Day 38-39: Adventures in the Cube

The car is really starting to grow on me. I like it a lot. Friday night went to a concert of a famous Zimbabwean musician in the conference center. This venue was very modern and looked like any major performing arts/convention center in the U.S. it was quite bizarre.  the concert was good and everyone was dancing in their seats. Saturday went to  an artist demonstration at the local boutique/art gallery, a few other shops, and mainly hung out at Lauren's where she got me addicted to a Danish political thriller with english subtitles called Borgen. Sunday we hung out at a nice hotel pool with delicious food! It's a nice little lilongwe oasis---yet another hidden gem.

Day 37: Officially Car Owner

Got the car today! Its so funny looking but really growing on me now!  Vincent, the grandpa driver I've been using, was really excited about it! he may drive it on thursday to pick up Ben and coco with me at airport! Getting money was an adventure. Had to get some at Embassy but had to exchange rest and had to go to 2 money exchange bureaus because the first one didn't have enough Kwatcha for me.


This is how much the car cost...

Day 36: Send off and reunion

Kelly, my former housemate and colleague, will be returning to the U.S. on saturday so had a going away dinner at the first restaurant I ate in Lilongwe. I think its my favorite Indian place I've eaten at so far. Elizabeth came too. she's my friend from med school who is now in her second year of peds heme.onc fellowship at UCLA and is hoping to do a research project here.

Elizabeth and I--MSIH Reunion in Malawi??

Day 35: Delicious homemade food

Just another day in the office. Power outages in the evening which were not fun. Laura made and amazing shrimp curry and I made a salad with watermelon, tomato, feta, olive oil, avocado

Day 34: More Car adventures

I've been in touch with this one seller (a very nice Korean man) about his 2005 Nissian Cube for weeks now. I wasn't really interested but somehow felt that I should look at another car before we settle on the 1995 Rav4 that needs repairs. The guy agreed to pick me up from work and go over to the mechanic to check it out. He picks me up in his Mobile clinic and asks if we can go to his house to get the car and then the mechanic. I reluctantly agree but made for interesting ride. Anyway, long story short after about an hour at the mechanic I think we are going to get the Cube instead of the Rav.

Day 33: Lincolns birthday party

Laura made an amazing homemade Mexican meal including homemade chipatis, guac, and salsa!

Lincoln was happy.

Day 30-32: More Weekend Fund

Authentic Ethiopian Food. Authentic Korean Food. Fantastic Local musicians. Great Facial. cultural village. A friend of mine from medical school who i haven't seen since happened to be in town and staying at the UNC guest house, so it was fun to catch up! And Lincoln turned 2 yesterday.

Day 29: Cars and Food

I went to go look at a car I really liked, but the mechanic said it had some issues that would require fixing but nothing too too major. Will see how the final negotiations pan out. Had awesome Mexican lunch of quesadilla and guacamole at Papaya and incredible italian dinner at Mediterreano with the dinner club. I'm becoming better friends with the dinner club folks so that's nice too :)

missing this one :)

Day 28: Housing Decisions

The landlord of our new place said that a 2 bedroom (cheaper price) is available in the same time in the same compound. I went to check it out today so we can decide on which one to keep. Of course we can't make a decision and there are pros and cons to both. Here is a preview of the kitchen which is basically the same in both homes.

Day 26-27: Fine Dining at Home

Living with Jared, Laura, Dawn and John has been a lot of fund. Laura is an amazing cook and makes dinner every night. She creates a menu for the week and puts it up on the fridge. We are all also into exercising so every night we've been doing a different exercise video or cross fit routine.

