Janet's Birthday, part I

Normally we celebrate birthdays with music, dancing, food, fancy clothes, and cake, but a long week of administering mid-terms at school, hosting surprise Peace Corps visitors, some cold wet weather, and our neighbor's recent loss of her sister to illness combined to dampen our festive spirit. All the elements were present and we had a good time, but Teacher Luka was too tired to show off his popular dancing and our neighbors apologized for not organizing the event properly, promising to make our next party spectacular. To make up for the lackluster birthday party, Luc took his wife to Blantyre for a day of celebrating in Malawi's largest and most happening city. Our Peace Corps Malawi neighbor Jordan joined us for the outing; he needed some time away from site, a feeling easy for us to understand after several uninterrupted weeks of working in the community. The highlite of our trip was the Monster Steak Burger - a tender piece of quality beef, topped
with bacon, cheese, and a fried egg, with fries (which Malawians call chips) and a salad, all for about $6 at a posh sports bar geared for foreigners were we watched the World Cup on an enormous screen. In the city we also got authentic Ethiopian food, soft serve ice cream, and doughnuts that were so soft they felt like eating fluffy clouds. Different flavors and eating options have become increasingly exciting during our stay here in Africa. When not eating, we made the most of our day on the town thoroughly walking the streets and exploring the markets, one featuring beautiful wood carvings and curios catering to tourist tastes, another the largest clothing market in the contoury were Janet showed off here intense negotiating skills to get a Tanzanian batik print cloth for just the right price, and an all food market were we feasted on an African buffet (much to the surprise of the locals who rarely see white people eating their food outside of fancy
restaurants). To be continued, we're maxing out our cell phone's capacity with this narrative.