Blog update

Well let's start where I left off. Term two started in January. I missed the first two weeks because of travel and a training for Peace Corps and when I returns in week 3 of school it seemed that i didn't miss much. Many of the teachers were out opening bank accounts for the Ministry of Education's new initiative to pay all teachers electronically. All government employees were switched to this scheme so nurses, agriculture workers, etc were busy opening bank accounts (think: long long lines). In theory, it was a good plan but in a country with such intermitten electricity and the vest distances between banks it didn't turn out so well. For me though, it was back into the classroom and daily routine. Things went very well overall school wise minus some financial problems (apart from teacher not being paid, yet thankfully still showing up everyday!) at the school that have effected all schools in Malawi. Since there was nothing I could do about these things, I chalked it up to another frustrating things that happen in Malawi and focused on getting the students ready for national exams!

The biggest project I had happening in term two of school was a sewing workshop at Vanessa's site in Mchinji. A women's orphan care group had many nonfunctioning sewing machines that were in serious need of parts and maintenance and the group didn't know how to sew. Vanessa worked with the group to figure out a plan for using the machines to make school uniforms for her students to buy, therefore generating income for the women's group. The project was good with a lot of late hours and early mornings getting patterns and instructions ready for the workshop but overall it was great to spend time with the women and two other great volunteers. We also had an education specialist from Peace Corps Washington DC come check out the work we were doing and talk to about teaching in Malawi.

The most memorable aspect of that project however wasn't the actual workshop but my travel to the workshop. So, I taught my lessons in the morning and waited for the rain to stop. During rainy season it can be quite a challenge to get in and out of my village which is 8km on a dirt road. Basically I live in very mountainous region of Malawi and my house it at the very top of one of the peeks. I waited for a few hours hoping an open truck would pass but with the rain and the poor roads nothing came in the two hours I waited. Eventually I found a bike that was willing to take me to the M1 and we started off. So picture: Malawian man pedaling furiously down this dirt road which has turned to mud, me on the back with my backpack on and an umbrella over us. In Malawi I always travel with a chitenje on (a big piece of cloth worn by all women to protect their clothes) and it was quickly splattered with mud. I though nothing of it until the road got very slick. I usually have a lot of confidence in the bikes I hire to take me places since they don't want to get hurt or damage their bikes (their only means of making money) on this particular day however I started to worry when the bikes tires started losing traction and slipping off the bumps. After a few close calls where the bike driver did a great job keeping us on the bike the inevitable happened and we fell. There we were trapped under his bike, in a puddle at the edge of a maize field. Well we got back on the horse and took off again and within seconds found ourselves again on the road under the bike covered in mud. At this point almost every inch of my clothes, skin and hair were covered in mud and my shoes (Rainbows) weren't staying on with all the slippery mud. Deciding not to tempt fate again we started walking, barefoot and covered in mud. We got about 2 km down the road when we hear an open truck barreling down so I quickly pay him for his efforts and flag down the truck. I spend a lot of time traveling by open vehicle and usually find a spot nestled in with the village ladies. This time I was ushered to the front of the truck's bed where I held on for dear life while standing with all the men. Maybe it was because of the mud covering my clothes or the rain but they wouldn't let me sit. After some scary turns where I nearly crushed the man in front of me, the car stopped at the small river close to the main road. Here some of the men started jumping out of the car and told me I needed to wash some of the mud off before we could continue. Yes, I was so dirty Malawian men told me I needed to bath in a river because I was getting the open truck dirty. In the rain. Truthfully I wasn't the only one going to bathe in the river but still. Slightly insulted Anyway, when in Rome... I rinsed the mud off my legs, clothes, hair, and face and jumped back in the car for the rest of he journey to Lilongwe. It was certainly not my finest moment and I was very thankful to get to Vanessa's house later that day where she had a hot bath ready for me.

After school ended in April I went up to Dar es Salaam with 3 friends, Amy, Vanessa and Irene. We planned to take the bus but luckily our boss was driving to Dar around the same time so we went with him for the same price as the bus in much less crowded and comfortable transport (although one person had to sit in the trunk of his small suv with the luggage the whole way). We made good time and crossed into Tanzania in the early afternoon. There we were shown the huge difference between Malawi (a country with very little tourism or homegrown revenue) and Tanzania (where tourism is a huge part of the economy thanks to Kilimanjaro, Serengetti National Park, and Zanzibar). After finally getting someones attention on the Malawi side and convincing them to do their job of stamping out passports, we walkin across the most obnoxious bridge in the world (Lady! Azungu! Change money! Good price! Taxi! Hello Mammy!) we got to the Tanzania side where the efficient agent processed our visas and we were officially in Tanzania. There, we discovered a flat tire in the car. Our boss changed it with us women sitting chattin on the side of the road (being culturally appropriate!) and the Africans watching the white man work. One man helped and even refused payment for his help saying "Welcome to Africa!" which prompted all the spectators to put out their hands expecting payment. For watching.

Anyways we broke the trip into two days and spent one night in Mbeya close to the Malawi-Tanzania border. It was an incredibly strange hotel that we stumbled into at random after 15 straight hours in the car. None of the stairs were equal heigts and although the bed was incredible wide (king and a half) it wasn't quite long enough to accommodate our heights (well ok. My height. Sorry, Amy!) We even considered sleeping the other way since it was wider than it was long!

At the hotel restaurant we had some issues with our very drunk waiter who liked to stand way too close an wans't all that familiar with food services. Everything we ordered caused confusion. For example, someone ordered a coke and he asked in absolute serious "hot or cold coke?" now really. How many people have asked for their coke to be heated up for them? Other odd interactions included Vanessa ordering fried chicken and him asking "beef?" he also didnt understand why we werent wiling to pay a bill with random and ridiculous prices on it. Many times he told us "Ah ok just pay!" Of course this whole evening caused us to laugh nonstop but clearly illustrates the need for service and hospitality training in Africa.

We finally arrived in Dar late at night, tired, sweaty and hungry. We weren't able to find our hotel so our boss dropped us at one of the few restaurants open late on a Sunday night where we ate and then found a taxi to take us the rest of the way. The next morning we braved the Tanzanian heat and headed to find coffee, ferry tickets to Zanzibar and a guide book (in that order). Finding all of those easily, we explored Dar for a little and then went off to the ferry. The ride was nice and luckily no one got seasick which might be hard to so in the very luxurious first class section we'd upgraded ourselves to for a whopping $5!

