Good Times in Malawi...

Well it’s been a good week.  Last weekend I visited Karonga got to hang out with Donald, Megan, and Sarah, all from my training group.  Monday was Mother’s Day (Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!) in Malawi, so no school.  Then there was a meeting Tuesday for teachers’ union members and school was closed.   Also, with Ilana’s help, I’ve made great progress on a secondary project I’m super excited about.  Finally, for those of you that know what it means, I’ve now switched off of Mefloquin and am on Doxycycline, so already my outlook on life has improved and my dreams have gotten a lot less weird.  Only better things to come, seeing as Mef has a half-life of 3 weeks and I took my last dose on Tuesday, so hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be all healthy and happy.  To top it all off, my first bucket of wine, Papaya Wine, is beyond delicious!  I haven’t tried the Watermelon Wine yet.

In November I’m now signed up for Grass Roots Soccer training down in Salima, so it’s exciting to get outta site for a while.  I’m also hoping to go up to Chitipa over the weekend after Thanksgiving for a mental health holiday and to see what the district of Wildlings is like.  With IST (in-service training) the 2^nd week of December, I got my weekends pretty packed up.

This weekend I’m just chilling, but next week is super exciting!  First, Helen, our PC program assistant is supposed to visit me sometime this week, and hopefully she brings me a Peace Corps Cook Book and medical kit refill.  Then, Friday Melissa is making her VSV (volunteers supporting volunteers) visit on Friday.  And the big event is Saturday night at Maji Zuwa, where the Halloween party is going down!  Woot woot!  And since Maji Zuwa, a local resort that also has multiple NGOs operated out of it, is within my catchment area and it’s one of my secondary projects, I’m not even out-of-site going!

Ok, I gotta throw you guys a fun story or else I might lose my one registered follower and the countless unregistered ones.  Let me think…

So I’ve somehow become a member of the ESCOM Club in Uliwa, which is a private bar located at the power plant and mostly for workers of the power plant, but also for some prominent community members that are interested in membership and can hold their own in a game of darts (me being both white and a teacher, I qualify apparently).  Well, I have been going to the club every weekend and made friends with some important people, basically integrating with a Carlsburg in my hand, which in my book is probably the 2^nd best type of integration, but sadly Kuche Kuche has not been available in the north lately (that’s a type of beer, not an innuendo).  Moving on, I was there a couple weeks ago, having traveled with my Deputy Head Master.  We ended up catching a hitch about 9km of the 10km to the club, and walked the rest.  We were concerned when we got there, because while ESCOM normally is running vehicles, they weren’t, so we were going to have to walk all the way home.  I just remembered something that was once said about my luck in these situations: “He could walk through shit and come out smelling like roses.”  So after a couple beers on a nice empty stomach, I was feeling good and assured my Dep. HM that we could get a ride.  I had no basis for this claim, seeing as very few vehicles run on this road.  I mean like other than the ESCOM vehicles running every few hours, there is normally about 4-5 vehicles all day, and they usually aren’t interested in taking a hitch.  Well, playing darts and people keep buying us beers, at a rate that was quite difficult to keep up with.  I was feeling somewhere beyond just ok, at least from what I can remember I was.  I’m sitting there outside with the other patrons because the power had gone out and someone comes up and offers us a ride.  My Dep. HM was floored.  He couldn’t believe that we actually got a ride, and I’m just sitting there going “told you so.”  So I don’t know if I’m actually that lucky, or if this is just a case of confirmation bias, but it was pretty impressive either way.

Finally, a quick shout out of the Trofis for stumbling upon one of the greatest care package items, ever.  Koolaid packets!  They super small, sugar is readily available, and using half a packet in my 1L Nalgene, it is an amazing little dessert.  So, if anyone is interested, easy item to include in those wonderful letters (along with pictures.

P.S.  Here’s an adorable picture of Fletcher and Tako playing and I put up a better picture of Fletcher in the original article.

Fun Stuff and "Azungu, I'll Give You Money"

So not too much going on out of the ordinary. 

For you Game of Thrones fans, we have a long running and very complicated joke about how Peace Corps Malawi and GoT are similar (since we all have a ton of free time, we tend to read them, and even though they're 1000+ pages each, it only takes a couple weeks each).  As someone in Karonga, I'm am one of the Karonga Brothers.  As a Karonga brother, we are the equivalent to those on The Wall (keep the Chitiba Wildlings out of the rest of Malawi).  Along the lake, we have also adapted the Stark saying to "Hot Season is Coming."  Well I have news, hot season has arrived.  No matter how often I clean my sheets, one night and they are soaked and the next day after they dry you can see the caked up salt from so much sweat.  I wish I had a good thermometer for getting room temperatures, but it would probably max out, so I use a meat thermometer (cause lets face it, if we were human roasts, we'd be done), and it is easily in the triple digits inside my house.  I don't even want to know what it is in the sun.

Fletcher and Tako are now getting along so well.  The two of them play constantly, and a little rough for a concerned parent.  The only problem is dinner time, when Fletch has realized her size and doesn't want to let Tako near the food bowl, even after Fletch is full.  I've started feeding Tako up on a chair so Fletch can't argue.

I'm reading GoT, as previously stated, and am 70% done book 3.  For the GoT fans out there that have ready this book, WTF JUST HAPPENED?!?  This might be the best book so far.

Wish I had some funny stories for you, but just making friends around town and such, nothing special.  I had a fun time last week watching the Gators beat Texas A&M on DVD (Thanks Steve!) on my laptop in the TDC with random Malawians coming to see what I was so worked up about.  I also have received word that the Gators beat LSU, which is amazing and awesome and I bet The Swamp was nuts.  I'm not necessarily disappointed I have up a couple football seasons for this experience, but why did I have to get the last two years and miss this year?  Any RPCVs that worked it so you missed '10 and '11, good work.

Last week was like Christmas, but better cause I didn't have to buy anyone anything.  So I guess it was like my birthday!  I got three care packages in one week!  Thanks to Juice, The Zahoras, and Mom!  The contents are varied and amazing!

Well, I know you all count on me for exciting fun stories of adventures and crazy things, so here's a super quick one.  It happened on my way here today.  A little background, we've already discussed the term "Azungu" and how children will chant it like I'm a genie that will grant their wishes if they say my name enough.  They also like to shout random English they know like "Hello, Bye-bye, How are you?" and everyone's favorite "Give me money."  Well on my way here, I passed a few kids about 12 years old, and one goes "Azungu!  Give me money." so I look at him and say "No."  I keep riding my bike past them, and another one goes "I'll give you money."  I skid my bike to an immediate stop, turn around and go "Ok!"  They look confused as I hold out my hand and say "Ndrama?" (money).  The kid then realizes he might have said it wrong and immediately tried to back out of the situation, but I just stand there holding my hand out for the money.  After I feel these three children and thoroughly terrified they're going to have to pay me off, I blatantly laugh at them, get on my bike and ride away.  This has given me the idea that next time I get the 'Azungu, give me money' I'm going to stop my bike, practice my Chitumbuka, and keep following the kids and telling them they need to give me money.  Let's see how long this is fun. (Scaring children is fun in any culture!)

That's all I got!  Sorry I can't be more entertaining on a regular basis, but let me tell you, my letters are amazing, and I respond to any letters you mail me (address can be found under "Send Me Stuff, Please!").  The best way to mail me a letter is to write something nice and interesting for me to read, updating me about your life, include a few pictures (I use them as wallpaper), and put that all in an envelope.  Then put that envelope into a box loaded will all sorts of goodies, and mail it off to me!  Thanks in advanced!