Sunday Funday?

Sunday Funday?
So Sunday started off just as I had hoped. Hannah, Aumi, and I got the school car very early and it took us to Bvombwe market, where we had to take connecting mini-buses to Shoprite. We had breakfast and did a little shopping; I could tell that Hannah and Aumi were very happy to get a few necessities before the beginning of their first week. I talked to Lawrence, early in the week we had talked about going to a game reserve. He said that his family was planning on going, so there would be room in the car for me, but not my two new friends, so I said we will have to go another time, because I couldn’t leave Hannah and Aumi alone in Blantyre on their fourth day in Malawi. After we were done at Shoprite we took a mini-bus to limbe and then got in a mini-bus that looked like a nice bus, but boy was I wrong. On the outside it looked newish which is very rare here. We got in and I immediately knew I had picked the wrong bus, don’t judge a book by its cover was a popular moral in grade school, but it is a harsh reality in a third world country. Needless to say the bus broke down 3 times, before finally running out of gas less than half way to our expected destination. Two months ago this would have really frustrated me. I also would have probably freaked out a little, but at the time I just thought “oh well, this is Malawi”. We waited for another mini-bus to come by and pick us up for about 30 minutes. Since it was Sunday and there is a major fuel crisis there was only one bus in that 30 minutes that stopped, and since my two new friends didn’t know that you can’t just wait in line here, that if you want to be on that bus you have to take someone’s seat… we missed the bus. After that bus pulled away, I thought oh well lets hoof it. I would say it was about 100 degrees and the sun was beating down on us, and we walked a good 5K probably more to one of the teacher’s houses. That teacher Maiyse had invited me to come to his house at some point and now seemed as good a time as any. Right as we got to the turn off for his house, it started pouring. The rain was coming down like a hurricane. It was nuts, I took some great pictures and I quick camera video of it all from Maiyse’s house. We had to call the school car to come get us from Maiyse’s house. This was really the only option for us and it was good that the car or truck I should say was already in the area dropping off other teachers. When the truck came and got us the rain started to die down, which was a very good thing for the people that were outside. I guess it was even a very good thing for people that were inside, because it seems like just about everywhere you go, no roof that I have seen so far can hold up against this rain. Even the ceiling at the super market leaks when it is raining. When you look at it from an outsider’s perspective, when you put the rain up against something man made in Malawi, the rain always wins. Anyways, when the truck got of the high way and turned onto the dirt road that goes to the school, we had some problems. With the amount of rain that came down, even in only an hour or two the road had transformed into a mud slid. The driver quickly turned on four wheel drive and unlocked the front wheels, but it really didn’t matter. We were slipping and sliding all over the road. We were completely at the mercy of the road. It was like driving on solid ICE with absolutely no traction. The truck was just fish tailing back and forth. The driver and other passengers were a little nervous/ scared, but I was kind of excited. I don’t know why, but I actually thought the drive was fun. Yes, our car could have gone into a ditch at any time, or spun off the road doing one of a hundred things, but I still was like a little kid on a rollercoaster and I couldn’t hide it either. It was the most fun I have had on a drive since I have been in Malawi. Most of the time I’m just hoping the car or mini-bus I’m in doesn’t crash and kill everyone inside, but when it came to the mud, I felt alive. Once we got to the college, all the mud turned back into dirt, because even though less than 1 kilometer away there had been torrential down pours, Amalika hadn’t gotten a drop of rain. That’s just how life is out here in the bush. After I got back, I ran to my room and did some much needed laundry. I have started doing my laundry in the stream about 120 yards from my room. I still am skeptical about bathing with that water, but my uncle Frank(best doctor in the Midwest for those of you that were wondering about his qualifications) told me as long as I don’t get it in my eyes, ears, nose, or mouth that bathing shouldn’t be a problem, so I took that advice as saying it would be ok to do my laundry in; and so far it has worked out great.