Playing Hooky.

Yesterday was a great day.
I took a personal day. Each month I am allotted one day to use for personal purposes and I decided yesterday would be it for October.

I got up around the same time as usual: 6:15. It is amazing how quickly one’s body adjusts to a new sleeping schedule. I can barely sleep past 7:30 now even if I try really hard.
Left the house around 8 for a nice walk to City Centre, about 25 minutes from my house. First stop was the British Council. Word on the street was that they have a library that lends DVDs – obviously the most exciting news I have heard so far in Lilongwe. Sadly, it was explained to me that they no longer offer that service.

Next, on to the WUSC office (World University Service of Canada). I looked at some of the travel books there for southern Africa and used the internet for a bit. Saw Joyce, my WUSC contact – we talked about upcoming plans for a cultural orientation for Canadian volunteers. It will hopefully be taking place in November. We will go to a resort by the lake for a week and try to learn Chichewa.,….. ‘try’ being the operative word.

After that I went on to the Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary. On Saturday night I met a guy named Steve from the UK. He has been here for five months volunteering with the Sanctuary and offered to take me on a tour of the place. There are actually two sanctuaries in Lilongwe. The old and the new. The old one treated their animals horribly. Housed them in small cages and didn’t clean their areas properly. The new Sanctuary (the one I went to) took over all of the animals as well as bringing in new ones. I saw numerous varieties of monkey, a really large spotted hyena (they are huge!) and a leopard. However, I actually head more of the leopard than I saw. We didn’t get too close to the fence and I could only barely make out his spots from afar. The Sanctuary is beautifully done and feels very natural. They are working to rehabilitate all of the animals and will release most of them back to the wild when they are ready. There was actually a group of 19 Vervet monkeys that were sent over from a sanctuary in Israel which are on their way to being released. Small world.
The highlight of the tour by far was Bump (read with an English accent). Bump is a five-week old baby vervet monkey that was found by one of the Sanctuary’s trustees at the side of the road a few weeks ago. There is a significant problem with the animal/pet trade in Malawi and part of the sanctuary’s mission is to work against it. Bump is a victim of that industry as his mother was left for dead and he escaped from capture. Bump is being cared for right now in the woman’s home and then will move in with the Israeli monkeys when he is old enough to feed himself. I carried him around for an hour – by far the cutest thing I have ever seen. A mix between an adorable baby (his hands are just like humans, and he has incredible facial expressions) and an old man – his face is all wrinkled!!!
I can now confidently add baby monkeys to my list of baby loves.

Then (no the day is not over) – I headed to Old Town. Had lunch (which was not cooked, so I instead looked at my lunch instead of ate it). Then went to the Old Town Market. Most neighbourhoods have their own small markets with the basics, but this is the mecca of Lilongwe markets. It covers many blocks, has the widest selection of produce, as well as the Chitengi alley. I am not sure if I have explained ‘chitengi’ yet: Chitengi are the colourful fabrics that women wrap around their heads and waists, as well as have them sewn into amazing outfits. 2 metres sells for 300 Kwacha ($2.15). They can be used for numerous purposes: my favourite uses are The Towel (as I did not pack any), The House Dress, and The Bag (I have been sewing them into fun shoulder sacks). So I bought a bunch more fabrics and actually had one sewn into a skirt by one of the tailors sitting nearby. It cost 1000 kwacha to make the skirt (including lining and zipper) – about $7. I am not sure if I am crazy about it, but is all part of the experiment.

Afterwards, I went to the produce section and got an assortment of beans, mangoes, papayas, watermelon (it is watermelon season!!!!!) and other random things – some of which I am not exactly sure what they are as there is no translation for them. I will just do what I am always told: slice it, boil it, fry some tomatoes, and add it to the vegetable – that is how all Malawian food is made J

Then I caught the correct minibus home (another amazing accomplishment when faced with about 75 to choose from) and made it home before dark.

An excellent day. Too bad I can’t do it more often.