After two amazing days with some lifelong memories we were ready for some rest. Today the plan was to go into town and get some of our errands done and mostly just rest. Our schedule has been packed up until now and from here on out we have a full schedule. So this weekend was the only time we had to catch up on our rest.
We got to sleep in a little but we wanted to leave for town around 9:30am. The town usually closes on Saturday around noon so we wanted to get our shopping done early. I went out for breakfast and the ladies told me my friend was here walking around looking for me!!! Hooray! Jean was here! I was so excited to meet her!
She lives in Blantyre which is about an hour away from Zomba. She was spending the day in Zomba to meet me and to work on her project which is close to Malemia Primary. I talked to her briefly before we had to walk to town. She is an absolute delight! I told her how much fun we were having singing and dancing with the children. I told her I would love to visit her project and she also invited me to visit her mother’s village. I am looking forward to arranging that! It is just difficult without a phone. Her sister is also here and I told them we would love to have them both come to our class discussions in the afternoon. I’m sure our group would have a lot of questions and would enjoy talking to them. I gave her some goodies her daughter sent her. These two ladies were amazing and I am so excited to hang out with them more!
After Jean and her sister left, we headed down to Zomba town. As we were walking down the hill we went through a field and there were scattered choir groups practicing. They invited us to come listen and even come to church tomorrow. We have been invited to so many churches. Once again, the people are so nice and welcoming!
We even walked by a golf course in Malawi. We walked by the infamous Tasty Bites and our advisor, Jennifer walked in and they remembered her first name! haha During our trip, we have 3 birthdays, and 2 independence days to celebrate! So we bought a Tasty Bites chocolate cake for a Sunday night celebration of Liz and Heidi’s birthday!
Our next stop was a stationary store called Figs. We wanted to get postcards but the selection was very limited. I didn’t like the pictures at all. Oh well. I’ll try and write them in the next couple of days. Who knows if they will make it to America or not.
Right next to Annie’s lodge is a little house with a seamstress who makes custom African dresses. She recommends a particular fabric store in town because it’s the best quality. So we stopped at the fabric store to pick out our fabric. Of course I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I got two patterns. Only 450 kwacha for 4 meters.
We ran into Dr. Kelly running around town and she pointed us in the direction to get a dozen oranges for 50 kwacha. The man at the end of the oranges isle has the best deal. So we weaved our way through the local market. Well, it was a miracle that we survived the market. I thought the fish smell would kill us all. I was really impressed with how artistic the food display was at the market. Even the little piles of fish were in neat little pyramids. The tomatoes were stacked tall and the onions and carrots were in little bouquets. So much time and detail was put into the presentation of the fruits and vegetables. As we were walking through the market there was a lady carrying what I assume was suppose to be a dead chicken, but it wasn’t quite dead yet… it was still squawking but she didn’t seemed bothered by it. Yuck! The orange man has almost run out of oranges, our group bought him out!
We stopped by the venders to look at the selection. They told us not to buy anything yet because they will be willing to bring down the price more at the end of our trip because they know we are leaving. We looked around but I thought the selection was better in Lilongwe. I did see a couple things I might bargain for. When we go on the safari by Liwonde apparently there’s a huge vender area.
We had a fitting appointment with the seamstress at 12noon so we needed to head back up the hill. There were designs on the wall that we could pick from. I really wanted something I would wear again, so I chose a halter top design with a short flared bottom. Who knows what it will actually look like. I still have 4 meters of another pattern. Any suggestions what I should get made? Pillow case? A bag? They took our measurements and went back to Annie’s to grab a bite to eat. Dr. Kelly said they will work up until the last day to try and get all of the dresses made and altered in time. I’m excited to get a Malawian dress!!!!
During the day the vendors are allowed inside the gates of Annie’s Lodge. As we were eating a vendor was annoying me but he talked me into getting a hand carved globe. It’s actually very unique. It opens so I can use it for something. My first big purchase.
Everyone did his or her own thing for the afternoon. A group went back to town to eat at Tasty Bites but I stayed at the lodge and sat outside catching up on my blog and writing postcards. It was absolutely gorgeous to relax in the sun in the mountains. It was like a vacation!
Peter invited Brian to come with him for the weekend for a guys weekend on Friday night at the movie night. At the time it sounded like a good idea, but Saturday morning Brian doubted Peter would follow through. Around here, if someone says they are going to do something, they do it. So Brian got ready and went with Peter for the weekend. Since this weekend was relaxed he didn’t have to be back until Monday morning. They talked about going to Lilongwe and/or a Beach party? Who knows! Rumors were flying all over the place. As the weekend went by, we were all worried about Brian. Probably because we didn’t have anything else to worry about but we all look out for each other.
Krista and I are trying to make our money last, so we didn’t buy dinner. We had tuna and mac & cheese for dinner. I was really excited to try and video chat with my dad tonight but we tried for a long time but we couldn’t get the connection to go through. I was bummed but I still got to talk to him and my mom on AIM. The girls were talking about our parents today and all of us have never gone an entire month without hearing our parents voices. I am so thankful the internet works so at least I am email them. I’m looking forward to going to the African churches tomorrow, I’ve always wanted to go to one of those!!!!
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