Days in Mangochi

August 2, 2009

Yesterday, we spent the day in Mangochi walking around and exploring the place. Matt had done quite a bit of this on his own so he knew all of the good spots to show us. We walked around the market, which was actually really fun. I brought my camera and snapped pictures of people working there (with their permission of course) and then turned it around and showed them the photo. They always seemed to get a kick out of it. We bought carrots and lettuce and onions as well as this super sour root thing. One man gave me a free sample and I don’t even know what it was but I popped it into my mouth and it was so sour. His daughter was adorable and when I went to take a picture of her, she started sobbing uncontrollably. Oops. Her mother came and tied her onto her back and she finally stopped. We continued walking and found people fixing bikes and other metal materials, welders, and carpenters. A group of three kids followed us through the whole market. I bought some wraps to cover my scandalous legs but these aren’t wrapping so well. They keep falling down when I walk. We also went to a bakery and bough some PRETTY good rolls. Some guy there kept posing with the bread and asking me to take his picture. We also ran into Jamira’s husband, Maxwell, and Geoffrey, the driver. They said that they would take us up to the mountains later that day. After that, we went home and Andrea and Matt checked the internet. There are only 2 connections that work so I went on a walk by myself. I walked down to the Shire River, which has crocodiles and hippos according to people from the area. There is a big bridge that goes over it and I walked to the town over the bridge. On my way, I ran into some ladies coming back from church and they tried to help me tie my wrapper. They tied it three different ways but I got the wrong type of fabric so it didn’t hold. I walked over the bridge and went to the village across the way. Right over the bridge, they were selling big slabs of goat meat with the heads and legs lined up along the road. Ew! I got some phone credit and captured the interest of several people along the way. One group of people selling things asked me to take their picture and posed as I did so. I went back to the house for an early dinner. Maxwell never showed so I took a quick nap and we went out and got soft-serve ice cream. Delicious! The portions were tiny compared with what we would eat at home but it so hit the spot. I then began the cumbersome task of taking my braids out. I started around six and it took until midnight.

Today at work I received a phone call that I should write up an abstract about our project to be presented at the conference in Lilongwe. Effie indicated that she needed the abstract tonight. I don’t have internet and really don’t feel like it is my fault that she waited until last minute. She will get it when she gets it. After work, I went with Jamira to get new wraps of the right fabric. After that, she took me to her house where I saw Maxwell and her children, Vanessa and Natasha. It felt nice to feel like a real guest. Sometimes when people are staring you know that it isn’t ill-intentioned but you feel like they think you’re from another planet. I am counting down the hours until I can sleep- I am feeling a bit frustrated and overwhelmed and just tired tonight. I wish I could bring family and friends over here. I miss you.