I was sick all weekend. Coughing, sneezing, sleeping—those three activities pretty much sum up my activities from Friday afternoon, when a blind acquaintance told me “You are much sicker than you were yesterday. I thought you might be someone else entirely.”
On Sunday, though, I began feeling better, and Alyssa and I went on a jogging and walking trip through Zomba. Zomba is the former Colonial capital, and there are large, white, wide-porched buildings from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s planted throughout the town's hills. Many have continued to be used as government administration, while others are now hotels or cultural/tourism centers. These buildings' large plots on the uneven terrain have allowed for Zomba's vegetation-- already varied due to elevation and relatively consistent rainfull-- to become dense, lush, and gorgeous. From the foot of the plateau, through the botanical garden, around these colonials holdovers and other, newer, impressive government buildings, we walked, and the baboons and monkeys didn't harass us at all.
On Monday my health improved further, and we went to Blantyre so I could attempt to meet with the Executive Director of the Malawi Union of the Blind, who I hoped would be able to assist me in coordinating interviews. We were lucky enough to catch him at the office, and through his connections, I'll be able to interview people at a variety of institutions—a vocational training center for the visually impaired, the Union's office, and in schools. During the meeting, Alyssa was working through her extensive collection of flashcards (see photo) and fighting her frustration that a mispronunciation of her name had sounded like “Ulcer”.
After leaving, we took advantage of the time in Malawi's second biggest city to buy some toiletries otherwise unavailable in Zomba. American-style Shave cream! American-style Conditioner! Face Wash! We are gradually finding our comfort zone in terms of Malawian self-maintenance: a bit more care than in Peace Corps, and befitting our roles as researchers. This means I am keeping my facial hair more trimmed and am refraining from growing out the extended goatee that I sported when Alyssa and I began dating in 2010. That's probably for the best.
Our return journey home was on a minibus: a second (or third or fourth)-hand minivan packed with five rows of seats each with four adults and as much carried material as would fit. In this case, that meant everyone's bags, maybe a hundred cans of paint, and several bales of clothing that the driver's assistant told us were made in China-differentiating these items from clothing has come from America second-hand. As a side note, you know that t-shirt you donated to Salvation Army that said “VODKA: Bringing People Together” in a font that looked like “NOKIA”? I saw it on an elderly Malawian woman yesterday.
While waiting for the car to load up, a man approached my window. As I tried to figure out what the DVD was of, the seller described it to us: “Fighting, you know?” then miming punching himself in the chin and feigning a concussion-induced eye wobble. Though that was awesome, we got cokes instead.
The ride back was pretty much as expected: the back end of the minibus opened up unexpectedly as we climbed a hill, the seat we were on was only theoretically attached to the supports beneath and lurched painfully into people's knees, and awesome Malawian rap, pop, reggae, and choral music was played the whole time. I'll try and capture some of those tunes soon.
We arrived back at the house and had some leftovers from the night before: home-made tortillas ('chipatis'), fresh-bean burgers, avocados, and Garlic Nali hot sauce. This meal was simple and amazing and will be one of our staples. I think we still have some....
So that was a big, full, fun day, and I look forward to following up on these leads. Thanks for reading!
On Sunday, though, I began feeling better, and Alyssa and I went on a jogging and walking trip through Zomba. Zomba is the former Colonial capital, and there are large, white, wide-porched buildings from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s planted throughout the town's hills. Many have continued to be used as government administration, while others are now hotels or cultural/tourism centers. These buildings' large plots on the uneven terrain have allowed for Zomba's vegetation-- already varied due to elevation and relatively consistent rainfull-- to become dense, lush, and gorgeous. From the foot of the plateau, through the botanical garden, around these colonials holdovers and other, newer, impressive government buildings, we walked, and the baboons and monkeys didn't harass us at all.
On Monday my health improved further, and we went to Blantyre so I could attempt to meet with the Executive Director of the Malawi Union of the Blind, who I hoped would be able to assist me in coordinating interviews. We were lucky enough to catch him at the office, and through his connections, I'll be able to interview people at a variety of institutions—a vocational training center for the visually impaired, the Union's office, and in schools. During the meeting, Alyssa was working through her extensive collection of flashcards (see photo) and fighting her frustration that a mispronunciation of her name had sounded like “Ulcer”.
After leaving, we took advantage of the time in Malawi's second biggest city to buy some toiletries otherwise unavailable in Zomba. American-style Shave cream! American-style Conditioner! Face Wash! We are gradually finding our comfort zone in terms of Malawian self-maintenance: a bit more care than in Peace Corps, and befitting our roles as researchers. This means I am keeping my facial hair more trimmed and am refraining from growing out the extended goatee that I sported when Alyssa and I began dating in 2010. That's probably for the best.
Our return journey home was on a minibus: a second (or third or fourth)-hand minivan packed with five rows of seats each with four adults and as much carried material as would fit. In this case, that meant everyone's bags, maybe a hundred cans of paint, and several bales of clothing that the driver's assistant told us were made in China-differentiating these items from clothing has come from America second-hand. As a side note, you know that t-shirt you donated to Salvation Army that said “VODKA: Bringing People Together” in a font that looked like “NOKIA”? I saw it on an elderly Malawian woman yesterday.
While waiting for the car to load up, a man approached my window. As I tried to figure out what the DVD was of, the seller described it to us: “Fighting, you know?” then miming punching himself in the chin and feigning a concussion-induced eye wobble. Though that was awesome, we got cokes instead.
The ride back was pretty much as expected: the back end of the minibus opened up unexpectedly as we climbed a hill, the seat we were on was only theoretically attached to the supports beneath and lurched painfully into people's knees, and awesome Malawian rap, pop, reggae, and choral music was played the whole time. I'll try and capture some of those tunes soon.
We arrived back at the house and had some leftovers from the night before: home-made tortillas ('chipatis'), fresh-bean burgers, avocados, and Garlic Nali hot sauce. This meal was simple and amazing and will be one of our staples. I think we still have some....
So that was a big, full, fun day, and I look forward to following up on these leads. Thanks for reading!
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