tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23772444912137476382012-02-15T17:05:20.181+02:00Misadventures in Malawi and BeyondGwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.comBlogger3031100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-45161213090007964842012-02-07T00:15:00.004+02:002012-02-07T00:37:00.890+02:00

A few weeks ago, I finally talked Jorge into letting me take Dean to get his hair cut. Jorge has a thing about the boys' hair; he seems to think they are little Samsons (Samsonites?), and that their power is in their hair. Also, Jorge refuses to let a woman cut their hair, because, according to him, if the hairdresser happens to be pregnant, the boys' hair will be ruined. He will tell you his own

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-76531434595699988762012-02-03T00:40:00.002+02:002012-02-03T00:56:06.971+02:00

In many ways, I'm experiencing far more culture shock moving to Europe than I ever did moving to Africa. I often find myself saying to Jorge or Milo, when explaining why we can't do something they suggest, "This isn't Africa, OK? People are weird here." (Come to think of it, that was a frequent phrase while we were in Seattle as well. But not New Orleans. Hmmm.)So, here's a short list of some of

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-45752666748187834782011-12-09T00:13:00.003+02:002011-12-09T00:31:46.622+02:00

This may sound strange, but we’re kind of rookies to this whole Christmas thing. I mean, I left home when I was 18, and came home a handful of times for the holidays, but for most of the past 15 years both Jorge and I have just drifted from one friend or family member’s home to another at Christmas (or even better, spent Christmas at a luxury safari lodge. One year I spent Christmas wrapped up in

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-15089757552978636602011-11-20T18:55:00.001+02:002011-11-20T18:59:18.550+02:00

Greetings from Ethiopia. People keep asking me, “What are you doing in Ethiopia? I thought you worked in Ireland now.”Shall I remind you that I work for a humanitarian organization, and that, while Ireland certainly does seem to be on the edge of a crisis, it’s been a loooong time since the potato famine. And that yes, a diet based primarily on cured pork and potatoes is probably not the most

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-4656513782645226522011-10-28T14:07:00.002+02:002011-10-28T14:11:45.563+02:00

Well, what do you know... there was a presidential election in Ireland yesterday! And I had no clue. I suppose you could say that this fact speaks volumes about my civic engagement and interest in my new home. I would argue, though, that it has much more to do with my consumption of Irish media (or lack thereof). First, we have no television. We haven’t owned one since Hurricane Katrina wiped out

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-88235395743827472752011-10-26T21:55:00.000+02:002011-10-24T21:58:05.558+02:00

After two weeks without an apartment, we changed tactics, and decided to rent a car for the week so that we could drive around and get to places that were further afield (ironically, we ended up renting the first place we looked at that week, which also happened to be 5 blocks away from the hotel where we were staying. Go figure.) Even though we didn’t end up doing too much apartment-hunting

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-9536392000334823482011-10-24T21:38:00.003+02:002011-10-24T21:52:51.602+02:00

After our grey, wet day South of Dublin at Glendalough, we decided to go in the opposite direction, up North to County Meath. Our destination was a place called Newgrange, which is a prehistoric site built several thousand years ago. There is a complex of tombs which are buried under very carefully constructed mounds, each rock placed so precisely that the cavern inside is perfectly watertight.

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-33665775203779967892011-10-20T22:26:00.003+02:002011-10-20T22:48:38.889+02:00

I am happy to report that we are now settled into our apartment. After looking at plenty of duds, we found a nice litte townhouse, 10 minutes walk from my office, a few blocks away from several grocery stores and other shops, and with a swimming pooll down the block where Milo can take lessons. It has plenty of closets, a shower with decent water pressure, and a full-sized fridge. And best of all

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-85568906143325369122011-10-11T23:29:00.000+02:002011-10-11T23:29:00.555+02:00

Hello? Anybody out there? In honor of my completely gutted readership, I thought I’d share some of my latest thoughts on blogging for the scant few of you who still bother to come to this site (and yet never comment on ANYthing. Lazy slobs.)1) I took a long sabbatical from blogging, I know. To tell you the truth, after 5 years in Malawi, I was beginning to feel like I just had nothing good to say

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-16565575589273360062011-10-10T22:47:00.002+02:002011-10-10T22:51:48.783+02:00

So, we are back in the hotel. House-hunting is hard work here. Every morning I go through the listings, make a note of any suitable places, e-mail Jorge the numbers and addresses, and go off to work. When he gets time (that is, when the children allow him 10 minutes of peace, which is rare) he calls around and tries to make appointments for viewings. People only show apartments in the evenings,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-74708183032078741782011-10-04T22:25:00.003+02:002011-10-04T22:28:39.172+02:00

When you work for a job that sends you off to difficult places like remote African nations, one of the things that is always covered in your induction is how to deal with culture shock. I always brushed these sessions off, because I don’t think I’m terribly affected by culture shock. My feet hit the Seattle airport, and the next thing I want to do is go to Target. If you ask Jorge, of course, he

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-74553682337159236952011-09-30T22:41:00.003+02:002011-09-30T22:54:29.336+02:00

We have officially been living in Ireland for one week now, although it feels longer. Every day feels so full and a little bit stressful, and yet at the same time we fell like we're just not getting anything done.Yesterday, for example, was a rough day. Jorge rode down in the morning to the immigration office to register, as we were told we should do when we arrived at the airport. However, the

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-28656685495964879372011-09-24T22:43:00.002+02:002011-09-24T23:04:42.862+02:00