We were all in vacation spirit chatting and laughing! About halfway through he journey a young woman who was dressed in a very exageratex fashion came into the cabin, chatted up the cabin attendant and aat right next to Vanessa and I despite half the cabin beig empty. Now in Africa, prostitutes are no subtle. From the clothes to the fancy ell phones inpretty obvious who does what for a living. This woman (maybe girl she was prob in her late teens) was definably looking for customers. Anyways back to the story... So Vanessa and I were talking and listening to music minding our own business when out of the corner of our eyes we both see our new friend (who had ignored us up until this moment) pull out her fancy phone and snap a picture of us then urn back to face the front. We were speechless. We tried our hardest to hold the laughter in but eventually we just collapsed in giggles. he young woman did a great job of keeping a straight face and pretending she hadn't done anything and eventually left. Oh to be white in Afica. Oh wait! I am!

So we arrived on Zanzibar and eventually found our way through the twisting narrow alleyways of Stone Town. Our hotel was in a great location close to everything (ok ok. Stone Town is tiny and everything is close to everything). We'd asked for a room at the top to catch some breeze so we made our way up the increasingly steep steps to our rooms. The final flght of starts was essentily a ladder with a hand rail! No the kind of "stairs" to go up or down after a few. Famished we asked the receptionist for a restaurant and she directed us to one "right around the corner". Well we got hopelessly lost walking for ages until we finally stumbled upon an Italian restaurant. Yes, our first meal in Zanzibar was pasta! A few days later after getting our bearings of the town we found the place she had directed us to and it really was just around the corner! Somehow we'd gotten none of the instructions right but we got to see a lot of the city which was beautiful! Our time in Stone Town was spent exploring, eating and eating. Some of the best food I have ever eaten, I might add. and all totally affordable even on a peace corps budget! One of days we went on a spice tour where we got to see how lots of amazing spices are grown and harvested. One that you we also checked out he natural caves that were used to hide slaves before boarding ships! Another day we went out on a small boat to prison island (which was never actually a prison) where we hung out with some amazing 100 year old tortoises from the Seychelles and snorkelled!

After exhausting the sights of Stone Town we headed to he beach to relax even further! Also it was vanessa's birthday. We stayed an a small little beachfront hotel. It was one of the few that was open despite being the off season. It was nice and included in our rooms was an hour massage and a free drink! My kinda hotel! Unfortunately hr fun hadto end eventually and we were quickly thrown back into peace corps life as we took a public bus from Tanzania to Malawi. A trip I wouldn't recommend for the fAint of heart. The first day we sat on the hit broken bus traveling for 15 hours. Unfortunately Vanessa was very sick and he other people on the bus were awful awful people. They were so rude to us and each other. We were all glad to get back to Malawi after the bus from bell until we remembered we sti had he bridge from he'll ahead of us. We got out of the taxi that dropped us at the border (after 4hours of traveling n it was only 8am) and immediately people started yelling horrible hints at us. While we were trying to walk away from the belligerent drunks a bike literally ran into Amy! We were shocked! His front tire was resting on top of her foot! Not the way to get 4 very bitter travels into a better mood. At some point some man was caalling o to us "hello nice people" in an effort to sell us something, change money for us or just rob us. Irene immediately turns to him and says "you obviously don't know us. We are not nice people." it was vey true at this point in the ordeal. The rest of the journey wS similarly frustrating including me threatening to punch a man in the face if he didn't stop talking and having to tackle people to get on the busbafter our first one broke down. The cherry on the cake was when we finally arrived in Lilongwe at 10pm. We were exhausted and just wanted to be home. We got off the bus and the door was immediTly swarmed by aggressive taxi drivers. Amy stopped at the top of the stairs and told them "we want to go to this address, we want to pay k500, and we want only 1 taxi! 1 taxi! And I choose YOU!"nap we piled of the bus and into the chosen mans taxi only to get to the bottom of the Gil outside irene's house and te car not have enough gas to make it up! Our driver assured us we shouldn't worry (a very comin thing for malawians to suggest even when worrying is very justified) we were all delirious from lack of sleep, water and food that we just about died of laughter. Our driver got us home though (by driving backwards up the hill) and we were all thankful to have a break from traveling.

Soon after the tanzanian adventure the new school term started and I met my new sitemates! My previous signage had finished in April and I was given two new ones both about 6km away from me. It was wonderful to be able to share my knowledge and experiences with people who were fresh outbid training and they quickly become great friends! it's been so nicest have really fun people nearby and has helped pass the last few months so quickly. We have a lovely tradition of sitemate Sunday where we rotate whose house well go to and just have a nice get-together and chat while the rest of Malawi is in church!

Other fun things that have been happening are a last minute safari to Zambia with a friends family and a short trip down to Blantyre to meet up with Victor and students from The Kings Academy. I was very fortunate to get great travel down to Blantyre. It was fast and crowded but I was allowed to sit on the engine compartment so I didn't have to stand the whole 3 hours down! Sometimes the white person card is really nice! Anyways after getting great transport I was reminded that nothings perfect as I couldn't get a hole of octornonce I got to the turn off. Thankfully there was a road block so I asked the police to direct mento the orphanage. Thinking they'd know where it was located was a fine guess except there are three orphanages in the proxomity of the road block I dropped at. Well luckily the police were friendly and we just chatted while I tried to figure out how to get to this mysterious orphanage. The police devised a plan where I would write a letter to Victor, send it on a bike taxi and wait for a reply. If we found the right orphanage, the police would let me wander off into the village. It was pretty cute that they were so worried for me but I couldn't convince them that wandering into villages was pretty much my life in Malawi! Eventually I got ahold of someone with Victor and they came and picked me up. It was nice to see people from California and a little strange to here them talk about places I know in America. I stayed with them for a few days and was able to help out at the orphanage. It was fun chatting with the girls at the center and meeting all the students.

More recently, the new education volunteers arrived in Malawi. After a few days at the training site they went out to different volunteer's sites to shadow them. Two came to my site and stayed with me for a few days. They got a chance to see what life in the village is like and observe some of my lessons. It was nice to have visitors and share my experiences in Malawi with them. However, it was slightly weird to know that soon one of the new trainees will be replacing me! How did two years fly so quickly?

