My status

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, attention-seeking, or private. And yes, I am aware of the irony of blogging about having nothing to say.

But today, I have so many status updates I could write! So instead of flooding your facebook home page with them, you can read them here:

Gwyneth....

• Can't wait for the two loves of her life to get home tomorrow!
• Is feeling really guilty and sad that, as one-third of the entire soprano section, she will not be able to sing in her choir's first performance Saturday.
• Really does not want to write a proposal right now. Or even worse, draft the accompanying budget.
• Will be spending most of the holiday season fighting off mosquitoes in Nsanje.
• Is relieved that, slowly but surely, everything is getting worked out for the first big district-wide survey she is going to manage. Almost everything is ready now!
• Still wants to throw her annual Christmas Dessert Buffet (Now With Cheese!!) party, but just can't think how it is even logistically possible at this point. And who would show up anyway, with their gas tanks all empty of Christmas cheer?
• Wishes she could see Milo's reaction when he sees our Christmas tree tomorrow...:-)

Portugal photos

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 call themselves the Palace Hotel out of vanity - the place was really built as a royal palace in 1885.

In Guimaraes, we were walking to the castle when we heard drums everywhere. It seems to be a Christmas tradition, with everyone, young and old, donning elf hats, and marching with their drums to the church, where the local shrine is taken out and paraded down the streets. It was a great little moment of sneaking in with the local people.

This is just a pretty little street in Obidos, which was my favorite place. It's an old, walled medieval city that just feels so removed from the real world. We liked it so much we stayed two nights.

Milo really likes lions. He's got a great roar. This was taken in the Monastery of St. Jerome in Lisbon. We tried to attend mass, but sorry, those lions were just too tempting.

This is the tower of Belem, which used to be on an island right in the middle of the river, but then the river moved (darn trickster!). Can you imagine how beautiful it must have been then, though? I found it to be unbelievably beautiful as it is. Those balconies were just screaming for a Juliet to stand on them.

A view of the old Moorish castle in Sintra, built in the 8th century. It made me think of the crusades. And Robin Hood. Let's just say I liked it, OK?

Ah, but the one problem with Portugal? No safety railings. I was this close to a heart attack the entire time. But Jorge and Milo didn't seem to be too worried.

Jorge still has the little camera, which has a lot of the more touristy shots of the places we went. So when he gets home, more pictures! Yay!

It's like Thunderdome out there

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 of the road, while the pumps are swarmed by throngs of people holding jerry cans, trying to get a bit of fuel before it all runs out. At the station near my office, the police had been called out to maintain order, and others stood around the fringes watching to see if fighting would break out. It's tense. No cage-fighting, though. Not yet, at least.

And the worst thing? I saw it coming. There was a diesel shortage just before we left, and I told my dear husband, you know, that man who always listens to everything I say, "Petrol is going to be next. Make sure you fill up the tank before you leave for the airport. You should probably fill a jerry can, too."

Do you think he did? Would I even write about it had he done as I asked? Good husbands make bad copy, you should know that by now. No, of course, he ignored me. I could be the one smug SOB driving around Lilongwe with a full tank of gas right now, but instead I have to ration out my little half-tank like everyone else, forgoing the A/C, combining shopping trips...

Of course, on top of the fuel shortage there is also a critical lack of foreign exchange, grinding the economy to a halt. And today I went to the ATM and they weren't working. More crowds of people hanging around waiting.

I tell you, the bread riots are coming, you just wait. And then, oh yes, then...the cage-fighting. Excellent.

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 the background.

This photo was taken at, yes, another old fortress castle. I like the things, OK? This is at the Belem Tower in Lisbon, with the river behind.

wow! A picture of me! There aren´t too many on this trip. This is also from the Belem tower.

OK, running out of internet time. I promise a full report with lots of photos as soon as I get home.

Crappy Thanksgiving

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 card readers out of commission in the WHOLE TOWN. The Universe, apparently, also wants me to wear last season´s fashions).

But a little bit of advice, should you ever come to Portugal:

• Make sure you get a map with details of the main cities. Trying to find your way around town when the city is the size of a potato bug on the map = not easy.
• If you ever come to Coimbra, WALK. Do not drive.
• When asking for restaurant recommendations at a tourist office, always ask for detailed directions. Do not settle for a scribbled note in a general region on a very crappy free tourist map.
• If an alley looks really narrow, it is actually much smaller than you think. Turn around. Do not enter. Really, I mean it. Your ckutch will thank you.

Tonight we are in Porto, which I like MUCH better than Coimbra, even without a decent city map. I mean, there is even a mall here which stays open until 9 PM! Hallelujah!

So, I restored my spirits today with some retail therapy, and, I am not embarassed to admit - a McDonald´s Sundae. Do you know how long it has been since I had one of those? I have no idea what they are actually made of - although I´m certain it ain´t dairy - but when you have lived as long in foreign parts as I have, sometimes all you need to settle your soul is a little cholesterol-enriching American fast food. It´s better than meditation, yoga, or herbal tea combined.

Tomorrow we are hoping to find ourselves a nice little farm in the wine country to stay on for a couple days, to unwind. And then very soon it´s back to reality. Sigh. I´m not ready!

Ola!

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 Moorish quarter, then it rained all of the rest of the day. That didn´t keep us home, it just meant we had a pretty cold, wet day.

Today we took the tram out to Belem where we went to mass at the Monastery do Jeronimos, which is beautiful. We had agreat weather - a good thing, because we had lift clothes out drying outside our balcony. For lunch we snacked on goodies from the local pastry shop - custard tarts are becoming an obsession - and then went to the Museum of the Orient. Milo wasn´t too into it.

Tomorrow we´ll catch the train to visit Sintra, which is supposed to be beautiful and romantic on aa Disney Princess Castle sort of scale. Judging from what I´ve seen so far, I am prepared to be very impressed. The architecture here is like something out of a fantasy movie - think the home of the empress in the Neverending Story.

Well, we´ve got an early start tomorrow. Sorry I forgot to bring in my memory card to update pics. I will try again in t afew days.

Trips are never dull in the C. family

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 to shop. My husband, genius that he is, lost his wallet in Colombia. He canceled the credit and ATM cards, but since our mailing address is in the US, they went to my sister's house in Seattle. Yes it's our own fault for not having her mail them to us months ago, but it just didn't seem important at the time.

We do have two credit cards that still work, so we each took one - the American Express for me, and the Visa for him. I also brought some dollars to exchange. Then we asked my dad to Express mail me the ATM cards. Jorge was going to bring more cash as a backup. Seemed like a solid plan, right? Well...

• Most of the shops here don't take American Express
• Jorge wrote yesterday from the airport to say he FORGOT his wallet at home. Meaning no extra cash and no Visa. There's no way to express how deep in doo-doo he is going to be when I see him today.
• Dad sent the ATM cards, but the PIN numbers haven't come in the mail. Cross your fingers they come soon. At the least I guess we can use them as debit cards.

So....we may be setting up Milo's travel cot (assuming I'm even able to buy one today) and sleeping in train stations for this vacation. Why can't we ever, ever have a stress-free, easy vacation? (OK, don't say it's because we're total airheads. That is not the answer I am looking for. Sympathy and support, people, sympathy and support...)