Hedgehog Sighting

I saw my first Malawian hedgehog today! Actually, it might be the first hedgehog I've seen in the wild anywhere, come to think of it.

I was chatting with one of the teachers in front of the Staffroom when this little guy ambles by. So of course I had to take a picture. The teachers and students thought it was funny that I was so interested in it. They picked it up to show me it was safe to touch it, but then it curled into a little protective ball. I touched its quills. They were thick and sharp, but didn't hurt since I just touched them gently.

One of the students pretended like he was going to step on it, so I told them if anyone hurt it, I would fail them! I was only joking... maybe. But luckily they let it alone and it walked away unharmed.

Wildlife in Moldova: broască (frog)

OK, my wildlife encounters in Moldova has increased somewhat...YAY! The current score is multiple birds,  4 squirrels (but i think i saw one of them twice), 4 hedgehogs, 2 frogs, 1 fox (i think...it was running really fast, and was definitely not a dog), 1 dead rat.

This frog was on the stairs to our beci (cellar). I picked it up and it sqirted (peed?) on me. Mama-G was shocked, disgusted, and amused, all at the same time about me picking up the frog (she didn't know about the squirting). Then we went to a late night masa and she told everyone that i picked up a frog and everyone had pretty much the same disgusted/amused reaction as Mama-G. :op

Crazy creatures in the "bathroom"

Living in the village in Malawi, I actually don't have a bathroom. I have an outdoor latrine and an outdoor bathing area. They are on different sides of the yard from each other. Both structures are made of brick with a tin roof.

Everytime I go to use the bafa (that's Chichewa for bathing area), I do a quick snake check now. That's because a few months ago when I went to go take my bucket bath, I heard a weird noise. But I hear lots of weird noises in there, so I wasn't too worried. Until I saw something kinda big moving in the corner. After retrieving my flashlight and shining it into the corner, I found the source of the noise-- a snake, weaving back and forth, with it's hood out like a cobra! I told my neighbors, and they promptly assembled a crowd of 20 and got their machetes to kill it. They're good like that. The kids had a grand old time putting it's body on a stick and scaring each other with it.

And that's not the only thing I have seen in the bafa. Over these past two years, I have seen all all of the following in the chim (latrine), bafa or both, at one time or another:

cobra-looking snake
cave cricket

army ants
flat spiders
blister beetles
giant snails
large black millipedes
probably over a dozen different species of ants
giant cockroaches

carpenter beetles
wasps
lizards
at least five different species of flies
toads

the face of one of the little neighbor boys, through the needlessly large window in the bafa, once he realized I was in there (this only happened once, right after I moved in)

Try peeing with this thing staring at you. It's a blister beetle. Locally they call it something in Chichewa that translates as "The Urinator" because it pees on you and causes blisters to form on the skin

I am not going to miss sharing my "bathroom" with flora and fauna, that's for sure. Indoor plumbing was definitely one of humanity's more convenient inventions. But a latrine is pretty nice to have in a drought.

R.I.P. Mouserat

After a few failed attempts at building Mouserat traps, I finally bought some poison in the city. These poisoned bait pellets were all they had in stock.

I put one in my kitchen and one near my bedroom. After the first night they were untouched, so I kicked it up a notch and added a dollop of peanut butter to each one. The next morning the one in the kitchen was moved about two feet and half eaten. I left it out and by the following morning it had disappeared. So I put a new one out with some fresh peanut butter, and that one disappeared by the next day.

I was starting to doubt the effectiveness of the poison. I also wondered if there was more than one rodent scurrying around my house at night. Maybe a whole nest? Eek!

But finally after maybe 4 nights the poop stopped showing up in the kitchen, and the bait remained untouched. So it was time for a test. 1) I left my glass cereal bowl upright, which is it's favorite pee spot. 2) I left my dish sponge out, which was it's favorite chew toy. The next morning everything was untouched-- success!

A day or two later I was walking by my storage room and smelled a hint of decay. Yep, it died in there. Luckily it was pretty fresh and there were only a couple flies buzzing around it. I used some plastic bags to carry it outside and dispose of it.

But not before snapping a photo.

I guess it was a mouse after all. Who knew one small rodent could cause so much trouble?