We have moved to Ireland. We are still a little bit in shock. Fortunately, everything went pretty smoothly with the trip here - the boys slept most of the flight from Nairoble to Amsterdam, there were no issues at all with immigration coming into Ireland, all our bags showed up, and there was even a humongous van waiting at the taxi stand when we got out there. The only complications were when an

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-71470572897944619892011-09-14T20:54:00.003+02:002011-09-14T20:58:37.942+02:00

Malawi has been our home for so long, I’ve forgotten that the nature of my job is more in the moving than the staying. In fact, when I was younger, I scoffed at the idea of staying put more than a year or two in any given place. I was born to roam, baby. Now that I’m older, more maternal, and quite frankly, a little boring, I don’t see the point in being anywhere less than three years. What can

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-9964220203339486632011-07-28T12:21:00.000+02:002011-07-28T12:21:00.743+02:00

I just thought I would pop on and let you all know that things have settled down here in Malawi, at least for now. After two days at home I got incredibly stir-crazy, and convinced my office to let me go out to the field on Friday, and it was as calm as you could ever imagine. All the supposed damage to the city center had never happened, and while everyone seemed a little more tense than usual,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-72788377874615045432011-07-21T20:41:00.002+02:002011-07-21T20:48:42.509+02:00

Well, it’s the end of yet another tense day here in Lilongwe. Again, the city basically shut down, due to the ongoing protests, which have now seemingly collapsed into anarchy. All of my meetings were again canceled today, so it was basically a snow day for all of us. I didn’t get much done, as Jorge and I kept checking the updates on Twitter. We worried for some young friends who had been

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-84918789511664092572011-07-20T12:42:00.001+02:002011-07-20T12:44:23.479+02:00

I have lived in Malawi for 5 year now, and not once have I ever known the people to rise up in angry protest. Sure, there are editorials written, the occasional march held, but generally Malawians have always seemed a peaceful lot. They take pride in the fact that Malawi, a rarity in sub-Saharan Africa, has never experienced true violent conflict.So when I was told by the organization that I work

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-82668607923508098002011-07-15T15:22:00.001+02:002011-07-15T15:25:28.598+02:00

The order of the day in Malawi is shortages. It seems just about everything is running low these days – fuel, electricity, forex, drugs…A friend recently saw a news story in the local paper bemoaning the “shortage of models,” which is apparently crippling Malawi’s fashion industry. Half the time, we don’t even have powdered milk for our tea in my office. Life is certainly more difficult these

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-89782753498042660792011-06-12T20:38:00.005+02:002011-06-12T21:24:11.073+02:00

Now for a little time traveling, as we jump ahead six months from Dean's birth to this past weekend...Yesterday Jorge raced in the Luwawa International Bike Race, an annual mountain-biking event that takes place a few hours north of Lilongwe on the Viphya Plateau, a wooded highlands. It was our first time to Luwawa, and I was looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet in the forest. What I got

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-21233747684182683792011-06-04T20:38:00.004+02:002011-06-04T21:05:39.409+02:00

Finally! The really exciting part of our trip back home to the United States! When last I left you, I was enjoying (OK, tolerating) the Thansgiving snow in Seattle. A week later, on November 30th, I got a call from my best friend Mary to tell me she'd had her son that day, a little boy named Lucas. I was 39 weeks pregnant, and for the first time, felt a little jealous. Normally I am COOL with

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-76631265511727442312011-05-28T15:34:00.003+02:002011-05-28T20:55:19.084+02:00

It's the weekend in Lilongwe and that means lots of just hanging out with friends. I'm on my own tonight, as Jorge has gone out to watch some soccer game which is apparently a Very Big Deal. Milo just called me up to his room handed me a book about the rainforest which apparently was giving him the heebie-jeebies and told me "I want it go downstairs." Now that the scary frog is taken care of, I'm

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-58344436307739518572011-05-24T20:26:00.004+02:002011-05-24T21:09:25.601+02:00

Thought I disappeared, didn't you? Well, I'm still around.So, we went to Seattle for 6 months. And to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. And some other stuff happened. and now we are back home in Malawi, in our little (palatial) flat in Lilongwe, getting used to being back to "normal" life.I thought about doing a big long "what I did on my 6-month vacation" post, but A. that would be much too much work,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-11585646758312939292010-09-30T14:47:00.003+02:002010-09-30T15:01:05.464+02:00

Just hopping on quickly, after a very late lunch. The countdown to maternity leave is now on - We leave Malawi exactly 2 weeks from now. So as you can imagine, things have been pretty busy with trying to get all my work done, pack up the house, and still do all my usual mama/wife/friend activities. Jorge recently started taking a few online classes too, so I have had to take on a lot of the

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-63278751058955781822010-08-31T17:23:00.000+02:002010-08-31T17:23:00.218+02:00

Since I'm doing old photos this week...Tomorrow I fly off to Ethiopia for 10 days. Nothing fun, just a work trip. I seem to be traveling quite a lot for work lately. Add that to the stress of trying to finish out a number of major projects before my maternity leave kicks in, and it's a pretty hectic time.I wanted to go to Ethiopia years ago, after reading one random story in a National Geographic

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-72831433959060516882010-08-30T17:47:00.007+02:002010-08-30T21:56:14.356+02:00

And yet it feels like such a long time ago, when Jorge and I were heading off to go watch "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" despite the protests of my mother-in-law that we would surely be killed the moment we stepped out the door. We were hours away from the eye of Hurricane Katrina by then, though, among the very few New Orleans residents who decided, against general wisdom, to go East into

