Return of the sock (check september posts)

So, it will be very short, but just a couple of days ago when it was raining cats and dogs and went from kitchen to fill the kettle as i longed for a nice cup of tea, i noticed something lying on the ground. I went closer and as it was getting dark, I bent down to see better. Believe it or not, but it was the sock that went missing in September. It looked terrible- muddy and had lost its colour in many places... but it had returned! So I laughed, washed it and put it next to the other one... I still can't believe it, but things just happen...

Feeling for Rain

Rain is something that you can feel from the smell that it is coming. And sometimes hours before it actually hits the ground at the place of your stay. Sometimes you can only smell it is raining in village nearby, but it doesn't necessarily reach Chilangoma.

But sometimes the smellis enough to clear the hot-hot air. Sometimes it only shows lightning, specially beautiful at night. Completely quiet, just flashes all over the sky in different colors. Specially useful when you need to run to toilet in the night-darkness :)

Yesterdays rain made the air look white, the strength it was hitting the ground with was so strong that the soil was in the air. Amazing. yeah, well, it also brought hundreds of bugs after rain. So we decided to spend the evening in the darknessas light would attract the animal farm immediately. We escaped from most of the beasts, just when lying in bed,we heard a very low buzzing and one enormous bug was flying around in our room. We were so happy that we had mosquito nets, pure heaven,otherwise we couldn't really sleep at all. Too many animals around. As Pri said- Sista, this is too much Africa!

Mulanje magic

It will probably be just a short description of my absolutely top moments here until now! Pri and I went to Mulanje Massif for 3 days and after that I have it so often in my head. It was so beautiful. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We climbed 1500 meters on the first day, later on it appeared that our guide took us up from the most difficult path and difficult it was. Very steep and rocky, but so amazingly beautiful that it haunts me. I willgo back for Christmas for 10 days to stay in one of the mountain huts, enjoy fire in fireplace, cooler climate and talks and walks with Pri. Away from work, away from college campus, away from towns, markets, to enjoy the peace and beauty of this mountain. If the weather allowes, I'd like to go to the top as well, 3002m, but it depends on rainfalls. If it is too heavy, it gets too slippery.

It was amazing how different is every single side of the massif. We passed tea plantations, grasslands, rocky plateus, forests, waterfalls etc. There is everything. It was like being in the movie Lion King. We named one piece land of Scar, one land of Hyenas and one Land of Simba and we were singing songs from that movie, passing all these places. And we had to face the fact that during that trip we were on the very bottom of the food-chain...as we stayed one extra day that we didn't calculate in and our last breakfast consisted of a tin of tuna for both and a glass of milk. Very nutritious. By evening we could only see food everywhere.

But we got back nicely and we are looking very much forward to go up for 10 days during Christmas.

Hakuna Banana

Everything shows that this is the best moto here you can have. We actually have named so many things according to situations here that when people out of DI squares talk to us, they might not understand at all. For example we have named a huge spider 40-Chirimba-Lunzu. Why? That is a good question and answer is there, but somewhat complicated. The minibusdrivers in Blantyre scream at the busstop where their bus is going and are quite agressive and fast to get people to enter their bus. Our direction here is most often Chirimba-Lunzu and the price to Chirimba is 40 kwacha. The price to Lunzu they don't really say. You just have to know, but when they try to catch customers they run around nervously and scream 40 Chirimba-Lunzu. And that spider acts exactly the same. Runs around like a headless chicken and never knows which is the best place to be. So that's how our big spider got the name. And probably not necessary to mention that we are a bit afraid of this creature as it is biiig and hairy and you can hear all over the campus when someone of us has met Chirimba-Lunzu in the toilet. Brrrrrrrr....

Then we loose electricity more often now which means limited possibilities to cook and our menu consists of bananas and as we are not racists,we have different kinds-green, yellow, red and black. The last ones, to be totally honest, is the last stage for all of them and we try to consume them before but sometimes you just get sick of this amount of bananas. Anyway, no electricity food is banana and the code to say that we don't have electricity is Hakuna Banana. It was really funny to receive a message from one of the DIs whowas in campus and I was in town. Just Hakuna Banana and I knew that we can't cook so I should bring bananas from town.

50 kwacha is known as Higway-Limbe. For similar reason as the spider...

And if you want to know what would be the best souvenir from Malawi, then I'm telling you- it is Priscilas TCE T-shirt! It all came in one size and it was terribly big for her. One of the field officers offered that he can make it smaller for her. And when she got it back, it was amazing! Orange T-shirt, cut shorter, sewed again with green thread and not straight- of course, not even close to straight. Try to remember the first time you were using sewing machine and remember the line? Now multiply the not so good result with 20 and you are close! Then the sleeves were just tied under arpmpit part and sewed together and then cut off, but a big "ball" still remaining under both arms and when she put it on, one sleeve was much shorter than the other one. Amazing piece of work!

Another story that always makes me laugh- Pri went to fundraise and in one company she was asked to wait and was offered a choice of Fanta or Coke while she was waiting. She said that she would like a Fanta and immediately she was told that sorry, but we don't have Fanta. Being a resident for some time already, she asked politely, what do you have? And the reply was "Sprite!"

That's how every single day offers you something to wonder about and to remain sane just keep in mind- don't get angry, get surprised!