Of Mouserats, army ants and other small creatures

Earlier this week I prepared my second attempt at a Mouserat trap, using a design I found on the web in a rare moment of somewhat working internet. I baited it with peanut butter and oatmeal. The idea was that the mouse crawls into the tube to get the bait, and its weight makes the tube fall into the bucket. I filled the bucket about halfway with water, hoping it would drown. Otherwise it would just climb out. (Large bins are not easy to come by in the village.)

As I was doing that, the kids knocked on my gate. They had news for me-- the linthumbu (red driver ants) were back. Sure enough, we found them all over the grass in my yard, concentrated in the now abandoned termite mounds. (The termites left once the heat wave started up again). Great.

I put poison out where the ants were, getting bit on the toe by one of the large soldier ants in the process. Curse words did follow.

Then I saw this cool caterpillar by my house. Normally I might have tried to move it elsewhere to save my seedlings, but it's been so dry that I haven't planted anything yet. So it can chew on the weeds all it wants.

While I was inspecting the caterpillar, a little frog or toad hopped by in the dirt. It was the size of the tip of my thumb.

While I surveyed the ants in the fading light, a mosquito kept insistently buzzing near my ear. It's about that time of year again, I guess. First flies, then mosquitos.

Unfortunately, the Mouserat trap failed. The tube just fell into the bucket of water. I used a toilet paper tube for it, but I think maybe the tube was too small. As a Mouserat, it's bigger than most mice. So I will have to find a bigger substitute. The Mouserat seems angry at its near capture, as it is making a ton of noise tonight, and knocking over all kinds of stuff. Maybe it is hoping to keep me awake so that I will be too tired to try and trap it tomorrow night. Pretty good plan, actually.

All this, on top of normal stuff like cooking, doing dishes and lesson planning. I love nature, but I wouldn't mind a little less of it around my house right now.

And a Happy New Year

Hello, 2016! This year will start in Malawi for me and end in the good old US of A. It's kinda hard to believe.

New Years Eve in the village is like a big party. There was music late into the night, and people were out and about, laughing and talking into the wee hours.

When the kids came by this morning, we all wished each other a Happy New Year in English, and talked about our Christmases. Then we decorated a little  Christmas tree, since I didn't have time to do it before I left for the holiday. They got a little carried away with the stickers.

Then we collected fallen mangos, practiced some English vocabulary with the flash cards I made, and I gave then some biscuits. Cuz it's a holiday after all!

In the afternoon I went to my neighbor's house to chat. They were preparing their New Years meal of chicken and rice. These are both expensive foods for villagers so they are usually only served on special occasions. They gave me a small piece of chicken to eat since I said I was making beans and rice for dinner. It was boneless and soft, and I have no idea what part it was except it wasn't a wing or breast. They use the whole chicken here, feet and all. It was well-cooked and tasty. Then they gave me a mandazi (donut) to take home with me.

For dinner I made lentils and brown rice and veggies. It took a long time to cook on the hot plate, but it was worth it. And I made extra so I could share some with my neighbors too. They said it was "kucoma" (tastes good).

Oh, and this evening I saw the first toad of the year! It was two inches long. So cute-- look at it's little feet!

Mmmm, bugs

I'm in the last seven months of my service now, and I still have a few things on my PC Malawi bucket list to do. One of them was to try nsima made from cassava flour instead of the usual maize flour. Another was to try the flying ants that people eat here. I got to do both last week.

Good old nsima. It was served with a tomato and egg relish as well as cooked cassava leaves. A classic Northern Malawian meal, and pretty tasty.

Afterwards the owner of the restaurant showed is where they were drying the flying ants in the sun.

Here is a closer look. They are about an inch long and have about two inch wings.

Just remove the wings and eat. Here is me about to eat one.

And here is me after. Really, it didn't taste bad. Kinda flaky, crunchy and salty. But the legs got stuck in my teeth and that freaked me out a little bit.

I'm glad I tried them, and I would eat them again. Especially if they were prepared in some dish. Maybe a flying ant burger?

Hello Rainy Season

It's Rainy Season in Malawi! The soil here has been eagerly awaiting a little moisture, and now it's green and lovely out. The maize is growing well too. It's knee high in a lot of places after just about a month of rain.

Rainy Season is a mix of bright sunshine and heat alternating with cool, overcast, wet weather. In Mulanje where I live there is also a fair bit of mugginess thrown in as well. Often all of these occur in the same day, which is why I try to always carry my umbrella with me this time of year. You never know when a downpour will sneak up on you!

Rainy Season brings out the big bugs. I caught a big black millipede in my bedroom a couple days ago, and there is another giant snail next to the chim. They have the coolest shells. I posted a pic of these last year if you want to see them.

