I've arrived....

I made it - all the way to Malamulo....

Its just over two weeks since i arrived and so much has happened I'm not quite sure where to begin!

Our training in Lilongwe was good, lots of introductions to lots of different people, language lessons which i really enjoyed and other briefings on this and that...Our employers came up on the Thursday so we had a chance to chat to them and find out what we'd be doing, what the house was like, things like that...

On the Friday after a crazy couple of hours paper shuffling we set off in a rickety old minibus for Malamulo, the journey was a bit hair-raising as we did most of it after dark - i kept my eyes shut for half of it trying not to see the one-eyed cars whizzing past in the other direction and the blind overtaking on hills and round corners!! We had a couple of stops, one to buy the world's weight in potatoes which we then flung into the bus and settled all around us and the rest of our luggage! and then another one a little while later - this time to purchase a little delicacy called 'chicks-on-sticks' which turned out to be titchy little birds skewered on a twig and then roasted to a flavoursome charcoaly crunch!

We got to our house about 9.30 and were met by our new watchman, Fly, who turned out to be a saviour when the power went off about 30mins after we'd got stuck into unpacking! He came in, match in hand, and flicked a few switches and it came back on, but after it cut out for the third time, he resorted to unscrewing the fuse box and whipping the whole thing out - we then carefully shut the cupboard door and haven't really opened it since - best not to look i think. The next excitement was the shower! I turned it on and the whole pipe and shower head jumped off the wall and left me with a bubbling fountain- its still like that now and probably will be for quite some time!

So, on Saturday I got up and had a good poke about the house - its pretty big - 3 bedrooms, little office/study, lovely sitting room/dining room, kitchen, pantry, bathroom and loo. we got a garden too - veggie patch is a bit overgrown but there are carrots, tomatoes, pineapples, pawpaw and now lettuce too as Fly and I planted some last week - can't wait for it all to grow. there is lots of space so might just try some maize too...

Its about a 20 minute walk to work, the hospital is quite big and spread out. we've had quick tour with our boss lady, Mrs Nkhoma but will probably get to know it better when we go back to do the rest of our orientation there in 2 weeks. I'm in Blantyre at the moment at the Central Hospital - spent today in Childrens A&E - and will be going to adult medical and surgical for the rest. Quite an eye opener so far, i knew it would be different, very different, but i don't really know how to describe everything I've seen today. Can't wait to get back to Malamulo as i feel strangely at home there already...

will have to fill you in on the rest next time, I'm being booted off this computer now..