Today's fun fact

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We learn amazing facts almost daily. Today we had a lesson on why not to dry our clothes outside. Putzi flies (or tumbo fly) lay eggs in clothes as they dry outside, then bore into your skin, hatch, create a huge boil as they grow, then "pop" out and fly away. Lovely thought, huh!! I promptly scratched "outside clothes drying rack" off my list of things to buy.

Last Wednesday, we made a day trip to Dedza, a town approx. 100 kilometers from Lilongwe to see a pottery shop and eat lunch at the lovely cafe. As you can see in the pictures, the drive was beautiful - mountains popping up out of nowhere and as Sam says, "dead grassy plains" and small villages along the road. There were still bikers to dodge and the occasional herd of goats to slow down for, but the children were continually disappointed that we weren't having to keep watch for lions and elephants. We are planning a trip to Zambia sometime soon -- that's where all the cool animals are. For now we will have to settle for Leia, our chicken, and an abundance of lizards. Anyway, the pottery was great, lunch was apple pie because the power was out and that's the only thing they had that didn't have to be cooked, but the highlight was getting a glimpse of life outside of the city. It was almost incomprehensible to us to be driving past, waving at children, being feet away from people that exist in a world that is so so far from ours. Each of our worlds is so completely foreign to the other and yet we are looking right at each other, smiling at one another. It is overwhelming at times. The picture of the giant centipede-looking-thing is also from last Wednesday. I discovered him in our kitchen when I got up to turn on the coffee. It was ,about 8 inches long 1.5 inches wide, 1/2 inch long legs all the way down its body and huge pinchers. Sam had mentioned a couple of other creatures that children had brought to school, so I thought it would be fine for him to take this. The boys and John caught it and put it in the bug cage and Sam went off to school. About 8:30 the phone rang - it was the office asking me to please come get this "scary creature" that Sam had brought to school. They said that it was scaring some kids and some parents saw it and said it was poisonous. I asked Sam about it that afternoon. He said, "Nobody was scared, Mommy, they were just interested. Everybody was crowding around me to see it - it was kind of like I was famous." Emmanuel, our friends that helps us in the garden said, "We fear it like a snake." From what we can tell, many things are thought to be poisonous - the consensus was that it probably was not dangerous, but no sense in finding out.

Ford's first day of preschool was today and he loved it. The girls and I walked across the street to take him and stayed for a few minutes watching, as did most of the other moms. After about 10 minutes, he very sweetly said, "Mommy, I'm ready for you to go now." I took my cue and headed home for some girl time. He had a great time and can't wait to go back Wed. He's feeling very big to have just had a birthday and gone to school. When we went to get him today, he didn't want to walk across the street right next to me because he's "really big now and can walk home all by himself."

quick notes:
-- ate great Indian food on Saturday - Halls Mentholatums for after dinner mints!
-- thought I was buying tomato sauce, but opened the can and it was fish in tomato sauce
-- one of the only things we've found to be cheaper here - Em's haircuts - Cliff from Zimbabwe is awesome
-- mechanics shops can be as simple as a tree with a sign on it.
-- putting your blinker on doesn't necessarily mean that you are turning, one might assume that you are mearly slowing down for no reason at all and will feel free to pass you on either side.
-- pedestrians ALWAYS have the right-of-way, even if they run out in front of your car -- defensive driving has taken on a whole new meaning!