Lake Malawi is gorgeous! (aka Kate and Jon toiling away in Africa!)

Easter weekend (almost six weeks ago already!) Kate and I took the time to head down to Cape Maclear, a beautiful village right on the southern shores of Lake Malawi.  We had originally planned on a different itinerary for the week, including three days on Mt. Mulanje and then staying at Cape Maclear the weekend after, but because of the advocacy training I helped with we had to adjust our plans at the last second.

As it was a holiday weekend, our options were limited, but we did get a room at the Gecko Lodge.  Little did we know, that the Gecko was to be the site of a two- night, all-night dance party, with bumping bass until four in the A.M.  The accommodations were very nice, but we didn't sleep that well :/

 Even so, we had a chance to enjoy each other's company in a beautiful setting, and eat some fresh chambo as well!  We took a whole day and rented kayaks, getting a little too much sun in the process.  Really, really gorgeous here!

Plenty of wildlife included uncommon birds (to us!) such as fish eagles, and of course lots of tropical fish. Apparently, Lake Malawi has one of the best freshwater ecosystems in the world for tropical fish.  It's really cheap to get scuba certified here, so maybe that's something we should do next time?

 Every evening at sunset, the local fisherman paddled home while the sky behind them offered up the beautiful canvas you would expect in such a tropical paradise.  Even in my wildest dreams, I never could have guessed moments like this are what Malawi held for us.  Peaceful, tranquil- you would have to work hard to convince me at that moment that there is anything more beautiful on this entire earth.

It's pretty easy to always blog on the positive, the beautiful, the adventurous, the exciting.  Certainly most days don't hold that much excitement once you get settled here, but I will say I am struck almost every day by the beauty of the country here.  It's also easy to say things such as life is short, stop and smell the roses, etc., but I am really thankful that I have the opportunity to really appreciate what a splendid country I get the chance to live in.  Also, was pretty sure we could have found Kong on that island to the right had we looked!

Family and friends always inquire how I'm doing, or if I'm happy.  Kate's colleagues here are always asking, "How's Jon getting on?" It seems like a common inquiry, and if I'm not careful it's pretty easy to always be in my own head, questioning and asking about the decisions I've made to leave my career for a while and head here.  Purpose in my life and what I do is important to me, and simply living a vacation lifestyle is something that gets old (see Steamboat, Hilton Head, etc.)

Some days I miss my job, some days I don't.  I'm sad that I wasn't there for Sean  Pharr's two (two!) Walkers, as well as the opportunity to keep Fred Moore humble after he picked one up as well.  I'm bummed that I wasn't there to see my classmate Adam Braunbeck try his first Circuit case, and from what I hear do a good job with really, really tough facts (I mean, what else?).  I can't believe I'm not there to keep Carlos Wood in line now that he's back at the office, and miss my daily bull sessions with Aaron Dyke. I miss the heck out of each and every person at that office, because I believe in what they are doing with their lives, and enjoy the people they are.  I know that there is endless work to be done at the Louisville Metro Public Defender, and every other PD office for that matter.  I know I love that work, and it was tough leaving it.  I believe I will do that work again some day, just not right now.

I have picked up some freelance legal work through a couple of websites I am on, which doesn't sound like much except for when you account for some money coming in when you haven't had any income for three months. I'm very proud to say that one client I did some work for has asked for some additional, so that makes me believe I can do some of the civil stuff I had tried to forget.

Is it my dream job to work on trusts issues from Utah, and civil procedure questions from Illinois? Clearly not.  But I can say I feel more balanced than I have in a long time.  It's been great to work out more, play things like Gaelic football, and be more healthy.  Kate and I seem to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables in a week here than we did all year when we were home.  I have really, really enjoyed having time to read, watch movies, and catch up on lots of good music.  And sweet Lucille is providing more and more adventure by the day (btw, RIP BB King, what a morbid coincidence!).

After the initial newness of Lilongwe wore off, after my terror that I wouldn't be able to pay the bills started to subside, after I learned not to worry about how I would fill my days, after taking some time to build perspective on this entire adventure....life is good. Am I happy?  What an odd question.  Do you mean at this exact moment?  Do you mean generally satisfied with life?  Is anybody happy all of the time?  I would be skeptical if someone said they were.  Am I happy?  Most of the time, yes.  I am really happy that I took the chance to move here, am thrilled that the seven months away from Kate is over, and am excited to see what else Malawi has to offer that the first three months haven't already produced.

Will I always be happy living far away from family and friends, doing freelance legal work while a career I care about is waiting back in the States?  Not sure: ask me in six months, or a year, or five. And if you happen to feel a little down, a little lost, and little confused about what's important in life, there are always scenes like this to offer a little perspective.

"Lucille"

When this whole Malawi adventure started to materialize, plans were made, different contingencies were considered, certain aspects of life were shifted around.  Part of that process was letting the imagination run wild and coming up with any ideas, crazy or not, for how we would like to live this part of our life.  One thing that always seemed to be in the back of my mind for my adventure here was getting a motorcycle (sorry mom).  Riding on the open road, coutryside wizzing past, that's what I'm talking about.