Monday night we had homemade (dough and all) amazing pizza . Last night we had lasagna, homemade bread, and homemade bruschetta! I'm going to be so spoiled, Ben is going to have to step up his cooking game!

the chef and her masterpiece

Day 23-25: Weekend Adventures with New Friends

Friday was yet another move.  My mentor returned from the U.S. and I moved into the UNC Surgery house. Jared (UNC Surgery resident) and his wife and 2 year old son are staying there all year. Dawn (new UNC women's health fellow) and her husband just arrived to Malawi and temporarily staying there till they find their own place. So it was a full house, but really awesome fun people. Friday night we went out for Indian food (the Lilongwe staple). Saturday, we did cross fit because Jon (Dawn's husband) is an instructor. I went to a really great concert at the Koko Bean Cafe and then to a dinner party with more new friends. The hosts were 2 embassy summer interns and another Fulbright-Clinton fellow was there. Sunday I spent the day out with my British friend --Lauren. We virtually met over importing dogs to Malawi. Her husband and their 2 dogs are coming in early september. We spent the day exploring town and getting errands done. We treated ourselves to manicures/pedicures at a really nice salon/spa for really cheap!

Saturday Dinner Party

Sunday Breakfast

Day 22: Weekly Dinner Club

I missed it last week, but was able to come this week to the weekly dinner club with the USAID/CDC folks. This week it was at Noble China--a Chinese restaurant which was pretty good!

Day 21: Taste of Portugal with new friend

A professor of mine from Harvard has an NGO with an office in Malawi. He introduced me to the women who runs it and I go to meet her last night. She's Dutch and really nice. We had a great dinner at the Portuguese restaurant at the Portuguese club.  The food wasn't quite Portuguese but it was good. This was the veggie taco. It was pretty much mashed black beans with cheese in hard taco shell.

Day 20: Reassurance of why I never want a house or car

The past couple of days were a series of house/car issues, all of which made me feel reassured with the decision to live in a compound.  The compound is more expensive, but it has everything included in the price and a manager for the property. There are 2 cars here but we only use one because the other is a stick shift. Kelly starts that car every week but yesterday it wouldn't start. The mechanic came today and said it needed more distilled water and some grease for the engine, so he'll pick it up and service it tomorrow morning.  Next the chlorinated water tub has been leaking everything out. Then the outdoor water well is also overflowing.  And since last night the power was out and we realized that suddenly it was because we were out of units (electricity is prepaid units here---I like it better! more environmentally friendly because it makes you think and be cautious). However, we just bought about 2 weeks worth of electricity 1 week ago and have barely been home and turn everything off all the time. We think something is wrong with system since a major fuse blew out a few weeks ago. The landlord came by but wasn't super helpful.

On a brighter note... I just received this fun email from this awesome artisan shop I visited on saturday! Looking forward to these fun events from one of Lilongwe's hidden gems

Day 17-18: Hidden Gems of Lilongwe

Did bit more exploring around town this weekend and realized that lilongwe is full of hidden gems! Went to a couple of artisan boutiques that had really amazing beautiful stuff and to an awesome cafe in a beautiful garden with great tasting european cafe food.

we bought this whole thing of strawberries for only$5

and made delicious strawberry desert

delicious cappuccino

grilled tomato and feta salad

creative tires

Day 14 and 15 and 16..Feels like a Roller coaster

Combining a few days into one post... wednesday made my 2 week mark in Malawi, I guess I have been able to accomplish a fair amount. I had a really awesome long Skype call with a Kenyan surgeon who is doing a surgical oncology fellowship in Capetown now and is actually going to Sloan Kettering September-November! She was awesome and doing great work in breast cancer. We then became friends and chatted on whatsapp. she sent some some funny pics.

Thursday was even better. FOUND A HOUSE!!! I signed the lease today but of course it's not available until september 1, so finding a place to stay for me, ben, and coco has been a bit challenging, and complicated by a dramatic morning trying to get the pet import permit. I got the permit but apparently ben needs the original to bring coco. So I went to DHL to try to to send it and called ben at 4 AM his time. We couldn't decide what to do for 30 minutes of challenging and pricey phone and internet connections ... all to find out in the end that DHL's shipment already left for the day anyway, meaning the permit wouldn't get there in the 3 day timeframe we needed. So now Ben will change his ticket and come in time for September.

Thursday night was fun because I attended a reception at the Public Affair's officers house for exiting fulbright-clinton fellows. It was really nice!

jokes from new friend

our new house from the outside

driveway of new house

really awesome falafel sandwich and pita bread for lunch at a cafe

cool sculptures at PAOs house