Ode to Sima

So not too much more to report.  Training is training, and we're chugging along.  We had Mock-LPIs (language proficiency exam) today, but I won't know results for a couple days.  I think I could've done better, but definitely could've done worse.  Palibe Suzgo (No worries)!

I wrote a poem on sima (nsima to the Chichewa speakers) and thought I'd share that, since I'm not being too interesting otherwise.  I also will include a story the trainees from my village wrote during a practice class where everyone in the class wrote a sentence for a story, building on what the others wrote.  If you're not familiar with the 'toilet' humor of Peace Corps, this will probably be less entertaining for you, but enjoy it anyways.

Ode to Sima

O' sima,
O' sima,
How you amaze me,
O' sima.

Mashed potatoes may look like you,
However you are your own sinister form of goo.

Your taste is hard to compare,
But it is probably most similar to air.

Eating you with my hands is quite fun,
Except you are hotter than the surface of the sun.

Your glue like properties are quite something,
Especially as I curse your name while dumping.

The process to make you ufu is long,
And it ensures any nutrition is gone.

Be it one patty, two, or three,
Amayi will insit it wasn't enough for me.

O' sima,
O' sima,
How I loath you,
O' sima.

Group Story
I awake to the wailing call of a goat and the feeling that someone was watching me.  The goat walked towards me.  It had knives tied to its horns.  I thought this must be a dream.  I love nsima, it is good.  So I took the leftover nsima from last night's dinner and threw it at the goat.  The goat ran away and returned with a while heard of vicious goats.  What a time to oopsie-poopsie!

Random Quotes

Wow, this internet cafe sucks! However, I will post a couple Cam gems.

"If you want to drink your beer and eat it too,
Chimbuku is the International Beer for you."

"Chimbuku, the beer so nice is asks you to shake it, twice."

"Dedza Pottery:
Wanted,
Our cheesecake.
Dedza or Alive."

http://africaam33.tumblr.com/post/27763745361/malawi-101-chibuku

Pre-Service Training

So I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Dedza right now.  Go ahead, you can be jealous, but its k5 per minute and while that may be next to nothing, I get paid less than next to nothing.

Just thought I'd let everyone know I landed alive.  Malawi is beyond amazing, but training is beyond exhausting.  I'm staying near Dedza with a home-stay family.  Problem is I'm learning Chitambuka since I'll be living in the north, and my family knows Chichewa.  So, serious language barrier.

I'll post more when I have more time, aka after swear-in.  Life is good!

I've attached a picture of our group when we arrived in Malawi.  We were all very confused and overwhelmed at this time.

One last thing.  Please hold off on sending any care packages.  If you sent it now, it wouldn't get to me by the end of PST and I'll have a different address to send them to for my actual site.

No News is Good News

It is now 1:30am.  I am sitting in my hotel room in Philly after staging, and we're up and awake getting ready to board our bus that leaves at 2:30am for JFK airport (appropriate I think).  I got about 4 hours of sleep before coming to staging and about 30 minutes today, so here's to hoping I sleep well on the bus and plane.

Just to let everyone know, I will most likely not be able to update this or even get on the internet until after training.  So remember, if you don't hear from me until late August, "No News is Good News."

“We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” ~John F. Kennedy

Why did I decide to join the Peace Corps?  That is a very common questions, and one I don’t even know how to answer, but here’s my best attempt.

The first time I applied to the Peace Corps, I wanted to see the world, make a difference, and spend some more time of my life living abroad.  See, that time it was easy to answer, but I was also 21, naïve, had no job prospects, a sad excuse of a GPA, and the thought of entering the horribly recession hit job market with a degree that was appropriately named a B.S. scared the crap out of me.  Basically, I applied that time because I wanted to spend a couple years doing something fun and exciting while putting off the inevitable.  I happened to be at the study abroad fair seeing what was new in the world of international studies, and I was told Peace Corps was a real thing that people like I actually do.  See, why couldn’t people ask me “why did you decide to join the Peace Corps that time you didn’t actually go?”  The key part of that is: I didn’t actually go.  I got a great offer into a Master’s program with what to date is the best job I’ve ever had, I had an exciting relationship, and it was easier to not go than tell my Dad I was going.

So that brings us to October 2010.  But to get to October 2010, we must first rewind to August.  That exciting relationship that I just knew was the one, and we were going to be together forever …ya…that didn’t end so well.  Boo hoo, tears cried (well, I’m assuming I would have cried tears if I had normal human emotions, but I had the equivalent emotional movement in my own terms), and of course no regrets (I’d do it all again if I had the choice, minus folding on certain arguments). 

So a few weeks after the break-up, I was over it.  Yup, I mourn quickly.  I’m in my ‘thinking room’ where a surprising number of my major life decisions have been made, and where I tend to go when I need to think…the shower (see, there is no way I’ll be able to ET cause I’d need a shower to come to such a decision).  The little cartoon light-bulb popped on over my head (thank you scuba for all my flashlights being waterproof).  I think, “Hey, that Peace Corps thing sounded cool in undergrad, and I’m single now, I should find Amy one of these days (Amy being both my PC recruiter and one of the most amazing awesome people ever).  Well, in the way of the busy graduate student that spends all his waking time in class, working, or in the lab, I didn’t exactly drop everything and find Amy.  Actually, I didn’t even email her.  BUT, someone on the other-side thought I was onto something, so a few weeks later, I’m in the lab and think “Hey, I like food, I should go get some.” (Yes, most of my thoughts start with the word “hey.”)  Well lucky for me, this particular moment of hunger just so happened to coincide with the Study Abroad fair, and once again I see the booth set up in some prime real estate with that cool looking logo.  I walk up and Amy goes “Hey Nick, come around here and give me a hug!”  How she remembered my name, let alone cared about my existence enough to give me a hug is another one of the great mysteries of the universe and another way Amy is awesome.  (Wow, I am getting way off topic here.)  Anyways, I talk to her about reapplying, and then the process began.

So, bringing it back to the original topic, why I decided to join the Peace Corps.  I decided to join the Peace Corps because that’s what my brain said I should do while standing in the shower.  Professionally, I could get an awesome resume builder and live in Latin America where I could perfect my Spanish (ya…plans change and you just gotta roll with it).  Personally, I’d get to see the world and spend more time living abroad.  However, if you want to know the deeper and ultimate reason, it was because I realized that even if only once in my life, I knew I could do something truly amazing and make a significant impact in other people’s lives.  No matter what I do in the future, I can always know that for one brief moment, I did the right thing, even when it wasn’t the normal or easy thing to do.