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10 August 2010

So I got the meet the big man in charge, the head cheese, the top dog, the president of Malawi.  It was good.  We ate like kings (relatively speaking, of course) and we danced the night away (until 4pm when they kicked us out).  We were also on Malawi TV which made us all famous to the people who watch TV.  It’s funny when some random person will recognize you from TV, and we didn’t even get paid like those real famous people do.  Other than that it was fairly uneventful, I felt mostly like I was at a president’s ambassadors event with a bunch of food and important people.  (Props to Rachel for teaching me how to use each of the 4 forks, 3 spoons, 2 knives, 2 wine glasses and 2 plates we were each given).  It wasn’t easy but I think I got it all right.  I think Bingu might have spent more money on that one lunch then he has on his education system in the last four years, what can you do it was delicious.

After Bingu’s I went home to finish up my first year of teaching at school.  It was pretty mellow because exams were going to start in a couple days so I was basically just opening up the library and sort of acting as a tutor for any questions they had.  It worked out well and I got to rest up because I knew I’d be headed back to Lilongwe and then to Dedza to help the new group with their training.  This much traveling can make a kid crazy.  However, Dedza and training was a blast and the new kids are great.  We didn’t have a whole lot of curriculum with them, mostly odds and ends stuff like killing chickens and how to ride a bike.  We found out where they are all going and there will be two new additions to the Tonga speaking Nkhata Bay group.  They’re great kids as well as the rest of the northern crew.  I say this because we spend a lot of time together, us northerners, so it’s nice to have good people close by.

After Dedza I end up in Lilongwe.  I wanted to leave Lilongwe today.  Im still in Lilongwe.  It (Lilongwe) contains some similar properties to that of a black hole.  That is if you live on the lakeshore and try to leave past 9am you will not be able to do so.  I was a little bummed out about this.  Mostly because I had walked a half an hour with my backpack, other bag, charcoal stove and large heavy bag filled with miscellaneous items on my head to the bus depot…and then back to the peace corps office.  I was tired, sweaty, stinky and a little bummed.  However, my good friend Elizabeth was going to stay at a friends house in Lilongwe while she was away and offered for me to come along.  So we took a bus, walked down the street and entered into the future.  It is like I’m at a friends house back home.  There’s carpet, electricity, a stove, a fridge, wireless internet, incredibly nice showers.  I’m currently in a state of shock but slowly recovering.  Tomorrow I will try my luck again with going home, this time probably closer to 530 am.  Gotta love the Malawian bus system.

Once I’m at site I will have a few days to pull myself together, tie up some loose ends and get ready for Camp SKY.  Ill be teaching some math classes and having some paper engineering competitions (ie.  bridge/tower building, paper airplane, etc)  Then ill head back to site for a model school that we’re putting on for the two Tonga trainees at my site-mate melissa’s school.  After that ill be heading back down to Lilongwe to get on a plane to a magical place where the water runs and ice cream is real.

See you all in a couple of weeks.  Well maybe not all of you, just the people i know, unless of course we meet on the sidewalk, or at a restaurant (were I will be spending most of my time).  Mbwenu, tisaniyanenge uneneska.