we’re just back from Kasungu.  (which is a district and also have a national park with animals in it!)  it was great.  a bit weird because the rains have sort of started.  but it also could be a freak out and not rain again until jan.  anyways-we tented.  and got some rain.  but that was nice because that meant that it was cooler than we were expecting.  (as in rob’s didn’t have any long sleeves and complained to me because i told him that he was taking too much stuff!)  i hadn’t been there since 2002.  it was just a dam with some hippo. don’t worry the hippo are still there but it appears that there is a bit more now.  we saw some eland.  elephant.  but we’re pretty pleased with the eland. give us some time to reduced the size of snaps and we’ll post them!  but we’re back safely.

and i cried again at army’s wives.  does everyone do this?

 

and i’ll try and take some pictures to get up soon.  our flowers look great. plus, lots of herbs.

quotas and all that.

so malawi wants to institute a quota system to their university selection process.  here-it’s already different.  you sit for exam and if you do well enough then the government pays for your schooling and you go for free to the university that they select for you.  kinda bad.  but you can also just pay a fee and go to school.  now, it’s not exactly free.  you have to buy books and get there.  plus, other food.

but historically, notherns have done better at schooling than the other regions here.  (it’s because there is nothing in the north but schools.  no factories. )  so, the other regions want to institute this quota system where they take the same percentage of people from each region to go to uni even if they score lower on the exam.

so in chatting yesterday with deb.  (she’s american but married to a malawian for about 15 yrs and lives here but is from AL.) so she informed me that there are all sorts of quotas in states to get in to uni.  which  i kinda understand but no too much.  but then i went to a private uni that as long as you went to the right church, you were okay.  that was there quota.

soooo, i’m not sure how i feel about quotas here.  because some of the students from the north.  there is no way that they can go to uni without this help.  the only employed people in the northern region-police, teachers and health center workers.  with a few people on the lake shore in tourism.  but in the southern region and somewhat even in the central region-people work at factories or …

and yes, i am a bit biased-i lived in the north.  (yes, that means i was a yankee but i look at it as i was closer to the equator!!!)

i’m feeling kinda guilty

we’re pretty much settled into the flat.  but we just got the tv stand built and it’s under the stairs now.  it’s great.  it holds so much as compared to the salima coffee table that the tv was sitting on.  but it’s also kinda sad.  we had it made because we realized that we are still here for a long while. and we needed it.  the x box was sitting on the floor.  but now it has it’s own cubby hole.

but that being said.  we still need to make some more curtains for the dinning room and the window that looks at the stairs and right into our bedroom.  opps!  it can be a bit revealing at nite when the lite is on up stairs.

(and by making the curtains-that would be me…)

but excited about tomorrow.  i’ll show our worker how to use the washing machine. woohee!

well how about that…

so here is a new ‘how about that’. who knew the laptop electronics could trip a hotel room safe electronics? you know those ones where you put your stuff in, enter the 4 digits of your choice, and set the lock? well come back from breakfast and can’t open the safe. so the reception gets the boss and they come and tell me now the only way to get the stuff out is to rip the safe out of the closet, go out on the stairwell and saw the back of the safe off. I was worried they might saw the end of my laptop off, but they did a fine job, and got my stuff out. but very bizarre. classic.

1 is the loneliest number

rob is gone.  booboobooo!  he’s back in moz working.  but we hae moved into the 21st century.  (yes, the 21st!)  we have a washing machine now!!!  yea!  but we just need water so that it can fill.  (that’s not so good!)

we believe that our shelving unit should be here soon or sometime today which is also a good thing!

but rob shouldn’t be gone that long.  he’ll be back a week from this friday.

and fyi-malawians don’t celebrate halloween!  which kinda sucks!

if wishes could come true

i wished that chuck season 2 would be released now.  rob and i up-graded our tv options since we returned.  (rob justified it in his mind so that he could watch golf. but isn’t the season finished??)  so, we jsut watch episode 17 of season 2 and i am confused why is morgan living with big mike?

game driving in llw

the thing that rob was happiest purchasing while we were at home was a big a** spotlite.  one of the few activities that we have to do around town is after we’ve been dancing is to drive around looking for hyenas.  they are around town and you can see them.  but sometimes it helps to have a little lite.  soooo, tonite we decided to go have a look.  now, it was a bit early to spot hyena (they like it a bit later in the evening) but we were a bit lucky to spot so bush baby (google it…) in the trees!!  (2 of them)  kinda nice.  so now we have another fun activity to add to our list.

btw, we also brought an x box with us and rob doesn’t let me play.  at home, he thought that i was being a pain in the a** trying to get games for it and all he wants to do is shoot things on james bond and doom.

pool, pool and more pool plus some pickles

yipee!!!  i love being a member at the golf course.  just so i can use the pool.  it’s about 90 here without a/c.  it was great to get in the this afternoon.  swam a few laps.  sat in the sun.  read HARRY POTTER (please, let this get on my kindle soon, jk!!  please, please!) and then swam some more!

btw, we ate some pickles this evening.  yummy!  thanks jeremy for the recipe!  rob is loving it.

happy birthday!

happy birthday to my brother in law, michael!  we hope that you have a great year!  and we wish that we could have spent more time with you when we were in…