Well it's been awhile (sorry family) and much has happened in the warm heart of Africa. Staring where I left off... Camp sky was amazing and one of those experiences I will prob bore innumerable people with. Working with such motivated and talented students with a bunch of incredible volunteers really gave me a burst of energy for year 2 of teaching. It's a shame that everyday and in every class learning in Malawi can't be full of interactive lessons and creative lessons. Aww if only.... Well enough dreaming.... Soon after camp sky I headed down to Blantyre with a friend to check out the only "real" city in Malawi. It was a fun trip including a sketch hotel and some great food. We also got to check out a movie at the only movie theatre in the country. Unfortunately they only have 2 options per day which were likely not considered new or blockbusters in America. Well, the movie (to save a life) was not what we expected judging solely on the movie poster (but u know why they say about judging a movie by the poser.... Hmmm or is that wrong?) regardless it was the best movie I'd seen all year... Which isn't saying much. Soon after it was back to kalumbu for the start of the new school year. Thankfully I "moved up" as form teacher with my form 3s as they became form 4s. They're a great group of about 50 students who have a really wonderful mix of personalities. They're used to my teaching and discipline style and we always have great open discussions about their and my concerns about the school and their academic performance. Although in all honestly I've pretty much just scared those kids straight. They always like to "complain" that madam is so strict which is criticism I'd much rather have than being lazy (their usual complaint about all the others). Well as I mentioned before our small staff of 6 got even smaller with the wonderful retirement of our old head-teacher. Although I thought I would be the only one rejoicing his departure, it seems the majority of the staff was equally glad to see him gone. In typical Malawian fashion the minute he was gone the flood gates of complaints about him opened. One thing malawians hate is complaining and upsetting he status quo. Thy will often start complaints by saying "I'm not complaining but...." It was mildly reassuring to know I wasn't insane in thinking that man was a crook and a terrible head-teacher. Unfortunately that doesn't negate the hours of stress he caused me. And his departure did leave our pitiful staff of 6 down to 5. Lucky for us (and frustrating I'm sure for the students) the Malawi national examination Board took their sweet time in releasing results for the first and 3rd year students. This left our schools nice and small with only form 2 and 4 during the waiting-for-new-teachers time. Once the results were out (2months later) we had been given an awesome new head teacher who AMAZINGLY is actually qualified to teach secondary school (ie. He has more than a high school diploma) and another great teacher who is taking over physical science (physics and chemistry) from me. Term 1 of school went very well. Some drastic changes to my classes and teaching style meant that the average for my students was much more acceptable than previously (albeit not great or even good) the addition of the new teachers helped lighten my tea hint load so that in was able to work more on revamping our library. I can proudly say we now record what books students borrow and when!!! Amazing I know! Although I still have a lot o work to do in library I can't help but feel like it as futile as pouring water into a leaky bucket. Everytime I Am absent from the library records fall apart and the organization I strive for is a distant memory. But alas I continue wig my efforts hoping that somethig sticks. I had some really memorable days in term 1 that remind me why I live Malawi so much. One includes my neighbor asking me to teach her to bake a cake for her husbands birthday. After a hit of miscommunication about exactly was coolly this cake and where, she came over and we baked a chocolate cake on charcoal. While we were waning forth cake to bake she started doing the dishes and proceeds to scrub (with coarse gravel all my pots, pans, plates etc. Apparently my dish washing abilities don't math Malawian standards. Women here have a strange fascination with making all their pots and pans look brand new by scrubbing all the ack soot off the outside of them! Makes no sense to me as the layer of soot with be there again tomorrow but oh well. As usual I spend a lot of times with children between the ages if 2 and 14 who live near me. My mom very generously sends lots of things for the kids to play with which makes my house a very popular place for them to hang out. It's nice being able to entertain them but everything about living in Malawi is frankly exhausting. I frequently don't have the time, energy or patience to play with kids in chichewa after a long day of teaching, cooking over an open fire, etc. when I do find the energy for it we jump rope, color, do summersaults or play catch. Lately they have be one obsessed with my jigsaw puzzles. The amazement on their faces when I explained that all the little pieces form one complete picture was priceless. We continue to struggle with the idea that the image continues beyond te edges of the piece but we're making progress. Two of the kids I regularly hang out with have gotten the concept really well and are becoming experts. Who knows maybe I have discovered geniuses among the millions of children here?Anyways racing ahead to the more recent past.... Christmas time arrived and the family came! Woo after a rather ridiculous travel day in which i went way south to meet them on the road from the airport and they rudely missed their flights and went to another airport way north. Hmmm. Obviously it wasn't their fault they missed their flight but it did make for a long day of traveling for me. Anyways I arrived at the super nice hotel in my scruffy peace corps volunteer uniform (chaco's, malawian attire, a hiking-pack and dripping sweat). The first night was a bit weird since I am not used to being a tourist in this country but it was nice to sit by the lake and enjoy a nice meal. Luckily I accustomed to awkwardness in this country so the 8 waiters hovering around didn't bother me too much. It's just like having an audience for everything you do. Like being a celebrity right? Anyways after about 4 hours of being totally uncomfortable at the hotel I decided I would venture back into the real Malawi the next morning while waiting for the family's arrival. It was a nice little adventure and it helped passed the time until the family came. Anyways their visit to Malawi was nice. It was nice to veg out by the lake and read some books while soaking up the sun. They weren't too impressed with the service but by my incredibly low standards it was great! Then it was off to my site for a very very very very brief look around the village. Before I left, I explained to my neighbors and the village that they were coming for a few days before we headed to Lilongwe and then the UK and they were shocked and couldn't understand why they didn't want to spend their whole vacation in the village. I tried to nicely explain to them that it wasn't exactly my family's style to rough it. Anyways I think their few hours there was more than enough but it was great to be able to show them around. I don't think they were too envious of my working conditions since my school is pretty much crap but hey I love it. Anyways then it was off to another fancy place in Lilongwe and then the UK and France. It was awesome to see the whole family plus all their assorted offspring and totally overwhelming. England was wonderfully snowy and filled with family while Paris was great and reunited me with my love of shopping and I even got to see Harry Potter with french subtitles! What more could u ask for?Then it was back to Malawi! I seriously looked like a maniac the entire flights (all 14 hours) because I was smiling the whole time. Well I was ecstatic until I realized that between my luggage and the 4 packages I received before I left for my trip (thanks mom, Melissa and Jeanine) I was going to have quite a time getting to the junky old school bus that takes me home. Well I spent lots of money getting a taxi (3 times the total cost of my entire trip getting home for just the trip from my friends house to the bus depot) and managed to make it comfortable home with help from some students. Then it was off to Dedza for a week of Mid-service training (yep thats right i am over midway). After all the globetrotting I was sooooo thankful to get home and just be in my house and relax. Of course, like all things in Malawi it didn't last....This week I have been trying fruitlessly to finish the national exam registration (which is stupidly done on the computer despite most Malawian schools not having electricty, computers or anyone proficient with computers!) It has been a very inefficient system of me spending hours and money coming to Lilongwe, correcting mistakes and printing out countless copies only to be told the next day that there is another mistake and I will need to go again! Of course it would have been nice to just do it all once and be done but hey then I would have missed out on some quality time squished in terrible malawian transport... oh life!Until next time (which no lie prob won't be terribly soon). Much love!

