village bicycle repairman, rats, bats and Malawi is ranked poorest country in the world

quiet weekend here in Lilongwe.. Malawi really knows how to enjoy their weekend .. There really is no one out of the weekend.. everybody chills..  Michelle and I signed up to do a triathlon here in town..it is this coming sunday.. I have already opted out(i'm not really sure what I was thinking) but Michelle is sticking with it.. She went out for a 20km bike ride yesterday in preparation for the race... She got a flat and called me to come and pick her up.. While she waited, several Malawian women asked her " What are you doing here?" Michelle explained to them what happened and the women directed her to a bicycle repairman.. Before she knew it, there were two gentleman picking up her bike and taking it to the shop( which is a grass covered open stall in the middle of a village.. There was also another gentleman that had a problem with a bike, so the excited level in the village was very high.. Two Mzungus are getting their bikes repaired at the same time!

They worked on the tire for a while, but couldn't patch it properly. The damage was too much.. But it was another great experience of getting to see how things work around here.. As I've said before people here are poor compared to home,  but they are so kind are caring and willing to look out for each other.. It's very refreshing. and you always feel out of place, but you never feel unwelcome.

We have a lovely rat living in our attic space.. You can hear him scurrying around at all hours of the night... Cam, our gardener went up to check it out and sighted that rat.. But he also killed three bats.. We have the trap planted now.. just a matter of time.  I'm surprised this is the first time we've really had this problem .. Our house is totally open and anything could make its way into our home.. We have lizards all over the place, and I've had to kill one snake, but other than that .. no problems..

this weekend was what I would consider an in limbo  sort of time... We have now begun the preparation for our return.. I think the kids have checked out completely and we are now just biding our time.. but we still have plenty to do during our next 8 weeks. .. They are going to need some cheerleading and we will have to stay positive about our time here... I think the biggest part about our experience here is  that your kids will experience what you give them.. If you mope about the fact that you miss home, etc... they will mope.. So you have to stay positive... otherwise, everyone gets down.. I probably let my guard down a bit this weekend, which allowed them to do the same..  We have alot of great things to look forward to and honestly , there are lots of things about living here that are so much better than being at home.. I am not looking forward to the rat race that is living in the US... get it ? rat race?  But we miss home. we miss friends , family, netflix, Skyline Chili, 180,000 choices of cereal and coffee,etc..

It came out recently ththat Malawi is the poorest country in the world. Check out a recent article in the local paper and see for yourself.. Not something to boast about, but here's the article to read.

Malawi poorest country..

Nothing else to report. Michelle is on call tonight.. so a good chance I won't see her this evening...

Photos are of the local bike shop and Michelle's bike being repaired.. The other self explanatory.. Local coffee.