Mushroom Farm, Lukwe Camp & Livingstonia

People say it is easy to hike up to Mushroom Farm hostel in Livingstonia but I say that I thought I was about to die in the heat! I drank all my water half way up and was waiting for the angels to start talking to me while I was slowly, slowly walking up, up, up the mountain. I was thinking, this is how it must be walking in the Sahara dessert... the heat being just imbearable. I had to stop every 5 minutes to catch my breath under the shady spots under a tree along the dirt road. After 3 h of struggling and talking to myself I reached my destination. I drank about 2 liters of water at reception and thanked the Gods I had made it. But I soon discovered it was soooo worth all the effort. The view, the tranquility, and the peacefulness up there was just amazing. 

I had made this journey alone to be able to be with myself for a while and this was the place to be at. In Africa it is not the easiest thing to find a place where you are just all alone. There are always some kids running around or some eyes following you wherever you are. But up here I felt at peace and could finally put some socks on as the temperatures were coole. I had my very own tent right on the edge of the cliff of the mountain. Ah just amazing!

The next day, I continued my hiking journey further up the mountain to Lukwe Camp and Gardens, which is owned my a Dutch guy from Belgium. The lodge and the view was absolutely stunning from here and I enjoyed some hours in solitude reading my book in the big swing. I can really recommend Lukwe Camp! And it's organic garden is just beautiful with its own pineapples, papaya, lemons, bananas, basil, mint, strawberries, eggplant, onions, leaks, and so forth. I applaud the local gardeners for taking such good care of it. I have some beautiful pictures that I can upload next time around.

After the first pit stop at Lukwe, I continued hiking to Malawi's deepest waterfall, which was also so beautiful that I took about 100 pictures of it! Then the longer 1h hike up to Livingstonia took place. Again during the hottest time of the day (around 13.00) when the sun is beaming and your skin is burning. But my legs made it up there and I spent one night in the tranquilo Stonehouse guesthouse, where I was the only guest. Ah, it couldn't get better than that since I wanted solitude on this trip. 

Luckily, I got a ride all the way down to the bottom of the mountain (Chitimba) the following morning and I continued back "home" to Nkhata-Bay with the National Bus company for some 4h.

And I am back in Nkhata-Bay right on time for New Years Eve and waaaaaaa it will be such a big, frantic, drunken, chaotic, loud party with music blasting from every other speakers in Nkhata-Bay tonight! People will enjoy, dance and have fun. The locals (plus all of the tourists for that matter) will be so drunk tonight that they won't make it home and will probably sleep on the beach, where they wake up in the morning and continue partying. As for me, I have good news, I stopped drinking alcohol all together but I might still wake up on the beach or in my hammock as that would be a very nice way to start the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!

All my love and good vibes :)

Daily life in Malawi

I walk down the street in Malawi and the kids love me, shouting "muzungu, musungu" (which means white person) at the top of their lungs. Then they say "what's my name?" and I say "well I don't know, what is your name?" looking confused... how would I know their name?? Well, what they wanted to say is what is YOUR name. So then I try to teach them to say "your" instead of "my" but it never works as I pass them again one hour later and they shout at me "What's my name, what's my name??"

Another very popular thing to shout to the muzungus is "Give me money"! Then I usually say, "Money??. your name is money? well my name is Anette" and the kids just look confused and run away.

Besides "give me money" the kids also say "give me pen", "give me sweety", "give me... give me.. whatever they come up with. I have no idea who thought them this Give me stuff... but it is for sure not working.

It is not only the kids that say random things. The adult can also blurt out stuff. Like the other day I walked to town and this guy saw me from far away and he shouted "Madame, madame!" and I was thinking this guy is in pain or something, needs to go to the hospital as he is running towards you looking like he needs to say something important. He came up to me and said "Madame, I want to get to know you" and I am like "What?, are you ok?", "I want to get to know you. We need to talk." And I am like "We need to talk?", "Yes, I want to be your friend. Can I have your number?". Then I get the picture and I am like "Dude, I don't have a mobile and no you can not get my number and no I won't marry you, good bye" shaking my head and continue my walk.