Well it has certainly been awhile since my last update, which is just a testament to how hectic life has been lately.

So I have successfully completed a full year of teaching now. The school terms progressed with some good days and bad days with the students and many infuriating days with the rest of the staff. Although I enjoyed feeling more connected with the other teachers, our conversations usually turned to our common frustration with the lack of progress from the school administration. Largely our concerns were centered on financial misdealings that were evident in the poor maintenance of school blocks, lack of new text books, absence of all teaching resources (pens, paper, chalk, etc). There were days when the tension ran so high I anticipated a coup d’état! The boiling point happened in mid-June when I went to the electricity supply company to investigate the status of our school being connected to the grid (a project fundraised by the previous volunteer at my site). It turned out we had no electricity because the money left with the school for the connection fee mysteriously didn't make it into the correct hand. Hmm. After some very heated discussions the money "reappeared" and the electricity was paid off. Hopefully we will eventually be connected to the grid and utilize the computers my family generously donated to help my school! Awww that'll be the day.... Luckily the Traditional Authority (similar to a mayor or county representative) is wonderful and is really excited about working with me on all future endeavors. Always good to have friends in high places!

Despite the frustrations, I really enjoyed the company of the other staff members and truly think they are doing the best they can with a very difficult situation. We had a moment of hope, as a staff, in late March when two additional teachers were assigned to our school in response to months of pleading with the Ministry of Education to supplement our tiny staff of 6. Well, as it turned out, those two teachers, a married couple, had been assigned to our school as punishment for "misconduct" at their previous school. Hmm. Luckily (maybe?), they refused to come because they are used to living in urban areas and the charms of a rural village devoid of electricity could not entice them. So the year closed with the same 6 teachers that we started with. Some (good) news came at the end of term 3 (July/Aug) when the headmaster was granted retirement. This was wonderful news to the staff, students and especially me. My dislike for the lazy and mostly absent headmaster grew worse with every passing day he either didn't show up or showed up but taught nothing. The students basically had no instruction in Biology, Bible Knowledge, or Social Studies all year because of his apathy towards the job and his incompetence as a project manager. Now we are hoping that the Ministry will assign us a new headmaster before the new school year starts on Sept 6. Even if they don't, I think the dynamics of the school are going to shift dramatically with either a new administrator or more leadership given to the competent deputy. In other staffing news, one of the other wonderfully kind but rather lazy teachers is leaving us to go live with wife number 3. It seems like such an American family dynamic to have all these ex-wives and the children spending weekends with one parent and weeks with another. Hmm. Not sure if we should be proud of that export.

Currently the Education 2009 volunteers and I are running Camp Sky, a 20-day summer-camp/school for students from various schools all over Malawi. Each volunteer chose two of their best and brightest students (1 boy, 1 girl) and brought them to Kasungu Teacher Training College for 10 days of Math, Science, and English classes, as well as classes like Orienteering, Sewing, Solar Engineering, Business, Cooking, Agriculture, etc. Then of course there is the fun aspect which involved trivia nights, salsa dancing, movie night, and a carnival as well as two field trips (hiking and a day in Lilongwe). It has been wonderful teaching very very bright students who are very interested in staying in school and succeeding. My responsibilities include teaching one “stream” (class) of Math, teaching sewing, teaching solar engineering, and being a dorm “amayi” (meaning mother or Resident Advisor) to ten of the campers. Being a dorm amayi has been great but I never thought I would have to give so many instructions on how to use a sit-down toilet (most of them have never used one since they have pit-latrines at their homes and schools). Yesterday we went on the field trip to Lilongwe and the students were taken to Parliament, World Bank (although the speaker didn't work out so they only saw the outside of the building...) and the airport. We started off from Kasungu early in the morning with bus-fulls of happy singing kids. They were able to see the chambers in Parliament and ask lots of great questions (including one girl who asked where the toilets were but was told there were toilets all over the place for the ministers. We never did find out if she really needed to know...). After the World Bank speaker rescheduled for an inconvenient time we took the students to the airport where almost all of them saw an airplane on the ground for the first time! Our timing worked out perfectly and within twenty minutes we were able to see two commercial planes take off and a military plane land. It was so wonderful to see the excitement in their faces when they saw the huge hunk of metal lift off the runway and I had to resist the nerdy temptation to explain in too much detail how an airplane worked. Overall it was a wonderful (yet exhausting) day that I am sure the students will remember forever!

Well, greetings. Long time no write. Sorry bout that but it's been ahile since I have been ion Lilongwe. Lately I have been typing, giving and

marking end of term exams. I have also been spending a lot of time with the little cuties (sometimes) in the picture. They are some of the millions of childrens who live near me and like to stand at my gate shouting "Tibwere" (we should come). They're cute for most of the time but one day I was so busy and stressed when they asked to come in I told them they could only come if they wanted to wash dishes. Suprisingly they did and all my dishes got washed. Feeling guilty I gave them each a tootsie roll and now everyday they want to wash dishes/get candy! Sometimes they seek out dishes to wash just to earn a candy! HA!-So the other picture is of a Malawi military man who was directing traffic as the important people went to the airport after President Bingu's oh-so-important wedding. The very high tech walkie-talkie made me laugh hysterically to myself.-Another amusing day involved wakling 2 hours each way to the funeral of my head master's father. Since I am a woman I had to walk with the women (leaving 2 hours before the men) and that meant walking with the other teacher's wives. Although they're all nice, they don't speak English and my Chichewa skills broke down around hour 1 and then they just talked about me. Throughout the whole walk there I had the joy of carrying our lunch under my arm.... two live chickens. Unfortunately I chatted with the chickens as they tried to escape my grip and that made their death shortly after arriving a little sad. Needless to say I did not eat any chicken that day.Some ways in which I am very different from the girl who lived in Los Angeles:-I wash ants out of my Ziploc bags and hang them on the line to dry-Harvesting and roasting peanuts is a pleasent way to pass the day-It no longer bothers me when people say "Good Morning" at 5PM-I ration my phone use so that I can minimize trips to the shop where I charge it-Sleeping in means waking up at 6:30 and a late night is staying up past 8PM-I always shake the curtain and tap the floor of my pit latrine to 1. get the goats to come runnin out and 2. make sure the termite haven't destroyed the floor so I won't fall in-I don't mind stopping at random people's houses asking for water while I am biking-A "real" meal means actually cooking rice and maybe some vegetablesAnyways hope eveyone is well. Love and miss you! Jaimie

