31 in Malawi

At 31, Brody is worried that if he dies, people will no longer say things like "It is a shame. He had his whole life ahead of him."  He is very emo.






Birthday celebrations started off with steak and potatoes (roughing it!) at Latitude 13, where the food was as expensive as it was tasty, but someone's gotta pay for the decor: white porcelain cabbages and sparkling white gravel pathways.  Then we had night waffles and open mic with some pretty kick ass friends at The Living Room Cafe. It was topped off with a birthday basket from the best parents ever!

The basket was reportedly delivered to Andrea Lach Dean at Baylor Clinic on Monday, August 26th which worried us as we had neither seen nor heard of any deliveries by Wednesday, August 28th. However, as we waited in endless lines at the DMV (deserving of another blog post!) we were accosted by an excited woman insisting it was Andrea's birthday and that she had something for her. She was very confused and upset that it was not Andrea's birthday, but since she had tracked us down that far, she led Brody to her van where he found a basket brimming with chocolate and champagne! She apologized for the delay, but said she couldn't have left it at Baylor because she'd worried about "picky fingers." Little did she know, Andrea was the one with picky fingers.

this side of the gate

This is where we live.

Area 43. Off Mphonongo Road. House number 43/2/85.  Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa, Earth.

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This is our red gate. Our view from the house.  Discuss.

We live in a house. A 3 bedroom house. (This means we have plenty of space for visitors!) It comes complete with running water and flushing toilets, a refrigerator with ice cube trays, mosquito nets (we prefer chemical prophylaxis) and electricity, which is present for at least 20 unpredictable hours a day. Also visible here is our "solarium" (i.e. a screened-in room) which now contains a clothesline fashioned from the twine scavenged from the previous owners' shrine to their dead cat. Now we can hang clothes without fear of bot fly larvae burrowing into our skin. Luxury! 

Also notable is the yard.  Brody enjoys speculating about the size of said yard. (He thinks I don't know that the word "acre" has no real meaning to him.) Our gardener's name is Annusa. He makes us brooms and sweeps our yard. Sweeps! Other skills include burning garbage and dead leaves. The grounds look beautiful and he is such a sweet person.  

No major surprises so far, which makes for difficult blogging, loved ones.  Except for the night, I suppose, which falls early and quickly here. The darkness here is quite striking, despite the veranda and porch lights the guards insist on keeping lit throughout the night.  We can't help but notice it every night. We fall asleep to dogs barking madly in the distance and wonder whether it is the ones freely roaming the streets or those locked away behind tall brick fences.