Whirlwinds

As it is getting closer to rainy season, we have stronger winds. Which is nice as it cools down the weather a bit at least. I don't know how, but sometimes it creates also whirlwinds and these are also getting stronger and stronger. It is very beautiful to see it from a distance- how it grabs big dry leaves and circles them around in the air while moving fast forward, but it is very funny to get on its way. It has happened three times with me. First time was during examinations.We were sitting and listening to presentations from students and as it was hot, we had all windows opened. Suddenly we heard the noise and all we could do was to turn back to it as it was just rushing trough the classroom. In from one side and out from the other side. The funniest part was to see us after that- all dirty, classroom covered with leaves, our table as medium sized potato field- ready to grow the crop and the student who was in front of classroomcompletely untouched! It was sooo funny.

The second time it happened, it was again inside, this time in my room while i was eating lunch. Again in from one window and out from the other. My soup got a nice dust flavour and I had a major cleaning action after that.

The third time happened the day before yesterday- i was on my way to toilet and i saw it coming. I was nearly hit with a shoe that it was carrying, but bathroom door stopped it. The shoe dropped while the wind was rushing forward and in two minutes, all that was left from this whirlwind was the lonely sad shoe. I wonder if the owner misses it.

And yesterday, some idiots were burning grass late in the evening and the winds got stronger so they lost a bit control and it became really big. Of course,the wind was towards our school. Spooky, but nothing luckily happened. Still... very irresponsible!

Giraffes bottom and strangest kind of luck!

It all happened on the day we had the trip to Nyala Park. But to make things more clear, I better start with some background because so many things happened before that trip. This time mainly regarding transport and our favourite sentence "Yes,but... no" worked again. That's how everything is- everything works until the last minute and you get a negative answer again.

It was a trip that we planned with all azungus (whites- volunteers and DNS teachers fromDenmark). We took the brave step and asked for the school minibus. We were told that if the driver says it will survive the trip, we can take it. Unfortunately it didn't pass this unofficial MOT. Well, understandable.That bus is crap, but it doesn't make it any different from the buses that are used as public transport between Lunzu and Blantyre.

Next option was to hire a car which meant only4 people could go, but as it became much more expensive, there were not so many who remained interested. Still we wanted to go all together and were looking for minibus options. One NGO agreed to give us a bus with a very reasonable price as we are volunteers. Nice, huh! Saturday morning at 7 was the time for departure, but the "Yes, but... no" kicked in again. The bus was stopped by police on Friday evening, the insurance papers were taken away and the driver had to go to police on Saturday morning. That is called corruption- it is a new bus on the road , so they have to pay to run it... stuuuupidand not legal at all! We got the phonecall around 8pm, which is very late in Malawi and we nearly gave up the idea to go to national park. The possibility was only to call the driver of the expensive car. Still, we wanted to go together. So, in trouble, but not giving up, we called our administrator, who has contacts of some drivers. He called to one and told us that the driver wants 80 000 kwacha. Dear Lord, that is a lot of money and we said no way. Like a miracle the price dropped to 35 000. That amount we were considering, but couple of people dropped the idea as it was obviously getting more expensive than planned in the beginning. After some more negotiations we got the price down to 25 000 and that was already a good offer,even for azungus! That covered bus rent, 2 drivers(???), fuel and park entrance for drivers.

Unbelieveable, but 7 am on Saturday we left, almost happy, just a bit concerned if everything will turn out ok.

It was a beautiful trip over the mountains. We saw nice valleys, a lake and a river, beautiful people carrying colorful things on their heads, many mangotrees full of fruits, small huts in the mountains and endless heat as we were in the hottest region of the whole country.

We arrived at 9.30 and were told that unfortunately they open at 11 today. So typical. In internet and also on the gate it says it is opened from 6 am to 6 pm, but we had to wait. It was really hot and some of us were dying for a toliet! This time, not me! But all we could do was to wait. If you start complaining here you might never be let in.

When it was time to go in,the admin called for a guide. Realy nice. Of course it took ages before the guide came and when he finally did, he needed a coffee break. Guess,what we were doing- yeah, sitting tightly together in the minibus, hoping to leave and waiting.

Finally we could enter the park and it was all worth it! Many birds and animals, but the biggest impression was to see giraffes and zebras in their very own natural environment. One giraffe probably didn't hear the bus coming (i suspect loss of hearing aid as the bus made noise that would awaken the dead) and suddenly the giraffes enormous leg was a meter away from our window and then it ran. Fast and extremely elegant. I don't know how animals of that size can move so elegantly. Anyway, in the end of the round in the park we were just sitting in a resting place under a roof, doing different things. I used the time to close my eyes and listen to the sounds. There were so many and it was so nice.

We left and one of the guards said there is a place where they have camels-very nearby. Ok, let's try this nearby...Of course it wasn't very near and we got los somany times, but who can resist to sweat in the minibus looking for camels when there is a possibility. But we did find them and Priscila and I even had a short ride on a camel. And the way they were eating raw mangoes... so funny animals.. Luckily they liked us and noone got spitting camel experience.

It was getting late and finally we were headed home. Just before Chirimba- the roundabout where left is way home through Chileka-very bumpy and dusty road in the middle of nowhere and straight is way home through Lunzu- nice and smooth road, some of it of course dirt road, but nice one, we asked the driver to go through Lunzu. He tried to get more money for that as it is longer way and so on.. which is not true and on better road he uses less fueland finally we managed to convince him. Lunzu it was and in the middle of this village the bus broke down, the engine was boiling as the driver didn't check water. We were out waiting, while the guys tried to cool it down and start again. But the engine was obviously angry and refused to make any sounds.

