Blog

November, 2008

CREEPY CRAWLY THINGS

The rains are on their way!  We had a couple good rains 2 weeks ago and then a couple night rains a week ago.  That usually means the rains are on their way very soon.  At this moment it is raining.  A HUGE rain as a matter of fact!  Ah...what a great relief.

With the rains however come strange animal issues...mostly of the creepy, crawly type.  The rain spiders are more numerous (called "chop chops").  They are really huge, ugly things with big, nasty pinchers.  Generally, you don't want to squash them because they make a huge mess! 
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November 23, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments
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Bunda Performance

Thanks for praying for the Music Outreach.  The Jazz Combo Bunda College performance went very well.  The students came away saying it was the greatest and other such adjectives!  One of our aims is both giving our audiences opportunity to join us in singing Chichewa choruses that are common here as well as bringing new music and styles to them.  The Psalms say, "Sing a NEW song to the Lord" and we consider it imperative that the creativity God has given man be used in this way. 

Early on in the program I stepped on some chords and I think one of them got goofed up or it effected the guitarist's "effects box" somehow.  We had our lead guitarist miss the concert because of sickness ("open bowels" as they say here) and so we were down to our rhythm guitarist, Sam McDonald (professor of theology).  So, when I goofed up his equipment he was out for the rest of the concert!  Fortunately, he was gracious and didn't whine or anything.
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November 18, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments
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RUBBISH by Connie

"Rubbish" pick up here in Malawi takes a bit longer than in the States.  Yes we have a real garbage truck that comes on campus to get our trash most Wednesdays.  It is unbelievably stinky, not that the ones in the States smell rosy.  Anyway, I was riding home on my bike behind the truck and noticed that at each stop they had to empty the can, search through all the trash, get the "good" stuff and put it in a bag on top, then move on to the next spot.  They were keeping empty plastic bottles in a separate bag.  No, as far as I know there is no official "recycle" place.  But, this is truly a recycling continent.  Interesting to see what they can do with lids and umbrella ribs and bottle tops and old tires etc, etc.

 
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November 8, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments
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Chinsapo Performance

The Jazz Combo had an outreach performance at Chinsapo Secondary School (high school) today.  As I had noted in an update earlier, the expectation for a performance by a visiting group is maybe 3-4 hours!  In the US we scheduled concerts for schools about 50 minutes long. 

I am realizing the difference in the cultures is that because performances are normally audience participation, they are more like a dance in the US than a concert.  Whenever we played a Malawian Christian chorus - short popular song from the church - they were dancing and singing all over the place.  When we played a funk tune or something not familier they were sitting quietly.
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November 6, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments
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