Of Roosters, Swiss Army Knives, and Landscapes

One thing that surprised me after living here only a couple of weeks is how quickly life becomes normal when in a foreign place. I have blogged on the subject before.

And yet there are some things that though they quickly become normal, become no less accepted!

Case in point - I was just peacefully entering survey data into my database, and the neighbour's rooster started crowing. Now this rooster is my least favourite bird on the planet. It doesn't emit a nice little "cock-a-doodle-doo" like other roosters. Even other annoying roosters pale in comparison to this rooster. Each time it crows, it sounds like it is trying to die, but can't. It is one of the most awful sounds my ears have ever beheld. What is worse, it crows at all times of day, it doesn't matter the time. So many times I have wished our neighbours would eat the darn thing already! Since the crowing was particularly loud, and I have a lot of experience with it crowing outside my bedroom window when I lived near the office, I got up from my desk to see if it was right outside the office window. Indeed, my suspicions were confirmed as I looked out and it looked innocently back. With great annoyance, I walked through the reception area of the office, declaring my great dislike for this one particular rooster to the office staff, and proceeded to chase the rooster out of the yard. A remotely similar scene would never have happened at Health Canada!

Another example - all of the doors in houses here have locks with keys inside the lock. During my first night living at Edrinnie's, I locked my bedroom door when I went to sleep since the door wasn't staying closed. The bolt would hold it shut. Then just before midnight, I got up to go to the washroom, only to find that the lock mechanism was broken. Edrinnie heard me fiddling with the lock and alerted security, thinking it was a robber. When she realized it was me, we both fiddled with the lock from either side of the door. With bars on the windows, the only way out of the room was the door. Finally, with the help of my Swiss Army I got in my Costco First Aid kit, I forced the bolt open from the inside. By the grace of God, my bladder held out, though I was already making contingency plans that involved the plastic bucket I was using as my rubbish bin.

Besides that incident, and seeing my first (and then second) full-sized cockroach, living at Edrinnie's has been wonderful. It has been a blessing to stay with this sister in Christ, and to be blessed my her hospitality. Another thing I don't think I can accept without wonder is the mesmerizing view each day as I walk back from the office to her house. You can see Zomba plateau, and then all the way down into town. When the sun is setting and the sky is a flourish of colour, it is really a sight to behold. Heather shared a comment with me once that "the poor have the best backyards". Edrinnie isn't poor, but wow, it's true, here in Malawi going up the plateau, they have the best backyards. And baboons too!