Africa, the emperor's palace and lilongwe!

I'm back and in style as always. I've reached the city of Lilongwe located in the country of Malawi which is a tiny country located on the eastern part of southern africa.
The trip itself wasn't bad at all although I've had a few hitches along the way. I must say, however, that there is something about Africa- the people, the slow pace, the breath of fresh air that is very unique and brings about a sense of nostalgia the minute you step of the plane.

My journey began in Pittsburgh where I boarded a flight to D.C with a 5-6 hour layover and then onward to Johannesburg via, Dakar Senegal. Unfortunately I ran into my first hitch at the pittsburgh airport itself as the clerks for united airlines adamently stated that I could not check my luggage to Lilongwe and would have to collect them at Johannesburgh and then recheck them the following day when I board my flight to malawi as there was a new 16 hour rule in between flights that they would not know where to store the luggage.
In any case, it was not worth the argument and I let it go.

South African airways by far is the best airlines I've ever flown and the service was spectacular. They certainly were very generous in their alcohol beverage service as I got asked literally every 2 hours if i wanted another wine mini bottle. I slept a lot of the way there and listened to my ipod as I had purposely sleep deprived myself the night before travel. I usually hate long planes simply b/c i cannot sleep and then I get all restless making it a painful journey so sleep deprivation has worked the best for me.

I arrived in Johannesburgh on time and let me tell you-- the minute you step out of the plane and into the airport you just know that you are in africa. Just the pace things go at-- super slow.
the scariest part of the airport is wondering if your baggage will arrive. I had my fingers crossed,and alas I waited at the baggage carousel number 7 with all the other passaengers... 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes and there was only one bag left going round and round and no it wasn't mine! This is when a lot of cuss words started entering my crazy little head and checked baggage carouself number 6 which was from a flight arriving from Harare,zimbabawe and there was one of my checked in pieces of luggage. Unforunately it was not the one i was hoping to see as this was all computer equipment from Gerry's company baobab. With a mad and disappointment face I checked all the carousels and my other piece was not there. This was the suitcase that had all my clothes, shampoo soap, you know the suitcase that has your life in it... and where was it.
I walked up to the south african airways baggage inquiry desk and was empathetically (not really) told that it was still in Washington D.C. Oh great! at least I had packed 3 pairs of underwear and a pairof pants I guess.

Like a dejected soul I went to find the shuttle that would take me to my hotel. The Peermont Metcourt is where my travel agent had placed the booking and while sounding fancy I really didn't have expectations as I was only going to be in johannesburg for 12 hours or so.
The shuttle picked me up and took me down this highway and as we made our way to the exit ramp I saw the giant sign for the Peermont Emperor's casino. Holy shit? was i staying at a casino. Within 5 minutes I realized that this was the case and when i was taken to my room I realized that the karma of losing luggage was balanced off by this majestic palace I was staying at. There for 3 freaking bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, pure insanity. I was staying at the penthouse suite. making sure that this was all real I went downstairs to ask the hotelclerks who had stated that this was the only room available forthe night as they had overbooked so I was lucky in that they had to put me in the penthouse suite for the night.

So here I am, one suitcase, barely one set of change of clothes and I am staying in this penthouse suite for about 12 hours with a casino across the road. In an instance my jet lag went away and what else could a guy at the age of 29 do but head across the street to casino.

The casino itself was nice and they were trying to pull a mini vegas with the clouds in the sky theme. Knowing myself from las vegas I have a tendency to gamble more than what is good for me so I dropped only 100 rand at a poker table and won 200 haha.
I met a lot of interesting people. one family from Johannesburgh who owned a packing business and worked a great deal with great britain. they were super friendly and we spent the night away talking about africa, the good the bad and the ugly. they also felt inclined to show me the s. africanhospitalitity which included drinks. a lot of them put I politely turned them down after the 3rd rum an coke. I also met a bunch of singers who were from south africa that were doing a mini concert in the casino. they sounded great- i was impressed and we talked about the world cup and whether Johannesburg was ready. They felt that the stereotype Jo'burg got was too overrated in terms of how the world perceives the city and their crime rates stating that in any city if you don't have street smarts you will get into trouble.
Finally around 3 am I headed back to my penthouse suite (and no i did not bring visitors) as I had to catch a 10AM flight to lilongwe.

The flight itself was not bad, a little bumpy.. i thought i was going to die maybe twice but no big deal and we arrived in malawi on time around 12pm.
Malawiwellwhat can i saw. I loved it the minute i stepped off the plane. nothing fancy, everyone with smiles on their faces, the not so spectacular airport with the ghetto luggage carousel to finally the customs official who spent 15 minutes talking to me on america and barack obama. haha ppl really love that guy over here.

I was greeted by a smiling face when i exited out of the airport who had a sign with my name on it. although i can't remember his name. the airport is about 45 minutes to the house where I am staying and during the trip he kept switching the radio channels to english songs wheneer there would a song playing in the local malawian language just to make me feel welcome.

a right turn and down a street through some bumpy unpaved roads, I arrived at the house I will be staying and was greeted by Nancy the housekeeper/cook. A very good and nice person with a smile on her face. We chatted a bit she showed me around the cute little house that has 3 bedrooms, a living room, a small kitchen and a bathroom.Also a backyard with corn fields in the background and I swear I could hear elephants last night in the distant or maybe I was just hearing things. Nancy has grandchildren and a daughter who is in her 20s. Haven't met them yet. She asked me what I liked to eat and my nuances when it comes to food. I told her I would just let her prepare meals and then decide what meals I enjoyed and which ones not so much but i wanted to try mainly typical malawian dishes as this was part of mycultural immersian.

after our chat I realized i was tired and figured I'd take a nap 2 hours whichended up turning to 6 and I woke up around 8pmwith thunder and decided to just sleep the night away.

Today, i was met by Rashid, a medical officer who works at a pediatrics clinic. we went and go all of my registration stuff done and went to the kamuzu hospital which in itself was an eye opening experience in itself which I will talk about later on..... I start work on Monday. very excited. I met Charles who is supposedly my mentor. A very quiet guy with a smile but seems nice.

We'll see how it goes... more to come. today, sat and sun i plan to get familar with town. Lilongwe will be my home for 2 months.