Weekend in the South!

Ben and I have been doing so much traveling outside the country, that we haven't had as much time exploring Malawi, which is a beautiful country in its own right. This past weekend we went down to the south of the country. We stayed in this really nice lodge called Game Haven which has its own non-predator animals. It was really nice and fun and well priced. We then spent an afternoon at the famous huntingdon house where we had lovely afternoon tea and walked around in tea fields.  The next day we went to Zomba, which was beautiful and I mistakenly went on a REAL hike. I did get good exercise and felt like i conquered something, but still didn't find it enjoyable. We had a great lunch at Casa Rosa afterwards.

Last last week in liongwe tonight

ok long time not blog again! sorry! its been busy and fun. Just been trying to enjoy as much of Malawi and friends before I have to go back and Ben stays for another 6 months!

Here are some pics from last week and 2 weekends ago of fun times in Lilongwe...

getting ready for third place in quiz night!

Ben playing soccer at Kumbali

girls night!

my favorite Irish girls!

trying out the new american restuarant

the nachos were pretty good!

dogsitting max and teddy for last time :(

trying out the new Nepalese restaurant and saying bye to one of our British friends

Catching up in Lilongwe

After much travel, we were finally in Lilongwe just working and hanging out. My study finally finished and I was busy with wrapping things up, data analysis, and preparing for my dissemination presentation that went really really well. On Friday Dr. Edge arrived. She is the breast surgeon from Cape Town who created the breast course. We brought it to Lilongwe and now for the past 2 days we had the residential component of the course. The course itself has been going really well. I think the participants are benefiting a lot and really learning. However there were lots of bullshit logistical issues and of course the one thing that i can't stand about Malawi--the ruins of aid--meaning the ridiculous entitlement of allowance, transport, accommodation, meals, etc. I think compromises were reached at the end, but it was a frustrating process. It's been great spending more time with Jenny. Also i had another whirlwind where there was funding available and lots of excitement and support for me to stay another year, but sadly my program couldn't guarantee my spot and its not worth the risk of loosing residency. I am sad to leave and sadly Ben and I will do long distance, but we will survive and it will be good to just hurry up and finish my training so i can go back and be more uesful.

my presentation

me teaching the breast course participants

one of our nice dinners at home--Wednesday night

our fellow farewell dinner friday--Brett and Courtney left

our saturday brunch: the $50 worth of cheese i bought in London and the pellegrino i brought from the U.S. finally opened

saturday night dinner at Brenden and Davidai's

Ben playing soccer on his new team 

HIFA

after being back in Lilongwe for about 24 hours (which included seeing my study being finished--woohoo) Ben and I were off to Harare for the Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA). We were so impressed with both the parts of Harare we saw and the festival. HIFA was very well organized with a wide variety of performances including theatre, dance, poetry, music, fashion, and fine arts. We stayed at the crowne plaza right where the main venue was at the Harare gardens so it was nice and easy to get around. We had some good meals out too! as well as in the gardens!

downtown HIFA!

a fashion show

one of the many upcycle awesome projects we saw

the Zimbabwe National Gallery--some really nice peices

Ben and I having lunch at the gallery

an amazing pianist: Kyle Shepherd

nice dinner out-Emmanuel's

the main gate to HIFA

London

ok, long time no blog...its been a very crazy past few weeks, but also mostly fun!

On April 26 I was off to London for the launch of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. Its been 18 months in the making and quite a fun journey. I was in London for a really short period of time--3 days and it took almost 2 days each way to travel. I've always loved London, but this time i realized how much i really love London. The one day I had to just hang out, all we did was walk and eat! The conference itself was pretty good. It was good to see people I haven't in a while and met some really great new people as well.

starting the day right with amazing shakshuka made by Gabe

the amazing Columbia Flower market

my heaven: amazing cheese shop

delicious brunch with my hosts Julie and Gabe

couldn't get enough cheese, after lunch and hunter boot shopping went back to cheese shop for wine and cheese

the lego floor at Hamleys: a phone and phone booth made of legos!

my CSPH mentor Robert and friend Shilpa-aka Team Rwanda

my Malawi surgery friends