Greetings from Kalumbu Malawi,

Well here I sit after living in the quaint little village of Kalumbu for 3 months. I have officially finished teaching my first term and surprisingly some of my students did very well on their end of term exams. Don’t know if that is a reflection on my teaching or the simplicity of the exam but it was nice to think they just might know something more than they did 3 months. The end of term was rather stressful even though I was not actually taking the exams. I spent so many hours reviewing material all the while being rather ill with what I now think was strep throat! Who’d have though my first illness in Malawi would be something I could easily catch in America? However there was also a lot of stress due to the inefficiency of the school and Malawi in general. First of all, since our school lacks electricity and a computer, our exams are hand written and then sent with the headmaster to town. This might seem inconvenient but since he is always going to Lilongwe anyways, spending at most 3 days a week at school, it wasn’t that difficult. However, some teacher took the exam deadlines as mere suggestions so that somes were submitted very late to the printer. Those exams that did manage to get typed and printed before the end of term were full of typos that the first ten minutes of every exam was spent dictating corrections to the students. Then there was the sporadic arrival of these exams so that some days students sat at school all day with no exam because the printer managed to finish four for the form 4, but none for the form 1s! It was very frustrating and even now half of the exams have not and will not be written by the students! Thankfully mine were submitted, typed, and printed in reasonable time and I was able to give and correct all my exams before the end of term.

The inefficiencies at the school are becoming more and more frustrating as I see that many of the problems are a result of laziness by the teachers, administration, and students. At a staff meeting we talked about how usefull a computer would be for the school with exams as well as registering students for their national exams. As it happened this year, I spent 3 Fridays in a row going into the district education office to print, correct, print, and submit the nearly 300 names to write national exams this year. Being the only staff member who can work a computer has it’s downsides. Anyways, everyone has agreed that a computer would be beneficial for the school and my very, very generous family has sent the school a small laptop. Well, rather than simply giving the school the computer which is sitting in my living room, I have told them they need to send a letter to donors in America stating why the school would benefit from a computer. Seems simple enough right? Well, the terrible deputy head suggested I write the letter and he will “proofread it.” Furious, I refused to write it but offered to send the letter when it was finished. Well three weeks later and no still no letter. When I asked about it this week, the headmaster had the nerve to ask if they could also ask for a new administration office in the letter! Nearly yelling I told him that no, a computer is one thing but a new school block for his personal office was a bit too large of a request. Strangely he didn’t mention a new building to replace the one that collapsed last week. Luckily it collapsed at night so no one was hurt, and it was a rarely used room that isn’t essential to the day to day workings of the school.

I have unfortunately been becoming less and less naïve about the happenings at the school. During the two week school holiday the teachers decided to teach summer less and charge MK500 (about $3.50) for the two week session. I didn’t think much of it and promised to teach my lessons when I returned from our in service training in Dedza. Later I found out that the government has declared it illegal to charge for summer sessions. Unfortunately I discovered this too late to confront the administrators about their illegal activity but it seems that those students who were able to come up with the money during “hungry season” were taught a fair amount during the sessions. I wish the teachers were as dedicated during the normal sessions but I guess cash in the pocket speaks louder to them than the hope of a paycheck. I was somewhat glad to not be present for their “pay day” of the illegal fees because I would have had a hard time not yelling. I have also discovered some ill-practice of the male staff members with the female students, as well as the actions of some of the female students with local business men and trucl drivers! Then I was informed that some of the male students have a certain affinity for drugs and alcohol! Although I am not as surprised about that one. I can often smell the distinct scent of marijuana lofting from one of my neighbors houses in the evenings so I knew it was readily available in the village but I liked to think my students were immune to the temptation. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss here.

Despite the innumerable challenges and frustrations here, I really am incredibly happy. I enjoy teaching most days, although some students wouldn’t believe since I spend a lot of time on discipline. I have realized I will never be able to teach in America after my experience here. There is no way some of the things we say and do to the students here would be tolerated or even legal in America. There are days when the deputy takes a big stick and chases late students hitting their rear ends whenever he gets close enough, students are publicly humiliated during assembly, or they are told they are going to fail because they are lazy. Since I am the form mistress for form 3, I was given the duty of disciplining 4 late students. Not knowing what was appropriate punishment I consulted the other teachers and we decided they would scrub the toilets (pit-latrines). Unfortunately, knowing these particular students I couldn’t trust them to do the work properly or even at all and was left the unpleasant task of checking their work, which meant venturing into the disgusting student latrines. Ah, Malawi. Anyways I love my neighbors, although I feel as though I never have enough time to chat. Yesterday I managed to finish my laundry early and went over to sit with the ladies. They were busy sewing tobacco leaves together and hanging them to dry, so I helped. I can safely say I never thought I would learn to dry tobacco to sell at auction but hey when in Rome! It was fun and it was nice to joke with them for a while. Unfortunately they chose the time to inform me that I am fat. I try to remind myself that it’s a compliment here, but that now twice in 24 hours and I am beginning to worry! They also think I should marry one of the few other white people they have met because he is also fat. Obviously a match made in heaven. It was fun joking with them about it but I quickly found my Chichewa vocabulary doesn’t extend to explaining why I do not want to marry this guy and have a big family with him next year! Oh lord. I also really enjoy spending time with the teachers in training who are staying at the primary school for a year. I met them the first day they arrived and I think they were very surprised to find a white person in this little village! Regardless they have become some of my closest friends, since they are female, teachers, unmarried, and just as much of visitors in the village as me (albeit Malawian...). I spent a great afternoon with them one day watching the primary school kids playing soccer while weaving a woman’s hair! Another useful skill I have learned in Malawi! Ha!

