Apparently, when instinct kicks in, I opt for the former.
I'm in Lilongwe to shop for school supplies and tie up loose ends before Camp Sky starts next week in Kasungu, and the last 24 hours have been pretty weird.
Last night Elisabeth and I played ultimate frisbee and saw a man hit by a car on the way home. We were riding with a doctor, who tried to stop the growing mob from touching the man, but it was too late. They picked him up like a sack of maize and tossed him in the back of a car, his body twitching in his last breaths. Car accidents are fairly frequent here, but it doesn't lessen the shock of seeing them. No ambulances show up in 5 minutes, no EMTs with backboards, no policemen arrive on the scene to calm the crowd and take notes. A mob collects, surrounds the involved parties, tempers rise and then slowly dispel. There won't be a notice in the paper.
So we were contemplative this morning, crossing the bridge of last night's accident, as we embarked on a hellish three hours of market shopping. I have never been a shopper. Inevitably, my blood-sugar levels plummet an hour in and I morph into a impatient animal on a ravenous search for peanuts or sugar. Unfortunately, this morning that happened at the very moment we were accosted by a large crazy man who followed us around the streets of Lilongwe. We weaved in and out of stores, crossed the street, walked zigzag and still this man was a step behind, mouthing kisses and mumbling incoherently.
Well, Elisabeth booked it and I lost it, unleashing a loud and long slew of pointed directions as to where he should go and how he might arrive there. It was quite a scene we made there, in the electronics shop next to the bus depot. I think my reaction was a result of the stress of the night before, and of pent-up frustration at the barrage of unwanted negative attention that women receive here. Anyhow, after my rant, we ducked, ran, and dove behind an idling car, and (to the amusement of its passengers) waited and watched until our pursuer rambled away, and we escaped safely into the depths of the chaotic clothes market.
Some deep breaths and big lunch later, I'm writing off this trip to Lilongwe as a bad dream, and looking forward to better days ahead: a stop tomorrow at the health sector's Camp Glow where I'll be talking to the girls about writing, then a fondue-inclusive visit to Jen and Kris's site on the way north to Kasungu, and then 10 crazy (the good kind of crazy) fun-filled days of camp after that.
Field trip!
A visit to the new Parliament building
... and the airport!
Cooking class: crepes
Foods of Malawi, thanks to Stacia Nordin and the Ministry of Education
Nditha Sports
Staff Room SHARK ATTACK!
Soon-to-be-PCVs!
Physical Science lab
Jerrod and I led a creative writer's workshop.
Goat dissection: heart.
Learning to make mud stoves
