Thursday, March 28, 2013

March 29 - Misty morning in Norhern Malawi - On the way to Cape Maclear


Each photo is worthy hundred words, therefore here is over one thousand words.

Misty morning photos were taken early in the morning in Northern Malawi, close to Mzuzu. Elevation of this part of Malawi is approx. 1,100 m above sea level.

Svaka slika vrijedi stotinu rijeci, pa evo preko tisucu rjeci.
Slke su napravljene rano ujutro u sjevernom dijelu Malawija, blizu Mzuzua. Nadmorska visina je oko 1000m, otprilike kao planina Mosor.









March 29 - The Office at St. John's Hospital

The office for William and me
My desk


My desk

View from the window when it rains (the drops can be really huge)

Rain slows down and sun comes out

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

March 28 - St.John's Hospital in Mzuzu

Here are some photos from St.John's Hospital and its surrounding. Due to patient privacy I did not take any photos inside the hospital. You can also notice that I avoided taking photos with the people around the hospital as well.Hospital is not this empty outside; usually it is oposite.

Evo i nesto slika iz bolnice St.John's. Zbog privatnosti pacijenata, nisam radio nikave slike unutar bolnice, a i izbjegavao sam slike sa ljudima izvan bonice (neki se ljudi jos uvijek ne vole slikavati). Bolnica ne izgleda obicno ovako prazna.

St.John's Hospital main entrance

Main entrance
Trees, bushes, flowers and grass are between all buildings
Parking lot and builling with the dentist and X-ray
The chapel

A view from the road
Nursing College across the road that is part of the same Diocese


House of hospitality
Well maintained vegetation on the compound

More of well maintained vegetation

March 27 - Some flowers in Malawi (Updated)




March 26 - Not Angry but Crazy Birds !

The crows in Malawi are huge and they are the size of a big chicken. All of them have some white feathers in spite of dominant black colour. They would be useful in Hitchcock "Birds" remake :))
In the morning when these big crows walk on the roof they sound like small children or Hobbits walking on the roof. The first time I heard them I though that three was a big rat in the ceiling. Now I am glad there were only crows. Surprisingly, in spite of their size, they are afraid of people. All these photos I had to take using zoom through the window and hiding behind the curtain.

Vrane u Malawiju su ogromne i velicine su povece kokosi. Osim toga imaju i bijelo perje, iako je crno dominantno. Bile bi veoma korisne za novu verziju Hitchcockovog filma "Ptice".
Kada sam prvi put cuo ove vrane da hodaju na krovu zvucale su kao da mala djeca ili Hobiti hodaju po krovu. Mislio sam da smo imali velikog stakora ispod izolacije krova. Bio sam sretan da su to bile samo vrane. Iznenadjujuce je da usprkos velicini ove se vrane boje ljudi. Sve slike sam morao slikati kroz prozor sa zoomom sakrivajuci se iza zavjese da ih ne preplasim. 

Should I cook or should I eat raw food today?

Let's explore the area.
Here is a nice big garbage can for a big bird like me.

Let's check out what is on the menu today.

Not a bad selection at this place.

Time to go. Check please.
Happy couple on the roof.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

March 25 - Guesthouse at St. John's Hospital (Outside view)

East side view
East side vew from the road
Main door
Back door entrance

West side view

March 23 - Dinner at Rona's place

Today, Jessica, Jason and I went to the tennis court. I was not playing of course because with my astigmatism and glasses I am not talent for any sports involving the ball, particularly fast moving small ball. Jessica, Jason and later Rona and Nick played well and a young Malawian guy was in charge to make them sweat. At he court I met Rona from the Philippines, Joe form Cleveland, Ohio, Anne from Quebec City and Nick from Montreal.Rona has been working at OSC in Mzuzu for one year and she plans to stay here.  Joe has been in Malawi for three years and he has a start-up company providing security devices. Anne and Nick were in Mozambique for one year; Anne was teaching and Nick was dealing with the irrigation. Now when their contracts is over they will travel around Africa for another year.
Rona was kind enough to invite all of us to her place for a dinner. everyone brough some food or drinks. We had a nice dinner with a lot of various and delicious food. I supposed to make gin and tonic for anyone who wanted it. You will find out soon why I say "supposed".
James and Jessica showed me a new supermarket Chipicu Plus, which had much better selection of everything and better prices too. I was so excited when I saw a well stocked fridge full of Schweppes for almost quarter of the price that I paid a few days ago for one can at the previous store Cash and Carry. All bottles had only Schweppes logo on it. I happily grabbed 10 200 ml bottles.
After the dinner I made nice and strong drinks and you know what, the drink was not bitter at all. Newbie to the country did not know that the name of the drink is on the top of the bottle so I took soda water and slightly yellowish ginger ale. For ginger ale I thought that the bottle was little bit older or that the slight colour was reflection from he other bottles in the fridge.
I learned from that experience. Also, when I bought four green lemons two of them were green oranges, which of course I took with myself for making a drink. The other two pieces of citrus fruit, that I left at home, were really green lemons. 
Anyway, after the dinner we split in two teams and we played pantomime by guessing 10 words that the other team put down. It was fun, especially when we could not explain the word in 2 minutes time. 
And one more thing. i saw the first cat in Malawi. Rona has four pets: two dogs and two cats.
The cat that I saw was 9 months old.

