So I don't have a new blog post for you ready, but I have uploaded tons of pictures to Facebook. Here are the links to the albums:
Livingstonia, I Presume
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10103360140228861.1073741827.2036002&type=1&l=05f45c2545
Dedza Visit
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10103363531986751.1073741828.2036002&type=1&l=5071de0c10
Alipo
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10102979924843541.3757055.2036002&type=1&l=8ffc337b60
Chakuria
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10102979895681981.3757050.2036002&type=1&l=b4b126c5c4
Mwanakazi
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10102979917114031.3757054.2036002&type=1&l=0ce7e7beb9
Ntchito
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10103360132584181.1073741826.2036002&type=1&l=c3e4b516b4
Nyumba
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10103360122733921.1073741825.2036002&type=1&l=c809a39fe5
Maprizi
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10102979915322621.3757052.2036002&type=1&l=e1ee65de2a
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Thank You for the Christmas Cards
I just wanted to send out a quick thank you to everyone who sent me a Christmas car this year. I wish I could write you each a letter, but sadly my pockets would be empty and my hand would fall off. Those that sent photo Christmas cards, they're not shown here because they're already on the photo wall. Thank you again for the overwhelming feeling of love and support, even from a few people I've never met.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
The Last Couple Months in a Few Paragraphs
So I realize that I've been quite bad at updating this lately, which is made an even more pathetic fact when you consider I got a smart phone and even have the Blogger app on it. Well, here's my best attempt at catching you all up on my adventures.
Since my last real post was concerning the Likoma Island trip, I'll start sometime after all of that.
January was pretty quiet. I can't say I had too many crazy adventures. The funniest, though, was one weekend that I was just sticking around site, I rode my bike into the trading center to buy a cow heart for biology class that week and check the mail at the post office. Well, I go to the butcher who put the heart aside for me, then start walking to the post office, but I happen to see that the very distinctive vehicle of Maji Zuwa, an old Nissan pickup truck fire truck with a big 4 on the hood, is coming down the road. Matt's driving, so he stops when he seed me to greet me, I asked where he was going, and he told me Karonga. Well, I hoped in the back. I had some money in my bank account and was hoping to get it out. When I got in, I used the mobile banking service and realized we had just been paid that day, so this saved me my monthly trip to Karonga to get cash! To us in Peace Corps Malawi, this is such an awesome story that it has been told many times. Funny side not, I had the heart with me in my bag all day in the Lakeshore heat. It was not edible when I got it home, but fortunately it was not for consumption.
So, in February fun stuff happened. First of all, I went to Mzuzu for a little recreational weekend. I stayed with some really cool Canadian friends that taught at Mzuzu University (they recently left). We had a great weekend bar hoping around Mzuzu. I also got my new smart phone, about two days old at that point, set up at the Airtel store.
Later in Febuary, I finally made it up to Livingstonia. Livingstonia is this village at the top of a plateau right near my site, but because of the 20k hike with about a 1000m elevation gain combined with very rare transport, I've never been. Well, my school decided to avoid taking a side in the civil servants strike, so the school would take the mid-term break that we get to schedule whenever we want. I didn't find out about this until Monday afternoon, so I packed a bag and set off hiking up Tuesday morning. I got to spend a relaxing week above my site where it is significantly cooler. Very relaxing, and I hope to post pictures soon, because the best part is the views.
Finally that brings us to my last adventure several weeks later. I took a mental health day and shot up to Karonga for a couple nights to stay with a couple of my sitemates. We went to a hotel and bar there called Beach Chamber, which is right on the beach. It is spectacular because they have delicious steak on the menu, and they had Captain Morgan in the bar (only one shot, but still nice to have a Captain and Coke). Then I enjoyed a couple days up at Chitiba with one of the people from my training group and a few of her sitemates. Chitiba is quite nice, with cool weather comparable to Central Florida. With it being well into fall here, that means I got to spend the day being rather cool, a nice change of speed for me.
Well, as Frank Sinatra would say, that's life. How all is well wherever you are reading this from. We have recently celebrated 8 months is country (1/3 the way through my time in Malawi) and 6 months at my site (1/4 the way through my time at site). Amazing how fast this is all going now that I'm settled and falling into routines.
Since my last real post was concerning the Likoma Island trip, I'll start sometime after all of that.
January was pretty quiet. I can't say I had too many crazy adventures. The funniest, though, was one weekend that I was just sticking around site, I rode my bike into the trading center to buy a cow heart for biology class that week and check the mail at the post office. Well, I go to the butcher who put the heart aside for me, then start walking to the post office, but I happen to see that the very distinctive vehicle of Maji Zuwa, an old Nissan pickup truck fire truck with a big 4 on the hood, is coming down the road. Matt's driving, so he stops when he seed me to greet me, I asked where he was going, and he told me Karonga. Well, I hoped in the back. I had some money in my bank account and was hoping to get it out. When I got in, I used the mobile banking service and realized we had just been paid that day, so this saved me my monthly trip to Karonga to get cash! To us in Peace Corps Malawi, this is such an awesome story that it has been told many times. Funny side not, I had the heart with me in my bag all day in the Lakeshore heat. It was not edible when I got it home, but fortunately it was not for consumption.
So, in February fun stuff happened. First of all, I went to Mzuzu for a little recreational weekend. I stayed with some really cool Canadian friends that taught at Mzuzu University (they recently left). We had a great weekend bar hoping around Mzuzu. I also got my new smart phone, about two days old at that point, set up at the Airtel store.
Later in Febuary, I finally made it up to Livingstonia. Livingstonia is this village at the top of a plateau right near my site, but because of the 20k hike with about a 1000m elevation gain combined with very rare transport, I've never been. Well, my school decided to avoid taking a side in the civil servants strike, so the school would take the mid-term break that we get to schedule whenever we want. I didn't find out about this until Monday afternoon, so I packed a bag and set off hiking up Tuesday morning. I got to spend a relaxing week above my site where it is significantly cooler. Very relaxing, and I hope to post pictures soon, because the best part is the views.
Finally that brings us to my last adventure several weeks later. I took a mental health day and shot up to Karonga for a couple nights to stay with a couple of my sitemates. We went to a hotel and bar there called Beach Chamber, which is right on the beach. It is spectacular because they have delicious steak on the menu, and they had Captain Morgan in the bar (only one shot, but still nice to have a Captain and Coke). Then I enjoyed a couple days up at Chitiba with one of the people from my training group and a few of her sitemates. Chitiba is quite nice, with cool weather comparable to Central Florida. With it being well into fall here, that means I got to spend the day being rather cool, a nice change of speed for me.
Well, as Frank Sinatra would say, that's life. How all is well wherever you are reading this from. We have recently celebrated 8 months is country (1/3 the way through my time in Malawi) and 6 months at my site (1/4 the way through my time at site). Amazing how fast this is all going now that I'm settled and falling into routines.
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