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-1315454507855474662010-08-26T12:22:00.002+02:002010-08-26T12:47:29.085+02:00

Everyone who lives in Africa for very long accumulates a nice trove of stories around ineptitude - there's the friend of mine who, for example, picked her car up from the mechanic, only to find that they had sliced her entire car engine clear in half. Or another friend who followed up with a supplier on the school supplies he'd been told had been ordered 6 months earlier, only to find that the

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-25680689350130518472010-08-23T14:28:00.002+02:002010-08-23T14:35:51.337+02:00

Yeah, so I know I have been AWOL. It hasn’t been an easy couple of months. But that’s no excuse – when has my life ever been easy? I think I deliberately prevent it from becoming so…But then I checked Facebook the other day and saw this:"Chris J. is wondering if his favorite sister-in-law-in-Malawi will ever blog again..."Alright, alright. I hear you people ( all 5 of you who still read this blog

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-4553533637057300732010-07-19T15:09:00.000+02:002010-07-19T15:09:00.135+02:00

When I have nothing to blog about, the local newspaper always gives me plenty of material. I've been storing up some shocking headlines, lately, but here's a recent story that gave me hope, then made me chuckle, and then made me sad.The headline read: "Opposition Leader Refuses Government Car"My first thought was - "well, gee, isn't that something! An African leader denying expensive, unnecessary

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-75703667864540105522010-07-18T14:44:00.002+02:002010-07-18T14:53:50.751+02:00

I think it goes without saying that I've been awfully busy lately. The last few days have been a wee bit quieter because Jorge is off at the lake with his sisters, Milo, and nieces. I had too much work to be able to take another day off, though. Which means that for the 2nd year in a row, I did not spend my husband's birthday with him. Even though he's the one who told me not to bother making the

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-71301622518200538732010-07-09T08:26:00.003+02:002010-07-09T08:39:18.770+02:00

...so here are a few more photos. We are on our way out the door for another weekend trip. This weekend we are going to Mount Mulanje, the third highest race in Africa. Every year they have a race there, where the porters - you know, the guys you pay to carry your bags up the hill for you? - race up the mountain, across it, then come flying down the side, often barefoot. Every year a few crazy

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-81421429777994121482010-07-08T22:05:00.004+02:002010-07-08T22:13:56.781+02:00

And I will fill it by posting photos from our safari trip to South Luangwa, in Zambia, last weekend. three of my favorite people are here in Malawi visiting us - my sister-in-law Alicia and her two beautiful and rambunctious daughters. We pulled out all the stops for them - we managed to see two leopards, 3 hyenas, countless buffalo, elephant, zebra, giraffe, and an entire pride of lions.Alas, I

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-84390110584173886492010-06-16T20:42:00.002+02:002010-06-16T21:33:16.127+02:00

It's been an interesting couple of weeks since I got back home from my holiday. First, I'm all on my own for a while, as Jorge has traveled home to the States and is visiting his family. I've done the single mom thing before, but only for a couple nights at a time. It actually hasn't been bad, after the first tear- and recrimination-filled night. (My tears, mostly). Milo's been a doll - I mean,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-37278302845570246722010-05-31T20:39:00.002+02:002010-05-31T20:48:48.374+02:00

I'm back in Malawi, and as busy as ever. As much as I love to travel, I always feel such a deep sense of relief and calm once I finally get off the plane, make it through immigration and customs, and get on the road home. It's all so familiar to me now, so comforting. I know just where on the road there will be pumpkins for sale, or to watch out for the intersection where minibuses clog traffic.

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-56284709696930384412010-05-21T17:27:00.001+02:002010-05-21T17:27:00.257+02:00

One of the things we have found interesting in Argentina is the total culture of protest. There seems to be a march, or a protest, or a rally, or just random people chanting everywhere we go. On our second day in Buenos Aires, we went down to the city center and visited the building that is the seat of the national government. In front is a famous square where many protests and rallies have been

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-55350399701507216132010-05-20T17:48:00.003+02:002010-05-20T18:15:34.321+02:00

So overall, we have had a pretty straightforward, easy trip in Argentina. This is a big surprise, as those of you who have followed our other trips on this blog should know, because when we travel something ALWAYS goes wrong. Visas are incomplete, reservations are cancelled randomly, backs are thrown out, whatever. It´s always something.Anyway, I wanted to stay true to the spirit of the blog and

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-63522983824530826302010-05-12T00:30:00.003+02:002010-05-12T00:36:56.977+02:00

Hear that? That is the sound of all my pent up stress starting to slowly leak out of my pores, like a over-inflated inner tube finally starting to release pressure.Tonight we are here: http://www.altalaluna.com/en/ and it is every bit as nice as the pictures suggest. Even better, in fact, as I just dicovered they have a spa, and have booked a facial and full body exfoliation for myself tomorrow

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-2132079261615262682010-05-10T00:22:00.004+02:002010-05-10T01:00:30.811+02:00

In front of the central courtyard in the ´Casa Rosada´- Argentina´s White (well, pink) House, which is open for tours on teh weekends.Milo playing with the wildlife at the Buenos Aires Zoo. They pretty much let you feed everything except the lions and bears!A particularly lovely tomb at the Recoleta Cemetary Jorge and Milo playing soccer in La Boca, the neighborhood famous for its soccer team and

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-25138134698085039542010-05-09T13:20:00.002+02:002010-05-09T13:35:16.899+02:00