Ah, the daily struggles in Malawi :)

Merry Christmas!!!

I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! I hope you will enjoy some delicious food and some even better drinks and desserts. And for some of you I wish you a lot of snow so you can get the real Christmas feeling. :) 

Here in Nkhata Bay there is definitely no snow. There is not even a Christmas tree. I have not seen any decorations at all, which I find pretty odd. Two years ago I spent Christmas in Guatemala, which is not a rich country at all, but they had santas and trees everywhere. Anyhow, it is not about what you have but what you do with it right. So now it is Christmas and one thing is for sure, the Malawians will celebrate it! There will be A LOT of drinking going on as they loooooooooooooove to drink here. And there will be music, dancing, food and church. I will try to go to church as well on Christmas day and listen to some gospel and yeah to just see how a Malawian ceremony is.

But tonight I will go out and dance to the best Malawian, Zambian, Nigerian, ah just good African music. It will be good and we will dance a lot! The two pics to the side is from the local bar, Sports Spot, where I go now and then to dance with the locals. The first picture is of Roger and me. Roger is a local boy that loves to dance to Micheal Jackson :) The picture below is of he and his friends: Kwame and Tom getting it going on the dance floor. Ah, they are really nice and funny guys. who loves to shake it!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!     XOXO

GOD JUL at er alla! Jag hoppas du kommer att da en riktigt bra jul. Har i Nkhata Bay ar det ingen nod pa mig. Jag ater gott och umgas med trevliga manniskor. Ikvall skall det atas grillad fisk! Mums!

KRAM!

Chizumulu and Likoma islands

Last week I went on a proper holiday :) 

The school finished for the year and I was off for one week. I had planned to go to Chizumulu and Likoma islands during this week for some time but then the bad news came. The ferry (the only transport) to these islands broke down about three weeks ago and nobody knew when the ferry would be back. Here in Malawi, fixing something can take two months or two days, you just never know. So I started to make other plans to go south to Cape McClear but I was still hoping the ferry to come to Nkhata-Bay on Monday as usual. And guess, who got happy when the ferry 'sailed' in to town on Sunday night. I rushed to the ticket office to ask when it is leaving to the islands and got told it would leave Monday at noon, so I had a full day to prepare and pack my bags. 

It was a bunch of us muzungus (this is what the black people call us here, muzungu = white person) that entered the boat but only me, Sebastian from South Africa and Rea from Italy was heading for the islands and the rest down south to the end of the lake. 

The ferry or the ilala as they call it here, is an old, old boat that was taken in to use back in the 1940's by the British missionaries and it is still running (well barley) today some 70 years later! The ilala is a old style ferry with a wooden bar and a sun deck for the first class passengers (which means us muzungus that can afford it) and the lower decks where the local people sit on top of the endless amount of rice bags, firewood, fuel barrels and what ever else they need on the island. Remember this is the only transport to the island so whatever a person might need or sell on the island is taken on this boat (coca-cola craters, bed frames, book shelves, chickens, oil, maize flour, etc. etc.). 

 It is literally crazy to get on and off this boat. It is just insane. There are no rules, no organization, no manners. Every man for himself. But we did not know this until we came to Chizumulu island and had to get off the boat in the evening (which meant in the dark) and people shoved us here and there and were in such a hurry that it was surreal. We did not moore at the island instead smaller boats came to pick up the passengers. We did not know that there was no hurry at all to get off this ferry (the boat stayed there for 5h!) so we followed the locals advice to get on the first boat out. And it was just crazy, everybody pushing and this old lady shoving a big rice bag on me like she was a bulldozer. Where did the friendly Malawians go?? 

We made it on the first boat and had to stand until we got to shore, which was not far at all. But then it was another huge mission to get off this smaller boat. Again people acted like maniacs and no one helped us and we had no clue where to go and who to trust. I was like "hell no I am giving my bag to some local stranger in the dark that will run off with it" so I hold on to my bags, took off my shoes and jumped in the shallow water holding my bags tights. Sebastian was right behind and we ended up just laughing at this insanity trying not get frustrated. This is Africa at the end.

