Kiboko Town Hotel
The bwana ("boss" or "rich person") living started as soon as my mom stepped off the plane into Malawi. I had made reservations at Kiboko Town Hotel, a place I can't afford to stay at on my own. We lounged around in their gorgeous lounge, sipping on Carlsberg or, right before bed every night, Amarula, catching up and all that jazz. Well, the first thing we did was open her ginormous suitcase full of presents for me! A headlamp, batteries, flip flops, chocolate, magazines, books, Gatorade, school supplies, and on and on! I am definitely spoiled. My quality of life will go up 100-fold. The second night we went out to dinner with Dr. John. We smoked hookah and I ate a steak. Who knew this level of bliss was available in Malawi? Not on my salary, of course, but it was incredible to forget where I was for a hot second.
On Safari! (A.K.A. the Lion King live-action adventure)
So we drove over to Zambia for a few days (another country checked off the list, I think I'm up to 20 now, no big deal) to look at some animals. And look at some animals we did! We saw:
hippos
crocodiles
elephants
giraffes
zebras
lions!
leopards (yeah, 2!)
impala
buffalo
puku
bushbacks
waterbucks
a civet
a jenet (genet?)
violet-breasted rollers
African spoonbills
fish eagles
herons
mongoose
a porcupine
German tourists
and a whole lotta other stuff I'm forgetting right now
In a word: magical. We even saw an elephant about 50 feet away from our tent one night! We ate good food, ran up a bar tab, swam in a pool, gazed at African sunsets (which really are as red and dramatic as the Lion King makes them out to be); basically just woke up and showed up and were shuffled around. I never thought I'd appreciate transport in Malawi, but the road to South Luangwa National Park was under construction so it made for a pretty bumpy ride. Half-decent roads; say what you want about Malawi, but at least it's got those!
Weekend at the lake(house!)Arriving back in Lilongwe, we wished our two Dutch friends well on their journey to the north and rented a car. Silly mom, getting her license and passport out as if they actually wanted photocopies of these things! Have credit card, will travel, no questions asked. We then went to Game, Malawi's version of Wal-Mart, and loaded up. I felt like I was on a gameshow, running up and down the aisles, filling the cart with things I can usually only dream about. We couldn't pay with credit card (of course), so we walked across the parking lot to the ATM, where we took out so much kwach I felt like a drug dealer girl (cue Mike Posner). Then we went to Spar and it's not an exaggeration to say we bought approximately $100 worth of CHEESE! A bottle of Amarula and Captain Morgans, added to the three boxes of wine we'd gotten at Game, rounded out the smorgasbord. We drove to Salima where we picked up 4 of my closest friends (including Sally, Ellie & Esther) and crammed them and their bags in with us, our stuff, and the cheese, (did I mention our car was a tiny hatchback?), and proceeded the 20k to Senga Bay and the best weekend ever!!
We ate cheese, drank beer and wine, Amarula and rum, chatted, slept, lounged on the beach, bobbed in the lake, Allegra joined us on Saturday, we made spaghetti, gave the leftover spaghetti to some monkeys, lounged some more...it was paradise. We didn't ever want to leave, but work and real life were calling, which takes us to Act IV:
Village Living
Next we went to my town, where my mom got to meet my friends, neighbors and coworkers, and experience life as a celebrity for a few days. We were in Thavite for 3 days, which was 2 days too many, but she was a trooper and stuck it out with a smile on her face. She helped teach some of my classes and was the guest speaker at the first ever Girls Club meeting. [Sidebar: this has been driving me crazy: is it Girls Club, Girl's Club, or Girls' Club? Shawn? Grammar aficionados? A little help here?] 22 girls showed up!! I'm so excited, and I'm like "take that!" to the other teachers, who don't always see the value in, let's just say GC, or maybe they're just playing devil's advocate. Last year 12 students failed the JCE: 11 girls, 1 boy. Who do you think needs more help?
My mom politely ate nsima with my watchman and his family, sat on mats on the ground, and amid all that, drove me to Salima and helped me outfit my house. We picked up some furniture I had ordered (a wicker chair and loveseat and coffee table), bought some foodstuffs and sticky tack, more plates and buckets, cushions for my new seats, and more furniture: 2 corner shelves and 2 basket things. My house is so comfortable and bwana now! Bring it on, stack of exams a mile high I still need to mark: at least my ass will be comfortable, even if I will want to scoop my eyes out with spoons. The last night my mom was like "fuck this, we're bwana!" although not in those exact words, and she drove me to Salima where we took Sally out to dinner and drinks. She couldn't do nsima (or handle my over-helpful watchman) for one more minute. We had chambo (a fish). It was delish.
LLW, round 2
We finally escaped the village and came back to civilization, er, Lilongwe yesterday. We bought a few more things for me (wicks for my paraffin stove, a mug, lavender-scented candles, you know, essentials), and went out to dinner at Chili Pepper, the closest thing to Mexican food around. Let's just say the chicken enchilada was doing it for me, and our drinks tab added up to more than our food bill (hell YES margaritas!). Then a few rounds of Amarula with the fine and upstanding Chris & Erin Murphy was a lovely end to a pretty great day.
This morning of course was weird and sad, (cue cheesy yearbook quote: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. I'm fucking lucky-I have the best mom ever, coming out here to see me in the Africa at 60 years young!) This week is going to be rough, I can already tell everyone right now. No mom, no more bwana life (back to the Peace Corps salary), back to work, ugh. Zimachitika ("it happens"). At least I've got GC to look forward to, and my headteacher and I figured out that for the next month or so I'll be teaching literature to all the forms (1-4). This is actually GREAT news for me, because it means I won't have to deal with clauses or any of that grammar shit I don't seem to know much about. And I know Sally and some combination of awesome people and I will be meeting up at the lake sometime soon and often, as hot season is coming on stronger everyday. And in October I'm going to go count game in Liwonde National Park, so don't worry about me!
