So, its been a bit since I’ve done just a general update. Some of you know that at the end of every month, I think of 1 word that sums up that month and write it down. Well, my word for June was rollercoaster.
A few posts pack I did a photo update and was so excited to share pictures of “our new house!!!” Well, at the beginning of June, it was totally a dream. The house is in a very nice and safe neighborhood. We had great guards and great dogs AND a kick-ass kitchen to boot. Errybody happy. Well, about halfway through the month, we noticed a little problem aka a big problem- water leaking from the ceiling. Like, waterfall style. “What the hell, dream house?” We thought. Called our landlady to have it fixed. Noticed another little problem (AKA HUGE PROBLEM)- our land lady was crazy. Like, legitimately. Remember Ursula from The Little Mermaid? Well, not only did this lady look uncannily like her, she also has about 20 tentacles extending from her mind and aura that consist solely of pure evil. I consider her the Ethiopian version of Ursula. She blamed us for the water problem, (umm, excuse me Ursula, but if I had the power to make waterfalls I would not be in Malawi right now, just sayin) called us dirty backpackers, and was extremely disrespectful to (AKA extremely racist toward) our Malawian housemate, Jess. Thus, among other reasons, we decided it would be best to move. I was pretty disappointed about it, as I had finally started to feel at home somewhere in Malawi, but, I got over it and knew that within 2 weeks we had to find a new place. No problem, right?
WRONG. It became an absolute nightmare. We all wanted to stick together, so we found a place close by that was really affordable (AKA cheap) but also really unkempt (AKA a dump). I agreed to stay there, but only if the owners agreed to clean it, fix a broken window, and put razor wire along the perimeter of the fence (pretty much what every secure house has in Lilongwe). Everyone else agreed these things should be done. Anyway, we were set to live in this place.
June 28th rolls around. Jess comes home with the news at 6:00 PM (an hour after our power was turned off for the month, though there were still 2 days left in the month…. so we were just chillin in the dark) that the landlord of the place we were going to move into was also really sketchy and had not done any of the work he promised and had been purposefully ignoring her. So, we scrapped that idea. Ok, 2 days to find a house. A rush, but we can do it, right?
Well. Went to go look at 1 place in the same neighborhood. Same issue with the fence, except this fence was even less secure. I know this may sound crazy to some of you North Carolina folk and I personally HATE the feeling of being all fenced in with sharp razor wire around the perimeter like a prison or something, but it is standard for a house in Lilongwe (a house full of ex-pats, at least).
Anyways. Wake up on June 30th and the first thing sweet Andrew Finn rolls over and says is, “Kaitlin- tomorrow we are homeless.” What a great way to start the day, eh? Panic mode hits. All of our stuff is packed, but where are we going to put it? Get a call from Grace, who is already at work, saying, “IVE FOUND THE PERFECT PLACE!!!!!” One of her co-workers is friends with this doctor from Norway who is out of the country until mid August. The offer we get: house sit for this family in their fully-furnished home which is closer to downtown (good for Grace- she can now walk to work, and good for us- use much less fuel), already has guards, good fence with razor wire, and not pay rent. Woah Woah Woah. Is this for real? Turns out yes. However- there is one pitfall- only Grace, Andrew Finn, and I could stay, meaning our group of 5 would have to split. Jess and Jon both have temporary places but nothing permanent. Also, we couldn’t go and see the place because it was being fumigated and had to wait 2 days.
We luckily found a place to stay Thursday and Friday nights- at the place Jon used to live before he lived with us. So, wake up on Thursday morning, July 1st, and start moving out. We thought we had all day to move so Finn and I were gone for a while and Grace stayed at home because she had come down with a fever that morning (not malaria, don’t worry. We got her tested for that, it was just a random illness). Well well well look who shows up in the morning full of her evil octopus fury- Crazy Ursula LandLady. She straight up yelled at poor Grace, demanding we be out immediately and calling us pigs and saying that letting us live in the house was the worst decision of her life and yadda yadda yadda. What a sweet lady JUST KIDDING WHAT AN AWFUL LADY. Also, it should be noted that that place was almost completely empty at that point and spotless by the afternoon. So, it took quite a while, but we managed to get everything out, including the dogs, who we temporarily dumped at our friend Amanda’s house. That night and the next we put our (borrowed) mattresses on the floor at Jon’s old house, which was not bad at all and so nice of the people who actually lived there to let us do.
Saturday rolls around- moving day!! Grace’s midwife friends come help us transport all of our stuff across town to our brand-new neighborhood. We realize that we can’t bring the dogs and that we are going to have to find a new home for them; which is the BIGGEST BUMMER OF ALL. I can’t really describe how much I love Bella and Jack. I got way attached in 1 month. And I feel like the worst dog-mom ever, but it’s just what we are going to have to do. In the end it is about what is best for them. Also, we can’t bring our guards that we grew to trust so much, because this new house already has guards (that we have to build trust with starting from scratch….) Bummer. We have agreed to pay our old guards their full salary for July, even though they will not be working for us at all, as we search for new people to employ them. They were really excellent. Crazy times.
So, in the new house. It’s great. Spend the first night trying to organize, putting furniture back in place after the fumigation, putting sheets on the bed, etc. Didn’t think anything of putting the pillowcases that were in a bag that the owners left on the pillows. Well, Andrew Finn wakes up at 4:30 AM almost screaming in pain, saying his face is burning. What the hell, you say? Yeah, that’s what I said too. We think that the owners might have sprayed permethrin or something on the pillowcases. It was either the chemicals from the fumigation or chemicals from something else like permethrin, but the entire next day Andrew was in agony, rinsing his face with cold water every 5 minutes. We tried everything- taking Benadryl, taking Advil, aloe vera, using a potato poltice to draw out the chemicals (you put that idea in my head, Mom!), drinking tons of water and then running to sweat it out- nothing worked. By the evening it was slowly starting to get better but it was still absolutely awful. The funniest thing- there were no visible signs. He looked completely normal. Even with his all his freckles.
So yes……. It has been an adventurous time. Good things that have happened- a July 4th party at the Ambassador’s house where I ate SO MUCH FOOD that I had a stomach ache for the next 5 hours but it was totally worth it. I’m talking burgers, hot dogs, beans, chips, fake-ass American cheese in the plastic wrap (God yes) and BROWNIES BROWNIES BROWNIES. It was great. In addition, the Carrboro presence and general feeling of American patriotism is stronger than ever with the arrival of Tony Peele. Tony got a grant to study economics and avocados in Tanzania but has taken some time to come see us. Which we are all so so happy about!!
Also- the album is coming along quite well. I hardly ever write about the album! The whole reason I am here! Anyway, band rehearsals have started and every musician is top-notch. As of now 7 out of the 10 songs have been composed, lyrics in the works for all of them. We start recording August 2!
So, that’s what life has been like in Lilongwe recently. Still learning so much from everyone around me, esp. Grace (more lessons from her later). Looking forward to the rest of July. Happy 4th to everyone- I sure wish I could be watching some fireworks and eating some watermelon. Next year….. J
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