February 17 Paper is the first year, right?
We awoke in Zomba this morning, away for a couple of nights for the Hash weekend, to a table full of various attempts at origami by our friends: a couple of small paper boxes with paper flowers in them, a paper lily, a snap dragon, even a few paper aeroplanes. Nothing extravagant, but thoughtful all the same. A typically Malawian way to celebrate your wedding anniversary… low key and very slap dash.
Climbing dilapidated bridges over vine clad rivers, fighting your way through the tenacious greens of the undergrowth, passing meandering cows grazing and local bikes loaded to the point of hilarity with illegally cut wood, quartz stone sellers and roadside strawberry and raspberry vendors. Views that stretch as far as the horizon will permit, progressively hazier peaks rising into the blues and fluffy whites. Children running alongside with their 'mungu' calls playfully bouncing around, then older locals hesitantly querying why you are coating their road in white lime dust circles and dots, fearing witchcraft at work. These are the average encounters of setting a Hash route, something Angela, Yaseen and I came across in profusion that weekend.
Climbing dilapidated bridges over vine clad rivers, fighting your way through the tenacious greens of the undergrowth, passing meandering cows grazing and local bikes loaded to the point of hilarity with illegally cut wood, quartz stone sellers and roadside strawberry and raspberry vendors. Views that stretch as far as the horizon will permit, progressively hazier peaks rising into the blues and fluffy whites. Children running alongside with their 'mungu' calls playfully bouncing around, then older locals hesitantly querying why you are coating their road in white lime dust circles and dots, fearing witchcraft at work. These are the average encounters of setting a Hash route, something Angela, Yaseen and I came across in profusion that weekend.There wouldn’t be too many couples that in their first year of marriage have lived on two 
continents, visited twenty-one countries, worked in one of the poorest countries in the world (and possibly the poorest non-worn torn country) and managed a honeymoon dog sledding in minus thirty degree temperatures in the middle of a Siberian winter… nor perhaps many couples who would want to. And what better way to celebrate than with a few paper aeroplanes then a morning run.
continents, visited twenty-one countries, worked in one of the poorest countries in the world (and possibly the poorest non-worn torn country) and managed a honeymoon dog sledding in minus thirty degree temperatures in the middle of a Siberian winter… nor perhaps many couples who would want to. And what better way to celebrate than with a few paper aeroplanes then a morning run.
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