While we were waiting in a circle- bags on our stomachs... talking about stuff, an old manthat passed us slapped me in the face... I was a bit speechless and he just continued walking...like nothing... someone asked whyi didn't hit back... but i saw that he was carrying a bow and an arrow as well and i really didn't want him to use these as well. Locals who saw it came to say that he is crazy and doesn't know what he is doing. Well, my jaw was painful, but I said that it was lucky that nothing more happened and we were laughing at the fact that in a very strange African way we were lucky. Starting from the fact that the bus broke down in the village near to the school, not somewhere in the mountains. That that was the village, where our school transport is passing trough many times a day and we could just call the driver and wait for a car and that it was just a slap. Lucky or what!

So apart from minor insiginficant details, we had a great day out of Chilangoma! Sometimes it is just so necessary to be away.

Flying sock and other missing items

It is amazing what things can go missing here. For starters I lost my precious daily facial cream with sunblock and Priscila lost another cream when our schools carpenter came to fix table in our room. In any other case we would have stood there, but as we were told that this is our local guy, we continued our work. Next morning (as we both use it in the morning only) we found these things missing. We tried to ask how to get it back, but to be honest, not much was done and we can say bye for our precious belongings

The next losses are a bit more funny as durng cafe evenings people tend to loose their shirts, but after the last one, also a pair of pants went missing... and after doing laundry, someone took someone elses's pants. So a bit problematic with so many people living together... I better won't mention all the plates and cups that continuously take a hike.

But to the best part so far- how I lost a sock. I did my laundry as usual and was hanging it to dry. I dropped a sock. A wet sock! Of course i wanted to pick it up immediately as it is quite dirty around, red sand everywhere. And it was not there. Probably the strong wind that day just took it and I never saw it again. Amazing. I went around the houses to see if it is somewhere, but it was nowhere. I was laughing so bad.... I can imagine a bird flying by one day wearing the sock on its head or when i go to mount Mulanje, i find it there.... Funny!

Art Market

I was in Blantyre for the first time on Friday and I just got a quick tour of possibilities and places I might need to know where they are. For example bus station and Country Office and Post Office. The other absolute necessities were a shopping centre and art market. These are somewhat opposites.. or well absolute opposites. The first one is little Europe in Africa and the other one is so Africa that when you finally get out of there, you're exhausted. I mean seriously dead-tired, but owner of several items, which you really didnt know before that you needed. The art market is on one sidewalk in town centre and most often the guys sell their own handicrafts. Beautiful and colourful, specially the paintings, but also the rest. Whenever an azungu (white person) is nearby, they start fighting for your attention to THEIR production, everyone claiming that they haven't had any business today and that they need to feed the family and they won't charge you azungu price, but a Malawian price. Yeah, right. So when a price for a painting starts from 3000 kwacha, which they swear to God is Malawian price, it is possible to get it for 800 in the end. But that requires a lot of energy. They seem to enjoy it though. I think they would be rather dissapointed if you agreed with the first price given. The problem is that as I'm new here, I can't answer to a question like.. what is your highest price for this or that.. How should I know.... but i'm learning slowly but surely. So before realizing, I was a happy owner of this and that and to be honest, i don't really regret. I promissed myself I won't go there for some time now and I succeeded on Sunday. I was in town again and of course art market is opened, but i walked around it, but it didn't help as I was caught by salespeople in all other streets. Heeeelp. I think i will make a sign: I will not by anything today! Lets see if it helps.
Yesterday i was in town with my room-mate Pricsilla and it was geat, we got some work done and then we walked back from Lunzu to here, about 8 km. Up and down, up and down. Beautiful. We saw the extremely fast sunset as it was just in front of us and were talking about many things, bought a papaya and tried to respond or not respond to all the people greeting us and shouting azungu-azungu-azungu... Yeah, from kids it is ok to hear, but from adults I would expect a bit of a different behaviour.. After all, the school here in the bush has existed for 5 years, so 5 years of Azungus passing by the small villages alongthe road... But still, it was nice and the road is so much nicer when you walk than when you use a car. So I try to get back to my walking rhythm and discover more small places.

Just a week

Sun, warm sun touching my face. It is so dry that the weakest wind blows red sand off the roads. Here and there are houses, some of red bricks, some from material i'm still not sure what it is. Fields on both sides of the dry sandy road are also dry, growing most often nothing. Everything is waiting for the rain, but there is still a couple of months to go until the lush green gets its chance to have power. The heat is not exhausting, it is nice and warm, early mornings are sometimes even cold. Cold enough to find something long-sleeved from my bag.
The sounds of Africa can make me sit in one place and listen for a long time. At night you can see the birds that make all the noise at dawn. Big birds flying restlessly here and there and while finding your way in darkness towards the little house... you better watch your head and as i was also advised to keep on moving.. FAST... when you hear something in the bushes... difficult with my curiosity. Then the singing, it is just amazing, that is something everybody can do and you can just listen and listen without getting bored. On my walk on Saturday i met Dominic, an old man from a nearby village, true Catholic as he introduced himself, he pointed his finger towards a mountain and asked.. can you hear it? And i could, it was singing with joy, it was full of life even though it seemd to be far. Since then I try to keep my ears even more opened.
With all the slow motion around i was surprised to see the small life on the ground moving extremely fast and i learned a lesson that danger can occur from the ground- luckily before happenings that could put me in danger, so in a way curiosity is good.
Sun sets early, too early for me, but it also brings even more peace in this peaceful countryside of Malawi. I aprecciate the possibility to be here and i will keep all my senses alert to see small changes from day to day in everything, including me.