About a week ago I saw this huge caterpillar next to the bafa. That is a matchbox next to it for scale. I like how it looks like it has a dark halo around it.

Well, I did it-- I survived my last Hot Season in Malawi! Without a refrigerator or ice or air-conditioning or a shower. So the next time there is a Summer Brown-Out in America I should be well-prepared. 

And the army ants are back

When I pictured living in Malawi, I imagined the wildlife as elephants and hippos and monkeys. The reality is that outside of the National Parks, wildlife is mostly farm animals, birds, lizards and bugs. Emphasis on the bugs.

Maybe it's the heat or the late season dryness, but there are a lot of critters about. I don't mind so much except when it is in my house and my yard. Just in the last couple weeks I've had a snake in the chim, a weird gurgle-growl coming from the bafa where I bathe, a new species of ants in my bedroom, and I've already posted about the exploits of the Mouserat. Plus the usual gang of geckos and house lizards and skinks that are always about. And all the spiders and bees and flies and wasps and lately, crickets and grasshoppers.

This week I found mouse poop in my oatmeal. After I had already eaten a bite. And when I poured out oats from the new box of oats into my bowl, I noticed a few small black ants had found their way in already. But it was just a few so I ate it anyway. Because oats are expensive and it's all protein, right?

Plus there is more. These weird ant-flies have been emerging at dusk out of the cracks in my cement porch for the last month or so. They seem harmless, just kind of gross. They dig out the dirt and then emerge like this.

These termites (chiswe) attempted to build a mound in my yard. The kids made quick work of destroying the tunnel yesterday. They wield a khasu (hoe) like a boss. Incidentally, I asked the kids and they said no, they do not eat these termites. There is another type with big fat heads that are the ones they eat(!)

And last but not least, the linthumbu (army ants) made another appearance. I noticed a thick trail of them a couple weeks ago about 50 meters from my house, but then they were gone. Which is typical of army ants because they are always on the move, foraging and killing everything in their path. Then yesterday the kids knocked on my gate to tell me the linthumbu were back. Great. So the kids brought the kindling, I provided the matches, and many fires were set. My grass has a big burnt patch now and a small tree in my yard got scorched. Unfortunately, that is about all we had to show for our effort because this morning I found a huge thick trail of them in my yard, just a meter or two away from my porch. I had never seen so many in one place. They were forming those thick mats where they are crawling on top of each other, like in the pictures you see online. My very own National Georgaphic special. Obviously fires weren't enough. So I got out the poison and I dusted the area where they were most concentrated in, but it seemed so futile. There were so many of them and I kept seeing more and more of them in other areas. It was really muggy too so I retreated hopelessly inside. And then I prayed. And texted Colii. But guess what-- I checked again this afternoon though and they appear to have moved on. I am so thankful!

I tried to get photos, but they didn't turn out because it was too dark. I did get this one of the larger army ant though (the soldier, maybe) wandering around on my porch. It was hard to take because when I would get close he kept making a beeline for me. Creepy. He is about 2 cm long.

Here is the colony when they were blazing through my path to school a couple weeks ago. Notice the larger soldiers like in the above photo, plus the more numerous small workers. At least, I think that is the difference.

All I want for Christmas is an army ant and mouserat-free home and yard. The lizards can stay and I'm mostly okay with all the other things. What do you think, Santa?

Mouserat

The rodent is back. It was quiet for a few days, but now it is knocking stuff over at night again and keeping me up. It actually might be under my bed right now...?

At first I assumed it was a mouse, but then when I saw it in my room it looked like a rat. It was like a deer in the headlights. Or more accurately, a rat in the flashlight.

Then yesterday I heard a noise in my kitchen around 6:30pm. I turned on the light, and saw this:

Notice that it is clinging to the wall! Did you know they could climb walls? Me neither, before Malawi. I am learning so much here.

Looking at it, I'm not sure if it is a mouse or a rat. So I'm calling it Mouserat a la Parks and Rec. Feel free to weigh in on this one.

I'm keeping all my food in ziplock bags to keep out ants and roaches, and then in buckets with kids to keep out rodents. But I need a new bucket because last night I ran out of room and had to sleep with my bread in my mosquito net with me. It was intact and rodent-free by morning though, and that is what counts.

My Wildlife Sanctuary

My garden is so colorful right now! The marigolds are all blooming in oranges and yellows.

More cucumbers are ready to harvest, and I've got my first peas coming in.

There are all kinds of bugs and birds and reptiles and amphibians hanging out in my yard now. I saw a toad in the grass this morning and a little frog in my garden. Someday I'll post all the cool insect pics I've been taken.

A little songbird was in my yard today. It must have fallen out of it's nest. The neighbor kids were over and saw it first. They immediately went for it, but I know how the kids treat living creatures here, and it is not kind, so I shooed them away from it. They kept sneakily going after it, and told me they cook and eat them! So it was clear it was time for them to go. No judgments about the food choice, but I never let the kids kill or catch anything in my yard. Not spiders or lizards or grasshoppers or bees or now fledgling songbirds like this one.

My yard might be the only safe place for wild creatures in the whole village. It's like my own little wildlife sanctuary.

Garden Goodness

My garden has really taken off. With all the rain, sunshine and manure, my little plants have been really happy here.

I've got my first cucumbers ripening up

And some radishes as well

My marigolds really like growing in Malawi. They are the tallest things in the garden! I expect the first flowers within the next few days

There is a bit of Swiss chard and carrots growing, and the peas are making their way up the wall. I have some volunteers too-- amaranth and something that might be sweet potatoes.

Here is the whole garden in all its wild splendor.

Look, it's the next crop of papayas starting

The other day my neighbor cut the grass near our houses. No lawn mowers here-- he did it all with a machete. These people are amazing! I asked if I could have the grass clippings for my garden (instead of him burning him which is waft would normally happen to the clippings). Now I have a nice mulch to keep my soil cooler on those hot days. Plus it should help with the weeds.

I am already making plans for next year's garden which I'll plant in late November. I want it to be a bit more orderly and I am going to include herbs as well.

The garden also provides lots of wildlife to amuse me. I saw a little toad yesterday, and I've seen tiny frogs in it as well. There are worms in the soil, some ants, lizards and today I found a snakeskin. The kids were all a bit scared when they saw it.

Can you spot the toad in this photo? You can just make out his little eyes.

And that's my little garden. Thanks for the seeds, Paul! I'm putting them to good use.

Happy Groundhog Day

February 2nd is Groundhog Day in the USA, but it's just another day here in Malawi. We don't actually have any groundhogs here anyway. And it's not even winter either.

Malawi has only three seasons-- Hot Season, Cold Season and Rainy Season. As it is Rainy Season now, the weather is humid and sunny, alternating with cloudy and rainy. Everyday. Often several times in the same day. Which makes doing laundry pretty difficult. So everywhere I go, I bring my umbrella and my sunglasses.

To borrow from a popular saying-- if you don't like the weather during Rainy Season, just wait an hour.

So how many more weeks of a Rainy Season? Let's ask this little guy, that showed up outside my fence this morning:

Sir Crab says, "Kwambiri". There you have it, folks. Many more weeks of rain. Let the good maize grow!

And then the rains came

Rainy season is in full swing here. Maybe it's just because we have been having a drought in California for the past few years, but the rain here is like nothing I have seen before. It just doesn't stop. I think it has rained everyday this month. These aren't just showers either. There have been serious downpours.

I have had no water since Saturday morning, so I've been collecting rainwater to use instead. The buckets fill up pretty fast, so now I'm set probably for the next week or so.

The great thing about using rainwater is it is clean. No risk of cholera or other water-borne parasites like you usually get from groundwater this time of year with the high water table. Still, I'm boiling and filtering it all before I drink it, just to be safe.

The rain is bringing out more creatures too. Check out this pretty snail. Note: this guy was as big as my hand!

There are some drawbacks to all this rain though. Like walking through brown water up to my ankles to get to school. Clothes that take days to dry. Power that goes out everyday. Rain pounding on the tin roof when I am trying to teach. Oh yeah, and this:

That used to be the brick wall behind my house. They only used mud to hold the bricks together for the wall, and the soil has a lot of sand here, so the wall has been collapsing as it gets soaked. That photo was from yesterday. More fell down last night. Luckily the bricks from the house were cemented together properly so it seems okay so far. There are some growing wet spots in the walls that I am monitoring, and I have plates on the floor to catch all the leaks.

In that photo, the back left corner is the latrine. I had to climb over that pile of bricks to reach the chim this morning. Have you ever used an umbrella to walk to the bathroom? And then almost slipped in the mud with your flip-flops? I have!