Here in Lilongwe, buying a motorcycle is not always as easy as going to the local dealership.  That can happen, but you are pretty much stuck buying new with a couple of Chinese brands that I wasn't all that familiar with, and for that matter had pretty consistently terrible reviews from people.  My perfect world was finding a used bike, as it would be easier on the budget, and probably a Yamaha or Honda or Suzuki.  Once I arrived here I started to keep my eyes open, but used bikes seem to be at a premium here.  I finally saw a local notice for a used Suzuki TF 125 for sale, and sent a text.  Over the next five weeks and dozens and dozens of texts, phone calls, and emails, I finally saw her....

"Lucille"

Now, for those of you that don't know, BB King named his guitar Lucille years ago.  And since we have Lucy the dog, it seemed like a nice pseudo-homage on a couple of levels (also, apparently both Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers have songs about Lucilles, but...no).  But naming her didn't come until later.  My buddy Dan drove me over to meet Asher, the guy who was selling the bike.  He lived in Area 18, and neither of us were that familar with the area.  Part of me was convinced somebody was trying to pull a fast one, so when we met him and followed him through a maze of streets, winding farther and farther from our familiar, I feared my suspicions were going to be confirmed.  But lo and behold, he opens the gate up and there she is.

Now unbeknownst to Dan (and something he asked me about later) was that I don't really have a ton of "experience" when it comes to motorcycles.  I rode a minibike around my grandfather's farm when I was a kid (with my cousins Adam, Jason, and Cory), and had been on plenty of scooters and mopeds, but most of my motorcycle experience was when I accidentally bought a motorcycle when I was in law school and living in Minneapolis.  It needed work, which I knew when I bought it, but getting that work done never seeemed to happen and two years after I bought it I sold it and pretty much broke even.  I had ridden it around the neighborhood, but due to some faulty exhaust I never really went all out.  So, not all that much experience at all.

Before we went, I did a little internet research on what to look for when buying a used bike, so I tried to apply that as best I could.  When we showed up, I gave the bike a once over, but in all honesty was so excited I didn't really even look for half the things my research had told me to.  Either way, I took it for a test drive, and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't crash the thing into the side of Asher's house.  After taking maybe a couple of seconds longer to get it into neutral than it should have taken, I started it, put it into gear and turned out on the road.  It was about 5pm, so lots of people on the road heading home for the day. I didn't get any strange looks at all......  Avoiding disaster, I headed back to the house and pulled in.  Pretty sure the smile I couldn't wipe off my face destroyed any bargaining power I would have had.  It still took another week or so to transfer the money, get her looked at by a mechanic, and get some of the paperwork in order.  But once that was done, I was off.

My first destination was Kumuzu Dam.  It was south of Lilongwe about 30 km.  I took my time getting out, soaking in the villages I passed through, the beautiful countryside, the dirt road seemingly headed to the horizon.  So many friendly waves and smiles from people, and plenty of those stares again with hardly any reaction at all.  I had spent that first week of getting paperwork in order riding around the neighborhood, so I was somewhat familiar with the bike by then, but this certainly took it to a whole new level.  Riding was awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better place to do it.  And life was good, and the African red dirt found a temporary resting place on my teeth, as once again I couldn't keep my mouth shut with the smile on my face that wouldn't quit.

 Once at the dam, I spent an hour or so hiking around and exploring.  There is apparently some sort of Lilongwe Sailing Club here, I didn't see any sign of it.  There was a class of local school kids that were on a field trip there.  Covered in dust, I'm sure I looked like a strange sight.

There are a lot of things about life that are tough when you live this far away from family and friends.  My younger sister Abby just had her seond child, a boy this time!  I'd love to see Brooks, and how his older sister Amelia interacts with him.  I think one of the things I'd like to be there for most is seeing Jay and Abby and all the love that is in their life.  It stinks not being there.

Mother's day was yesterday, and I put in a call to my Mom.  I didn't get a chance to talk to Abby, or Kara, my older sister with three kids of her own.  It would have been nice to give all the favorite moms in my life a kiss and a hug and tell them how much I appreciate them,  I try not to spend a lot of time focused on missing all of those things, because if you do you'll miss the experiences and opportunities that are right in front of you.  But I do think about them, and miss all of those guys every day.

With all that said, it's nice to have destractions.  It's great to have things that take your focus away from anything that is bothering you.  I've always had buddies that had motorcycles, and I was always jealous, although I don't know that I could have told you why exactly.  They all seemed to love it, however, and some seemed almost obsessed.  It has only been a short time for me, but I think I'm now officially in the club.  Riding on a Malawi country rode at 60 kmh, grass huts wizzing by, the sun lasered on my forearms as my palms sweat from holding on so tight....I think I may be spending a little time on Lucille while I live here in Malawi.