Well, hello from Argentina. We arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday, April 30th, but we stayed in an apartment with no wi-fi, so no blogging for me. Honestly, there hasn´t been much free time until today either.Had a nice time in Buenos Aires - there are so many parks and playgrounds for Milo to run around in, such a change from Malawi. We took a day trip to beautifully preserved Colonia, Uruguay,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-41606937418919586112010-04-28T22:52:00.002+02:002010-04-28T22:58:00.764+02:00

Or is it vamonos? Even Google seems to be unsure, and Jorge is off watching football with a friend, so I have no reference...Ah well - you get the point....We're off! To South America! Don't get too excited folks, it's just a holiday, we'll be back at the end of the month. Tomorrow we fly to Johannesburg for the night, then on Friday we catch the non-stop flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-57706032765412844622010-04-22T12:50:00.003+02:002010-04-22T12:58:10.403+02:00

It was a big weekend around these parts. Construction crews have been working at a frantic pace for weeks to get the city ready. There were dignitaries, convoys, road closures, speeches, lengthy news coverage, and work crews everywhere trying for a bit of last-minute spiffying. Robert Mugabe (or Uncle Bob as he’s affectionately known around these parts) flew in from Zimbabwe with his wife. The

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-15096644950230840622010-04-05T14:51:00.004+02:002010-04-07T08:14:24.117+02:00

My husband says the darndest things. The other day over dinner, he looks at me with a puzzled expression, and asks me: "What do you call whale fat in English?""You mean blubber?""Yeah. That's weird." Then he starts singing the tune from one of the songs from Milo's favorite music CD. Only the words don't sound quite right: "Blubber, blubber, in the trees..."Umm, no, honey...the song is about

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-70426059901325928512010-03-23T22:29:00.003+02:002010-03-23T22:38:41.917+02:00

I've got their next big winner right here:Sorry for the hit and run, there are actual many weird and not-so-wonderful things afoot here in Malawi, but until next Monday, I will have both by feet firmly planted in proposal-writing land, not blogger world. And also, what's up with the spam lately? I get all excited that I have comments, and it ends up being people trying to sell me weight-loss

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-74179400316163848282010-03-19T21:05:00.003+02:002010-03-19T21:16:55.478+02:00

So, it might come as a surprise to you that the world wide web is not, in fact, the same worldwide.In fact, when you live in a place like Malawi, it can be quite different. While you are probably seeing ads for drugs claiming they will finally quell your Irritable Bowel Syndrome, the ads on my computer screen are frequently in Arabic. But here is something I see almost every day when I log in:I

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-79751573546141674622010-03-10T18:32:00.002+02:002010-03-10T18:43:47.399+02:00

Just popping on to say hello before I leave for dinner tonight. This has been another typically full week at the house. On Monday we went to a terrific Hash walk through the Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary. Milo was enraptured by the huge hyena pacing back and forth behind the fence, taunting it by yelling "doggie! doggie!" The hyena did not seem amused. We also got a close-up view of Bella, the

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-9751179883357647642010-03-05T07:44:00.005+02:002010-03-05T08:07:40.764+02:00

First of all, you may have noticed a few changes around here. After many years, I finally decided to give this blog a little overhaul. One, I was just tired of the old layout, and two, we are thinking about the possibility of moving on from Malawi some day - not any time soon, but still, the idea is out there - so it felt like I ought to transition to a style and name that would work somewhere

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-68454340086299592782010-03-02T21:25:00.002+02:002010-03-02T21:44:19.763+02:00

Well, things haven't gotten any easier over here in Lilongwe, as you can probably tell from my conspicuous absence. I worked both Saturday and Sunday this week, and even though tomorrow is a public holiday - Martyr's Day (Or 'Marty's Day' as the HR announcement at work erroneously called it, brightening my day immensely. I feel like I should watch 'Back to the Future' tomorrow to celebrate) - you

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-10037296921110101552010-02-16T17:58:00.002+02:002010-02-16T18:10:51.526+02:00

Normally, I think of myself as someone who really doesn't complain much. I like to think that I can cope with a lot. But lately, I just feel every day like I'm this close to completely snapping.I barely keep my head above water at work. I had to complain yesterday, because everyone else's work is being given to me, simply because they know I'll do it well and on time - qualities apparently not in

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-29839818484540318752010-02-07T19:40:00.003+02:002010-02-07T20:30:27.670+02:00

Neither Jorge nor I is a native New Orleanian, but we met there, wooed there, and wed there, and we hold the city close in our hearts. Even though we have been away for almost 4 years now, we still consider New Orleans home. There is no place in America with such a unique but cohesive sense of self. When you live there it seems everyone knows the same jokes, listens to the same local radio shows,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-85111259013161862292010-01-31T14:45:00.003+02:002010-01-31T15:56:47.118+02:00

So I haven't given a Milo update in a while, I guess. My little guy has been growing up so fast. He's communicating so much more now, and says a lot of words in both Spanish and English. He's very definite in his wants, and pretty adamant about getting them across to us, but he still doesn't say a whole lot, so it can be frustrating for all of us.He's a pro at pointing out body parts, though, in

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-71103439459327168782010-01-24T22:30:00.003+02:002010-01-24T22:42:37.556+02:00

I really planned to write a blog post this weekend. Honestly. For one, my sister has been hounding me about it, and I don't want to face her without having written something at least. And besides, there really has been a lot going on here. We've traveled, Malawi got knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Haiti earthquake brought back all kinds of memories of emergency relief work in Darfur

