"Mwadzuka Bwanji?" (rough translation, good morning, how are you?) I asked a gardener at school this morning as I passed him on my way to my class... " I am blessed , and how are you sir?".. this was a nice start to the day..... "I am blessed as well", I replied.. "Zikomo Kwambiri"( thank you very much) he stated as he went about his work...

 .... Our guard Cosmas apologized to me yesterday for taking two empty beer bottles we placed outside our entrance... We can only recycle Carlsberg beer bottles here as it is the local distributor.. anything else gets tossed over the wall..  Anyway, Cosmas started the conversation by saying to me.. "we have a problem". This always worries me when he starts a conversation with these 4 words, , but this time he wanted to inform me that he took 2 bottles without asking..  He wanted to use them for candle holders as he didn't have any light in his home..  Fortunately for Cosmas we have a surplus of beer and wine bottles, so i offered him a few more bottles to take home with him.. He was relieved and grateful to have something to put his candles in..

Michelle saw a two year old yesterday with a snake bite wound.. His leg had swelled like a balloon and there is no anti venom at the hospital.. It was a small black snake according to the friends of the two year old... Can you trust the measuring skills of friends of a two year old???
Not sure what we'll do if we get bit by a snake... The two year old was walking to the tap in the village to get water with his friends... The bite marks were on his big toe.

The photos below were taken poolside after school. This was before swim practice and Kate's friends thought it was cute that Kate and I had on the same kind of shirt..  Kate was reluctant and embarrassed by her father, so she opted out.. Kate is the only American in her class.. there are
predominantly Malawian students, 1 Indian, 1 Zambian and one from Zimbabwe. Kind of a cool mix.  Love the African sky in the background... it never ends. I usually show up to swim practice about 15 minutes early, prop myself in a lawn chair and doze off staring up into a sea of blue.. The clouds were a nice change yesterday..

This morning I was able to capture a very usual scene.. 6:45 am.. Check out the dude biking with the firewood.. This is the main drag in the city and this guy has already been out chopping wood to either sell or use.. I am always very apprehensive driving past them... I always expect the thing to fall apart.
Thursdays are good here at school.. A fairly light load and then off to pack for our bus ride to Blantyre.. We leave at 5:45 am tomorrow morning.. Jude, Maura and Frances will accompany me to Blantyre for a swim gala.. About a 5 hour drive to the southern region of the country ....KFC for dinner tomorrow night.. I'm actually looking forward to it, and will curl up with a book and enjoy the scenery.  I will be back with a post on Sunday or Monday..
Have a great weekend everyone.. Missing the cold weather back home.

Me and Kate's friends(I filled in for Kate) under African sky

Sporting U of L garb

Pharmacy near our home

morning commute

Firewood