New home
on Nikki in Malawi (Malawi), 27/Feb/2010 11:32, 34 days ago
Well we have moved into our new house now, that happened last Saturday. Our house is really nice and sits in this massive garden, so we are going to have to employ someone to maintain it. In the garden we have a couple of mango trees, avocado trees and guava (I think that is what they are, but stand to be corrected.) The next time I come online I will add some photos so that you can have some idea of what it looks like. So my new home is a 3 bedroom bungalow type house, with a sitting room, dining area/3rd bedroom and a bathroom which has a really deep bath. We have running water and electricity, so life is good. Went to the Blantyre market on Saturday morning to do the main shopping for vegetables, it was mad in there but a really good selection and all at good prices. In the afternoon we moved to our new house and then spent Sunday just sorting things out.This last week started working on the wards at the hospital. I spent much of the week sorting out the easiest way to get to and from work and adjusting to working in a very different environment. The journey either involves walking to work, or getting 2 minibuses. So now I am walking to work and using the quickest route takes me about an hour door to door. I am then getting the minibuses home, this still involves a 15 minute walk to our house from the main road. The minibus station at Blantyre is just mad, with everyone shouting out the destinations and trying to sort out which bus will go first, as until they are full they don't go. Have now got really used to it though, and although am entertaining everyone with my pronunciation, I am now getting to where I want to be.It is very strange working on the wards again, and it is very different here. The ward staff have been lovely and really helpful. I was working on the female surgical ward, which takes a wide variety of patients, includingENT, Dental and orthopaedic, as well as cancer and general surgery. It does not have any state of the art equipment like we have at home, even bed linen is in very short supply. There is no piped oxygen or suction and there are often more patients than there are beds, actually this was the case for just about every day that I was there. Patients when they arrive tend to be really unwell and come from all round the south part of the country referred in from the District hospitals for specialist treatment. On site there is an MRI scanner and CT scan.The day shift is from 7.30 to 5pm and then the night shift is from 5pm to 7.30 am. Thankfully my orientation does not include doing a night shift. The day shift is long enough and I had forgotten how tired your feet get when standing all day long, as well as walking 3 miles to work and 1 mile home. I will be a foot shorter by the time the 2 years are up as will have worn away my feet and lower legs, despite the protection of shoes.Friday night found out where the local meeting point is for after works drinks, very important information to have. Met up with some of the other volunteers and have invited about 10 people to Sunday Curry lunch! So this morning was spent madly shopping. Fortunately myhousemate'sfriend lent us their car, so we were able to do loads and not have to carry it great distances.Anyway had best get going again, have now had a respite from the days chores.Will try and add some photos so that it is not so boring in future.If anyone wants to know about anything just let me know.x