Danas smo Jessica, Jason i ja otisli na teniski teren. Ne, ja nisam igrao tenis jer sa mojim astigmatizmom i naocalama ja sam potpuno netalentiran za sve sportove s loptom, narocito brzim i malim lopticama. Jessica, Jason a kasnije Rona i Nick su igrali sa mladim momkom iz Malawija koji ih je svih troje dobro oznojio. Kad smo dosli na teren upoznali smo: Ronu sa Filipina, Joea iz Cleveland, SAD, Anne iz Quebec Cityja i Nicka iz Montreala. Rona je u Malawiju vec godinu dana, radi za organizaciju OSC i planira ostati u Malawiju. Joe je osnovao kompaniju koja prodaje i postavlja uredjaje za sigurnost. Anne i Nick su bili u Mozambiku godinu dana gdje je Anna poducavala a Nick se bavio navodnjavanjem. Njihovi ugovori su zavrsili te ce sada putovati po Africi slijedecih godinu dana.
Rona je bila ljubazna da nas sve pozove kod sebe na veceru. Svatko je donio nesto hrane ili pica (kao u studentskim danima). Imali smo finu vecericu sa dosta razlicite i ukusne hrane. Ja sam trebao biti zaduzen za gin i tonic. Vidjeti (citati) cete zasto kazem "trebao".
James i Jessica su mi pokazali novi ducan Chipicu Plus, koji je imao puno bolji izbor svega, a i bolje cijene. Tako mi je bilo drago sto sam napokon nasao frizider pun Schweppesa za skoro cetvrtinu cijenu sto sam platio za jednu konzervu prije par dana. Sve boce cu imale samo Schweppes znak na njima. Sretno sam ubacio 10 boca od 200 ml  sa police u kosaricu.
Poslije vecere napravio sam par finih i jakih "gin-tonika" i znate sto,  pice uopce nije bilo gorko kao sto je trebalo biti. Novopridoslica u zemlju nije znao da je ime pica otisnuto na vrhu boce te sam uzeo soda vodu i lagano zuckasti ginger ale. Za ginger ale sam mislio da su dvije boce bile malo starije ili da je to bila refleksija od drugih boca u frizideru.
Gibonni bi rekao: "Ovo mi je skola, drugi put cu pametnije". Osim tonika sam kupio sam i "cetiri" zelena limuna. Poslije se ispostavilo da su dvije bile zelene narance, koje sam ja naravno uzeo sa sobom da napravim pice. Bar je sve voce spadalo u agrume.
U svakom slucaju poslije vecere smo igrali pantomimu. Podijeli smo se u dva tima i pogadjali smo 10 rijeci sto je drugi tim napisao na papiricima paira. Bilo je zabavno, narocito kada ne bismo uspjeli objasniti rijec u dviije minute.
E, jos nesto vidio sam prvu macku u Malawiju. Rona za kucne ljubimce ima dvije macke i dva psa. Macka je bla stara devet mjeseci.


Joe, Rona, Anne, James, Jessica and Nick (I was taking a photo)

First cat in Malawi - Rona's pet
Lap cat enjoys spending time with Anne from Quebec City

Saturday, March 23, 2013

March 24 - Mixed photos


USAID Office in Lilongwe


After the meeting 1
After the meeting 2

Our excellent driver Kennedy in Lilongwe

Likuni Hospital in Lilongwe 1

Likuni Hospital in Lilongwe 2

Likuni Hospital in Lilongwe 3