In respect to my house, I have been having lots of trouble with my roof. It leaks worse than I thought was possible even in Malawi. Luckily rain on a metal roof with no ceiling is very very loud so when it rains in the night I wake up and set up the 7 buckets that are necessary to catch the worst of the leaks. Not knowing what to buy to fix the problem or how to fix it without a ladder I spoke with the headmaster. He has promised to fix it for me since I am his “guest” but as a student told me “that one likes to build castles in the sky.” I am quite sure that the roof will still be leaking the day I move out. Oh well part of the charm I suppose. In terms of bugs and creatures so far there hasn’t been anything too exciting. I did find a very large spider (about palm sized and very hairy) hiding under my shoe but he quickly was reintroduced to the sole of my shoe and didn’t cause any trouble. I spent a rather memorable few minutes chasing a small grey mouse around my kitchen (about 5ft by 5ft), and many afternoons chasing chickens out of my yard. The chickens really love my tomato and watermelon garden and don’t move very quickly when I run at them swearing. Maybe they don’t know English swears? I have also been trying to keep the frogs out of my house since they seem to always hop their way in when I leave the door open. Luckily they’re fairly easy to remove since they’re so lazy but I’d rather they stay outside. The worst of my problems now is cockroaches who have taken over my house. They tend to pop out of my bag at school or my clothes when I am taking laundry out or run across my papers when I am working. Although I feel like I kill dozens a day the population seems to be holding steady! Maybe one day my house will be cockroach free! Oh a girl can dream can’t she! Ha!

I did have a strange and possibly animal related incident a few weeks ago when Amy and Vanessa, two other education volunteers, were visiting. We were baking cinnamon bread one night to eat the next morning for breakfast. Since it was getting late, the cake was almost done, and the coals were dying, we left the pan on the fire and went to bed. The next morning we found the cover of the pot had been moved and there were large tongue or spoon marks in the top of half the cake. The gate was still tied when we woke up but the lip was balance on a very small ledge in my outdoor kitchen! We never did determine if it was an animal or person who came in my yard at night, ate a few bites of the cake and then left without taking the pot or cake with it! Very strange! Maybe Malawian’s don’t like our cake?

In another rather scary incident, I was leaving school one day and walking through the trading center when a truck full of Malawians soldiers were unloading and dispersing into the village. Although they were very friendly greeting me as they passed, they had very very very large guns! Terrified I started asking people what was happening but no one seemed to know. As they were heading into the maize fields with their large guns I found one of my neighbors and asked him what they were doing. Strangely he told he “they’re here for the goats!” Well a few days later I found out that they were in fact not here for the goats but rather doing a training exercise where another group had hidden something and the training group needed to retrieve it. Of course this being Malawi (ie. very inefficient), the soldiers were looking for something that had been hidden in Kalumba, yet my village is Kalumbu! Supposedly they had to walk the 30km to the correct village to retrieve the item. Wonder if they lose points for being the in the wrong village?

Well I think I have sufficiently bored everyone with my day-to-day life in Malawi! I hope everyone is well at home and please keep sending me letters! I love knowing what’s happening with you all! Peace and Love xxx

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Malawi. I hope that the holiday season has been joyous for all. Christmas and New Years were very enjoyable here, albeit very different from the norm. It was strange to be away from family for my favorite holiday but with the help of friends, we were able to make the best of it. Eleven of us headed to the house of a volunteer in Nkhotakota on the lakeshore for our three days of approved leave. It was nice to reconnect after our first few weeks at our sites and I am sure the children in her village got a kick out of twelve ‘azungu’ (white people) wandering around. They were got a great deal of joy watching us do normal tasks like brush our teeth and cook dinner. Some days it feels like I live in a zoo. Regardless it turned out to be a great visit filled with lots of laughter, walking, and rain! We even had a fun “white elephant” gift exchange with what items we could find around our homes, in care packages, or at the local markets. It made some fierce competition for the “best” gifts but we all enoyed.

In other news, school has been going well but continuing to be very challenging. Not only am I challenged by the large class (about 140 students in form 2), language (the range of ability in English is very vast), and lack of resources (only one of my over 200 students has a copy of the book, and two have calculators), I have become increasingly frustrated with the education system as a whole. Classes are often not held when they should be, or cancelled all together for things like manual labor or sports! Considering the school year is so short this year (running from Dec 7 to Aug 6, with national exams beginning in June) it seems incredibly irresponsible to be missing class for sports! Also frustrating is the increasing absence of many of the teachers. They will often leave after a few minutes at school saying they need to go to town (Lilongwe) or to run errands. As I am the only person at my school who has ever used a computer I have been given the task of typing all the school records for the upcoming national exams. Although this task isn’t exactly challenging, waiting for the lists from various committees and hierarchies at the school and traveling back and forth to Lilongwe during the school hours (as we have no electricity or computer at school) has been frustrating. It’s difficult to set a good example to the other teachers and students about being on time and consistent in attendance when I have to be gone for a simple task! Another strange aspect of the Malawian education system is the dependence on students to do things like making tea for teachers, planting flowers, going to the store for units (phone minute), or even cementing the staff room! I can’t imagine how American students would react to being told they need to clean a teachers desk or run errands for them! Although I don’t take full advantage of the students willingness to run my errands, I do enjoy when the students fight over getting to erase the board for me or carrying my bag to school!

As far as life in Malawi is going, it is nothing like my life in America but it’s getting easier everyday. I am able to get my charcoal burner going in a few minutes, wake at 5am with no problem, bake a decent loaf of bread using two fires, sweep and mop my house everyday with some ease, and have come to accept my very cold bucket baths every morning.

After struggling with trips to the boar hole which included a long walk of greeting people and making small talk, waiting for my turn to pump water, pumping water for about 20 minutes, and then making my way uphill to my house with 20L of water on my head, I have decided to have some help with it. The two hours I used to spend at the boar hole everyday will be much better spent lesson planning, making friends with neighbors, and cooking. I have hired a senior from the school to help me three days in exchange for paying her school fees. Although the fees are only MK2250 (about $15), the girl is an orphan and has struggled to pay for a few years. It has been strange having someone help me around the house but I think overtime I will get more used to the assistance.

I have also begun supporting another orphan with boarding and school fees in exchange for 5 hours of Chichewa lessons per week, and he will maintain my garden and fields. I had high hopes of being able to maintain my garden alone but after one day of strenuous work trying to weed, I realize it makes more sense to help a student with fees and avoid being sun burnt and sore everyday! I have sort of inherited him from the previous volunteer who seemed to have taken him in as a son. Although I was skeptical of taking over where she left off with him, he has been working incredibly hard working and his Chichewa lessons are very well planned and interesting. He also has come to think of me as his mother and calles me Mum when we talk. Never thought I would have a 16year old Malawian son! It is difficult to see so much suffering and not simply open my wallet to him, I think he realizes he will have to work hard to maintain the support I am able to give him. It helps that he is incredibly grateful for the support and motivated to finish school. It has been difficult to help these students without the other students knowing I am helping them. Jealousy runs rampant here, and any sign of help can lead others to blame witchcraft or bring harm to the person. It’s difficult to not laugh when Malawians tell me they are ill because they have fallen victim to witchcraft, when malnutrition, dysentery, malaria, or cholera are the likely culprit.