Africa, here I come!!!!

So, it's almost time for my departure. I better write something now as I have no idea if i have time to do it during my last days here. I'm going to Malawi on Wednesday, so in just two days and all I'm missing is malaria medicine. Everything else seems to be in order. It feels like I could fly. I don't know what was the last thing I wanted so much in my life. I just take it as it comes, ready for happiness, dissapointments, problems, beauty, work, dreaming. I can honestly say that I'm open for everything that Africa will offer for me. Strange, as I havent been there and I even cant say that stories that people have told are so facinating and inspiring. I have dreamt about it since I was a kid and the dream never left me. I want to go without having everybody else's experiences to rely on, without other's stories in my mind. I just want to go as me- just as I was dreaming about it as a child. Free to have it all, free to have it my way, free to discover, free to feel.

For all who are worried and afraid- don't be as everything that can happen to a person somewhere where she is happy, is worth happening and all the downs are nothing next to the ups. I promise to take care as much as I can with everything, you should know me.

Taking all the love from family and friends with me- I couldn't do this without every single one of you. Hopefully I can write from time to time to let you know how it is going. Stay in touch!

Robin of Loxley

It has been a survival week. It started off pretty nice on Monday, when I drove off in the morning to repair containers at sites. Armed with sand paper, paint, paintbrushes, new stickers, some cloths and most important- two tomatoes, I was ready to fight with English weather, bad second gear in my van, rusty containers and people asking stupid questions.. like what are you doing. For the last one I started to reply like my music teacher... I'm riding a bicycle.

The day was fine, list of places to visit looong and I was hoping a bit that Torben kind of forgot the plan about sending me out with Gregor the next 4 days. But of course he didn't. In the beginning I was just a bit uncomfortable with the idea that I have to be English teacher on wheels.. means, we were supposed to collect clothes from containers together and we both can manage this alone, but he needed to practise English.

On Tuesday we drove off quite far North from here- to Preston and Blackpool. He was driving like a maniac- around 180 km/h and I wouldnt call him a talented nor experienced driver. And I constantly had to fight for the right to do something as well without being pampered all the f... time. I wasn't allowed to carry bags, open containers and heavens if I tried to lift the container door... this is not a woman's job, you know.. you go and make coffee or tea.... I wanted to kill him... but I need to keep my CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) papers clean. Hahaa. Anyway, we got back alive, I felt a bit seasick from his driving, but didn't say anything to the bosses. Of course I did ask him to drive normally, but what do women know anyway...

That wasn't the case the next day though... It was a nice place where we had to collect- in North Wales, but I was too terrified and horrified and my blue mark from the seatbelt felt uncomfortable enough, so I decided to let the cat out of the bag as I actually do like my life and I knew he wouldnt change his driving no matter how many times I asked.

I got what I wanted and the last two days I have been fixing containers again and where- around Sherwood forest and I was enjoying so much today the view in Loxley that I forgot where I had to go and I forgot that I forgot, so I was just driving and enjoying the view when I suddenly realised that I was supoosed to be working.. hmm, but where... and where was I... As I was near to the border with Gloucestershire, I had of course driven several miles over there, but as my working area was in Warwickshire, I had that map and Birmingham map only. Looovely, but that was the moment when rain stopped, sun finally came out and I couldnt care less. Feeling a bit like Robin of Loxley from Men in Tights (read: idiotic), but that was the best part of my day.

I suppose I will take a day off tomorrow, I've been waking up before 6 am for too long, getting tired. I miss people to communicate with. I mean normally, not just about containers and fundraising. I plan to buy a camera and would like to enjoy the process of getting it, but I guess I'll just get it done when possible and enjoy later.

Just a bit more.. and I'm in Africa anyway, where I'm sure I will enjoy! Until then, I keep discovering places in England (I'm sure there are not many of those left), practise painting and praying for good weather and if someone could tell me how on earth should I fill the Malawi visa application... It could as well be written in Chinese.. this bloody official English language...

Hugs!

Lopp reisimisele...

No olgem ausad, keegi ei usu seda pealkirja, kaasa arvatud ma ise, kuid peale viimast lyhireisi olen ma taas sellest meelelhutusvormist pisut tydinenud. Mis siis voib juhtuda teel Keilast CICD-sse. Uskuge mind, uskumatult palju. Alustades sellest, et joudes veerand yksteist lennujaama, et registreerida end kell 12 valjuvale lennule sain teada, et lennukil tehniline rike ja lend valjub hoopis kell neli. Naeratades ulatati mulle 9 eurone toidutalong ja registreeriti mind lennule ara. Kena seegi, muidu vea oma pagasit edasi ja tagasi. Aga yldiselt vaga tore, eriti kui arvestada, et mu kallis kool ei ole just korvuti Stanstedi lennujaamaga ja mul oli rongipilet ostetud varem, mida ei saa vahetada ega tagastada ja summa, mis samal paeval valjuvale rongile pileti peale laheks ei kuulu numbrite hulka, mida ma sooviks mainida. No egas midagi, laksime tagasi koju, sest mida paganat sa ikka lennujaamas teed ja kodu ju lahedal. Oleks te vaid mu oe nagu nainud, see oli priima... Moned tunnid said veedetud ysan kenasti, maasikaid nosides, rattaga Kloogarannas kaies ja teisele katsele. Sedapuhku tundus, et akki valjubki lend kell neli, kuid vota napust... siiski ei olnud edasine hilinemine enam markimist vaart, kell viis pyhkis lend minema ja ja kohutavas tuules laperdades maandus Stanstedis pea kolm tundi hiljem. Lennu muutis veidigi meeldivamaks mu 9 eurone talong, mille eest ma peamiselt mahla join, sest janu kippus tapma, kuid ka siis oli mul 4 euri veel alles ja stjuardess soovitas veini kaasa osta. No ja seda ma siis tegin, hea ettepanek ja iial ei tea, millal lonks kangemat ara kulub Ma kohe aimasin, et sitemad ajad on veel ees.