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-42870013748361553122010-01-11T21:54:00.003+02:002010-01-11T22:01:41.287+02:00

Big, BIG news from Malawi, today, which will probably never make it to your corner of the world.But the Malawi Flames, the lowest ranked team in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, beat Algeria three to one in their opening game. WOO-HOO! Seriously, people, this is BIG here. The Africa Cup of Nations is like the regional World Cup for African football (soccer) teams. From around 3 o'clock this

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-20812582624261317992010-01-09T21:53:00.003+02:002010-01-09T22:03:59.895+02:00

Well, here I am in Nkhotakota, at the Sungu Motel. It meets my benchmark for hotel standards – there is a towel, soap, a mosquito net, and a fan that works. In fact, this place is rather four-star by Malawian standards – there’s a TV and what looks like a cable box, although they don't actually work, and I've been provided with sandals for the shower. However, I am not sure that wearing sandals

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-44056008505455204672010-01-08T11:33:00.002+02:002010-01-08T11:43:24.382+02:00

Today I am off to Nkhotakota for the night. One of our projects is phasing out there, and the District Health Office is holding an event to mark them taking it over. I have even been asked to make a speech. Aren’t I fancy? It’s gratifying to see the project get taken on by the government, though. They have been pretty much running things for the last year anyway, but this will make it

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-17677657633084290062010-01-05T21:00:00.005+02:002010-01-05T21:28:44.977+02:00

I could give you the litany of excuses as to why I have not been posting much lately, but let's be honest here, my friend Pam has a full-time job and two-year-old triplets, and she blogs every day. What can I say that's going to top that?But Malawi-wise, I don't have much to say. We've got petrol again, which is a good thing, but I still get annoyed every time Jorge lets the tank go below

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-45707217410959027562010-01-03T11:45:00.004+02:002010-01-03T11:58:01.673+02:00

OMG OMG OMG....! THIS just crawled across my hand: And why do those things always come after me when I am sitting on the toilet? It's the second time I've been ambushed that way. This time, the monster was under the toilet paper. I went to grab a bit, and it raced out, right across my hand, and sat there on top of the toilet roll.My reaction? What do you think? I screamed like a madwoman for a

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-54956476655739459212009-12-23T07:06:00.002+02:002009-12-23T07:13:04.157+02:00

Sorry, I got so busy I didn't finish updating on the survey. Well, we finished data collection in 6 days, but the last day we finished early, so we were close to our 5-day target. We continued to have transport snafus - ended up having to buy fuel on the black market. But it all worked out in the end.We drove back up from Nsanje on Saturday, with only one near-death experience, when the driver

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-19616331511173008982009-12-17T18:48:00.002+02:002009-12-17T18:56:24.749+02:00

I can't believe it, but I think everything is going to work out.My husband would say "of course it will work out!" but he has a lot more faith in me than I do.So it's been an extremely challenging week, but it looks like, act of God notwithstanding, we will finish data collection tomorrow and be on our way home Saturday.It was a little touch and go yesterday, when I got a call from one of our

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-69278361562539804522009-12-15T19:24:00.000+02:002009-12-15T19:24:00.517+02:00

Let’s just step away from the survey for a bit, shall we? Instead, let me give you a little tour of my new home away from home: The Hotel Madalitso.The linens don’t match, and they are worn thin, but each night I come home to a new Harry Potter-themed pillowcase, which is a nice touch. The towel is rough and scratchy, but it’s clean. There’s no soap, but at least the toilet has a seat, which is

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-61309369370972643472009-12-14T19:22:00.000+02:002009-12-15T12:29:18.736+02:00

Transport has become a problem.The logistics of this survey are a nightmare. We have to visit 95 communities from throughout the district. We have 5 teams, and we optimistically hoped that each team could visit about 4 villages a day, finishing up in 5 days.We’ve got five cars to do this: 3 decent, but not great, 4WD cars we hired in Lilongwe, 1 Land Cruiser that belongs to my organization, and

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-9762797977297732752009-12-13T18:54:00.003+02:002009-12-13T19:03:46.793+02:00

Today I got to the office at 6:30 AM (on a Sunday, yes). I checked all the questionnaires, made sure the bags were packed up right, and made my breakfast. One of the teams got out straight at 6:30, I was so proud of them. The others had to wait for cars to be fuelled, team members to show up, etc. Most everyone had left by 7:30 though, not too bad.I went in to grab the backpack for my team, only

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-48784069084127503542009-12-12T18:59:00.002+02:002009-12-12T19:07:38.646+02:00

Tomorrow I am starting my first big survey. I say my first "big" survey, because I did a Master's research project years ago where I carried out a small survey in health facilities in Eritrea. But this survey is big. We are going to 95 communities throughout the district of Nsanje. I have created 8 separate questionnaires for collecting data. We have hired and trained 10 survey enumerators and 5

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-3776109545933622572009-12-08T19:43:00.002+02:002009-12-08T19:57:23.710+02:00

It took me a looong time before I *got* Facebook. I even meant to write a blog post about how inscrutable I found the whole phenomenon. Maybe I did write a blog post, it's hard to keep track after three years (!) of blogging from Malawi now.Usually, when I get on Facebook, I can't think of anything to say in my status update. Everything I'm doing or thinking always seems too banal,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-32142388305033320692009-12-04T21:47:00.004+02:002009-12-04T22:15:28.241+02:00

