The Three Legged Race: Winding down

As we are nearing the end of our six week adventure I am starting to compile a list of things that I will miss.

I'll miss...

That everyone looks at you and smiles or gives a what's up head tilt (the Malawi nod with eyebrow raising) as you walk by.
The colorful satenjes (fabric wraps) on all the women.
The babies strapped to women's backs that you don't notice they are there till they go passed.
The samosa lady.
Sleeping with the windows open.
Babies whose pants are too big so their butt peeks out of the top.
Samosas.
Simone's peanut butter cookies and ratatouille.
Having dinner made for us every night of the week.
Seeing crazy wildlife on the walk home, and elsewhere.
The giant avacados and other produce.
Children waving as we go by in the car.
The accents of Africans speaking English.
The beautiful mountains surrounding Blantyre.
The rooster's wake up call.
Riding minibuses with chickens.
The duck outside that sounds just like the iPhone duck ringtone.
The exercise I get just walking around the hospital.
The African sense of time (no worries).
The steady hours of sunlight 5:30a-6:15p.
The ingenuity of people who are used to making do with less.
The amazing feats of strength of both men and women, and what one person can carry on their head.
Artists, carvers, tailors, street musicians...
Fancy English versions of the same words (theatre=O.R., knock off=leave for the day, straight away=right away...)
Cane sugar coca-cola (good thing we live right near Mexican town so it is easily accessible.)
Pineapple Fanta (not as accessible).
The spirit that everyone is responsible for everyone else (picking up friends or strangers to give them rides, helping people out of the gutter they fell in, taking care of babies that aren't yours).
Sun every day (at least for part of it).

Sleeping with a bed net and feeling a bit like a princess.
Walking home from the hospital and how people just start walking with you and chatting about their lives with you.
Hamilton, the carver.

Lawrence, the tailor and his 7am visits (I got a lot of good stuff!!)
The greenness of everything.
Life in Africa.

I can honestly say as I was on the walk home today I got a little down, I realized how much I have enjoyed life here and how much I will miss it. That means I must come back!

Part of the walk to QECH

The mural just outside the house gate here.

Amazing feats of strength, in the rain no less!

Lawrence's Obama shirt, he went all the way to Limbe to find me this material!

Steve and the other chicken (I forget her name)

The gecko I saw on my walk home one day

Downtown Blantyre with either Michiru or Ndirandi in the background. There is a yearly race called three peaks where people run up and down all three of Blantyre's mountains in one day!!! It's like a 26.9 mile run plus you are going vertically pretty much the whole time...crazy.