Coming home!

I just spent my first day back in Malawi. Not much have changed, people are as friendly as they where, it is as hot as it was, and things go as slowly as it did. And I love it!

Yesterday I arrived in Lilongwe at 9.35am, on time! The flights where amazingly all on time, and no delays. I even got to sleep a bit on the night flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi.

When arriving in Lilongwe I had a friend pick me up, cause the Norwegians that was suppose to pick me, was advised not to drive in town this week, cause there was suppose to be some demonstrations, which in the end didn't take place, so a arrived in a town so quiet I had never seen it before! It could be Sunday at church hours.

Before I went to my new home, we stopped at some shops to by some things I needed, a mosquito net, mosquito repellent, wine and some simple food. It was nice to walk in these shops again, and get the things I needed.

When we arrived at my house I was totally overwhelmed! It is huge! And with a big garden with two (!) swimming pools! Even though they are empty of water, they will hopefully soon be filled with cool, clean water! It was so great to see this house! And inside, I would call it a castle, there are two floors, three bedrooms on 2nd floor, two bathrooms, and 1st floor has two bedrooms, one bathroom, one living room, one dining room, one kitchen, and all the rooms are BIG! After some hours I still got lost!
So for now I have a room on the 2nd floor, but I will have to move next month, cause there will be a midwife coming from Voss and she is supposed to have my room, but the room I am supposed to have doesn’t have a bed yet... But I don’t mind moving, I'm still so thankful that Haukeland University Hospital lets me live there without paying any rent! It is so nice of them!

I went out in the afternoon again, did some more shopping of things I had seen that I missed in my room, and I met some friends, we had lunch and some beers. I was so nice to see them again. And they all say I have changed, but I can't see that, probably my color! I'm a mzungu (white person) again!

In the evening I met Tone and Frida. Tone is a bioengineer from Haukeland that is working in Kamuzu Central Hospital for a year, and Frida is her 15 year old daughter. They moved to Malawi three weeks ago. I talked a lot to Tone that evening, and she seems like a person I would really enjoy living with, and I don't think Frida will be any different.

I tried getting in order in my room, but it doesn't have much space to place things, just one closet, so I will need to buy some shelves and baskets to have all my stuff in. I can't leave them all on the floor.

I slept like a baby that night, even though I went to bed at nine, cause now I have to get used to the early darkness again, so at nine I felt it was eleven. It gets dark at six here. And at six also the power went off, so I could really see that nothing had changed!

This morning I got up at eight, took a long (cold) shower (not that it matters....) and went to the Norwegian embassy to register, and then I went to the bank to open a bank account. It took some time, but it was easier than I thought!
So in three weeks from now I will have my Malawian bank account and VISA card! Cool!

I bought some minced meat and some wine to bring to Nkhoma, and I found a minibus. And it was a good ride, and I enjoyed going on the minibus, I'm not a very picky person, and I can handle the simple things. So I actually enjoyed, just listening to my music, looking at the nature (which is now so dry again, and everything is brown/grey) and chatting with random people.

I came to Nkhoma around 2.30pm, went straight to the hospital, and met so many friends! It was a lot of fun! Everybody is so happy to see me, but also sorry that I will not work in Nkhoma this time. And I am sorry for that too!

After meeting a lot of my dearest friends, I went to Jessi's house,where I am staying this period, and it was so great to see her as well! And James came by, but had to rush home, cause there was a dinner he was attending to. But I will see him the next days. I'm planning to stay in Nkhoma over the weekend and probably till Tuesday

Gunhild and Ingrid came for dinner, and it was very nice to meet them!
They are here now on the second round of the project that I was in last time (first round).

But there is still so many people I am missing to see, so I will probably get up early and go to the hospital again tomorrow.