Meet Nyama the Cat

We've settled on a name. She responds to Kitty, but her given name is Nyama, which translates to Animal and/or Meat. Sometimes we affectionately call her Kanyama, which means Little Animal. But mostly we call her Kitty. Or Kitty Kitty Kitty. She's stolen the hearts of millions already.

Today, Rob was doing the dishes and opened the bucket she usually uses to jump up on the counter. Plop!

The Shock of My Life

Rainy season started with a bang. A bang and an electrocution. The first big storm we encountered in the rainy season caught us as Rob and I were hitching our way from Tukombo to Nkhata Bay to get to my place. We got stuck less than half way, in Chintheche. Luckily, a fellow Tonga PCV, Melissa, lives ten minutes away with running water and electricity. After three weeks of traveling we were pretty spent and just happy to cook quickly on her hot plate, curl up with a movie, and pass out on her couch cushions on the floor.

The real storm started with a trickle of rain about half way through the movie (Stardust, in case you were wondering. P.S. the guy who wrote the book that movie is based on, Neil Gaiman, AWESOME! Just finished a book of his short stories, “Fragile Things,” highly recommend it. He’s a refreshingly creative writer. He thinks differently.) By the time we were hit the floor we had to yell at each other to be heard over the rain on the metal roof. I literally have never heard thunder that loud nor felt it so strong. The walls were shaking and the lightening outside lit up the house inside like it was daytime, but in strobe light form. Luckily, we were too exhausted to be kept up by it for too long. A few hours of sleep later all three of us were woken up by a particularly loud clap of thunder. After the initial startle, Rob and I started to lie back down on our respective foam squares of cushions to return to blissful sleep, but it was not to be so. I know pretty much nothing about how lightening or electricity works, whenever we talked about it in physics class I would turn of my ears and sing “la la la!” in my head. So I’m not sure how it happened but a second clap of thunder brought with it a flash of lightening (which, looking back on the experience, I don’t remember seeing) that either hit the roof and traveled through the walls and the cement floor or hit the electricity pole and came through the socket (which was not turned off and still had the computer charger stuck in it, the end of which was sitting on the floor). Whatever happened, Rob and I both got the shock of our lives.

My whole body felt the force of the electrocution, but I was half sitting up at the time, and the lingering feeling, what I remember most vividly, was the shock in my chest. If you’ve ever been zapped a little by electricity, you know the feeling of the vibration on the inside of your fingers. Like you’ve accidently touched a turned-on stove, if the stove was vibrating like those foot massager machines you can pay 25 cents for at the Zoo or Six Flags. That’s what it was like, except times maybe 10, and it was my heart touching the stove. But I also remember thinking that it really wasn’t that bad when it was over. I’m pretty sure the shock of the shock kept us both feeling ok enough to get over it quickly. But we were really shaken. The worst part, the WORST part, was thinking that there was nowhere to go to hide from the storm, that if we got electrocuted again, there was nothing we could do about it. We were completely at the mercy of the storm. And, if anything were to happen, we’d be completely helpless to do anything. If we called PC for help, they wouldn’t be able to hear us over the storm, and there’s no way transport could go anywhere in that weather. Melissa’s neighbors speak English, but so what? We’d still be competing with the storm and we’d still be screwed.

Of course, we were fine. Rob and I moved to higher ground and after being thoroughly freaked out for a while, jumping at every clap of thunder and counting the seconds obsessively between thunder and lightning, we eventually slept again. But it was a rude awakening to the helpless human condition up against the forces of nature.

Finally, a Quiet Week at Home

After non-stop traveling for the last three weeks, I finally got to take a breather at home. Good thing too, as Rob and I both came down with 24-hour fevers (thankfully staggered by a day) the second we started heading home because we were getting so run down. But, no tests to write, no classes to plan, no proposals to edit or groups to organize, no contact with PC office, because that’s always just a headache. Only gardening with Robert and Doug. And catching up on sleep and watching nighttime lightening shows. Phew. It took us four days to plant my gardens. It was a crazy amount of work and sweat. Rainy season is WAY more uncomfortable than hot season. Same temperature, but humid. The gardens look good though! It’s been less than a week but already my tomatoes, chickpeas, beans, and sunflowers are sprouting! We planted two types of corn, peanuts (called groundnuts here), watermelon, broccoli, onion, carrot, eggplant, squash, potatoes, cantaloupe, cucumber, greens, some other stuff. I also planted some perennial native Malawian foods to show that (1) I can do it and I’m not a total failure in the garden to the Malawians who think that if you can’t grow maize you can’t be taken seriously and (2) you don’t have to till your soil every year, foods will still come back without replanting. I’m using only compost manure from my cow group. Cross your fingers, I want to be able to feed the whole neighborhood from my little Eden.