Loomulikult oli rong ammu lainud ja ma yritasin leida bussi, mis laheks samal ohtul, mida loomulikult ei eksisteerinud, rongipileti hinda ei julge siiani mainida ja ka autorent oli ylalpool mu voimetest. Egas midagi, tui lennujaamas oobida, kuigi jube ahvatlev tundus lihtsalt pohjapoole kondima hakata, aga siiski otsustasin peale kange kohvi ryypamist, mis sulaselgelt moistuse jalle koju toi, et see pole siin Tallinn-Keila distants ning laksin sobivat pinki jahtima, et ennast kylili keerata. Kuna kell polnud kuigi palju, siis see isegi veel onnestus, sest paar tundi hiljem muutub lennujaama ootesaal yldiseks magalaks. Kes pingil, kes koti otsas, kes porandal ning moni esteet alustab viisakalt kohvikus laua taga teed ryybates, kuid paari tunni parast voib naha kena pilti, kus ta kogu oma esinduslikkuses nina vastu lauda ara vaanab erinevaid norsatavaid haalitsusi esile tuues.

Minust pole esteeti ega muidu kuigi komplitseeritud tegelast, ma momisesin pingil, aga syda laks haledaks, kui yks lastega pere tuli ja neil viie peale vaid kolm istekohta oli ja ma lihtsalt loovutasin oma voodi neile ja laksin kompsima. kaua ei viitsinud ja keerasin porandale kylili. Paar asja kylje alla, et kylm ara ei votaks ja proovisin magada, mis loomulikult ei onnestunud ning tuligi paastev idee. Mul ju vaike veinipudel. Kui see tyhja kohu peale ara limpsida, siis peaks ju uinutama kyll. Ettevaatusabinoud tarvitusele- aratuskell helisema ning asjad turvaliselt kylje alla ning limps-limps. Peris hea oli ka ja toimis, niitis mu maha kenasti ja magasin kuni hammaste plagisemine yles ajas kolm tundi hiljem. Ebaoiglus, karjuv ylekohus, aga midagi pole teha. Panin asjad taas kokku ja laksin soojenduskondi tegema. Et see hommik ka ennast nii kaua oodata laseb, kui pole sobivaid magamistingimusi. Aga see saabus siiski ja lopuks avati ka bussipiletite myygipunkt, kust ostsin hinnalise pileti Londoni kesklinna. Otsebusse lennujaamast minu middle-of-nowhere sihtpunkti ei lahe.

Terve tee magasin, sest lopuks oli mul soe. Valisin koha, kus paike pastis otse nakku ja loin kassi kombel nurru kogu poolteist tundi Londonisse. Teades oma varasemast kogemusest, et pagasit pole Londoni kesklinnas kuskile lukustada, pakkisin oma asajd koik yhte kotti ja laksin kondima. Ilm oli ilus ja mul oli lootus veel sel ohtul jouda oma sihtpunkti. Ostsin pileti esimesele Hulli valjuvale bussile ja jargnes neli tundi kulgemist mooda Londoni tanavaid ja parke. Paris tore oli.

Buss laks yle ootuste oigel ajal valja ja monda aega nautisin vabadust laiutada kahel pingil. Seda roomu kauaks ei olnud, kuid daame, kes mu korvale tuli oli aarmiselt kena ja vaikne. Kuna tee on pikk, kuus tundi loksumist, siis poolel teel tehakse alati peatus, et saaks sirutada ja kohvitada jne. Alati on ka kindel aeg, millal peab bussi tagasi tulema, et siis soitu jatkata. Seekord aga jai yks vanaharra kadunuks ja tema veetlev proua oli mures mis mures. Bussijuhid lippasid ringi ja otsisid harrat, proua ise laks ka uuesti valja, et kadnud abikaasa leida, kuid see lannu nagu vits vette. Mul hakkas muidugi kohe multifilm jooksma, kuidas mehel sai lihtsalt siiber, kuid siiski ta leiti ja onu oli lihtsalt service stationi ragastikus kuidagi suutnud teisele poole teed jouda labi tunneli moodi asja ja ei saanud enam aru, kus ta on. Pool tundi plaanitust hiljem alustas kogu seltskond roomsalt oma teekonda.

