Sweet 16

This post is a bit belated, but since I don't have anything new or exciting to report (except that the rainy season has finally started!! yay!!) I decided to post this excerpt from an email I sent a couple weeks ago...

Oct 30 was Regan's 16th birthday and on the saturday we had a party for her. It was actually quite a fun party for her and her friends I think! The DJ ended up having to set up inside (he started outside but then it rained - for the first time in MONTHS! - so he moved the stuff in, which was probably better anyways cause it kept the party relatively contained). Us "adults" hung out in the backyard and only occasionally found a reason to go into the house to check up on things! Some funny stories:

1. Terri brought over a bottle of red wine and I put it on the kitchen counter - and one of the kids stole it! cheeky buggers.

2. In the morning after the party, our gardener came in to the house to give me something he found in the yard - a bottle of dark soy sauce that another of the cheeky buggers must have mistaken for red wine and stole from the fridge only to chuck it in the yard once they realized it was soy sauce

3. we have 2 1/2 bathrooms in the house - the ensuite master bathroom, and then the full bathroom regan and I share and the toilet/sink bathroom beside it where we keep Nali's litter box. For a long time the main hall bathroom was occupied and we realized that a "couple" was in there. Regan was really annoyed and was banging on the door but they wouldn't get out, so I asked her if she wanted my help and she said yes, so I banged on the door crazy style, yelled "GET OUT NOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!" and then stuck my pointy finger out at them when they came out and shamed them by telling them that they "do not disrespect us, our house or Regan like that". It was hilarious and Regan thought so too. Apparently the girl keeps apologizing. It was classic and I think will be something that comes up many a time at lilongwe functions

4.At one point I saw a guy go into Nali's bathroom but then promptly get out. I thought I should check if there was a problem (and was thinking that Nali probably dropped a big smelly load in his litter box). Nope. Wrong. There was a rat in the toilet! A RAT! I ran out to the backyard to get Jules, who thought I was in need of cockroach removal. He thinks it must have come up through the septic tank (there is no municipal sewage treatment in malawi) and through the pipes but then couldn't climb out of the toilet bowl. EWWW! It was still alive, soaking wet and looking up at me all pathetic and like "umm, ma'am, could you give a rat a hand?"