And a Happy New Year

Sangalala Chaka Chatsopano (Happy New Year) from Malawi! I spent New Years at Senga Bay near Salima. Which means I finally got to see Lake Malawi!

Lake Malawi is also called the Calendar Lake because it is 365 miles long and 52 miles wide. The weather was mostly overcast, so when the fog obscured the view of the islands and coast in the distance, it looked like the ocean.

We had dinner at the hotel on New Years Eve. It was a buffet with lots of yumminess like turkey and cranberry sauce, roasted potatoes, minestrone soup, curried chickpeas and even dessert! Which is kind of a rare thing in Malawi. My favorite was the strawberry mousse in the little white teacups. Here are me and Mary Beth, enjoying our dessert:

We went snorkeling on New Years Day. We rode in a boat to a nearby island and then swam around looking at all the cichlid fish. This was the spot where I saw the most fish.

Some of them blended in with the algae-covered rocks. Others were bright blue and very easy to see. It was a lot of fun and I would love to go snorkeling again!

The campsite was pretty full. People drove their cars in and set up massive tents, then were coming and drinking and dancing to the music that was playing all day and most of the night. So it was a pretty normal holiday by the beach. Except that this is Malawi, and just over the wall at the edge of the campsite were...monkeys! So I had fun watching them climb and swing.

Happy 2015! It's off to a great start already. Here's to a wonderful year ahead for is all.

Boxing Day Safari

Guess what-- I finally saw some wild animals in Malawi! First I saw the monkey on the Zomba Plateau on Christmas Day. Then Mary Beth and I went to the Liwonde Safari Park for a boat tour on the Shire River and... well, see for yourself.

Crocs, hippos and elephants-- oh my! There were a ton of birds too. Plovers, ibises, herons, egrets, kingfishers and white pelicans, to name a few.

We camped that night at the park, and heard the grunting noises of warthogs as we slept. They are actually kind of cute with their little snouts and tusks-- from a distance.

It was one of the best experiences I have had in Malawi so far. It made for a lovely Boxing Day.

By the way, Boxing Day is a National Holiday in Malawi that falls on December 26th. According to Wikipedia, the holiday started because long ago it was traditional for employers to gifts of appreciation to their servants the day after Christmas. It is celebrated in many places including the United Kingdom, which explains why they celebrate it here in Malawi.

Ndathokoza

translation: I am thankful

Thanksgiving started like any other day in Malawi. I got up, finished up my lesson plan and went to school. I taught my classes, worked in the library and typed a couple exams in preparation for the end of the term next week.

Then in the afternoon I grabbed a backpack and headed to the Boma for the Mulanje PCV Thanksgiving. We rented out a guesthouse for the event complete with oven, toilets and beds. They had been cooking all day so when I arrived the turkey was done (freshly killed, plucked and cooked by one of the PCVs), the rolls were on the table and all manner of Thanksgiving goodness was cooking on the stove. With a few things on the mbaula (clay fire burner) outside too.

We all gathered in the dining room and said a Thanksgiving prayer, then tucked in. I took a bit of everything, of course. I especially loved the stuffing, curried potatoes and cranberry sauce. Mmm, cranberry sauce.

The local British volunteers joined us for the occasion to celebrate their first Thanksgiving. They were unfamiliar with our customs for the day, but they filled their plates and ate with gusto just like Americans-- and had seconds too!

Then we had a Thanksgiving trivia game. I now know that the first Thanksgiving parade was at Gimbel's Department Store, and the first parade balloon was Felix the Cat.

The winners got first dibs at the pie. My team didn't win, but there was plenty to go around. Check it out-- homemade pumpkin pie and homemade cranberry pecan pie. So delicious!

The pie did me in though. I had the traditional Thanksgiving over-fullness. I think that is the most I've eaten since I got here to Malawi. But it was so worth it!

As I explained to my Form 1 students, Thanksgiving is a time to say what you are grateful for. I am thankful for this opportunity to live and work in Malawi. I am thankful for supportive family and friends that help remind me I am not alone and help me laugh at all the crazy stuff. I am thankful for my fellow PCVs that help me put all the crazy stuff that happens here in perspective. I'm thankful for my students and fellow teachers and all my kind and helpful neighbors. And I am thankful to all of you that read this blog. Your comments and support mean a lot. And when difficult stuff happens, it helps to think, "Well, at least it will make for a good blog post".

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!