An Irish Night at the Italian Restaurant

Malawian evenings are often daunting in their quiet or promising in offering cozy alone-time with books and blankets, depending on one’s perspective, but they are rarely full of conversation and company out on the town. Saturday night was a different story. Pam Forster, the navigator missionary who works closely with students on the ABC college campus and who has been in Malawi now for 4 years, has a stream of visitors this month which began with her friend Olivia (Liv). After driving about an hour south from Kasungu to return to Lilongwe from a small, intimate New Year’s party, Pam, Danny, and I met Liv at the airport. Even that outing to greet another visitor was exciting. (As I previously mentioned, the observation deck at the airport is the closest thing to day time entertainment here).

With the beginning of the school week, and Pam and Liv’s traveling all over Malawi, I hadn’t had the opportunity to spend time with them. Of course, Liv was not my guest, but visitors in this country are quite an intrigue, giving all the missionaries reason to fuss over meals, linger with good conversation and tea, etc… Pam’s invitation to dinner came as an especially welcome opportunity to do a little of the traditional visiting and provided the perfect opportunity to celebrate the transition into teaching language arts. The invitation was nonetheless exciting for the chosen venue, Claud’s, the most sought-after restaurant in town. Plus, on top of looking forward to visiting with Liv again and enjoying delicious food at the restaurant, Pam added a second visitor-her sister, Glenda! Our agenda for a great evening couldn’t fail.

Charisa and I dolled ourselves with our finest (for Malawi) and drove the night roads, unlit by traffic lights, to the restaurant all aglow with tiny white Christmas lights. All five of us women exclaimed upon parking and walking the stone terrace to reach our table, “oh, how romantic,” proceeded by giggles of acknowledgement concerning the lack of men among us in such an atmosphere. Our host did provide us with a bit of male company though. As he explained his fabulous Italian menu to us, his eyes kept darting to Charisa, sitting on the picnic bench to my left. Finally, recognition lit his face. Apparently, Charisa and Claud completed at least one year of secondary school together here in Malawi, and both, after traveling the world far and wide, have established themselves beautifully in Lilongwe again. We all enjoyed hearing their recount of high school, not least because they both seemed so utterly shocked to see each other.

There are only a handful of restaurants in the capital of this country and the missionaries here know them well. But since the opening of Claud’s I’ve only had one other opportunity to dine at the restaurant and that amidst a birthday crowd of very rowdy people. The dinner was lovely. Our food was honestly amazing and earns Claud’s the title of “only restaurant I would visit and miss once back in the first world.” Despite the rain spraying us gently through the bamboo screens on either side of the open, canopied Condi, we lingered over conversation and tiramisu late into the night. Pam is always quite dominated by American company, and I even overheard her accidentally referring to herself as American once (for which she was deeply troubled, I think). The missionaries here bond so quickly out of longing for companionship and the comon love of Christ, we have an odd closeness while yet being clueless as to eachother’s cultural environment and family. Forgetting one’s native country is relatively natural in befriending so many people of different cultures. But having Pam’s sister and friend from Ireland made the company three Irish to two American. I truly enjoyed feeling as if I had a glimpse into Pam’s circle of friends and life in Ireland. Altogether, we successfully abandoned our quiet evenings for a lovely night on the town.

Studying for the bar and preparing for class must be an absolute blast because time is flying for me here. Lorilee MacLean (the language arts teacher with whom I share the teaching load) and I spent a few days with our heads together, envisioning a fun semester for 6th-10th grades. Mrs. MacLean taught all 5 of these classes herself last semester while simultaneously raising her 4 children with her husband, Scott. She has been such an encouragement to me, and working with her is a blast. I’ve never seen so many creative ideas ooze out of a person seemingly without effort. She’s got the students incorporating art and magazines and crafts into their curriculum of persuasive essays, book reports, journal entries, and grammar.

We started class this Tuesday, the 9th, due to the fact that Lorliee was out of town with her children, excellent swimmers all, who were competing in an international Sub-Saharan gala. I still felt like a person walking into a room blindfolded despite all Lorliee’s efforts to help and my own hours of preparation. Yet, for once, I was pleasantly surprised to find I had prepared more than I thought. My first class was 7th grade. Oh, they were so great! This makes me particularly thrilled since they are the only class I teach every day. We all buckled down in our purple and animal print painted classroom, labeled class D, which I say is now “D” for Dorothy (I still can’t get used to being called Miss Holliday, particularly when the kids could be my younger siblings). The class willingly engaged in discussion and read aloud beautifully. They didn’t fuss or laugh at me when I turned my back to the board (unlike the 8th graders). And they were extremely helpful in explaining the normal routine of the week for their level.

Wednesday, I made a trip to the other end of the hall, close to my former classroom. All the kindergarteners were standing near the gate of their playground which looks onto the one hall. Three little heads (one white-blond, two black) crowded together. Then I saw them look up, and look back at each other with huge smiles on their faces. Next thing I knew, 17 kindergarteners rushed at me in a frenzy as if I were covered in Skittles or some candy they love but can’t get much of here. Their hugs were so rewarding, truly rewarding. But under no circumstances does that mean I want to teach those little ones for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week again! Wow. That was a JOB. With two days of high school teaching under the belt, the fresh recollection of kindergarten sharpened the comparison of how peaceful and easy filling one hour is with students who know to pick up their pencil when given an assignment and who may talk out of turn, but softly and reasonably (kindergarteners don’t have quiet voices yet). Of course, now I have the pleasure of the sarcastic attitudes of a few and the determination of some NOT to understand a grammar lesson regardless of how simplistically it is explained. One teacher of mine in high school, Mrs. Bass, was so patient with students regardless of how insistent we were that we did not understand the material. But she was also firm enough to know that sometimes students actually prevent themselves from applying their brains by determining that they cannot understand what is being taught. I had one girl in 8th grade who shared this struggle (or maybe it truly was me who couldn’t explain what the uses of a noun are) and continually rolled her eyes at me. Already! But 8th grade is the only class giving me the ‘ole "try the teacher out" thing. Praise God.

My fears have been largely assuaged concerning the need to find time to study for the bar (yes, again). Lorliee takes the first class of each day, so after prayer meeting, I automatically have an hour to study with a fresh mind. It’s great! I managed to find about one hour aside from that during school hours in which to study on Wednesday. Plus, the language arts classroom is so much more conducive to adult studying as opposed to attempting to study for a law exam in a classroom covered in crayola crayon colors with nursery rhyme books everywhere.

My joy at the new placement would be greatly tarnished if the other teachers were not equally satisfied and well placed. Oh, but Ari, our new arrival from California and my replacement, seems perfect for the children. She has truly exponentially more energy than me and more of a bubbly personality. And she brought jelly beans to bribe the children for good behavior-can't lose there. Altogether, everyone keeps walking down the halls saying in passing, “God provided, God provided.” And he really did! I am blessed and amazed. Please pray that I’ll continue to be efficient with my time, particularly when the marking and grading picks up (which is in about 1 day). Also, pray for my patience. I realize how selfish I am by living with someone, particularly after having lived alone for so long. And we’re getting a new roommate as well. I want to lovingly set boundaries and learn to live with others!