Faux Pas - An Embarassing or Tactless Act or Remark in a Social Situation

Funny stories What can I say… I’ve been lazy. I have been back in Blantyre for about 1 month after my summer break. I spent 48 hours in Norway before I jumped on a plane for Nueva York and a 3 week round trip together with my bestest bud. The trip took us from NYC, to Virginia Beach, Savannah, GA, Miami, Key West, New Orleans, Jackson, MS and we flew home from Memphis, TN. It was a wonderful trip with too much fun, a lot of good music, mostly great weather, wonderful people and a lot of laughter. Coming back to Blantyre felt a little like coming home. This is where I live, have my own room, my house, my dogs and cat and a lot of friends. Back in Norway I do not have a home anymore but hopefully I’ll be able to buy a small apartment in Oslo when I move back next year. I want to share a couple of funny stories and one of them is a major fuck up on my part. Considering this was my first really big faux pas since coming here I do not feel too bad. We had a group meeting within the project and discussed staff/personnel matters and 1 girl just got married and we are not sure if she will stay here in Blantyre or move to Lilongwe to be with her husband. We discussed this back and forth and we would be very sad to lose her because she is 1 of 2 Theatre nurses that has been to Norway and the other one is going back to school to get his bachelor. One member suggested that although it would be sad to lose her she might have to go since it is said in the Bible that a woman should love and support her husband a stay where he is… For those who know me well know what is coming! I momentarily lost my brain to mouth filter and wasn’t even aware of my own thought until I heard it coming out of my mouth: “Well, the bible needs upgrading”! Needless to say the room got quiet, very quiet and a colleague sitting next to me theatre whispers in my ear: “some people might find that offensive”. I just said thank you and carried on like nothing happened… What was I supposed to do? I am just brought up with not bringing up religious References in a Professional setting and still get confused when People do. If they can express their thoughts on this matter referring to the Bible I should be able to express mine as well, I Guess that is my thought! The most important thing is that we respect eachothers beliefs, something I kind of missed on this one..... Another story a friend shared during lunch one day had me giggling for days. I might have shared my distinct hatred toward the Immigration office in Blantyre on a previous occasion and even though I have my Temporary Employment Permit (TEP) and VISA is secured until May 2017 my hatred has in no way diminished. A friend was in the office of one of the head honchos at Immigration to talk about her TEP that had just been given her. She sat with the papers in hand in an office with this Gentleman working with Immigration alone. He then got up from behind his desk and walk around it to the door. He opens the door, peeks outside and step back in, closes the door and locks it. He then walks back around his desk sits down and looks at my friend and says: “Let’s play”. My friend gets a little confused and ask: “Excuse me?”. He then proceeds to answer: “Let’s play”… bows his head and starts praying… The thing is, in Malawi the letters L and R tends to swap places or just being used as interchangeable. F.ex. If your name is Laura, the people here a most likely to call you Raula or Laula. It takes a little time to get used to this and these miss pronunciations makes for a very interesting life here in Malawi. Have a wonderful week

Long time...

Dear friends It has been a long time since my last post and it is mainly because we have been very busy and we've had visitors from 2 rounds of ressource personnel. In March we had 2 scrub nurses here for 3 weeks visiting and then we rescently had two Medical engineers visiting for 10 days. We also had a visit from the head of the Project and a colleague. We originally also have had 2 operating days for the neurosurgical patients but that has rescently changed to 4 operating days a week. This, ofocourse, means more work in the Neurosurgical High Dependency Unit as well as in theatre. With more patients and more complicated surgery we also get more Equipment that many are not familiar with so we have ongoing training. This week the participants that just arrived back to Malawi from a 6 months stay in Norway, came back to work. It is always a burst of energy when the participants return and they can share their experiences and newly acquired knowledge with their colleagues. I have also celebrated my Africaversary, my one year stay in Malawi, on May 16th. I arrived on May 16th 2014 in Malawi and was supposed to stay for a year but that plan changed within 3 months and was extended to 2 years. I do not regret it but I am definatley looking forward to a long summer holiday. This year I also celebrated Our constitution day in Lilongwe at the Norwegian Ambassador's residence. It was a wonderful evening with good wine, excellent food and brilliant music. We have also installed our own washing machine in the ward, something that led to a great deal of entertainment for some of the guardians. They placed themselves on the floor close to the washing machine and watched the whole cycle that ran for 2hours 20minutes. In a few weeks I am getting a visit form my parents and my sister and my sparetime goes to planning what to do while they are here... Good times! Take care

Back in Blantyre after Christmas Break!

So I am back in Blantyre since 2 weeks. It was really nice to come back to some warmer weather. Unfortunately the rains this season has been so bad that southern Malawi is declared a disaster area. Especially the lower shire valley has been badly affected by the rain. Almost 200 people have lost their lives due to floods and mudslides and thousand of people are homeless. Many schools haven't started after Christmas break because people who have lost their homes are living in the local schools and churches. In the hospital we have received many patients with trauma caused by falling houses, especially in the paediatric department. The heavy rain has caused a lot of sand, mud and debris to wash in to the water supply for Blantyre and therefore access to water around town is still scarce. When I make comments on my facebook page about being without water for 6 days I really don't feel it is a big deal. We wash ourselves in the water from the pool and if I have to wait 3-5 days without washing my hair, so what! (I just feel sorry for the people around me... ;-D ). Jokes put aside, the situation for many people are dire and my thoughts go out to all families affected by the floods in Malawi...