out of town gallivanting

We recently finally made it out to one of the more accessible yet lengthy local hikes, Nkhoma Mountain. It's been on the list for awhile, but we've been caught up with town-shaped chores and getting back into the Lilongwe swing of things.

looking northwest towards Lilongwe

So we piled into Nikky, our little tiny pickup, strapped the dog into his bed in the back, and took off down the dusty road that connects our northeast neighbourhood to the southbound Blantyre road out of town. We had almost reached the 'highway' without mishap when a passing vehicle approached in the oncoming lane, a touch too close for comfort. Devon steered our chariot to the side, but just as we were squeezing by, the aft passenger door opened into us, apparently with purpose. He quickly wheeled around and after a few minutes of wild arm waving and not a small amount of yelling, we managed to get an apology out of the guy.

It was a strange start to the morning.

work life

I haven't mentioned much about the 'what' of what I'm doing, and I heard some complaints to that regard whilst in Canada. My apologies. I think we both struggle with the dynamics of writing a travel blog while not really travelling, and the balance between a light anecdotal take on life versus falling into the trap of lengthy verbose prose that no one wants to read.

sunset from our house

Since October I've been working on a CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) grant with the local agriculture college near Lilongwe, Bunda College, part of the University of Lilongwe, but formerly part of the University of Malawi, a change which led to a months-long protest by students last year and the closing of the university for half a semester. Consequently, the school year is all thrown off now, and students went back to their fall term in late November, only to turn around and get Christmas holidays three weeks later. Hmmm... One wonders how long this schedule will persist before getting back on track.