Mones mottes mul isegi vedas, et see segadus vahele tuli, sest see vahendas mu ooteaega Hullis, mis oleks olnud kymneid kordi igavam, kui see husband-alert kuskil krt teab kus. Veerand tundi vaid ootamist ja valjus forever-taking-bus Winesteadi ja viimased paar kilomeetrit bussipeatusest nagu ikka jalgsi koolini. Saabumisaeg oli veninud pea 24 tundi. Laupaeva ohtu asemel pyhapaeva ohtu. Tunnistan, et olin veidi vasinud, rasitud ja ainuke soov oli oma tuppa hiilida. Peaaegu onnestus. Sealt valja sain alles teisipaeva hommikul, sest kohutav peavalu niitis mu esmaspaeva varahommikul maha ja suurt selles paevast onneks ei maleta.

Nyyd olen taas harjutamas kaunist filosoofiat, mida kuulsin Tiinalt, et miks vihastuda, kui voib yllatuda. Ja nyyd siis taiel rinnal yritan yllatuda, aga eks nais, kaua jaksan...

Ilm on kahtlaselt sygisene, pihlakas siin-seal punane, janesed jooksevad igal pool endiselt ringi, kassikakud saadaks kuskile puhkama, et nad mu akna taga sellist larmi ei teeks ja kui keegi kysib, et millal ma Aafrikasse lahen, siis ma ei vastuta enam oma tegude eest. Vaike vihje: MA EI TEA!

Aga muidu hei hopsti ja kall-kall ja arge siis keegi yllatuge, kui ylehomme kellegi ukse taga kella helistan ja ytlen, et ah sitta kah, ma ei viitsi enam.

I know you know, but do you know that I know that everybody knows?

As I'm back in CICD and out of all normal activities and surrounded by crazyness, something special happens every day to make my days unforgettable. Let's just pick one day to describe a so-called normal day here. That's what everybody always asks anyway- just tell me how your ordinary day looks like in CICD. So I'll try to describe and i must give a background story first, otherwise it's just too messy.

So we have a new GAIA team who starts DI course in September (as I did 2 years ago) and it's a crazy team. Seriously... Full of Brazilians, mixed with Argentinans, a Colombian, Hungarians and Russians. I was asked to go to Newcastle with them to help the teacher there to start up the team and be a driver as they don't have anybody to drive the minibus. So I went and instead of agreed 5 days there, I stayed for 2 weeks and to be honest, I feel like a member of this team now. They are crazy, but sweet. Imagine Agustina (Argentinan girl, who is extremely nice, funny and crazy)- I'm in the office, trying to figure out the next day and she comes to the door and says- So, tell me how much you love me.. then interrupts herself and says: Wait, I'll go and take a shower and then you tell me how much you love me... then comes back in a minute and says: no, you can tell me now how much you love me, cuz Jane is taking a shower now... I was in cramps... and so was everybody else around me. And as I brought Agustina to the public already, i will also choose a day description, when I was was working together with her and that was her first day of Door to Door clothes collection as my co-driver (if you could just hear her saying this word with her Spanish accent--aaah).

So first i took the bus with 8 people to take them out leafletting, finished with that, i returned home, changed the bus to a van, took Agustina and 6 maps to collect and we went to work with my favourite Mercedes van. Somehow the new teacher in Newcastle house changed the system of checking oil and water in all cars and instead of drivers doing it, she has a person responsible for this. And this is not up to me to argue, so i expected that the person knows what he is doing. Anyway... to the issue. We just started when Agustina jumped out to pick up a bag and completely forgot about left-side traffic. What did I see in my mirror... she was hit by a passing car as she looked to the wrong direction while crossing the street. Luckily just a bit with the mirror and the car stopped and the woman asked if she was ok and she was, but what a way to start a day...

So we continued collecting and in the middle of first map, my oil lamp started to blink. I told Agustina, that i better drive to the tankstation around the corner and buy some oil, maybe they didnt check this van in the morning. So I did and i stopped at the station, went to buy oil and when I came back I saw, where all my oil was.. on the ground under the van. Hmm.. just in case I didnt add any as I suspected (strange enough) an oil leak. I called the teacher to ask what recovery company we use and she promissed to call them. I checked the time and started to get worried as i had many maps to collect and 8 people to pick up from leafletting areas. While we were waiting for the teacher to call back and let us know, what time recovery comes I noticed that the station is closing and the manager came to me as well and asked me to move my van as the tanker is coming in. Oopsy.. i couldn't do that so we were discussing how and where to move it. So the staff, including the manager of the station were pushing my van aside as it was exactly on top of the filling point.

After receiving a call saying that the recovery comes in an hour... and probably we cannot use the van that day, I started to think how on earth am I going to collect my maps and I remembered that I have a minibus at home, which is only 5 km away or so. So an idea came to me: i run home, take the bus while Agustina is waiting for the recovery and bring the bus and whatever happens to the van, we can continue collecting with the bus. So I did it. I ran home, took the bus, drove back and the recovery was there early, they had checked everything and the problem was a missing oil tank cap. Of course all oil was out and all over the engine... Bloody hell... so they had filled the oil i bought earlier, placed a new cap and everything was fine.. except the fact that the whole engine was oily, but thay said it is ok to continue with that van right now it just needs a wash. So i had a working van AND a minibus. So where to park the bus? I saw a pub and went to ask if we could park there for the whole day. It was OK with them as I explained what had happened and they got a good laugh and offered me some mineral water after my running from Kenton to Fenham and we continued collecting with the van. Of course we couldn't finish before I had to pick up people. So poor Agustina had to wait once again. I parked the van to the Pub's parking, took the bus, went to pick up people, dropped them at home, drove back to the parking, parked the bus, took the van and we continued collecting. When we finished, we were completely exhausted. I took my dear co-driver home and asked Neto to drive me to the parking to pick up the minibus. He couldn't really understand why should the minibus be somewhere else if everybody's at home, but I guess he trusts me and came with me without asking any extra questions.