Blogger is being obnxious and ate my post. Which was generally about how I'm swamped and overwhelmed and the world is going to hell in a handbasket. So be grateful it's gone. Because, instead, you get pictures (which are not in order, because again, Blogger=Annoying):This is in the gardens of the Palace Hotel of Bucaco, where we spent our last night.Here's the entryway to the hotel. They don't

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-90988109188175024912009-12-02T20:55:00.003+02:002009-12-02T21:18:50.185+02:00

I seem to have arrived back to a post-apocalyptic Malawi. It looked peaceful enough when I was driving down the bucolic country roads from the airport. Same old women working their fields, the same men sitting under their trees.Then I hit the city. It's madness here. There has been a fuel shortage ever since we left, and every gas station is surrounded by seemingly abandoned cars along the side

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-48175375165917353612009-11-29T23:50:00.002+02:002009-11-30T00:12:05.198+02:00

OK, trying with pictures today! This is my favorite shot of the trip. Yes, I look terrible and badly need a haircut, but I love the tile bench and the changing leaves behine us. This was taken by remote control at the castle in Tomar. You´ll just have to turn your head. I can´t figure out how to rotgate photos in Portuguese. This was taken at the Moorish Castle in Sintra, with the Pena Palace in

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-61607524152486195992009-11-27T23:41:00.004+02:002009-11-27T23:53:54.793+02:00

Oh, yesterday was a crap day. So bad, in fact, that I blogged a long post all about it - and then my session timed out JUST as a I hit "Publish" and the web ate my whole post. It was that bad.Which I take as a sign that the Universe just wanted me to put it all behind me. Which I did today by spending a lot of money at H&M (although that was an ordeal too, with all of the ATM machines and credit

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-84427382307248998742009-11-22T23:06:00.002+02:002009-11-22T23:13:48.422+02:00

Not much time to write - it´s after my bedtime already, and I am slow on this keyboard because it´s all Portuguese and stuff, but just wanted to let you know we got both our ATM cards, and one of the PINs just in the nick of time. Disatser averted, yet again. So now we are in Lisbon, where we have rented an apartment nesr the castle. yesterday we had a lovely morning wandering around the old

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-54580401835323026322009-11-17T14:21:00.003+02:002009-11-17T14:33:46.184+02:00

Well, here I am in brisk, but sunny Glasgow. It's actually quite a nice little city. I can walk from my hotel to our office here, mostly along pedestrian shopping malls with great industrial-age architecture. The weather is lovely today, and it isn't half as cold as I expected.There are also a lot of great shopping bargains, thanks to the tanked economy. The bad news is that I don't have a way

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-7295623750316123582009-11-13T22:55:00.005+02:002009-11-13T23:13:02.179+02:00

Because Super-Milo is here to save the day! Look out, bad guys!Smelling the chives, with his super-senses.Taking a cookie break. Saving the world makes you hungry!This one just makes me smile. Milo always fusses when we leave him at daycare. All the big kids came over to sing his little song (they sing "Baby Milo" to the tune of Frere Jacques) and cheer him up. The daycare owner told me

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-13615692169351790652009-11-10T09:02:00.002+02:002009-11-10T09:12:26.227+02:00

So we are still totally in the lurch about our trip to Portugal, but have decided, as is always our way, to hope for the best and not worry too much.Jorge went to the German Embassy yesterday (there is no Portuguese Embassy here, so the Germans process all the visas for Western Europe) to see if there was anything they could do to speed up the application. He even congratulated them on the fall

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-52448995083360231942009-11-09T18:08:00.003+02:002009-11-09T18:13:33.950+02:00

Hey everyone, I have a new baby nephew! My big sister Miriam had a little boy on Saturday morning. His name is Oseia, and both mom and baby are doing well now, even though they had a bit of a rough time of it at first.So that makes grandson #4 for my dad! Joy's got two boys, I've got Milo, and now Miriam has a son of her own! My goodness, I can't even begin to imagine the family reunions...The

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-84660387325596492222009-11-06T13:05:00.003+02:002009-11-06T13:14:35.770+02:00

Remember I mentioned a few weeks back that my office was sending me to Scotland to present at a workshop? Well, that's next week. I fly out in the wee hours of Sunday morning.We thought it would be a great opportunity for a little European vacation, so Jorge and Milo are flying out to meet me, then we're going to Portugal. We've got the tickets booked and everything.Then something came up, and we

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-89255106353289812482009-10-30T20:53:00.003+02:002009-10-30T21:01:34.051+02:00

I was doing this:And I'm so glad I did. I'm pretty sure they're the best five years of my life.

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-4053367404368340792009-10-28T13:08:00.000+02:002009-10-28T13:10:17.902+02:00

This last week sucked. Big time. It started with a few hours of aches and illness Thursday. Friday afternoon, the fever hit. Then came the barrage of every symptom of every tropical illness ever thought of, except Ebola. Where do I start?FeverChillsSorenessFatigueChest painShortness of breathHivesSore throatAnd then, the worst – the headache to end all headaches. Even codeine only dulled it a bit

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-66238208713592479632009-10-19T16:22:00.002+02:002009-10-19T16:30:26.029+02:00

Hi everyone! I'm back from a much-needed mini-vacation. Some friends let us borrow their little cottage by Lake Malawi in Senga Bay over the weekend. Last Thursday was a holiday (Mother's Day - you have to love Africans for their veneration of the mother - the whole country gets the day off to pamper or be pampered, depending on their maternal status. Myself, I was a Pamperee. Jorge and Milo were

