Settling into Chitipa

For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to settle into life in Chitipa, after all the drama of the dog bites and the car crash - for those of you who didn’t know about that, it happened on the way back from Lilongwe, and it really felt like I’d been cursed, with one disaster after another! We were driving at night and there was a parked lorry on the road, with no lights, warning signals or anything. Just as we were approaching the lorry an oncoming vehicle blinded the driver with its headlights so it was too late by the time he saw the lorry ahead. Thankfully, although I was sitting in the front with no seatbelt (in fact, I wasn’t even in a proper seat but wedged between the passenger seat and the driver), I wasn’t badly injured except for a bash to the nose. Of course I had to follow VSO policy so I was taken back to Lilongwe in an ambulance to be checked by the doctor there, even though it wasn’t really necessary. The other 6 people in our vehicle were also ok, but I did feel a bit awkward getting such special treatment while they just went to the local hospital and got given aspirin.

Anyway, that was the third time I’d tried to leave Lilongwe and found myself stuck, but somehow I managed to get back to Chitipa that weekend, with no further incidents! I’ll think twice about travelling at night from now on, though. When I got back I got straight to work moving into my new house, which was a lot of work, cleaning, buying things and trying to make it feel like home. It’s a lot bigger than Imogen’s place so it’s taken some getting used to, but now I’m feeling quite happy here. I decided to hire someone to help with the cleaning and laundry once a week, and she also fills my water buckets when I can’t get home on time.

The living/dining room

My bedroom

The kitchen

 

The toilet

The 'bathroom' where I take my bucket baths

I decided to splash out on a bike so that I can get around quicker - though Chitipa is small, it’s still a bit of a walk from my house to the market - so I asked someone to buy me one from Tanzania, where they’re a bit cheaper. I had asked for either silver or red, but for some reason he decided to get me Barbie pink… I was horrified at first but now I’m quite fond of it, and at least it stands out :)

The holidays were nice, just hanging out with my friends here and drinking maybe a bit too much! On Christmas day we had a party at Mtheto’s, a teacher at the secondary school. I’m sure many of you have seen the photos on facebook so I won’t put them up here. Our Christmas was just about drinking and partying, but I guess a lot of people here went to church. I don’t think people exchange presents in the same way we do though. Kara was around for a few days with another Peace Corps friend, Rachel, and it was really nice to have some girl time. We tried out some exciting recipes from the Peace Corps cookbook, and just chatted non-stop :)

Rachel, me and Kara on New Year's eve

In an attempt to save money, I’m trying out homemade wine, which I learned from the peace corps girls. It’s very simple, you just put some cut-up mangoes, sugar, yeast and a teabag in a bucket of boiling water and leave it for 3 weeks. It looks a bit like mud but hopefully it will taste ok! The power situation has been really bad recently, there's a power cut almost every day, lasting between a few hours and the whole day. I had to throw out loads of food I’d cooked, including my first batch of homemade hummous which was a huge effort to make, so that was really sad. I’ve bought an mbaula, a charcoal stove, which is a pain to light but at least once you get it going it works quite well. But sitting at home alone in the dark is really depressing, so I tend to go to Handy Man’s (a bar) which has a generator. I’m trying to learn to play pool but I hardly get a chance to play as the guys here are pretty serious about it. There’s also some guys who play chess regularly, so I’ve played a few times with them but again they’re very good, so I need to practise!

Work-wise it’s still been really quiet as the holidays started soon after I got back from Lilongwe. I’m starting to wonder if I’m ever going to achieve anything here, but I guess that’s why I’m here for a year, and I just need to keep pushing my supervisor when he’s not away at a conference  or busy dealing with other things.

I’m trying to stay positive, but I think I’ve got the 3-month blues, which I’ve been told is normal after all the excitement of the initial few months. It doesn’t help that some of my good friends here are moving away. For the first time I feel a bit homesick, but I know that will pass, so I’ll keep soldiering on!

My neighbours :)