Tako Parr - May 2012 to 20 December 2013

Last night, Tako passed away.  She had a reaction to some medicine she got on Wednesday and was in what appeared to be a coma Thursday and Friday.  Last night, it seems she had a seizure and passed away.  I found her this morning with Zen laying next to her, trying to keep her warm.

I got Tako on my fifth day at site, 4 September 2012, from another teach, Stanley Ngwira.  She was four months old.  For that first month in Thunduti, she was my only roommate and my only local friend.  She was the second member of the Parr family's Malawian extension.  When I got Fletcher, Tak instantly hated her, only for the two of them to become best friends.  

She was the first pet I’ve ever had that was just mine.  She was my best friend, and “Our Queen.”  She will be missed and will forever be in my heart.

Kitty hammock.

Tako laying in her most recent favorite spot, my bike rack.  This is the last picture I have of her.

Starting the Library Construction

Fund raising has been a huge success! So far, $3,205 has been raised. Thank you so much to everyone that has donated. We now have enough money to build the library as well as stock it with some supplies. 

The first bags of cement have arrived today, and construction of the foundation is set to begin Monday. 

International Toilet Day

Happy International Toilet Day!

For those of you that have a toilet in your home, don't take it for granted.  It's a blessing.

Watch your head.

Donald and I have always been plagued with the distance between our sites. It's only about 85km, but on public transport, it's a frustrating 2 hours, involving at least one transfer.

Well, we had the idea to find a spot located in the middle of our sites that would be a reasonable day trip for both of us. We found Ngara Resort, which is about an hour and exactly mk500 away for both of us. 

Their bar was not fully stocked, but we hope that was a fluke. The food was to die for. Also, we immediately fell in love with the padded lawn chairs.

The only problem with these chair, is we positioned them under a fruit tree. Within 30 minutes of me sitting down with a delightful beverage, one of the fruits decided to fall. I have been under plenty of trees when fruit falls, and I've never had any reason to fear. The probability of one falling anywhere actually close to you is slim. 

Well, not this time.  I didn't react to the sound over my head and the fruit lined up perfectly to smack me right on top of the head. 24 hours later, and the top of my head still hurts.

A reenactment of the impact.  In reality it bounced off my head and came to rest in the grass about 3 feet away.  Donald said he could hear the thud loud and clear.

Thanksgiving(s)

Last year, unfortunately, I didn't get much of a Thanksgiving. We had a "Thanksgiving" dinner at Maji Zuwa, but other than J's mango cobbler and blue-berry muffins, there was nothing American about the meal (we had chapatis, rice, and beef stew). This was a big change from my three Thanksgivings I've had for the previous few years (work, Mom's, the Dad's).

This year was completely different! I wanted a proper Thanksgiving, as did Donald and Sara. So, we planned one. Since the 12 Pubs of Mzuzu (an annual Christmas kickoff for northern Malawi ex-pats) was scheduled the following Saturday, we planned a Black Friday Thanksgiving in Mzuzu. We also planned to get two live chickens and have the "Cleanest Kill Contest" between Sara and myself (I won).

After this was planned, I got word that the United States Ambassador and Matt Maroon had arranged for a Thanksgiving lunch for Karonga PCVs and Latitude Volunteers (an NGO Matt is country director for) at Maji Zuwa. I was also told that following the lunch, she would visit my school and my house, a huge honor. 

Then, a week before Thanksgiving was finally upon us, I went to the post office to discover a care package. Uncle Dan had sent me a full Thanksgiving dinner (canned turkey, gravy, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, and much more). 

Well, Thanksgiving week, on Tuesday, I made my care-package Thanksgiving dinner. 

Thanks Juice!

Thursday was our Maji Zuwa Thanksgiving with Ambassador Jackson. 

Abbie cooked most of the food

 Then Friday was A Very Mzuni Thanksgiving. 

This meal made possible by Shoprite Mzuzu