Anyways, all this happened in the dark and it felt like a sciene from Titanic. Like getting of the ferry into the lifeboats that the use as transport to score. Even the ilala looked like a small Titanic with its old style and lights reflecting the water and people screaming and shouting like it was the end of the world. But we made it off the boat and only a minute away was our lodge Wakawenda. This was a beautiful place but right as we got there the power got cut so did not really get to see the place until the next day. It would have been nice if it was daylight when we arrived as the first thing we encountered on the island was aliens! Just look at it! It is the most freaky looking cockroach/spider that I have ever seen so I named it "the alien" as it sure looks like one.

Besides the aliens, the island is beautiful and we went hiking up the small and only hill on the island and got a full frontal view of one side of the island. Wakawenda lodge was also beautiful and a place where I ended up reading and relaxing for the following days. We also got to know the local kids. Which as always shouts and cheers as they see muzungus walk though the village. "Give me money, give me money"!

After two nights on the island and among the aliens we took a local motor boat (the machine as they called it) to Likoma island. Here we stayed at lovely Mango Drift enjoying the beach, the water and the hammocks. They had superb dinner meals and really friendly staff. Here are some pics below and you can see Chizumulu island in the background.

We also went in town to the market and had some local rice and beans at the Hunger Clinic restaurant. There was even an immigration office in town (Mozambique is only 40 km away by boat) and I accidently remembered I had to renew my Malawian visa so luckily I had enough money with me to do that there before it expired.In town we also passed this Hang Over Bottle Store bar. Nice name, isn't it?

We managed to stop this car, well I called it "The Beast" just like Obama's, when walking back to the hostel. This belonged to the luxury lodge Kaya Mawa and was not suppose to pick up any hitch hikers but we managed to get a ride anyways. I guess to the benefit of being "muzungus". It is an old safari truck and it might not look like it but it felt like being very high up and being a queen waiving to all the kids that came running down to the road as we passed. So surreal! But we had a great ride and did not have to walk the 45h minutes back in the boiling heat.

 After 3 days chilling on Likoma island we took the ferry back to Nkhata-Bay. It arrived at 01.00 in the morning and wasn't in Nkhata Bay until 13.00 the next day. Luckily, I had my hammock with me and was able to put it up on the sun deck. This is how I was sleeping that night. Actually, it was very comfortable !

Fat?

Today I went to Rasta Mike's restaurant after not been there for some weeks and the first thing he says is "Ah, you are fat." What? Are you telling me I am fat? "Yes, you are fat now". Thanks man, really what I wanted to hear... 

(Here in Malawi women likes it when the men tell them they are fat as it means you are wealthy and can eat all day.) 

I have, I guess officially now, gained some 3 kg after all the rice and beans I am having every day....

Everyday life in Nkhata-Bay pictures

I have taken a lot of pictures here in Malawi but not been able to upload them onto my picasa album as the internet is just too slow. However, here are some I have hand-picked from my every day life in Nkhata-Bay. 

This is Chikale primary school, where I volunteer as an English teacher for grade 7. There are 70 kids in the 7th grade but divided up to 7A and B. So I only have 35 in each class, which in enough :) All in all there are 720 students and 10 teachers at this school. There are many more schools and nurseries in Nkhata-Bay, even though it is a small town. Can you then imagien how many kids they produce here!

This is the classroom I teach in and this is Mr Daniel Nkhoma, the class teacher for grade 7. When I teach English he teachers math to the other half.  He is a very lovely and friendly person. He made the naught kids dig a 1m deep hole the other day as punishment for fighting! :) Better than spanking right!

My student are showing me some singing and dancing. These are some of the 7th grade boys.

Here are some of the 7th grade girls singing for me :) They are all around 12-13 years old. Moureen in the middle with the vest is sort of the class president and a very smart girl as well.

One of the students at school made this beautiful camera out of mud!

