Third Year Reflections: Part 1 Less is New

I (Becky) haven’t written as much on the blog as in our first year here in Malawi.  Now that we’re starting into our 3^rd year here, I’m trying to process why I don’t write as much.  I really enjoy writing, so as I figure out why I haven’t been writing, I’ll write about those things!  Come, process with me…

Just as I'm about to go to bed, the water comes
back...so I fill containers for 30-60 min. instead
Still thankful for water!

First, not as much is new to us anymore, so less stands out to me to write about in everyday living. Driving manual transmission is second nature to me now and getting diesel instead of unleaded at the filling station (not gas station!)…having plenty of water on hand for outages, listening for the water in the pipes in the night hours and staying up that extra hour or so till midnight to fill every bucket and container available – it’s a chore, but I’m thankful for running water in the house at any hour and will harvest it when it comes!  

 Bathing with very little water (or just not bathing much!) becomes part of the variety in life rather than an Olympic undertaking... grabbing a torch (flashlight) when the lights go out and swiftly moving dinner over to the backup gas camp stove seems like a minor move rather than frantic feat.   That’s not to say some of these things don’t get to me sometimes, they do, but they are smaller hurdles than in our first year.   Day to day life is still often a problem solving activity.

One of the food stores we shop at regularly: Chipiku.

Although much of life is more familiar now, some new things have popped up recently.  For example, a local supermarket just opened an addition which nearly doubled the size of the store.  The vast array of available fruits, veggies, cheeses, yogurt flavors and other dairy items, plus a fresh bakery is quite exciting, not to mention the clean, stylish presentation in a low pressure shopping experience!  As I walked in with the kids for our first glimpse of this new attraction, I met an acquaintance who was almost giddy to go in.  “It’s the small things here, isn’t it?” she remarked.  It’s true, small things like these are actually kind of momentous, depending on the day and your stress coping level at the time.  Even if you don’t buy anything, knowing that you could if you wanted to can help.


So, less lifestyle altering things are new to us, but there always seem to be new relationships.  The expat community is always revolving with some doctors and teachers coming for a year or two, short term missionaries for 6-18 months and people visiting any of the above.  Although we are 5 weeks into the new semester, learning names of new students at EBCoM is still a common activity.  And just when I think nothing much new has happened lately, a new cultural nuance will strike me back into feeling like a beginner again.  It keeps me on my toes, and often my knees.