Goodies

Well, it really has been a while since I last wrote, hasn’t it? Believe me, I have many topics bubbling around in my head, and I will work hard to catch up.

But today’s post is just a newsy one, since I haven’t got photos uploaded at the moment.

Jorge’s brother arrived last Thursday, along with another friend, and we’ve had a great time showing them around Malawi so far. We took the guys out to the Dam to go sailing last Thursday, then over the weekend we went out the Lake Malawi. I’ll post a bit more about that soon, along with photos.

But the really great thing about visitors? Stuff from home. Granted, you can get just about everything you need in Malawi, but for special items, you have to wheedle your family into stretching their baggage limits to the max. For example, from my sister in December we got Calphalon pans, Martha Stewart mags, and industrial sized shampoo / conditioner.

For Ed’s visit, we really pushed the envelope. Here’s a sample of what we got:

New magazines (beach reading material is tough to come by here)
A hand-held mixer
A new camera (This one definitely warrants its own post, as it is my current obsession)
DVDs
Scented lotions
Two pounds each of walnuts, pecans, and chocolate chips
About 50 power bars for Jorge

And, my most treasured item….a box of Cheez-its. Oh, sweet heaven. Africa is really the hell-hole home of bad-carb snacks. Pretty much all we get are bacon flavored pork rinds, onion-flavored cheese puffs, and potato chips flavored with tomato, beef jerky, or chicken and thyme. Can we all just say yuck together?

The fellas are off tomorrow to Tanzania, where I’m sure they will come up with many new and exciting ways to endanger their lives. Jorge is a perennial candidate for a Darwin Award, I swear.