I think that about sums up the last few weeks here in Malawi. Although it isn’t easy, I am enjoying my time here immensely although there are lot of ups and downs. The amazing beauty of the land and the people makes it much easier to get through the difficult times! Please keep your news and letters coming! It’s really wonderful to hear from you all!

With all my love,

Jaimie

Seasons greetings all!

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holdiay season in their own way. I thought I would send a quick update about life so far in Kalumbu Malawi!

With training over and done it feels like I am actually working now but still enjoying everything about life in Africa. Swearing in was wonderful if not sad since I had to say goodbyt to my host family since I won't see them for awhile.

I moved to my house in Kalumbu about 2 weeks ago and have been spending a lot of time setting up my home, classes, and life. I have really wonderful neighbors and the fellow teachers (there's only 5 teachers btw) are fabulous. They're all very motivated and work exceptionally hard which is really wonderful to see. With so few teachers, so many students, and the new school calender that was only recently released (making this school year from from Dec-Aug!) there are plenty of challeneges that we face everyday but having a really hard working staff makes it far more bearable.

My classes on the other hand have been incredibly challenging. There are 130 students so-far in my form 2 class and more come everyday there re no spaces for us to walk in the classroom and we have had to remove the desks to make room for the students. It is also incredibly challenging to have students who are learning english as a second language, many of whom really don't know enough to understand anything I am saying in a room with so many other stuents. Some days I feel like I am just wasting my breathe but get motivated by a student who is really understanding. My other classes are really great and a much more managable size. I am also the form teacher for form 3 which I'm sure will pose all sorts of other challenges and inspiration.

In other news I have been traveling this week to visit friends for Christmas. We were given 3 days of special leave (since we're not meant to leave site for the first three months) to visit one another for the holiday which is very much appreciated. I traveled on the worst hitch to Lilongwe (we had a slowly deflating tire that the driver tried to inflate with a bike pump every few km). It took a few hours to go the 30km to the city where I had to sit in the back of a pickup with 16 new friends. Arriving in Llw I had to make the long trek to the post office where I was ecstatic to find a few wonderful although heavy packages that went on top of my head for the rest of the 5 hour trip! We arrived Thursday to Jesi's house which was wonderful. We had quite the evening trying to cook smoe pasta (much more difficult than we thought since none of us are used to cooking for 12 over an open fire and after quite a bit of celebrating tyhe holiday...) After cooking for hours we had some burnt spaggheti which formed a giant ball with "alfredo" type sauce. It wasn't exactly edible but our standards have certainly lowered after the wine and being in Malawi. Also the adventure of walking 12k to pick up the last 2 travellers in the middle of the night made us more fammished. All in all x-mas eve was hilarious and wonderful.

Yesterday we headed to a nice beach lodge for breakfast and lunch. Should have been an easy walk up to the road but involved getting absolutely drenched, hitching in the back of a pickup (ie second shower of the day) and then walking another 4k to the lodge. We were all soaked when we arrived but throughout our 5 hours there and 2 meals we dried out. After more adventure getting home on the back of a flat bed truck we were all exhausted. Christmas dinner was some delicous guac homemade tortillas and chilli followed by a fun white-elephant gift exchange. More details of our crazy Christmas can be found on Elisabeth's blog (http://www.elisabethbenoit.blogspot.com/). She has included a great timeline of the madness that should help paint a picture of our wonderful weekend.

I am heading back to site soon where I have a week off from school for the holiday which will be nice. I will use the time to explore, bake bread, do laundry, and lesson plan! Hope all is well with everyone back home. Please continue sending letter's. They're really wonderful and I love hearing what everyone is up to at home!

Much love from Africa!

Thought I would share some photos from training and of my house! Enjoy!My homestay siblings (sister and brother-Lucy 5, Nasoni -1 1/2My giant family in Mpalale (host-mom, aunt, cousins, sister and brother-they were my moving out team!)

This is my house for the next two years!

Greetings from Malawi! I hope that you are all well with you. It seems like time is just flying since I was back in California!

I have been in Malawi for about 2 months now and just finished up my time at home stay. I was staying with a really wonderful family in the village of Mpalale. My host family consisted of my amayi (mom), a five-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy. I met my abambo (father) for the first time when I had a few days left at home stay because he works far away from the village. The culture here is matrilineal so most of my amayi’s family lived very close so I also spent a lot of time with my amayi’s sister and her children a 7-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl. They were a very welcoming family and I learned a lot about culture and life in Malawi. The purpose of home stay is for us to learn how to live without electricity, going to the boar hole for water, cooking over an open fire, and washing our clothes in buckets. I also enjoyed teaching the children in my family some English and by the time I left they were able to tell their name, where they lived, and other random words in English. It was a lot of fun playing with the baby who was very scared of me when I first arrived but cried a lot when I left. When I went back to the village a week after moving out my amayi told me that for the first few days after I left he would stand on my porch yelling "Ode!" which is the Malawi form of knocking on the door.

The 20 trainees were spilt amongst three villages so we had some company in the village but spent most of our time with our families. Our first day in the village, which we had been warned was going to be awkward ended up being rather fun because there was a wedding in the village. The 7 of us Americans quickly found one another in the sea of African faces and spent the afternoon observing the festivities and unfortunately making babies cry. Most of the children were very afraid of our light skin since most of them had never seen white people. Thinking back to that first day makes me wonder what I could have talked to my host family about since my Chichewa vocabulary did not extend far beyond “my name is Jaimie” and general greetings. When we first went to the village we had only been in the country for 6 days and had only had 3 days of language class...ie we didn't know anything! Luckily by the time I moved out of my host family’s home my Chichewa was much more extensive and I could communicate about my opinions, daily activities, and my hopes for the future.