And of course, When i finally got the bus back home as well.. i got hundreds of questions about the next day, maps, where we should leaflet and who collects in which area.. got to bed after 1 am AGAIN, being sure that noone knows what tomorrow brings... It brought a new chaos, but that's how it is here... One "ordinary" day after another. Hahaa.. P.S. Blue marks on Agustinas arm from the car mirror have healed, my ankle after running got swollen, but has recovered to it's normal size.

Map in front of me

So I have made a change again and no hoists, sudocream, itch-relief, pharmacy trays, pads, incosheets or urine bags are involved. At least for now. I'm in CICD again and looking at the map in front of me... Malawi seems nice, also Mozambique... and I just started senior team, means working as the teachers right hand here and fundraising to go to Africa. If it will be Malawi I will probably leave in two months, if Mozambique, I need a bit more to learn the language. Why wasn't I born in Portugal.... would be so much easier now.
Spring really kicks in and on my first day here I got a special "Rolf-task" already. Jonas and I went to bring back one clothes container which was giving a good result, but kids loved to set it in fire. As it was not in the best neighborhood, it was really put there to stay for ages. Heavy metal container with screws and cement and all stuck to the ground. My god, it was so CICD to get it away from there. The whole neighborhood came to watch of course and were really hoping probably that this heavy thing will fall on our toes or something.. they had to leave dissapointed...
And then we were supposed to pick a up a car from Service. Well, i jumped out of our truck and told Jonas that it doesn't make sense if he waits, I'll just take the car and come a bit later. Which car i was supposed to pick up, i had no idea about. Tiny little insiginficant detail. You can imagine me, dirty a bit from removing the container and getting it on our truck, entering a Peugeot fancy showroom and asking a red car. No registration nr, i had no idea who of the school's staff actually ownes it and if in India I was from the moon when i asked to make a phone call to Estonia, then now i really was from the moon asking for a red car. It feels so CICD, you have no idea. But in a way I feel like home here. Right now i have single room with a cd player and even tv. Comforts of Senior team i guess. I already gave a presentation, tomorrow morning is booked by Wendy and soon I might go to Newcastle..... Home sweet home and do some clothes collection or something. Luuvly! I feel alive again!
Thanks to all who supported me with taking this decision and I try to be good and let you know, how things are going and where I'm about to go!
The world map is still there.... and i can see a little person messing around in Southern Africa... oooh, it's me i guess! Hahaa

Life is like a box of Chocolates...

... that one of my clients gave me last night. Just to show his appreciation. sweet, isn't it. All different chocolates in a big box- you never know what you gonna' get... In my case- nothing as i cannot eat them, right. So is with the job i applied for. Well, on to next.

Yesterday i drove to office to drop our shedules from last week. while i was passing one big garden center, i saw a huge sign "Pure Indian paving available". I wondered.. i still do- What could that be? First i thought that these guys make money by selling dust. Then my mind went to all the stuff that is mixed with dust and i got the interest to know, how much it would cost to get it all and if cows are included or just dog-s... Anyway, it must me something fancy, but i got my mood back up and to be honest- i took one of the chocolates last night as well.

Ja mille krdi parast peab minu elu olema nagu seebiooper...

Noh, arusaadavalt ei kannata see inglisekeelset teksti ja ega ka emakeeles ei ole muud oelda kui et need read peavad tyhjaks jaama...

No control over weather and my mood.. haha

Long time since i last wrote, but i've been busy as hell. Trying to get some sleep and do everything that needs to be done. Including the crazy idea to apply for a new job. Well, people need change, don't they... and i've been working here ALREADY for a month... so no wonder i'm thingking of changing the job. Phew, i'm happy if at least two people in the world agree with me. So, if you, the current reader could be one of them, i would really appreciate!

I had the interview on Friday and it went well, but of course i'm not the only candidate for a senior instructor position in JCA (camps, adventures, teambuilding, sports etc), but i will already get to know the result on Monday and if it is positive, i'll leave this place Wed. or Thur. I would really love it. You can only guess how the office will hate me here.... specially as they just asked me to take relief care position. I probably won't enjoy telling them that i'll leave, but even crazy people have rights... including me and right now i only have to give one day notice.

Now to the weather... My interview was in Portsmouth and Friday was so warm, that even i was walking outside without my jacket (+15 at least). After the interview i went for a walk on the beach and around Marina, Port Solent. i went to see a castle in Portchester and was walking around 10-15 km that day. It was sunny, nice and warm. Today is Sunday and we had heavy snowfall in the morning, with temperature below 0. Crazy.... and driving this tiny automatic "Smart" in a country where half of the population haven't even heard of winter tyres.... My car was doing exactly what it wanted and i was constantly thinking that i'm actually lucky as it is not Monday, when everybody is out, going to work...

After 3 clients i had a short break when i normally have my breakfast, but as there was fresh snow, i decided to make a snowman instead.. you know, like other neighbourhood children- hahaaa, but it is such a cool guy now, everyone is smiling, when they step in as this buddy is greeting them with his cute smile outside. It probably won't last long as it is getting warmer already.

