Lilongwe Living

Moni! 

We located some wifi. Today (May 27th) was my first full day in Malawi and it was quite a day. To recap some things I didn't cover yesterday:

The plane ride was actually so much fun. I learned chinese from watching the hobbit due to the permanent subtitles, so that was a really good use of the time.

Also plane food is the bomb. I think I said that last time but now here is a picture.

However the plane food apparently put some spinach in my teeth that no one told me about for hours and that was there while I met people and beamed at them. Thanks team.

Ethiopia was very different than I expected- the air was very difficult to see through from the plane and the ground. Mountains that we saw from the sky were invisible from the airport because the air was so dense with either pollution or maybe fog! It wasn't a great spot for socialization so I didn't ask anyone. It was very crowded and there was a bird, who I loved. Here he is in the rafters

Also a photo of this statue was in the airport. It is apparently somewhere in Europe but I doubt the real one is this great

It was a small but lovely flight to Lilongwe. They fed us a whole meal on a 2.5 hour flight! That is classy service. We hopped off the plane and suddenly we were in Malawi, dream come true! The airport was NUTS- lesson 1 about Malawi:

     Organization is not the Malawi way. That isn't to be mean, since organization is a sort of social 

currency in the states. It just isn't that valued here. Just in the airport: there were several lines to pass through "customs" into the country- they all had labels like "returning residents" and "diplomatic organizations, etc. Once you got to the front of your line though, you could be waved to any counter, it made absolutely no difference. Also in the airport, depending on if you went to one currency exchange window or the one around the corner in the hall, you could exchange for different rates (710 Kwachas to 1 USD or 650 Kwachas). ALSO in the airport, there was a sort of ticket window in the women's room, like the type you'd use to buy a movie ticket at the theatre. Inside the little room beyond there was a woman sleeping. There just aren't a ton of rules. But that's sort of beautiful and okay.

We all piled into the special van that was there for us, sent by the lodge: Annie's Lodge. Annie is a real woman, basically the beyonce of Malawi but in entrepreneurship, not music. She is incredible, I'll talk more about her later. Point is we got in the bus and went to the lodge in Lilongwe. 

Once at the lodge we got our rooms (I get to room with Ashley, 4 time Malawi veteran and most loving soul on the Earth) and then hopped back on the bus to find food and an internet cafe so we could tell loved ones we made it! That's where I wrote that last, pictureless post. The food was great, it was a restaurant called Ad Lib at another lodge in town, but we already encountered the problem of tomato and lettuce being included on most food here. We can't eat uncooked or unpeelable produce since the soil isn't always safe, so we just had to keep that in mind and leave those things on the plate. Then we went home, opened up the mosquito nets and slept like rocks because we had been up for 11 days or so it felt.

With love and wifi,
Lauren

5 minute journals for the 25th and 26th:

May 25
I am grateful for...
1. communication    2. giant rice krispy treats    3. clean water and soil
What will I do to make today great?
1. watch 1,000 movies on the plane   2. actively get to know the other kids on the trip    3. take photos
Daily affirmations. I am...
enthusiastic about air travel
3 Amazing things that happened today...
1. I sat on a plane for 13 hours   2. I ate the whole rice krispy in about 7 minutes   3. I was in the US and Africa today.
How could I have made today even better?
Checked my teeth sooner

May 26
I am grateful for...
1. My family   2. The giant pockets in this jacket   3. being able bodied (much farther in Me Before You)
What will I do to make today great?
1. Take time to write in my other journal   2. drink lots of water   3. smile at people
Daily affirmations. I am...
Good at handling discomfort
3 amazing things that happened today
1. Crazy bus ride to Annie's Lodge   2. Learning Chichewa from our friend Boston   3. Candle-lit dinner at Kikomo Lodge
How could I have made today even better?
Talk to more people