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-59023733729285324672009-10-13T11:40:00.000+02:002009-10-13T11:42:03.558+02:00

So the other day I was driving to a friend’s house, Milo nestled into his carseat in the back. On Sunday, the roads in Lilongwe are pretty empty, so I was anticipating a short trip to the other side of town.Instead, I got stuck in convoy traffic. Basically, convoy traffic is when the police close off all the roads that the President is going to travel on. In Lilongwe, there aren’t very many main

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-83098807177979077562009-10-06T13:13:00.002+02:002009-10-06T13:28:56.308+02:00

So, time for a weekend update. This last one just flew by. I got to work on Monday feeling like I never had a break at all.It was a full weekend. On Saturday we went to a friend's beautiful home for breakfast, where Milo splashed in the pool and chased chickens. In the afternoon we drove out to the village to visit our housekeeper Godfrey and his family. Milo is a total celebrity in the village.

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-41821355417345089472009-09-29T16:06:00.000+02:002009-09-29T16:06:00.292+02:00

Because, seriously, is there anything cuter than a naked baby in a bucket?

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-10555169045458235582009-09-28T15:54:00.003+02:002009-09-28T16:06:35.954+02:00

Alright, so after my Debbie Downer post last week, let's have something happy. How about pictures of my adorable offspring?Oy, those dimples. They kill me. After Jorge doused him under the garden tap At a friend's birthday party last weekend Then he got car-jacked by the birthday boy. I had to put this in to show off the super-cute baby tux and that gorgeous hair. Finger-painting! Awesome, mom

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-71445134584016894512009-09-25T12:15:00.000+02:002009-09-25T12:15:00.886+02:00

After my post about healthcare in Malawi, I got a few responses that basically said “we are so lucky in the U.S. to have good health care!”I didn’t want you guys to get to feel so smug. Yes, a slim majority of people in the U.S., if even that, are lucky enough to have quality, affordable healthcare. The rest of them either go broke, or get “indigent” care services, which is the government’s fancy

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-59969691538221455252009-09-17T16:38:00.000+02:002009-09-17T16:38:00.350+02:00

The south of Malawi, that is. This week I am in the southern-most district of Malawi supporting one of our field offices.It's hot down here, but not as hot as it will get once summer kicks into full swing here. Even the enormous mosquitoes aren't such a problem this time.Today I went out to visit a remote health facility. It was 90 minute drive, with the last 30 minutes being a dramatic, nearly

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-48697720021479005782009-09-13T13:00:00.002+02:002009-09-13T13:22:18.815+02:00

So, I have a whole companion piece to my last post all ready in my head, but I literally have no time to write it. This last week I was in the office all of 5 hours, and, hard as this may be to believe, I actually had to work during all that time. So today I'm here on a Sunday trying to catch up with e-mails, but I have promised my husband not to vanish for the whole day. So again, that post is

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-35617783850902109552009-09-04T13:46:00.000+02:002009-09-04T13:48:31.461+02:00

Let me paint a little scenario for you:Your little one is sick. He has a fever, and a cough. You know from your friends, the websites you frequent, your parenting magazines, that a fever that lasts several days should be checked up by a health professional.So off you go, off to the clinic. Unfortunately, however, you live in a rural area, so it is an hour-long drive to the clinic. You go early,

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-16109998202416562922009-08-25T15:13:00.003+02:002009-08-25T15:41:24.685+02:00

Milo was born a bit of a baldy. Well, actually, he was born with hair, then two weeks later most of it fell out, leaving just a Michael Bolton-esque fringe around his neck.This was disturbing to his Colombian family - where is his hair? why doesn't it grow in? what is wrong with this boy? After all, your typical Colombian child bounces out of the womb, cushioned by a glorious afro of thick black

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-81793337382910439792009-08-19T15:48:00.004+02:002009-08-19T16:03:44.905+02:00

Here are today's tidbits:I'm sickI'm working way too muchI might get to go to Scotland for work in a couple months!I feel guilty for being away from my family so much of the timeIn the past week, we hosted the Saturday run (and breakfast), hosted the weekly Hash, and tonight I'm cooking dinner for 6 co-workers. Sunday is Gumbo night for friends. We do too much.I lost my cell phoneI can't remember

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-40662279294044626672009-08-12T11:49:00.003+02:002009-08-12T12:02:22.490+02:00

So I have had several complaints about my lack of blogging of late. Honestly, I just don't have the time these days. In the last month I spent a week in Dowa district, 3 days in our Lilongwe project office, traveled up to Nkhotakota, and am now spending a week in Blantyre. In between that I thre a going-away dinner for a friend (meaning my whole weekend was taken up with cooking, and am still

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-75317284876912857062009-07-28T16:14:00.000+02:002009-07-28T16:14:00.198+02:00

Jorge and Milo got in yesterday. Hooray! Milo is getting so big and grown up, it was all I could do to keep from crying in the airport.And good news: Milo still loves me. In fact, if I try to go anywhere away from him, he runs over and clings to my leg, apparently afraid I’m going to leave for another month. He is still the happiest, most smiley baby on the block, too. I’ll be walking around with

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-32183544007374395012009-07-17T16:22:00.005+02:002009-07-17T16:37:26.753+02:00

My dear husband turns 30 years old today. 30 years! I guess that makes him a grown-up now. Someone once asked me, “So, how did he win you over?” I thought for a moment, and then responded, with no irony whatsoever: “Well, he just wouldn't go away.” Yes, that’s the secret of our love: dogged perseverance. For Jorge’s part, although I don’t think he’ll admit it, he had his mind made up early on.

