Day 13: Bill Paying Adventure and Middleastern Feast

Paying Bills here is not so simple! We went to 3 different places  at 2 different times of days to get everything we needed paid: water bill, electricity units, and internet units! We celebrated this accomplishment with homemade hummus, babaganoush, salad and fresh made pita from a store.

Day 12: Taste of Asia

Today is public Holiday for Ramadan. Kelly and I decided to go out for lunch to a Burmese owned Asian restaurant. I wasn't a big fan of the food, but the decor was nice. It's also been fun to see this great diversity in Lilongwe.

Day 11: Music Day Out

In the afternoon, I went to the Koko Bean Cafe at the Wildlife Center where they had traditional Malawian music and dancing. It was great. A friend from work was also there with his family and other friends, so I ended up tagging along with them and we migrated across town to a nice shopping/restaurant complex called Four Seasons. Every sunday night they have live jazz and serve pizza on the lawn. It was another wonderful evening.

Day 10: Markets Galore

the morning started with us trying to get some money at the ATM at a shopping plaza. We then had to wait about 15 min to get out of the parking lot because due to lack of parking, people just leave their cars anywhere and we were blocked in. We had to get the security guard to help locate the owner of the car.

On the last saturday of every month, there's a farmers market at the Sanctuary Lodge. In addition to organic produce and all sorts of homemade goodies, there are a bunch of local crafts by various NGOs. They also serve brunch.

After the Farmer's Market,  we went to the Chitenje Marke where I bought some fabric to get dresses and pillowcases made!

Day 9: Malawi Sunsets

Today I saw a couple of houses in the morning. I loved this one house, but it's not available until september 1 and its a bit pricey. The lady who showed it to me is helping me find out more details and bring down the price, so keeping fingers crossed! Seeing more this weekend too..

Otherwise, captured a beautiful Malawi sunset (at of course before 5:30 pm), had delicious homemade dinner (I made the carrots!) and had a good Skype call on project I'm still finishing up from BWH.

Day 8: First Visit to Sanctuary Lodge

The Global Health Corps Malawi had a meet and greet event at the Sanctuary Lodge. This Lodge was really beautiful. The event was fun. I met a bunch of interesting people doing cool Global Health projects.

***Not my actual pics***

Day 7: house hunting nightmare but great dinner out with new friends

Had a house hunting adventure in the morning that didn't go so well. Fortunately, was invited to "Wednesday Night Dinner," a weekly dinner where a bunch of USAID and CDC people get together at a different restaurant. It was fun and got to meet new people!

Interlude: NC prep

I'll be leaving for Malawi (with Coco in tow) 2 weeks from today.  In the meantime, I've been relaxing in North Carolina with family and friends ... and working through the massive to-do list Lily left me with.

Yesterday was vaccination day.  I ended up getting a tdap booster, along with typhoid and hep a shots.  I've done travel vaccines before so thought it was no big deal and was feeling fine after the first two shots.  Once I got the 3rd though, I immediately felt nauseous and light-headed and started to black out.  Luckily the very nice nurse pictured below got me to the bed before I hit the floor.  I laid there dazed for a few minutes, sweat as much as I do when I run 10 miles, and learned that (in this nurse's experience at least) this kind of stuff only happens to men.  10 minutes later I felt normal enough to drive home.  Surreal experience but I guess it's a fair trade off to eliminate the minuscule chance of lockjaw, typhoid, or something else equally unpleasant.

Day 5 &6: Experiencing technical difficulties

Sunday night my computer decided to not work. Ben tried to help me and we got it working some, but still not reliably. Lucky for me a crate to UNC with lab specimens was going to Chapel Hill so my computer joined them. Thankfully, Shelly left her old computer and let me use it. I did end up meeting up with CDC and USAID workers last night and it was great!

Day 5: Day Trip to Dedza

Today, Kelly and I went out on a fun excursion! We visited Dedza, home of famous Malawian Pottery, crafts, and delicious cheesecake!

Day 4: Taste of China in Malawi

Today I looked at a couple of houses for rent, which I didn't like very much, but on the way back we stopped at a shopping plaza with a supermarket and huge hotel called "Golden Peacock."  It was basically like a huge Walmart, where everything is predictably made in China. They sell everything from a clothing steamer to frozen fish to a whole bunch of Chinese food products. The place feels very funny and out of place but it's also reassuring to know there's a one stop shop for all our needs, even if it is a bit more expensive.

Day 3: Orientation at the Embassy and Chiefs Meeting

Today I had an orientation at the U.S. Embassy and went to visit with USAID. They have some great projects going on. In the afternoon, I joined Kelly in an interesting meeting. In order to do a survey about breast cancer knowledge in the community, permission must be granted from the village chiefs. It was a really interesting experience! The meeting lasted about 2 hours and they were really engaged and interested about breast cancer

Day 2: First Day at the office

It was a fairly calm first day. The staff is really nice and friendly. I started learning some Chichewa! The research center is on the grounds of the main hospital (KCH). Driving by the patient areas made me really miss clinical medicine!

Dahbitah Diwonana Mahwah!
(Bye, see you tomorrow)

Day 1: Lily arrives in Lilongwe 7/16/14

Had a very warm Malawian welcome! Went out to a delicious Indian dinner with my new friend and colleague and temporary housemate Kelly. Of course I had to have this interesting find on the menu:

Welcome

Many people have been asking Ben and I if we are going to blog about our time in Malawi. Neither of us are particularly good at blogging, but Ben came up with a cool idea: a daily photoblog. We plan to post a picture a day with a small caption or anecdote. Hope you enjoy!