And our little family grew by one tiny little member today! A sweet baby calico kitten! She’s microscopic! Rob and I spent maybe three hours sitting in my room with her today just watching her be cute. She does the usual kitten things: pouncing, prancing, falling, meowing, purring, sleeping, eating. Never gets old. We’ve been brainstorming names. Originally I was gonna go with Skeeter, to inspire friendship between her and Doug (like the characters in the classic ‘90s Nickolodean tv show “Doug”), but after their first encounter of growling and hissing, I decided it would be assuming too much. So, the current forerunners are The Pope, Mrs. Ngoma (Robert’s landlord’s name), Amama (what people call me here when they’re being affectionate), Bo! (common greeting of small children to Azungus, often accompanied by a thumbs up), The Exterminator, Kate (like Kate the Cat, to go with Doug the Dog), and Savage Beast. Honestly, I’m partial to Savage Beast. We’re just gonna end up calling her Kitty anyway. Or Meow Meow.

Baked Mango Crisp

TGI Mango season!! It means mango for breakfast, mango for lunch, mango wine, mango salsa, mango chutney, mango juice, mango jam, and now, mango crisp! It was so flipping good that Doug the Destructive somehow levitated onto the kitchen counter to stick his nose in it and eat it. All over his face. That jerk.
Ingredients:
4 cups sliced mango
¼ cup water
¾ cup flour (or ½ cup flour, ¼ cup oats…no oats? I recommend substituting cookie crumbs, best decision I’ve ever made)
¾ cup sugar
½ cup margarine
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt

Line a greased baking tin with mango slices and cover with water. Combine remaining ingredients and spread evenly over the top. Bake at whatever temperature your makeshift village oven happens to be at for however long you feel like. It’ll be golden brown and bubbly on top when it done. Enjoy, and keep out of reach of dog.

My Africa Christmas List

It’s been EXACTLY one year since I received my Peace Corps acceptance letter, telling me I’d be leaving for Malawi (where the hell is that?) in eight weeks’ time. In honor of that momentous occasion, here is a list of things I didn’t realize I would desire with every fiber of my being that would make my African existence so much more pleasant. Luckily, they are all things that fit nicely in one of those red, white and blue Postal Service flat-rate boxes…

Chocolate in any form, current favorite is Pretzel M&Ms, but literally any chocolate will be warmly welcomed, and strictly rationed to last as long as possible.
Nutella
Poptarts
Community, Season 3
Bernstein’s Italian Salad Dressing
Condiment packet from fast food or Chinese restaurants. No, seriously. Free for you, gold for me.
Canned meats (turkey, chicken, salmon, tuna)
Canned cheese…I know it’s out there!
Disney movies (esp. the Little Mermaid, I’ve been having a craving. And the really old school ones, like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella)
Parmesan shaky cheese
Salami
Bacon Bits
Pretty much any preserved animal proteins
Hot chocolate packets
Mac and Cheese….oooh! If you REALLY love me, the three cheese shell mac and cheese! OMG I could put the bacon bits you send me in it! OMG!
Rice-a-Roni
Any quickly-made meals, by the time I get the fire going and water boiled, I’m ready for bed.
Olive oil
Olives
Good alcohol, at least better than “Malawi Vodka”, which burns like gasoline. Wonder if we could use it as gasoline…
Ramen, it’s too expensive to buy here. It’s like gourmet in Africa. And! Makes great package padding!
Nestles Chocolate Chips, I finally figured out Africa-improvised chocolate chip cookies
It’s just about Girl Scout Cookie Season…right?!?! Samosas and Tag-a-longs are my faves! Zo my god.
Papa John’s Garlic Sauce!!! I would cry. I could cry just thinking about it.

Alright, I can come home now…