Home made meal

Today I left a few recipes for Margaret and she did an amazing job. She made real buttermilk biscuits and this pizza tart with puff pastry, shitake mushroom and sundried tomato pesto sauce (i bought in cape town), and lots of cheese. I made a salad to go with it too. Everything was delicious!

I also got a few more participants today for the breast course and luckily one of them was in Lilongwe at a meeting so I met him to give the books!

crazy day and fun night

Another day of mixed emotions. First, I've been calling my friend and cancer nurse Ella since 2 nights ago to coordinate taking her car and my driver on a journey to deliver the breast course books. It took me a while to get in touch with her, but miraculously the second participant from the other district called and said he will give my phone number to his boss who is at a meeting in lilongwe. She then called and sent her driver to collect the books/course materials. I then learned that there is a meeting of all the district health officers in lilongwe. It was so frustrating because if there was enough planning and foresight i could have easily met with them all and passed out the materials if they had the participants ready. I was then put in touch with one them and he told another of the leaders about the course. She hadn't heard it before although she was supposed to get the invitation email. Anyway at least she came to my office to meet me and get the books. She doesn't have the participants yet, but will get them to me by friday. I was also running around like crazy with some clinic patients and study patients, but all was fine in the end. At night we went to try this new no frills Indian restaurant. We did take away because it wasn't a nice atmosphere, but the food was amazing! we then watched the oscars!

Ben waiting for our food to go

Dentist

Today Ben and I went to the dentist for his toothache. I was really pleasantly surprised and impressed with the nice facilities. It felt very much like a suburban American dentist. It was very clean. The dentist was nice and diagnosis not so good: wisdom teeth need to be pulled!

On a different note, to my pleasant surprise, one of the breast course participants from Kasungu (a district 2 hours from Lilongwe) actually came down to Lilongwe to get the book and for me to go over teh instructions. I was so thrilled and touched. After all the frustrations lately and false promises and system malfunctions, it was nice to meet someone who actually cared and made the effort to be in the much needed course!

Sunday dinner feast

We had our American doctor friends and their families over for dinner on Sunday. I made (Ben did do a lot of assisting) a whole feast that apparently came out quite well! Mac and cheese, roasted eggplant, roasted okra, chickpea salad, garden salad. Ben made delicious sangria. Laura brought amazing home made fudge.

Saturday Excursions

Saturday morning, Andrea and I went to the real market in town to look for an 80s bridesmaid dress for spa day for Lisa's wedding. It was not successful in that regard, but otherwise an interesting experience. We had milkshakes too. Then Ben and I went to a benefit gospel concert for the cancer association of Malawi. It was really good. Even one of the UNC drivers was there a member of one of the choirs! At night we went out to dinner at our favorite Italian place.

Bad day and good night

Friday was just another one of those days. Started off bad and continued to get worse. Basically started off day late, then some staff issues, then poor clinic turnout, then more staff issues. Anyway, at the least the night was a big success! We hosted another movie night that was a big successes with 10 international guests from the following countries: Malawi, Ireland, England, Norway, France, and Iran---yes my first Persian friend in Iran!! i'm so excited!! I didn't even know 3 of the people because they were friends of friends but it was really fun! Sadly there are no photos of this because I asked Ben and he forgot.

huge downpour and even tree fell over by our car at work

Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year

On Thursday it was Chinese New year. Our friend Jen hosted a delicious Asian potluck. I actually made food that was quiet tasty and well received. All the food was wonderful!

the green beans and sweet potato noodles are dished i made

one of my Chitenje tailored skirts