droplets, who wanted to soak the soil they were aimed at.
We did a short little jaunt in the morning before breakfast. Dan and I were in one car, and most of the others were in the... other. I’d barely talked to Dan the whole trip, unless I was asking for a task, or trying to defend, dodge, or distract from being teased. It was cool hearing how he’d shifted from member to leader of an STM. Wow, I’m just thinking of all the conversations that I haven’t mentioned now. So much learning taking place... at least for me.
On the way out of the park, I didn’t have a seat belt, and... uh.... I slammed my head good and hard on the top of the car. Painful, but tonight it’s become a lump with a bruise. Nice. Rick gave me a Hershey bar to treat the pain. Spoonful of sugar, right?

On the way back “home”, we stopped at Dedza, the city / plant where all Brian’s flooring tiles were made, and where almost all Malawian pottery starts. We saw the ovens, and all the beautiful plant life scattered around. There were pretty sculptures and nicely painted fired clay pottery. I bought something else to ease the teasing -- a pretty goblet with an orange sunset and savannah trees, and some Malawian coffee for the peeps in the IT office. It smelled fantastic. The coffee, I mean.
As we drove back, some guys in a fast government car kept throwing blue papers out of their car -- they were pro-Bingu in the upcoming elections, and dozens of kids were running out into the street to get them. So dangerous, and it was just photocopied posters. Very effective though; the word was spread.

We stopped by and visited Kwacha’s family -- his sisters, their kids (so stinkin’ cute!) and Kondi and Patricia. We had a Malawian cake for a snack, and a round of Cokes and Fantas.
When we got home, I stuffed all my souvenirs into my backpack, and I put all my extra clothes, supplies, and stuff into the giveaway bins. No extra clothes, only the stuff I’d wear on the way back. I gave away a lot. I wish I had more. Tim took my empty bags; no more checked luggage... only my backpack. I helped Ruben fix the dryer... even though it kept breaking. Bummer on that. The desserts were epic again -- three different ones, plus ice cream! Molva pudding is a SA dish... like a syrup-soaked cake, warm and sticky, but wet enough that it keeps you salivating.