Well, we're a few days into our African adventure and it's been very much that! We arrived safely and all our baggage was intact and present (my guitar included - thank you Lord!). We were met at the airport by brother and sister Iain and Ruth, and it was so so good to see them. They then took us from Chileka airport into Blantyre, giving us a chance to admire the local people's ingenuity and creativity with what they have (stalls by the side of the road and all kinds of creatively constructed shops selling a variety of things.
We received a wonderfully warm welcome at the McGraths (friends of Helen and the Gatwards from 2000) and then we set off in our new truck (Mac) to our new house. First impressions of the house were hard to describe to be honest - it has HUGE potential, and with work and help it will be home. It's part of a compound with 24 hour security (good old Henry, Samson and a few other gentlemen), and has a really lovely front courtyard and a huge back Khondi (like a veranda) looking our over a massive garden. The outside space at the back needs a lot of work but once we find someone to take it on it will be a really great space for entertaining and for Eilidh to roam free!
As for the internals of the house, you walk through the front door and can turn left to enter the L-shaped lounge or right to go up the wide staircase or into the compact kitchen. Both long walls in the living room are almost all glass, and therefore all bars too - so we're in the process of getting lots of curtains fitted (courtesy of the school) and we'll need to be creative to make it more homely. Upstairs comprises of two bedrooms of decent size, a bathroom with bath and shower, and a separate toilet.
As i said, it will become home in a few months once we've had a chance to source the people who are skilled and reliable. It seems to be the way here that you make long term plans for a short term project due to the rather relaxed Malawian approach to deadlines, but it'll all come together!
Everything else is coming together - I'll post more about the spider adventures and our hilarious trip to Shoprite... but for now I'll sign off to say that WE'RE ALIVE hehe and we're all well. MOST importantly, Eilidh is doing great and loving our new lifestyle.
Lots of love to all!!
Glad you've settled in. You'll have plenty of spider/snake/scorpion adventures to tell of soon and will (I hope) rival Trub with them! One good thing about being away is that you won't be force-fed Carol's endless supply of lasagna, or 'treated' to Trub's attempt at cooking. Every cloud, right? Enjoy! Dave/Su/Elijah/Gabriel
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