Arrival!

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. My flight from Johannesburg to Lilongwe was slightly delayed but not for any appreciable amount of time. I landed at Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi, but not the biggest city) at around 1:30 in the afternoon. My first impression as i stepped off the plane, was hot moist air, something lacking in Chicago these days), warm sunlight, and lush greenery. The earth here is a very deep dark red and it is gorgeous.

I got off the plane, went through customs, grabbed my bag and was greeted by a face i haven't seen in just about 17 years. Saeed Ahmed looked nearly the exactly same as i remembered him. He was wearing a nice "unshaven, i am a doctor working in africa" look that i couldn't pull off without a "beard in a can" but otherwise, it was like looking back into high school. Our first stop after the airport was to grab some lunch, so we headed over to this place called Steers, an african version of McDonalds. (though in town there is an actual McDowells, which if anyone ever saw Coming to America, it was exactly as you would think.. same colors, same golden "half-circles"). I thought this was hilarious since the day i left, i looked really hard for a decent burger place thinking that my chances of a burger was low in Africa...

We drove to his place, which was a huge, beautiful place and was immediately greeted by Moose their giant dog who is a mix of a Great Dane and South African Mastiff. Moose is a very sweet and affectionate dog, who loved the attention, and i was happy to provide it.

I also got to meet Saeed's lovely wife Maria. I would say they are an adorable couple, but i don't think that is accurate. They are more like the rockstars of public service, both young, accomplished, generous, and stunning.

Despite being absolutely exhausted, Saeed was eager to try out the new frisbees i brought for him from the US and we met up with some people to play Ultimate out at this field at an international high school.

Let's just say that despite my team outnumbering the opposition 4-3, my presence was an obvious handicap as we got destroyed. Despite a thorough beating, and the ironic unsportmanlike conduct of a german baptist missionary, I had a blast, and it was definitely a nice way to spend a few hours after having been stuck on a plane for more than 20 hours. I was quickly incomprehensible and crashed quite soundly after dinner. BTW, I think Mosquito netting is awesome, and I may install one in my own bedroom soon.