First IPMP meeting in Africa!

It seems like we were talking all year about ‘meeting up in Africa’ - This weekend it finally happened! As Kelly B and I are both living and working in Malawi, we were able to meet up this weekend when Kelly came in from Dedza, to Lilongwe where I am living. Did all sorts of ‘city things’ like use the internet, eat at Nando’s Chicken, and get Gelato ,and then we were lucky enough to be invited to a wedding of a friend of one of my co-workers! I’d say it was quite a nice wedding at the Lilongwe Golf Club, and there were loads of people there. No invitations necessary for a Malawian wedding – just show up if you know the bride and groom. We went for the reception part, which was the guests all sitting under a big tent, with the bridal party at the front, and the MC would call up groups of people to dance up to the front and throw money. It was all in Chichewa, so luckily my friend Elsie from work was there or we would have been a bit lost. The MC will say ‘all the friends of the bride come up!’ or call up the groom's parent's friends, and then you kind of dance up the aisle to the front and throw kwatcha notes into the air, that the bride or groom tries to catch in a big basket. It doesn’t matter what you throw, so it’s better to have a stash of 20 kwatcha notes rather than having only 500 kwatcha notes to throw.

The night before, on friday, I was invited out with my boss and people from work to go to dinner at a fancy Indian place. It was a really great dinner - like any fancy restaurant in Canada, but I couldn't helping thinking as the bill was paid that we probably just spent more than some people in this country could ever imagine seeing in their lifetime. Yikes. Went out afterwards with Elsie from work and her cousin and friend for a party night out in Lilongwe - this included 3 bars, many drinks and a 3am bedtime... phew! We did go to a concert though, which was a Malawian group called the Black Missionaries - very cool. Funky African reggae stuff. I think they have a CD so people should look them up! It's all in Chichewa though...

Spent sunday lazing by the pool at the hostel and hanging out with Kelly again, and some other people who are staying there. I have become completely addicted to a game called Bao. You may have seen it before - its just a wooden board all carved with spaces for marbles or rocks, and you go around the board trying to get rid of your opponent's marbles. It takes ages to play - a good way to spend a long, lazy evening. Don't worry if that makes no sense to you now. I will be bringing one home and you will have to learn how to play!