First Impressions

I visited Malawi once before (back in August) so this I suppose the title is technically a bit of a misnomer, but a week of meetings hardly counts. Besides, one looks through different eyes when trying to think of a place as home. In any case, enough people have asked that I thought I’d mention a few of the sensations I’m already coming to associate with our new home. (Home. There that word is again. Part of the trick of making something fully real, you see, is repetition – so I’m practicing.)

The smell of burning grass. It’s unclear why, but every morning there seems to be someone burning grass or leaves somewhere near our lodging. Patches of blackened earth checker the roadside in mysterious, ever-shifting patterns as I walk to work. Perhaps controlled burns help prevent wildfires? Some sort of secret Malawian landscaping technique? I’m sure we’ll unravel the mystery eventually, but I suspect the smoky, slightly sweet smell will be lodged in my brain for a long time.

The sound of bamboo in the breeze. The combination of clatter, creak, and rustle it makes swaying in the wind is unlike that of any other tree. It’s a bit like what I imagine wind in the rigging of old sailing ships sounded like; not one voice but a chorus, a complicated, many-parted thing that still somehow conveys unity, the sense of belonging to a single entity.

The hazy purple of the sky at dusk. As we’re currently in the dry season, the reddish dust of Malawi is everywhere. Combine that with the burning grass and the exhaust of the rattletrap minibuses that ply the capitol’s roads, and the haze is enough that the dying light slides slowly from the traditional orange and red to a unique purple. The evening light gives everything a storybook quality; traditional, old as memory, but at the same time land of the imagination, where anything is possible.

Every home has its defining characteristics: trademark colors, creaks, and smells. We’ll see whether these sensations remain standouts once we move into our house (signed the lease on a 3BR Friday), but they are what’s struck me in the first week.