Lilongwe Weekend

On a walk at SAFI

The path. Not straight. The clouds. I find a path in them too.

We travelled to Lilongwe this weekend. The sociology majors (Camille and Nicolle) were going to meet with some BFI leaders, as well as a meeting with Thompson from Bunda College. All of us students went along because it is a good change of scenery and we can go to church in Lilongwe too. The city is interesting. There is a place called Old Town, and then there is the main city. In the main city, there are many grocery stores and different eateries. We even got to eat Indian food on Saturday night at a restaurant. It was pretty good too! Our first night we ate pizza though. When we are at SAFI, we have a small room where we eat every meal at specific times of the day. When we ate pizza in Lilongwe, there was a TV, people were in their hustle and bustle attitudes and were trying to cut us in line because we weren't right behind the person in front of us. When we sat to eat, there was little to no conversation, while at SAFI we always end up talking and bonding. I felt like I was so bombarded in Lilongwe! Distractions were everywhere...not to mention stares from every direction. I appreciate the meal times we have at SAFI much more now.

In Lilongwe we stayed at Korea Garden Lodge first. Apparently there is an increase in Asians coming to Africa. And apparently they are taking over. Asian Invasion! So we stayed at that hostel the first night. There were many cat fights going on...and I mean literally with cats. They sounded so evil! Then Renee heard a little meow and she told me to come look. I came out and there was this tiny kitten that was so skinny peeking around the door. I have this soft spot for black cats (well, if they're nice) and this one was very nice. It was rubbing on my legs and being so cute. The thing was, it wanted to come in the room with Renee and I. We couldn't let that happen though. So I ran away and called the cat. It followed, thank goodness. It was getting late, so I ended up leaving the cat outside. I really hope it found it's mom!

Cute little black cat

Due to price changes at Korea Garden, we went and stayed at Mabuya Camp for the next two nights. This hostel was actually really cool! I liked it a lot. Renee and I were walking around and found a nice swimming pool, clothes lines, and then...a weight room...minus the room actually. We found an angled bench and two sets of weights with different sized concrete slabs connected to a metal pipe. I was holding the lighter of the weights. It was actually pretty heavy. This was just so cool! I felt like all of my friends would love this place! Carolyn would love it. Kenzi would love it. Kristi would love it. Let's be honest, everyone would love it! We have decided to try and stay at Mabuya Camp so that we don't see older people everywhere at Korea Garden. That is a more quiet place, and we are kind of loud and crazy. At Mabuya Camp, we feel like we can be ourselves.

I can't do curls with this.

While we were in Lilongwe, we found a bunch of older men playing a game called Ntchuwa.

Ntchuwa

None of us could really grasp the game, but it was interesting to watch. It seemed like a very large and complicated form of Mankala, but who knows.

Also, I found this interesting ad...take a look.

I feel like this is some scam.

Why would they want to look more like us when they get to look like them!?!

The thing is, I don't think anyone is using this...or else I probably would have noticed and so would everyone else.

Trekking into Old Town.

Okay, so Old Town kind of made me nervous. I was so nervous, I didn't even take a picture. Yup, I know. Don't worry, we will probably go again and I will get used to it, I'm sure. 

Picture a very narrow pathway guided by little shacks where there were people were trying to sell jewelry, food, DVDs with Jackie Chan on them, clothes, the works. It was just so overwhelming! I felt so stuck, so I just followed whoever was in front of me in our group, taking little time to look around.

We got out! YES! I was a little bit on the exhausted side...but I want to go back so that I get used to the crowds. That way, I won't have any breakdowns when we go every other weekend.

We went to the market in the main city, but not just the regular market. This market was the kind of market where many people come up to you and try to sell you different things for a lot of money, even though they are not worth that much. I ended up getting two paintings for 7500 kwacha, which apparently was really good compared to some of the other students. I won't name any names...

I told the man that I only had so much money in my pocket and I liked both of the paintings, and I could give him what I had, which ended up being the 7500 kwacha. He said that I had to give a little, but I told him I couldn't. So I took the money out and counted it and gave it to him. He counted it and gave me the paintings. It was pretty wonderful. I think that's what I'm going to do every time. Or just walk away after I tell them what I will pay them because they follow you for a LONG time. One guy followed Renee even after we crossed the street, went to the ATM, left the ATM and went to the store. Then he finally left her alone.

Surprisingly, I loved the market!! It was really fun to me. I liked talking with some of the sellers and I learned some of their names so that I could come back to get something from them because I liked what they had, but I did not want to spend any more money. I did not want to buy all my souvenirs in one day!

Overall, it was really productive!

Church was really great too! There were so many confirmations at Church on Sunday! It was so wonderful to see! Also, there was a return missionary that spoke and he seemed so strong. It was really exciting. The Sunday School teacher translated a lot of his lesson for us, but in Relief Society, all I know was that it was on Temples. There was rarely a translation. I really enjoyed it even though I didn't understand it. It was really cool to be in Malawi, and seeing the men exercising the priesthood and the power that they have. I loved it.