It has Been a While

I first have to say congratulations to my friend Molly Sears (whose brother and sister were here in October) for her engagement.  It was great to hear.

Well on the night of Araceli and my 6 month wedding anniversary I get a chance to write a blog post.  The erratic and unforgiving electricity company here has been on the fritz lately and we have gone for long periods of no power.....I guess that is not totally true, we have had electricity from 12-5 am, so I guess I did not reveal the whole truth.

 

Preparing fire in the morning for cooking.....and coffee

Life has been going unusually usual here as normal.  We have been working away trying to get projects done, with the coming and going of rains it has delayed things a bit.

We started last week with the removal of bats, this was not the greatest in the world when Timeyo and I had to climb into the attic to be greeted by hundreds of bats, squeaking away.  But soon after we began to remove them from the attic.  Smelly and stinky we got the job done.  Fortunate for us we have one more building to go.

 

After we had removed the ceiling panels and bats from the attic

As time progressed our projects were delayed as the heavy rains came in, although they have been nice as they have cooled the weather down. 

 

Out spending time with villagers

We got a new truck from the border which we are happy about, it helps us in hauling more materials and its 4 wheel drive is very nice to have in the bush.

 

Preparing the Garden

Timeyo and I started a garden, which was quite a bit of work but it has turned out to be quite nice.  Once the rains really begin and become consistent then we will plant seeds and watch them grow (well Timeyo will as we will be coming back home).

 

Timeyo and I after finishing the garden

We have been taking it day by day here, on Thursday we went for meetings in Bowe and then headed into the bush after that, luckily while there we got 2 flat tires and spent most of the day in the bush, followed by spending most of the night with a bunch of drunk kids repairing the tires.  In the end it worked out and we got home in one piece (although a little tired the next day).

 

Using the wonderful shower bag which my cousin gave to us

We have trained the dog and cat well here.  The cat sleeps a lot but has done a tremendous job at catching insects.  The best is when she catches the spiders which range from 4-5 inches in length and are quite squishy when you step on them.  But she eats them right up and brings more peace to my mind, and definitely Araceli's, who is quite afraid of them.

 

Cat enjoying herself cuddling with a bottle

We did not get home until around 11:30 on Thursday night and our plans for Thanksgiving were shattered.  So we moved them to tonight.  We had to sit Timeyo down and explain to him what Thanksgiving was and why we celebrate it.  So we have joined him in our celebration and he is cooking some of his local food (greens with peanut flour) which is tasty tasty, especially when you eat it with your fingers.

 

Timeyo and Araceli preparing dinner tonight

 We are preparing for a work overload for the next two weeks as that is the time remaining here in Malawi until we return home.


And without delay........as I finish writing this post the electricity has gone.