Africa : {a very long} Day One

Several of you have asked repeatedly to see photos from our trip to Malawi. I apologize for the delay, there are a lot of days to cover and I've been trying to think of a way to do it without boring you to death or conversely, leaving out details. I think I've got it now, so here we go. I've decided to just dictate the blog directly from the journal I kept while there. I will apologize ahead of time for any gaps. Enjoy.

September 19, 2009 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 8:37am local time

Muli Bwanji!
Well, we're officially on our way to Africa. We've just completed the first leg of our journey by landing in Amsterdam after a 9 hour flight from Seattle. Nichole and I are sitting in Cafe Amsterdam in the airport waiting for our gate to open. We're drinking fantastic hot cocoa and enjoying their "French Breakfast". This is a croissant, french bread, cheese, fruit, jam, and literally a shot of orange juice. Must be a shortage of oranges this time of year... The music while sitting here has ranged from the Spice Girls to DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh +Prince. We're off to our gate and our flight to Nairobi. I didn't sleep on the last flight (instead I watched The Hangover, The Proposal, and X-Men:Wolverine...) so I'm hoping to get a little shut eye on this flight. Tio nana!!!

September 20, 2009 | Lusaka, Zambia | 12:36 am local time

Sitting on the tarmac in Lusaka. This is the flight we caught in Nairobi, we're just here for a quick hour layover before we're back in the air and headed for our final destination- Lilongwe, Malawi! It's been such long travels but we're nearly there. Our dinner on this flight was some sort of chicken curry with rice which was actually super delicious. I've been able to sleep a bit on this flight, which has been nice (Thank you Ambien!) but I'll be happy for whatever sleeping arrangements we have at Mwai's mom's house once we get there. I am beat. Note: We are currently in our 4th country and 3rd continent.

September 20, 2009 | Blantyre, Malawi | around 2pm local time

Well, we finally made it to Blantyre. Mwai's Uncle Patrick picked us up at the airport in Lilongwe at about 2:00 am and surprised us with the fact that our drive to the house was not going to be the two hours we'd been told to expect. No, it was going to take FIVE hours. Joy.
So, six hours, three gas stations, several Imperial Mint candies, two police stops, three quick naps on the side of the road including three noisy roosters, and one hitchhiker later, we arrived at Mwai's mom Thandie's wonderful home. We ate yams and tea for breakfast and were able to take a quick three hour nap. We're now up (thanks for the Red Bull, Mwai!) and headed off to Eddie + Mwai's wedding shower where we're sure to get some great photo ops. No rest for the wicked.

More soon!
xoxo, Amy

Here are some of the photos from the shower: