Day 7

Day 7- Day of relaxation



After days of travelling, early morning Masses and busy days it was very exciting when it was announced that today would be a free day. No getting up before six, no sports days and definitely no nsima and rice. Instead we slept in without setting an alarm, walked in the sun and ate sugar cane.
Even though we had the luxury of a lie in Celia, Paul and Anne all got up rather early and took a walk down to Mzuzu stadium where the celebrations for the 47th Independence Day were being held. Hours later the rest of us rolled out our beds and joined them, Mzuzu was especially busy not only because it was Independence Day but because Mzuzu was where President Bingu Wa Mutharika had decided to celebrate the day. After a walk along the road at the stadium we all piled into a café called Food Land, pizzas and burgers all round! To say it was a luxury would be an understatement, especially for me (a vegetarian) as most meals I have been eating have been rice, rice and more rice.
After lunch some of us needed to change money again so we headed back to our dodgy dealer in the back of a ceramics shop; and once again we bought pictures and bracelets from the guys that led us to our illegal friend.
Even though we absolutely love it in Malawi some of us are definitely missing the joys of the internet so cue the long search of Mzuzu to find an open internet café. Unfortunately a lot of the businesses in the city were closed due to the celebrations and we had to continue our day not knowing the latest gossip on facebook and twitter. After we had given up all hope on finding a working computer we spotted a few computers in the hotel, which we were in for a couple of drinks, result! However that did mean we had lost Michael N for an hour. The sunbird hotel is quite popular with the rich and famous so when Monica, Stephanie and myself were taking a wee walk around we spotted a convoy of trucks with VIP stickers on the front and naturally had to slow right down and have a nosey. Unfortunately we saw no-one of interest and ended up looking a bit creepy.
After a round or two of drinks and a couple of games of pool we decided to head home, Celia, Anne and Paul walking; Michael N, myself, Louise and Steph in a taxi headed to St Peters and Michael D, Jen, Bernadette and Monica in a taxi to pick up our next lot of Pizzas. More than half an hour later the food finally arrived and was demolished in about half that time. Pizza and chips twice in one day, but no complaints. I think we were all just happy that we weren’t eating Osama, Bingu, Gaddafi or Saddam the four live chickens the cooks had in the kitchen that we had tastefully named. We divided up our leftovers and gave them to our watchman and the lovely women that usually cooked for us. After stuffing our selves our beds were calling and we had a fairly early night.
What another fantastic day!! I don’t think any of us are ready to go home! But of course we do miss our friends and family, see you all soon! 

Caroline and the Malawi Team xxx

P.s Kathryn stay out of my room, love you haha 