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-9636645728060145072009-07-11T08:05:00.000+02:002009-07-11T08:05:00.545+02:00

It's my birthday! Yay for me being born! Thank God my parents weren't so fastidious with the birth control, ya know what I mean? (My mom, bless her heart for thinking I'd actually be concerned about this sort of thing, once told me: "You weren't an accident, honey. You were a pleasant surprise")So what are the plans, you ask? Well, a few days ago I realized that my birthday was coming up, and

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-79154941574659337602009-07-08T16:08:00.005+02:002009-07-08T16:32:14.564+02:00

I arrived back in Malawi last Tuesday, no worse for wear after the 2-day trip. I am back in my big townhouse, which is cold and lonely, not just because of the absence of my son’s happy squeals and babbles, but also because it is really, literally, cold. July and August are winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and typically the only two months of the year I ever get to wear a sweater.So Jorge has

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-87074402378609902112009-06-28T05:32:00.002+02:002009-06-28T05:45:09.653+02:00

My, how the time flies in America. How do you people ever get your heads above water? It seems like there is never enough time to do the things you need to do here. I have a strong suspicion it is because you Yanks have to do your own laundry.Needless to say, we have been busy. Last week we traveled to New York, where Jorge was Best Man at his friend Daniel's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding.

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-47235215287000861992009-06-11T04:18:00.002+02:002009-06-11T04:26:23.005+02:00

Goodness, five days goes by, and there is just so much to write about!First of all, and most importantly, if you didn't see my Facebook update:The results are in, and I am officially in remission for five years. This is such good news that I don't even know where to begin with the happy, relieved feelings. It seems like the last 5 years have taken forever to pass. And I think of who I was back

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-81876297322185297532009-06-05T17:13:00.002+02:002009-06-05T17:32:24.182+02:00

I went to see me old oncologist this week, and yesterday I had CT scans - I think these must be about my 8th now. It's been almost 5 years now since I completed treatment for Hodgkin's, and so far so good.It was a strange feeling being back at the hospital though. It brought back all kinds of memories of being a patient, being sick. You know, all those medical dramas on TV always present the

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-15861287711979504092009-06-04T05:52:00.003+02:002009-06-04T06:00:35.775+02:00

Milo, aka Lil' Romeo, has been unleashed on the female population of New Orleans.First there was this:(This is Milo kissing his second cousin Juliana ("Colombian-style," says Jorge. Keeping it in the family, you know.))Then today we took Milo to a concert downtown. As usual, he had fun pushing his stroller around, flirting with the ladies, and shaking his little booty to the music. Then he met a

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-34942195398934151132009-05-28T20:40:00.002+02:002009-05-28T20:44:50.311+02:00

We are safe and sound in DC, and I've been attending the Global Health Council conference, learning a lot and making some interesting connections. The 18-hour flight with the baby was bad, but it could have been worse. He slept for about 8 hours, and only screamed a little. But when we arrived, wouldn't you know it, my bags didn't show up. Again. I freaking hate South African Airlines. They also

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-86761070261152478632009-05-22T12:30:00.002+02:002009-05-22T12:55:53.708+02:00

Today is my last day at work in my current position. It's been a bit more rushed than I wanted as I had to stay home with Milo this morning until the babysitter could make it. But, all things considered, I'm pretty much ready to wrap up. I think I will actually leave the office on time today, which will be a first. Usually on my last day of work I am in the office until 8 at night, trying to get

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-82381829975633772732009-05-19T11:15:00.004+02:002009-05-19T11:33:11.517+02:00

It's voting day in Malawi! I've never seen Lilongwe quite so quiet - there are so few cars out on the road. It seems everyone is being very cautious, going to "voterani" then going straight home.I ignored the advice of my office, and did not stay home today. Jorge and I went to the local polling station, where we asked for permission to take a few photos. After establishing that we were not media

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-18058559992141292832009-05-15T12:51:00.001+02:002009-05-15T12:57:45.812+02:00

So, the tickets are booked, the contract is signed…I can finally share with you our plans.[Drum Roll]Jorge, Milo and I are going to……stay put in Malawi!Yep, I’ve taken another 2-year contract with my current employer. Instead of being the Health and Nutrition Advisor responsible for national nutrition policy and programs, I’ll be the Health and Nutrition Advisor responsible for maternal and child

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-1138280121752620242009-05-13T13:50:00.000+02:002009-05-13T13:52:19.241+02:00

As if it wasn’t bad enough being in the US during the whole Democratic Primary maelstrom, I returned to Malawi just in time for election season here.Elections are next week on Tuesday, and everyone is a little on edge. Of course, when you ask, everyone says they think things will be fine, calm. But there’s a touchiness to everything right now. On my way to work, a man started laying on his horn

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2377244491213747638.post-32266155362109517272009-05-11T16:04:00.003+02:002009-05-11T16:12:12.062+02:00

So Milo has been walking for some time now. I just never got around to mentioning it. Or taking photos, or video. You see, I am raising my child the way I, the third daughter, was raised. That way once I have another that kid won't feel less loved when he grows up only to look at an empty baby book and a photo album with only pictures from Christmas, Easter, and (sometimes) birthdays. That's

Gwynethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16328287662160030727noreply@blogger.com5