End of travel; day 1 in Lilongwe

In Jo’burg, I went to bed sometime after 9 and got up just after 6. The weather in Jo’burg was really lovely in the morning (high was going to be 25C, which I calculated to be 77F). I got to the airport and checked in, but before I could get my boarding pass, I had to go to the ticket counter and get an old school ticket. Weird. No one has those anymore. Security was nothing compared to the US. I just had to remove my laptop, and there appeared to be one guy both shlepping things onto the conveyor and watching the metal detector. I think there must have been another guy reading the xray. Maybe.

After passport control, I entered a huge duty free mall. It’s seriously giant. I saw a thing for tax refund for tourists, but upon reading their brochure, I saw that I needed some kind of official tax invoices from the place of purchase. I vaguely remember the South African Airways website asking me if I needed one, but I thought that was something else. I’m sure they make a killing off of ignorant people like me. Whatever, it’s grant money anyway. I waited at the “gate”, which was really a bus depot kind of thing, waiting to get on a shuttle to the plane. There was this monitor that was like 3D – it was totally nauseating.

The plane was really nice. US airlines totally suck in comparison to international carriers. The lunch was delicious (Lunch! On a 2-hour flight!), and it even came with real silverware. I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane to really see Lilongwe coming in, which was a bummer. The airport was pretty small. There were lots of people standing up on a balcony when we got there. We piled on a shuttle to go the like 50 yards to the terminal. Passport control took a long time, but customs was a breeze… I think they only actually care about people who live there bringing back cool shit without paying taxes on it. Either that or when I told the guy I was working with Malawi BRIDGE, he figured I was good.

The BRIDGE project has a few drivers. The one who picked me up was Gift (?), who was nice. We stopped by my room, and it’s just fine, so I emailed Esnart to say I’d been hooked up. Although the boss said I’d probably be meeting with the guy with the house in the next couple of days, so he might convince me otherwise. After the hotel, we went to exchange some moolah. The exchange rate is 145 Kwacha on the dollar for twenties, but only 110 for fivers. They don’t care for small bills. It was mega hot, in the 80s or so. After stopping at Foodsmiths so I could get some water (for $0.53), we went to the office. Kirsten gave me a tour… it’s basically a big room with these kind of neat wooden dividers… kind of a mix between cubicles and real offices. The walls have these windows in them that I also have in my hotel, which is several slats of glass that can be opened like a venetian blind. One of the women is on vacation this week, so I used her computer and waded through my email on the slow internet connection. I have an office too, but it’s going to take a little while to get my computer connected to the network.

The work schedule at BRIDGE is really early. Kirsten said most people are there from 8 to 5. Apparently the minibuses stop running at like 5:15, so people need to get out early. In the next few days, the new secretary there, who lives up near me, is supposed to help me figure out the minibuses, because I can’t have drivers drive me around all the time, especially once the survey workshops start and more important people (read: my advisor) will need transport.

I got home and unpacked my stuff. There are like 4 closets in this room. Three have shelves, and one has a bar, but there are no hangers. I still need to figure out where laundry will happen. And food. I wish I had been able to find a water kettle that switched voltage… maybe I’ll find one here. The BRIDGE office had one. Foodworths seemed to have a decent amount of stuff, but it’s not very close by. It might be minibus accessible, however. It seems like a lot of people drive and walk here, even though it’s just not possible to walk everywhere because things are fairly spread out. Also, there aren’t sidewalks everywhere.

The TV in the room is way better than I expected, given the few channels in the hotel in Jo’burg. It has real stuff, like CNN, MTV, etc. Except that whatever versions of these stations I have, they actually show, like, news and music and stuff. It’s sort of awesome, actually. No internet, though. I’d gladly trade TV for internet.

I went out to see what rooms are downstairs. There is a common area with couches and TV, a room with like a dining room table and 4 chairs, and a kitchen. I walked outside and down to the road with the intention of maybe getting some dinner. The guard started chatting with me. His name is Fred, and he’s 25. He was telling me that he had been in school, but that his father had died and he had to quit. So now he was working as a guard for the guesthouse, but it was only 4000 Kwacha a month (just under $30, less than what I’m paying everyday for the hotel), which wasn’t enough for him and his sister and brother. He wants a better job, and so he was eager to talk to me, because, hey, I might be able to hook him up. He was pretty cool, but by the time I was done talking to him, it was dark, so I kind of had to go back inside. I was too tired to figure out food, so I just bummed around under the bednet. When I was outside, I thought I felt some mosquitos (must buy DEET), but in my room I didn’t really see any. I just kind of like hanging out under it. I’m just super glad my power adapters work, because even without the internet, I can type things and watch movies. I can also charge my phone to use as an alarm clock. But not while I’m charging the computer battery because there’s only one plug.

It gets dark here earlier, since we’re near the equator. It was totally dark by 6:30.

I went to bed shortly after 9 again, and I woke up around 5:45. It was just starting to get light out. I bathed, by which I mean I sat in the bath and scrubbed myself. There’s a shower head on one of those movable tube thingies. But there’s really no where to hang it *up*. So I bathed, and then washed my hair, but I only got like 5 minutes of hot water out of the thing, so I know now to do my hair first.

I left the house at like 6:30 to go wander around. I walked all the way down to Foodsworth, which is far, to grab some groceries. I knew where it was, so I just kind of wandered there. Unforrtunately, I took a circuitous path where I thought the British Council was (I was right), and therefore missed that there is a People’s Supermarket much, much closer to home. But that’s okay, I didn’t mind the walk. Except that when I started, it was pleasantly cool and breezy, and by the time I returned, it was sunny and hot. It’s much cooler in my room. I ate the exotic breakfast of strawberry yogurt, bread with peanut butter (but bread from a bakery!), and corn flakes. Culture shock!

While out on my walk, I noticed a lot of minibuses going by to different places. I didn’t see any white people on any of them, so I’m sure I’ll be the total weirdo once I start riding them.

When I was walking home with the groceries, first a woman who was walking the same way took one of my bags to help me out, and then as I was almost home a young man did the same thing. Either I looked like a total wimp ambling up the street with my bags, or people are just helpful here.