Uncle Craig (x4)
I have just become another uncle, and Lois an aunt! Andrew and Nikola (brother & sister in-law) have just given birth to a little boy (a meneer of note in Andrew’s words). He was born at 10:19 today, and he weight 2.36kg.
This does of course mean that the little meneer will only have a birthday every four years, I guess that saves on a few presents! Oh, and his name is Sebastian.
Congratulations to Andrew and Nikola!
Facebook site for SA bloggers
Hi there all you South African bloggers.
The folks down at the Open Surgery have created a Facebook site specifically for South African bloggers. It allows for use to share our blogs, discuss the blogging scene in SA, and to meet the people behind some of our writing.
Do you want to write to yourself from the future?
Here is an interesting website – futureme.org. It allows for you to send yourself an email which is post-dated to sometime in the future. I can think of some interesting applications of this. Here are a few:
- Event reminders (Eg birthday, anniversary)
- Follow up on goal setting
- Reminder of long-term todo lists (I need to paint the house at some stage…)
What would you like to be reminded about?
Malawi Part 5: Sunday
I had the whole of Sunday free, so Andrew – the president of Lilongwe Toastmasters club – kindly took me to see Lake Malawi, since as I was told, "you haven’t been to Malawi until you have been to the lake!"
So Sunday morning saw us bright and early off to the lake. Although the drive was only about an hour or so, you really start to feel that you are in rural Africa. We passed several road-side villages, with countless goats wondering across the road, and all manner of produce being sold on the side of the road – from live chickens to tobacco and vegetables.
When we arrived at the lake, I literally had my breath taken away. It is like standing on the shore of an ocean. The lake is staggeringly huge. What is even more remarkable is that the photos that I took are across the width of the lake, and you still cannot see the far shore! I even found a sign warning about dangerous rip-tides, which gives you an idea of the scale. If you ever have the opportunity, it is well worth the visit.
I would have loved to spend a few days at the lake, it is very tranquil (and also very hot – it was too hot to walk barefoot on the sand). But alas, I had to get back to Lilongwe in time for my flight back home.
We did manage to stop off at a road-side tourist shop. While I am not usually one for buying "African" curios – since we are swamped with them in Cape Town – this place had some really lovely items. Many of the goods were hand-carved, and the artists were busy at their carving on the side of the road. The prices are ridiculous cheap, and it is quite fun bartering with the traders. They started at a ridiculously high price, and I started with a ridiculously low offer, and we met somewhere in the middle (unlike in Mauritius where they start at a ridiculously high price and stay there).
I got back to Lilongwe airport in good time, and this is a really strange airport. These are all the processes that you go through to depart:
- Collect boarding card
- Pay USD 30 departure tax (no receipt)
- Customs official #1 checks that you have paid departure tax
- Customs official #2 checks all your paperwork
- Customs official #3 stamps your passport
- Security official #1 checks your bags through the x-ray machine
- Security official #2 opens one of your bags for security check (everbody – not just me), and leaves the other bag unchecked
So, I had to pass through seven people to board the aircraft – talk about creating employment! We left safely (and on time!), and I arrived back home exhausted, but very happy.
I had a fantastic weekend – Malawi is a country to visit for a few days.
Malawi part 4: Saturday Afternoon
Training went very well, it is quite interesting that even though they are so far away, they have the same concerns and issues that we have at our Toastmasters clubs.
After training, we had lunch at the Golf Club. I had fresh fish from the lake – I have no idea what type of fish, but apparently you can only get them in Lake Malawi. Lunch was washed down with a bottle of Kuche Kuche beer, which literally means "until sunrise", so you can drink it the whole night!
In the afternoon, I went shopping. Fist stop was the supermarket, where I bought a bottle of Malawi Gin, which I was told that I had to purchase, and of course a few bottles of Nali Chili sauce. This local chilli sauce (which claims to be the hottest in Africa) is piping hot, yet very tasty.
Then off to the food market. The quality of the fresh fruit and vegetables was great, but the market is what I can only describe as an African scene. You could buy freshly cooked mielies, which had been “braaied” on the open coals (corn is the staple food of Malawi, you can see it growing everywhere).
Everybody wanted my business (especially since I was then only white person in the market), but they were friendly about it, which is more that I can say for Mauritius. Everybody in the market had something to do – there was a person there whose job was simply to shell the peas!
I had dinner at local Italian restaurant, and then I finished off the day drinking MGT (Malawi Gin and Tonic) at the Reserve Bank club. Thank goodness that I ate at the Italian restaurant, because the special at the club was goat!
By the way, today is much cooler, with much lower humidity, it is rather pleasant. So, off to Lake Malawi tomorrow.
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