Home sweet home!

Well, after weeks of looking around, and weeks of being disappointed or appalled, I found a home for me and Jon. Sure hope he likes it!

It’s located in Area 3 – a “downtown” neighborhood –within a 10 minute walk of the central bus station, a few restaurants, the municipal market, and the South African supermarket chain, Shoprite (home of soy milk). The house sits in a compound of 10 similar homes, ostensibly secured by 2 guards but I have yet to see the gate closed. The other residents of the complex are Ethiopian, Malawian, Chinese, Kenyan, and American, so it doesn’t feel too isolated from its surroundings. This area in Lilongwe is less prone to the routine rolling blackouts. You never recognize the value of consistent electricity until it gets repeatedly cut off in the middle of cooking dinner…

The house is nice enough and pretty spacious. It has 3 bedrooms (come visit!), 2.5 bathrooms, tile floors downstairs, shady carpet upstairs (read: no vacuum cleaners in Malawi, so I don’t know how it has ever been cleaned well (it’s fine Jon, really!)). The tarantula in the dining room has been returned to its outdoor home, so it is currently free of visible creepy things. The windows and door are grated so that it is reasonably secure, and the back patio is big enough to foster (NOT adopt) a couple of dogs (Don’t worry, Red: you are the only dog for me!). I’ll be able to set up some semblance of internet access in the house, and I will likely bite the bullet and get satellite TV. It’ll be nice to have BBC news, and Jon will be able to catch a game or two of his beloved Tarheels!

I still need to furnish it, but that will be more of a chore. I would prefer to furnish it with seconds from an old nursing home than buy most of what I see for sale around Lilongwe. Imagine wooden framed sofas and chairs covered in randomly-placed, thin foam pads and then upholstered with garish velveteen in bright colors or with material reminiscent of Motel 6 drapes from 1972.

Ps: The puff adder is back and angry – seems it threatened the Lighthouse guards last night. Eeek! Perfect time to flee to Europe!