Where did May go?
on Rachael's VSO experience (Malawi), 04/Jun/2011 09:11, 34 days ago
Well I've almost been 'in country' for 4 months! Firstly pepani (sorry) about the blog or lack there of. Life has been really crazy and I've had a few weekends away so haven't had chance to get anywhere near the internet. When I did get near the internet I forgot all about the blog... So hopefully after this update there will now be at least two 'May' blogs.Last week things were really hectic, my friend Sanne was going back to the Netherlands the 1st June so she text me on monday 23rd to ask if I wanted to go for dinner on Friday 27th. Friday we were going to peer support so couldn't do it so she asked if I was free on Wednesday instead. So Wednesday night we went to the Mzoozoozoo which is a back packers hostel just outside Mzuzu but they do quite nice food. Then my friend Ling was came down on Thursday night so we could leave early on Friday, when Ling arrived she said a guy who lives in Mzuzu had invited us out for dinner and said everyone was meeting at A1 restaurant at 6pm. So we had dinner then too!So Friday we were going to peer support, basically VSO organise for all the VSO doctors and nurse working in Malawi to meet up to discuss work and the challenges we face in Malawi and what has worked for people and what hasn't worked. We also shared resources so I now have a lot more pre-planned teaching sessions. So Ling and Imogen live further North than Czar and I so they came to stay at mine the Thursday night, they needed to be at Senga Bay where the peer support was being held early to set up. Ling spoke to a guy at the bus depot who said the first bus left at 4am. We got to the bus depot at 4:15 and the bus didn't leave until 6:45! We were not amused but it's Malawi what can you do? Thankfully Ling had a monopoly card game so Me, her Imogen and Andrew played that!!The bus we got was going to Salima which was about 15-20minute drive outside Senga bay, you can't get a direct bus to Senga bay. Once we arrived in Salima we found out that apparently you can't get any kind of public transport to Senga Bay so we had to Malawi it and jump on the back of a pick up truck for only 150MK (about 60p!) One of the girls had arrived at the hotel in Senga bay and she said that it was about 2km down a dirt track from the road and Ling had a projector and laptop so wasn't keen on having to carry it all the way so we talked to the driver and paid him 2000MK (about£8) for the whole journey for the 4 of us and he drove us right to the door! Coming back was a lot easier we jumped into the boot of another volunteers car and he drove us back to Salima to get the bus. We got to Salima at about 10 and the bus left at 12. So we went shopping bought some bananas anda little bit of food for the journey as there is no food provided on the buses. You can buy food out the window when the bus stops but it's not always very appetising! The weekend was great but it meant I'd had no chance to do any food shopping which was a bit annoying but I popped into town Mondayafternoon when I was meant to be working and bought some food, not setting the brilliant example that I am supposed to but then I haven't had Tumbuka lessons for a while so it all cancels itself out!So I'm hoping to go off to Victoria falls at the end of June, we are getting a bit worried as they'll only run the tour if there are four people and at the moment it is only me and Rosy. They told Rosy that they won't give us much notice if they cancel as they hope that someone might do it last minute so it's a bit of a pain as we both really want to go. Then I've booked two weeks off work September/October as there is a music festival called lake of stars on 30th September - 2nd October and loads of the VSO volunteers are all going. I've taken two weeks so I can hopefully do a bit of a safari at the beginning of my holiday then do lake of stars.