Here I am at Mayoka Lodge (where I live) marking the English exam I had with my students. It took me a week to correct 70 papers! Not sure if I would want to be a full time teacher...

This is Mayoka Village Lodge, where I stay. A beautiful, beautiful place! Owned and run by a South-African/English couple and they have around 40 Malawian employees.

This is the view from the restaurant at Mayoka. On the other side of the bay is Nkhata Bay city centre, a 20 minute walk away. Some times we take the boat over.

Here I am with some of the Mayoka kitchen staff. They made good pizza last night!

Another view from Mayoka. Pretty nice or what?! I love swimming in the lake and read a book on the cliffs. You can see the city center on the other side.

The dorm I am staying in at Mayoka.Sometimes I get to have it to myself, sometimes it is full with 7 other people sleeping there.

On a boat trip on the lake :) Love it!

Walking to town. They say that there are crocodiles in the grass down by the lake to the left. So far I have not seen one, thank God!

On my walk to town. Farming fields. Here they grow cassava, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, onions, garlic, etc. Now it is even greener as it has been raining.

My friend Gift carrying a full case of Coca-Cola on her head. Can you imagine how heavy that is??? I was soo impressed I had to take a picture of her. Girt works at Mayoka as a waitress.

So this was a glimpse of my life in Nkhata Bay. I can only say that I have a good life! Africa's best probably! It is a beautiful town and a beautiful place with friendly people. So if you want to visit me "you are most welcome" as the Malawians say!

Muli Banji! 

Examination time

All last week was examination time for my primary school at Chikale. I was supervising a lot and don't know how many times I have said "be quiet, "sit down" and "no cheating" to Standard (grade) 7. They can be quite naughty these kids. But I guess when you are 12, 13 years old you tend to be naughty all the time. And having 70 kids in two classrooms with one teacher is not the best either or yet worse 70 kids cramped in, in one small classroom so the kids have to sit on the floor. Here is Malawi everything is possible. You also got to be creative to solve problems you encounter every day at school.

For example, last Monday the students had their first exam, which was Science and Agriculture. This was the first time they were going to write an exam on paper. Before they wrote the questions on the board and the student wrote the answers in their notebook. But this year they have enough money to print out a proper exam. So everything was new to the kids. Also that you have to be quiet during exam and sit far away from each other so you could not cheat. Anyway, the teacher had not printed enough exam papers and five students got left out. So what to do? Well, let's go to town and print some more at the internet cafe (there are no computers at school). But then someone realized that there is a power cut and with no electricity, no printers or computers are working. Hmm..then what do we do?? The kids are waiting...maybe these five kids have to write it tomorrow then as by then power should be back and we can print.. but then they will cheat and get all the answers from their fellow classmates..not fair. Well what to do?? (This discussion went on for like 1 h) Ah let's write the questions on the board... but the board is too small for all the 20 questions. Not fair or easy... So what to do?? Then I came into the room, asked what the problem is and they explained and I was like " why dont we write it by hand, there are only five students so shouldn't take too long and we are already 3 teachers here that could write it". Great idea they thought and then I ended up writing 3 exams by hand... and the other teacher 2 and the other teacher left ( I guess he thought that was too much work). But we got it written, the students got to write the exam and I got a soar hand. The easiest problem can just become the most difficult here do to lack of resources.

So all week the students had exam, a new subject every day. I supervised the English exam and then marked 70 papers which took me like a week. Gosh so much work! I am glad I am not a teacher (in real life). Today I handed the exams out and the kids got excited but hmm they got really low scores as their English is really not good and the exam was pretty difficult. Some of the kids can barely read and write English never the less know what a noun and a verb is.

This week is the last week of teaching for standard 7, then they are off on Christmas holiday. I plan to go on a "holiday from volunteering" myself  next week for 1 week and then come back and volunteer over X-mas maybe painting some more or tutor some kids. Have not yet decided. Painting sounds good right now as that is theraputic to me and usually pretty noise free. Kids can be noisy man!

I hope I can blog some more soon again. For the last week we had no internet as problems with the internet provider and then there has been constant power cuts too.