We also spent our time in home-stay teaching at the Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) in the village. The secondary school system here has many levels which students test into after Standard 8 (8th grade). The brightest students attend conventional government schools or boarding schools, while the students who performed poorly attend the CDSS. Other students who do especially poorly on the exam are not allowed to go to any of the subsidized government schools. There are options for students to continue their education even if they did poorly but it requires them to pay much higher fees. The CDSSes charge about MK1500 per term (about $10) and there are three terms per year. For most families in the village this is a lot of money. Unfortunately for the families that are willing to sacrifice a lot to send their children to school many of the students at the CDSSes do not pass their form 2 exams and cannot continue with school. Those who miraculously do pass face a even more difficult exam at the end of form 4. It is very sad but I hope that I will be able to help some of the students. I know I will have to work very hard outside of the school day since it is so short and the school calendar has just been shortened.

For the next two years I will be living in the village of Kalumbu just south of Lilongwe working at Kalumbu CDSS as a math and science teacher. We have agreed that I will teach three forms (grades) of math, one form of physical science (chemistry and physics in one) and lead the girls club. With only 7 teachers for the 160 periods/week and 250 students it is difficult to say no when I am asked to take on a lot but I know I will be a more effective volunteer if I am not completely stressed! It is shaping up to be a full schedule with just those 4 classes but I think it will be nice to be busy and useful.

This past week I have been at my new home in Kalumbu where I met Jeanine the volunteer I will be replacing. She has been there for two years teaching Math and Biology. She left after spending one day with me getting me acquainted and I was left to fend for myself cooking-wise and drawing water. It seems like a very safe village and everyone has been very welcoming. It has been difficult for the children in the village to distinguish our names as Jeanine and Jaimie are very similar to non-English speakers. I think they will eventually learn but it will be challanging. However I prefer being called Jeanine more than "azungu" which means both white person and rich person. I am looking forward to continuing a lot of the work that she did with the girls club as well as tutoring adults who would like to retake their exams, but hope to start some new projects that will be helpful for the sommunity.

Some funny experiences during my visit included a very scary bike-taxi ride from the main road into the village. The trip is about 30 minutes but it seems much longer when you are sitting side-saddle on the rack of a stranger's bike with your luggage on your lap and nothing to hold onto. Since the road is very hilly there are long stretches that you must walk since it is too difficult to ride. Very interesting indeed. Alsdo interesting was a 2 hour bike ride on the back of my headmasters bike to the big town near us. He wasn't as sure of himself on the bike as the "professional" bike taxi drivers and I have the bruises to prove it. Leaving Kalumbu today I hitched a ride with a truck that was taking empty soda bottles back to Lilongwe. It was much nicer than the cramped mini-busses but also a little scarier since you are simply sitting in the back of a truck as it flies down the freeway. Regardless I arrived safely in Lilongwe. Some fellow trainees and I enjoyed a delicious thanksgiving lunch of burgers, fries, and a coke (heavenly after months of porridge and rice). We head back to Lilongwe for "Thanksgiving" on Saturday at the US Ambassadors house and then will finish up training!

There are about 3 weeks left of training, for which I am somewhat glad and somewhat anxious about. It has been difficult having my schedule made by someone else, but it will also be very sad to see so little of my friends I have made here. After Thanksgiving at the Ambassadors, we will travel to various places around the country again for our language intensive week (really only a few days). We will be with our small language groups at various villages where we will have language class all day. We have been working on presentations about HIV/AIDs in Malawi in Chichewa that we will share with the community members as part of our obligation to educate Malawians about the disease while we are working on our language. We are required to be at a language level of intermediate high. We had a mock language interview a few weeks ago and I did well. I hope that my break from living in the village will not hinder my language skills. It is difficult when people assume you either know nothing of the language or that you are fluent and ramble at incredible speeds.

Other funny happenings that you might find ammusing include me getting hit by a cow one evening. I was standing by the kitchen hut at home-stay chatting with my amayi while the young boys unloaded the potatoes that they had farmed from the ox-cart. The cows were minding their own business when I got home but as soon as I looked away from them to talk to my amayi one of the rammed into my leg knocking me over. It was quite painful but other than a bruised quad I was okay. I didn't think it was funny since it hurt so badly until I told the story to a friend and realized how ridiculous getting hit by a cow sounds. Also when I was at one of my many meetings in Kalumbu where I was introduced to various community groups one of the men stood to say that I was "mostly welcome" in Kalumbu. I never noticed how much a slight change in a word can change the meaning so much! Another scary but funny event was when we were traveling to our sites I was sitting in the back row of the very crowded mini-bus (luckily no chickens on that one) and my luggage was in the trunk area behind me. After stopping to load more people in, the conductor did not close the trunk all the way and as we drove off the luggage went flying out the car. Surprisingly my reflexes were quick enough to grab the strap of my bag but it was very scary!

Regardless of the challenges I am enjoying my time here immensely and hope the next two years will pass as smoothly as the past two months have . The bugs and heat don't bother me much anymore and I am managing with my cold bucket baths and outdoor restroom! I know I will have big challaneges once I am all moved into my site and teaching full time but know I can manage! If you haven't already, please send me your addresses as snail mail is the most available form of communication for me. Getting letters is a wonderful thing when your half way accross the world! :)

All my best!

Pardon my strange expression in the airport picture... I had a lot going on!

Well I arrived safely in Philly. Such a relief to have gotten my bag under the weight limit and be done with my goodbyes for a little while. It was certainly sad to say goodbye to so many people back home, but wonderful to be meeting new people and starting this new adventure!

Anyways I will be in touch when I can. But remember "No news is good news!"

I love you all and will miss you!

So with less than a week now the time is really winding down! The things that have been on my mind are...

Ugh packing.... what a challenge! I think I have it all sorted now, but need to take out some nonessentials so I am not quite SO close to the weight limit!

Internet... I have been assured in no uncertain terms I will not have Internet until late November at the very earliest (no surprise there). So snail mail please please please! Heck start sending you letters now so they arrive a few weeks after I arrive!

Things I would love sent in care packages...-Pictures!-Letters filling me in on you life!-Nutrition bars (Luna, Cliff, etc)-Water flavoring packets-Easy Mac-New music (country, pop, etc)-Books (novels, memoirs, anything but history!)-Magazines (Popular Science, Scientific American, Newsweek, Time, etc)-Synopsis of my fave TV shows (Grey's, HIMYM, Greek, etc)-Candy (Hot tamales, M&Ms, etc)

So here we go! My first blog post and hopefully the least interesting of those to come...

It seems like just yesterday I was starting the Peace Corp application but in reality it was over a year ago!

For those interested... I started applying in July, submitted my app, recommendations and interviewed in September, was nominated in October, dental clearance in Dec, medical clearance in Jan, invited on March 26, and leaving Sept 23! Phew! Somehow it is only a month away from departure time... time to pack, prepare, and say my goodbyes!