New experiences

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Ok, I know its been a while... about a month, as its been so long I'm just going to write about what I can remember...



So Lets start with the most wonderful public transport we have here... (I have lots of stories but these are my favourites)



The 1st story:

Jessica and I had to get home from the lake after our camping trip with Thia. We waited at the corner where the path to the lake meets the main road for 30 mins and finally got in a tok-tok that was so full, 4 people were hanging on to the outside. When squished in, with our camping bags, thankfully we didn't have the tent and bedding! I counted all the people that were also squished inside, there were 18 people including the men hanging on outside, and 3 kids. I was pushed against the back with my bag on my lap and Jessica was opposite me with one leg hanging out of the side. Every now and then we would stop to let people off and on. At one point we had 5 people hanging off the outside. We travelled like this for 35 mins going faster than the bikes and slower than the cars on the road. When we got to Salima they dropped us off at the edge of town and we had to get a bike from one end of Salima to the other, this took about 20 mins with dodging cars and pot-holes on the back of a rickety bike. When we got to the bus station we had to wait another 30 mins for the bus to leave, even though we got on a full bus. If you don't know, the way the buses works is they only leave if all the seats and the all the available floor space is taken up with chickens, bags of rice or other things that people bring with them. This makes the bus very uncomfortable as we were practically sitting on top of each other while waiting and then even more squished when we finally left. We had to tell the bus driver to drop us off on the corner of the road were our dirt road meets the main road, this was a challenge as we were near the back and couldn't get to the bus driver. So we had to shout over the bus to get us heard and they had driven past the place so we had walk back when they finally stopped!

We can't walk up the dirt road as its too long and quite dangerous as we are still in the hungry season, We had to phone Maryanne to ask if she could pick us up, she said she would leave then an for us to stay there so we sat on the side of the road waiting for 15 mins. We had to move away from the road when massive trucks and tractors came past so we were up and down alot, talking to the people when they came past. When she came we jumped in and got home safely. But it was a very long journey back home!!



Story 2:

I was at Glad Tidings, When I finished at 11:30 I went to the main road and tried to get something to Salima, I was waiting about 20 mins just trying to get a passing car/truck/bus to stop for me. When a truck finally stopped for me. Although this truck was full, people were standing up in the middle of the truck! I got on with my small bag and had to stand up, being sandwiched between people on all sides of me, also standing. We had to hold onto each others shoulders to stop falling over but even then, when the driver braked suddenly we all stepped on everyone's feet and shuffled a few steps. This was really uncomfortable as someone was squeezing my shoulder really tightly and someone else was leaning on my waist and kept pushing me into someone else, another guy behind me was trying to talk to me and all the time I was trying not to embarrass myself by being the only one to fall on my face (not that there was any space for that to happen...) We stopped to let even more people on and off. After a while I was no longer squished between 3 people but on the outside of the people standing up and felt very exposed to the elements, I was cooler but now every unstable as there was no one to learn on! About 5 mins until we stopped to all get off, I saw a tiny space on the side of the truck and finally sat down on the edge where I felt safer as my bottom has more surface area than my feet. When we finally stopped in Salima town I was thankful to get off but had to get a bike to the bus place on the other side of Salima again.
This time I had to wait for over an hour for the bus to actually leave and when I got to the corner of our dirt road I had to get a bike to the house as Maryanne couldn't pick me up. This was took ages as the bike was really old and creaky, I was worried it would break. When we got to the 2nd corner the bike started to slip and slide so I had to walk the rest of the way home, this took another 10 mins!!



Story 3:

The Starfish charity has recently brought a motorbike for its staff to use. (I'm not sure why). But I'm glad as it meant that Epafra (a guy who lives near the farm and is part of the staff at Starfish), could pick me up when I had finished at Glad Tidings and take me to the office. He was meant to come at 11:30 as that's when I finish teaching, he came at 12:30. It was worth the wait as he came on the motorbike and went quite fast. I'm not sure how fast but fast enough to feel cool in the heat of the day! Without realising it I stupidly had my foot on the exhaust and it melted my flip-flop... and burnt my foot opps 😊. When we got to the office I hung out reading my book and eating lunch with Emmanuel, waiting for Epafra to take me all the way home. This time I made sure my foot was actually on the foot rest before moving off. We stopped at the petrol station and carried on home. When going up the dirt road, it was very bumpy but exceedingly fun!! I want to have another lift with him.



Story 4:

The 1st time Jessica and I went to Lilongwe for Flood Church by ourselves we got picked up by a private car, with 3 Indian guys who were going to back to Lilongwe after a weekend partying at the lake. We talked alot about what we were all doing in Malawi and why we were going to Lilongwe and how long we were all here for. This took about half the journey as one guy liked talking. We got talking about where they went the night before as I didn't know there was any place to go out. As it turned out they celebrated St Patrick's day at a lodge and hadn't slept that night! The guy driving seemed fine so we weren't too worried but still a little nervous... He drove quite fast so we got to the church safely and really early so that was good... Flood Church was amazing and we made lots of new friends as we got there so early and they were lovely friendly people! We had lunch at the local cafe with some of our new friends and then had to go catch a bus so we could get home before it gets dark! To get home we have to get a bus from outside the supermarket to area 25 and then get a bus from area 25 to Salima. The 1st bus wasn't too bad we had a seat each and was near the window. The 2nd bus (the longer journey) was worse, we had to share a seat so half my bum was hanging off the seat and I was leaning on the door. It suddenly opened and I almost fell out, thankfully Jessica grabbed my top! That was embarrassing. After that the door guy warned me every time before he opened the door... This was really uncomfortable and my bum went numb less than half way back. When we got to our corner we had to tell the driver and he drove past it so we had to walk back. We phoned Maryanne and she came to pick us up.





In other news we had two teachers suddenly leave and two new teachers come! I like the new ones I now work fully with the younger class and like it as it is easier to remember the names of just one class instead of both! We have been doing quite a bit of art work and circle games. Before our month off for the Easter holidays the children put on a show for the mum's and dads, although only 3 showed up, I took some videos of them, if you want to see them I will try to send them to you as this site has disabled the video upload button....

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