Our Grocery Store Burned!

The grocery store just down the street from us burned last week! I have no idea what happened (though it was very likely some sort of electrical issue) but the whole things burned – all that is left is a shell of the building! This shop was pretty new when we moved here and pretty basic but over the 2 years it has expanded and had quite a good selection of things for good prices – including the best garlic in town and my favorite peanut butter!! Not to mention that it was 5 minutes away by car! Now our closest store is double that distance! However, the good news is that the rumor is that he is going to reopen within a couple of weeks at at least some level. I guess there is some other empty space in the shopping center so they are going to open up there while they rebuild their shop!! Thank goodness! Now I just hope garlic and peanut butter are included in the limited stock!! Of course these are very trivial matters but the selection really does vary between stores – and you can’t assume any particular item is every going to be in stock – really anywhere! Keeps shopping challenging. On a sad note, we are really seeing food prices increase and increase here. It is an annoyance for us but I am really beginning to be concerned for the average Malawian. A liter of oil has gone up 200 kwacha (approx 1 qut. And about $1.5) in the past 4-5 months and just this weekend the price of fuel increased by 25%, up to about $7 a gallon! As everywhere this will have a huge trickle down effect. And as elsewhere salaries are not increasing at the same rate as food and other costs anyway!! And rumor (there are lots of those floating around) is that fuel is going to go up again soon!

Change of Plans

As I read over my last post(and several fun comments - thanks!)I was struck by how much has changed in our life since I wrote just a few weeks ago. At that point we planned to stay in Malawi through July of 2009 with 2-3 month break to come to the States to have the baby. We were happy with the decision and all the logisitcs were coming together to have the baby etc. And then John got a call from the Infectious Disease Department at Scott and White that they were looking for another physcian starting as soon as possible. The sad part is that the available job was due to one of his mentors becoming seriously ill, the good part was that it ended up being a really good opportunity... So after prayer and discussion we are moving back to Temple!! Not at all the timing we anticipated but we are very excited. We are currently waiting to hear back from the travel agent but the plan is that we will all leave Malawi together on August 2nd. karis and i will go to Dallas and John will go on the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. After that he will attend a wedding in Missouri and then head back to Malawi until Aug 22nd. He then plans to start work at Scott and White on Sept 2! He has things to finish up in malawi till the end fo Aug but has to start work in time for the insurance to kick in for the baby the middle of October so no holidays for him!!
In the meantime, i will try to be more diligent in updates our last few weeks in Malawi as I feel like the only reason my posts might be remotely interesting is because of where we live... whether or not the stores in Temple are stocking sour cream is hardly worth mentioning:) And speaking of Malawi... the water board was going around on a loudspeaker earlier this evening announcing that people needed to pay their bills or they were going to disconnect us tomorrow! I guess that means I should go to the water board and attempt to decipher my bill and see who owes who...rest assured there will be more to this story!
And currently, vehicles with loud sirens have passed our house 3 times in the last 5 minutes. Interesting since in my 2 years here I have never seen a siren like this!! I am sure the guards will give us an update tomorrow! (i could go out for the scoop now but the door is already locked)

Oops!

I forgot i had added a post that I was going to the States - considering that, I should have also commented when I got home! I had a great trip and returned home on May 26. Karis and John had a great time together while I was gone although Karis was sick the first several days. She had actually been sick before I left and I thought she was improving. However, the day I left she seemed to feel bad again and had horrible diarrhea for another few days! This made things a bit more challenging for John! Unfortunately she also shared her germs with me and I got sick when i got to the U.S. - but thankfully not while I was en route!!

Several quick (and random) updates!

• Karis continues to make us laugh and terrify us at the same time. She now likes to change her DVDs by herself despite knowing she is not allowed! The scary part is that she does it successfully. Yesterday we went for a walk and saw chickens and heard a rooster. She asked what the sound was and I said it was a chicken. Her response was something along the lines of, "chickens say cluck, cluck". So i then had to clarify the voices of hens vs. roosters! She also likes to pick her own outfits and changes clothes about 50 times a day! In general, we are okay with this but at times it can take forever to choose an outfit to get out the door and that is maddening!!
• Our gas tank is on E and there was no fuel in town today! The current rumor is that prices are about to go up again - so either the stations are hording their fuel till the new price takes effect or they really don't have any. There are a few other rumors/theories but they imply a longer shortage so I am trying to ignore them!
• In other shopping news: we now have a semi-regular supply of sour cream at one of our stores!! I cannot describe the amount of excitement and joy this created amongst shoppers when it first appeared!! The strange thing is that sour cream was certainly not on my usual shopping list in the States. Why it is so exciting here I am not sure!
• I only have one more day of 7th grade science. It has been a great experience but I am glad it is almost over!
• This is our winter and it has been rather chilly in the evenings and mornings! I definitely appreciate a duvet and don't envy those of you in Texas this time of year!
• I had an ultrasound while in the U.S. and the baby is a boy!