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.

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.

Melissa's Project

Update (4/2013): She has managed to raise all of the money she needed. Thank you if you were one of those that donated.

A friend of mine has a project here in Malawi that could use your help. The link to her blog post is here.

http://melissainmalawi.blogspot.com/2013/01/books-books-books.html

Thanks!

Back Home

So, I’m back at home.  The house was more-or-less in good shape.  The lawn is completely overgrown thanks to rainy season and my orange tree is gone (I suspect the evil goats).  The fence is…not done, but now all that left is the gate and dog-proofing.  I got the Deputy Head-master on board with having students that need to be disciplined finishing my fence, slashing my lawn, and pulling up all my weeds, so that saves me having to do it.

I’ve adjusted my class schedule so I no longer teach Form 1 (9^th grade).  It frees up time so I can do more fun secondary projects like Grassroots Soccer (http://www.facebook.com/grspcskillz), teacher workshops, and getting a garden put in at our school so the agriculture and biology classes can have hands-on learning.  Also, I didn’t like teaching Form 1 because they’re still a little too kid-like for me to handle a group that large, and as everyone knows, I’m not exactly a kid-person.  Needless to say, I’m quite happy with the change.

Thank you for all the people that sent me packages!  I went to the post office to find 4 boxes and many envelopes full of goodies.  The December packages have not made it here yet, but the letters have.  I’m very impressed with the number of Christmas cards I got, including some from a couple people I’ve never met, but apparently enjoy reading this blog.  Thank you for the overwhelming feelings of being cared about even from half-way across the world.  It’s going to take me a while to respond to all of them, but I have written 10 letters I will post to everyone that sent me a letter or package.

Yup, life is good!  Rainy season is in full swing, so cooler temperatures (mid-80s to high-90s during the day), and lots of rain with the occasional thunder storm that ever gets this Florida boy’s attention.  I’m just spending this weekend at Maji Zuwa, working on finishing the 5th novel from A Song of Fire and Ice series (Game of Thrones), relaxing, and doing work on the computer.  Tuesday is a holiday here, John Chilembwe Day, honoring someone that was pivotal in Malawian independence.  With me not teaching on Mondays, that made this a 4 day weekend for me.  Time to get some of those house chores I’ve been putting off done!  Hope all is well wherever you are reading this from!

A Pictorial Adventure to the Magical Land of Likoma Island

So, since my last post, I've experienced a ton!  We had in-service training in Lilongwe at a place called Korean Gardens Lodge, which was really nice.  We had full food service, WiFi, electricity, running water, and such, as well as nice rooms.  Training itself was pretty good for the most part.  It was also really nice to be reunited with my training crew.

After IST, worked my way back up the coast of Malawi.  The important thing, though, is vacation!  Since I don't really feel like recapping my entire vacation to Likoma Island in detail, we'll just take a journey to a tropical island through international waters together in pictures.  Come with me, if you will.  (For added effect, listen to the Jurassic Park theme song as you look at the pictures.)

A Pictorial Adventure to the Magical Land of Likoma Island

So, yup, heading home soon, but sitting in America Light right now, known as the Mzuzu Coffee Den.  They have fast WiFi, coffee (iced or hot), and burgers.  Basically, amazingness!