Saturday is shopping day

Friday was not the best day I have had because I really didn’t feel great. I think it is a combination of tiredness and Malawi belly. My diet is quite different from what I eat at home, generally probably much healthier but perhaps my body is taking a while to get used to it. I spent the morning in the Eagles room, for 4-6 year olds and the only one led by someone I trained twelve years ago. I was pleased and proud to find not only how organised he is but also that he has remembered much of what David and I taught about play.This room is crowded. It is a big room but there are 62 children in the class with 7 Care Givers and the Room Leader. There is a covered terrace along the back of the building. The routine was the same as in the other rooms but interpreted a bit more flexibly. The free play times had a greater emphasis here, each area was carefully laid out to encourage child initiated play and the Care Givers were present in the area to observe and support and were much less likely to lead play than in the other rooms and I didn’t hear nearly as much cross questioning of the children about tick box learning targets such as colours and numbers. I wanted to stay for the afternoon but my tummy would not allow it , so I went home and slept for an hour, did a bit of desultory work, had some tea and went to bed early. Alas not to sleep, probably due to the after lunch nap. My greatest comfort in the chilly evenings is my hot water bottle. I don’t remember ever feeling this cold when I was here before. When the sun shines the days are warm enough for a dress and a cardigan, but as soon as the sun drops below the horizon the temperature plummets and on the cool, tiled floors my feet become like ice-blocks. Today has been a day off. We have few domestic tasks but we do have to wash our own underwear and I have not trusted my two wool jumpers to anyone else incase they should wash them too hot and shrink them, so I pottered about vaguely tidying my room and doing the washing after an interesting breakfast of chapatis flavoured with fresh fenugreek with sweet mango chutney, prepared by Bhavna. We ventured into Blantyre much earlier in the day this weekend. Again we had a list things for the house and other bits of Beehive so our first purchase was a circular saw, two more basic handsaws and four wheels, two with brakes to screw to the laundry trolley/ironing board that is supposed to be movable from place to place. This shop was run by an Indian businessman who claimed that he recognised me from twelve years ago, but I can’t have been in the shop more than a couple of times in two years, so I have my doubts. Anyway he plied us with bottles of water and a bowl of chopped fresh coconut while we waited and promised to take Bhavna out to lunch next time. He generously said I could come too. We went to a supermarket and then got on with the real business of the day and drove to Limbe to buy fabric. I got a nice piece of heavy blue cotton to make a cloth for my kitchen table, a couple of zitenge with zebras on and one with African women with baskets on their heads to make dresses and shirts for my grandchildren and a beautiful piece of cotton in various shades of blue with bright orange splodges to get a dress made for myself. Limbe runs into Blantyre but it feels like a much bigger and busier place. There is a huge market some of which is covered. It’s like being inside a series of small concrete boxes piled on top of one another with concrete stairways connecting the layers. The little box-shops are lit, but the corridors are not so it’s a bit gloomy but brightened by lurid dresses and fabrics hung on the balustrades. I wouldn’t dare go in on my own, but Bhavna is intrepid and it seems to be infectious. I was delighted with my purchases. We had a few moments of doubt when we thought we might never find the car again but then Bhavna spotted to top of the mosque through the other buildings and orientated herself and we found it. The streets were wall to wall with cars, motorbikes, pick-ups and trucks and progress was very slow but we made our way back to Blantyre for a second attempt at the fruit and veg market, this time in daylight, thank goodness. Unfortunately we had used up all our shopping bags on other things so we were reliant upon the flimsy plastic bags of the market which we try not to use. Bhava bargained away and we were soon staggering under about four bags each. The quality of the fruit and veg is generally very good. We bought scarlet tomatoes, peppers red, yellow and green, purple aubergines, papaya, tiny bananas, coriander, lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, satsumas and i don’t know what else. We certainly shouldn’t have too much trouble reaching our thirty plants a week, this week! Then Bhavna bought a laundry basket for the one bedroom at Mitsidi that doesn’t have one, and we put all the fruit and veg in it and acquired a charming young stall holder who obligingly carried it to the car for us. Being an Azungu Madam has it’s advantages! And so home again to Mitsidi and my turn to cook. I made an Indian moong bean soup I have been making since I lived in Salisbury in about 1978, which went down well, and some bread rolls from the last of the bread flour in the kitchen. Replacing that will have to wait until next Saturday. We wound up the meal with papaya coated with the insides of about 3 passion fruit. A delicious combination. I must remember it. And so to bed with the laptop balanced on my knees and my feet on the trusty hot water bottle.