In general it is going with ups and downs, everybody is exited about my possible job change and surprisingly they support me and to be honest i'm not the only one in the house who is looking for something else to do... So we try to keep each others mood up. It is sometimes tricky, specially at 5 am, but it's so early only 60 seconds per day, so we survive ;-)

Proof of boredom

It's a lovely Monday morning, I finished my early morning shift and have a couple of minutes to my next call. I woke up this morning before six without any alarm, was happy and ready to change the world for a better place. Well, what could encourage me so? I had a couple of enjoyable hours last night as I could sit in my living room and watch a movie! Yea-yea... that's what I mean by proof of boredom here. My highlight of three weeks is a movie. I also cannot believe it, but "Cellular" did the job. Let's see how long it lasts.
In general the job is going fine. I hate some double ups, when the other carer is useless (which made me hurt my wrist yesterday quite bad) or just bossy (which happens every morning, but i'm not really paying attention to that), but i don't have too many of these. This week i will also have a day off. After three weeks. I must admit, i look forward to that. Maybe then i can get rid of yellow circles in front of my eyes, laughing on my own without a reason and hopefully will have some time to cook something else than cup-a-soup or instant noodles. Shit man, my menu is terrible.

Show must go on... even with curls involved ;-)

I must have reached a new level in my life. I don't really know whether it is stress, happiness, Tesco value rice pudding in my menu or respect towards my very very good friend Liina- but to the point- my hair is getting curly. I don't just mean slight waves, but real curls on my forehead. It is funny to look in the mirror in the morning and even more i understand Liina's struggle.. the hair doesn't want to stay where you want it, but where it wants itsself. It also made me wonder, how far is the time, when i wake up in the morning with dark skin :-) I would like it though...

Then from the latest news- a real life-size bitch moved to our house. It can be dangerous to cough while she is taking her nap... and if there's a know-it-all in the world, it must be the person i've just met. Good, there has to be someone who knows best, but i keep on doing my terrible mistakes and continue ignoring. I will probably get punished, but better punished than obeying stupidities. Show must go on... even with curls involved.

One step closer to crazyness

And here I am, on my lunch break and happy as a child on Christmas eve, cuz i can sleep long for some days. And what is sleeping long? Until SIX AM!! Isnt that nice to have such a chance... and i'm truly happy about it and it feels long.. an hour longer than i should. So, crazyness, here i come.

I'm not responsible for losses in human-kind

So, here we go, working and surviving the terrible weather we got over the weekend. Already on saturday i had a feeling of making my point extremely clear to one of my colleagues... obviously it didn't work the way i wanted to. She is still a pain in the ass. I suspect a whole serie of complexes and loss of brain. At least inability to think. I'm not a big meat eater lately.. but i feel the hunger for blood. She is constantly teaching me stuff that she probably had huge difficulties with. Driving for example. As she was such a show off and explained me in details how to drive a smart car in uk traffic, i was just listening and laughing inside.. i got a brilliant idea later from a friend.. that i should have said.. thank you very much.. now let me teach YOU how to drive buses in uk. But anyway.. it aint worth it and we just share a couple of clients.

On sunday i met Frankie in London, it was really nice. Beautiful day. Unfortunately a day off gets over before you know it and before payment i most likely cannot go anywhere anymore, but it was worth it. Walking along the Thames and listening to music and having a cup of Latte with a view to the river and all. I think most groups sitting in this outside cafe were bigger than our group of two, but i'm sure we were the loudest ones.

Moving is in my blood

So i moved again. This time from Hersham to Guildford, but as i'm a professional in packing, i was done in 20 minutes.

The funniest part of today was that i was offered a new and better paid job in this company. And that in the middle of my training... i dont mind of course, I got a new job description and couple of weeks to practise care assistant job, then they will invite for a meeting and i might become supervisor. Interesting.

With this piece of information i flew home laughing all the way. That was a completely new type of promotion option...

The new house is ok. A bit crowded, but i'll survive. Kitchen is a bit of a nightmare for me, but i'll get used. From my room i can go to the garden-kind-of-thing. Comfy.

Home, sweet home.. in UK again

So, as many people constantly ask me how i'm doing and where i am, i decided to make it easier to everybody. I'll go with the flow and start a blog. I should have done it years ago, to have notes of my life in Denmark, UK, India etc aaa.. i forgot Estonia... But better late than never.
So I arrived on 3rd of March, having no idea, where to go, but had no problem getting there (or well.. here). By now i can already point the place on the map, where i stay and that is useful, i'm telling you.
I'm in training right now to become a home care assistant.. for those, who don't know, and so far i really enjoy... Only yesterday evening i took an expression "home sickness" to a new level for myself as i have no clue, which home i'm missing... anyway it is more the people as it was sooooo boring and noone to talk to and if so then without a common language. So i was CICD Uk-TCGD India-HOME Estonia- sick, cuz i just wanted to chat and laugh and be sarcastic, you know- all this typical estonian things- I must thank Helen here. Otherwise i wouldn't know anymore if i still belong to the nationality called "estonians".
On my second day here, i was asked to go for driving test. With a SMART car and automatic one as well. Funny. My left leg was twitching constantly and left hand was changing gear on every roundabout and crossing. But believe it or not, i passed the test.
I still find british people crazy. They really try to convince themselves they live on a tropical island.. wearing summer clothes, also on kids and the temperature is around 0. Good luck, no wonder so many of them need all this home care stuff if they dont take care of themselves... but who am i to tell, maybe it is also good for immune system. NOOOT