Today I allowed myself a day off. A COMPLETE day off. I’ve got my day off every weekend, but that were always almost a cheat because my mind was always working, processing my research data, and I had to keep on communicating with people and continue to plan, make calls and think, think, THINK....
I got a lift from the Livingstonia University vehicle, accompanied by MM – he was so kind to accompany me down the hill. Africans are good host, very good host: they are very polite, and think they should always make you comfortable, always accompany you for everything – meals, walks, TV, chat.. I think you’ll be left alone only when you take your shower!
So I was at the beach, wanted to stop thinking for just about 24 hours – felt like stealing time! I allowed myself to check in a touristic looking lodge for the first time since I came – never did that due to tight budget.. but to allow peace of mind, just let me do it for once.. and it wasn’t too expensive for a dorm bed that’s why. After sleeping for an hour on the couch, without slight care about my weird sleeping position in a public place, I headed for the moment I had waited for a long, long time since three months ago..
I was lying on the beach (no, correction: it does look like beach but in fact it is lakeshore – Malawi doesn’t have coastline but only a huge, beautiful lake). Listening to the wave of the lake. And watching the wave coming from all directions. Alone. Just by myself. Oohhh it’s so so so therapeutic..! I couldn’t ask for more things at that moment. And I didn’t have to care for just anything. Nothing. Just myself. The lake. The wind. The wave. The sand. Nothing. Not even a thought.
Then in the middle of my dream I was awaken by some weird sound – I opened my eyes to.. hahaha.. bull eyes!!! You know there’s perhaps one of the last things you would expect yourself to wake up to.. those big, round, idle eyes – they weren’t aggressive but rather inquisive as if asking me ‘hey what are you doing here..?’ well then only I realise I was sitting among their food (i.e. the thatch grass)!!! Some of them had those horns which I imagined could be used to throw me out of their food zone..!
Well luckily I was spared. But my moment of peace didn’t last very long. A 12-year old looking boy tried to convince me he was 17 and asked a string of questions. I took the opportunity to ask him where to get cheaper food. So he took me to his ‘village’ (well in the end it happened to be just another shop by the roadside, but of course it’s fine because it saved me from buying food that is three times more expensive in the lodge) to some food as the food at the lodge I stayed at was just too expensive for me. On coming back from his ‘village’, we bumped into a group of kids who, again, asked money from me. And when I refused to give, they shouted F... you! (as if in chants) to me – to my shock of course because I was asked for money but not even once I was cursed with the f words. Perhaps these kids are living too close to touristic areas and receiving too much ‘information’ from outside world.
Well after all the special encounters I lied down again on the sandy shore to enjoy the last peaceful moments before it got dark. Hmm guess what again you never will be ensured of getting what you actually want in Africa – this time I opened my eyes to four naked boys who shouted ‘give me pen! Give me pen!’ hahaha.. oh my!! While extending one of their hands to get a pen from me, another hand covered their private parts.. you could image how funny the scene was..! Amused, I gave them a pen which sent them all chasing after the friend who successfully grabbed the pen from me.. hahaha!
Africa is so funny. So interesting. Even a simple holiday could induce so much excitement beyond imagination!
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