Category Archives: Amusing Things

Um, Now What?

by Rachel

We drove to Dzalanyama Forest on our day off a couple weeks ago.  It’s a rough road, and we were thankful for a vehicle with 4-wheel drive and high clearance.  At a couple points after coming through swampy sections or small canyons we commented “hope we don’t have to turn around and go back through that…”  And then, shortly after one of those comments, we came to a road block:

truck fire jerry can on the road

 

There are several things about this situation (and picture) that make us laugh.  1) The truck that is very obviously in the way.  2) The fire, which is also in the way, as it’s about where our right wheels are supposed to go.  And 3) the jerry can of fuel sitting right next to the fire.  Thankfully the truck driver was willing to back up to a small clearing where we could squeeze around him.  That just left the fire and the jerry can.  With a little motioning, the jerry can was moved, but the fire was just left, so we hugged the left side of the road as closely as possible.  “Hope we don’t have to turn around and go back through that!”

Blue-headed Lizards

by Rachel

The rainy season brings out the blue-headed lizards.  This one is a small guy, but some of them get up to 15 inches long!  Just another small fun thing about living in Malawi!  =)

IMG_0242

Ngumbi

by Rachel

Look at what we woke up to this morning!

We call them ngumbi, but you’d probably call them termites.  After the first big rain of the season, all the termites come out of their hills and look for new places to live, preferably places that have lights, like our house. It’s been raining off and on for the past couple days, so the termites had their annual “night out” last night and found their way into our house, despite closed doors and windows, and mosquito nets on the windows.

Would you believe that the Ministry of Health actually promotes eating ngumbi as a good source of protein?  Minus the wings, of course.  I think we’ll pass this year, but I will let you know that Matt’s favorite way to eat ngumbi is with a light sprinkling of cajan seasoning…

We’re Home!

by Rachel

There’s no place like home! And I’m not just saying that because I’m from Kansas!

We got back to Malawi on October 23rd, and, despite the jet lag, we’ve enjoyed settling back in to our home over the last week and seeing so many people we love here. There’s nothing like going away to show you how much your heart is tied to a place. We love that the Lord has put Malawi in our hearts and grown our love for it and the people here over the last 3 1/2 years.  We’re home!

The winner for how to deal with jet lag: Abi.  Apparently the best way to deal with jet lag is to watch an Elmo video at 3am, while wearing sunglasses.

Matt and the Constable

by Rachel

We’re in the midst of May madness around here.  School’s about to finish for the “summer,” wedding season is starting up, and around here friends are getting ready to move or go on furlough so there are lots of good-byes.  But I couldn’t help stopping for a few minutes to post this one fun picture of Matt.  It was his birthday, and we were passing by as a friend – who will remain nameless – was getting a speeding ticket.  In fairness to our very good friend – still nameless – his clutch went out and he could only drive in 3rd gear.  But as we stopped, Brian Nameless thought it would be fun to get a picture of Matt and the constable.  =)

On the Menu

by Rachel

“It is not generally known in the Western world that insects are a very good and cheap source of protein.  Taxonomically, these insects are not far removed from shrimps which are considered a great delicacy in the West.”

Thus begins my favorite – but least used – chapter of The Malawi Cookbook. If you have any of these insects in your area and would be interested in trying a local Malawian insect dish, click on the picture below for a few recipes. And… don’t forget to floss.

Insects for Eating

Elephantiasis

by Rachel

There has been an outbreak of Elephantiasis in Malawi, so we more than willingly walked down to the local clinic and picked up some pills that will prevent it.  We won’t go into any graphic descriptions of this disease – there’s plenty of information on the internet – but suffice it to say, we don’t want to get Elephantiasis, or anything like it!

Elephants and Worms 1

We took the pills early in the morning on empty stomachs, and then marked our calendars to make this an annual family event!