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Phoneless...oops!

September 30

Hello friends! 

I am fresh out of IST (in service training) and also from a free weekend spent at a music and arts festival on Lake Malawi. 

The second week of our training went well with our counterparts. Although some of the information was repetitive for us, it was good for our counterparts to learn more about Peace Corps and the types of projects we can do. We talked mostly about project design and management and specific ideas for potential projects to do with the community or just at our own homes like nutrition education, permaculture/gardening, the Pad Project, etc. Those are the projects I’m most interested in at least! My counterpart and I are both feeling pretty motivated, and I know what I want to try to get accomplished this month. 

The other exciting event of September for me was the Lake of Stars festival that just happened this past weekend. A lot of PCVs attended, and we all shared a beautiful lake house right on the shore of the lake. It was an incredible weekend full of fun times with my CHE (combined health and environment) 2014 group, meeting 2nd year volunteers, swimming (and taking lake baths!) in the lake, jamming and dancing to awesome reggae and hip hop beats by african artists, playing frisbee on the beach, doing insane amounts of face paint, drinking from coconuts, and laughing incessantly. The art scene was definitely lacking (compared to what I was hoping for and expecting having been to some awesome art festivals in the past) with only a few stands selling things that are available at almost any touristy spot in Malawi like chitenge bags, straw hats, string bracelets, beaded necklaces, wooden curio products, and paintings. The music was great though and being literally ON the sandy shore of Lake Malawi was sweet.

The only part that sucked was when my iPhone was stolen on Saturday night. I definitely took a risk bringing my phone to the festival, but, for those of you who know me at all, you know that I can’t stand not being able to take pictures! I thought I was safe because I kept it in my bag when I wasn’t using it, buuuuuut someone decided to cut open my bag. Sneaky sneaky thieves. So as of now, I will not be able to communicate via Facebook or whatsapp or anything really, however, I’ll let you all know when I have a new smart phone and can! 

Basi. (that’s it) I’ll keep y'all updated on how things at site are going next time I have internet and can update!


xo



October 6

Still phoneless in Malawi, but now I'm back in my village! Returning home after a month was overwhelming and exciting at the same time. I was so excited to be back in my house and see my neighbors and community. My house was a disaster though--covered in spiderwebs, dust and dirt, and lizard droppings. I guess that's what happens when you leave a mud hut for a month! My village was very welcoming as per usual though, and it felt great to be back.

The first full day I was back in Bondo was insanely hot. It felt like full-on hot season (or what I expect hot season to be like). All day I gulped down lukewarm water and wished for a fan. I would just be sitting in my house doing nothing, yet dripping sweat. Whew. It was slightly miserable. The next few days though, the clouds and showers returned which made me soooo relieved. I've never been so happy for overcast weather.

One nice thing about the coming hot weather though, is that there are lots of fruits around now! Mango trees are producing nice, green mangos, and my guava tree is drooping with beautifully sweet fruits! There are also little "lychee" fruits which I haven't quite gotten the name down in Chichewa, but the kids are always running around with skirts full of these little jelly-like fruits.

Another exciting thing that will be happening THIS WEEK is that my house will be wired for electricity!!!! My landlord is going to South Africa for a year or two and wants to get it wired before he leaves. So, tomorrow the process will begin! Although it's definitely been an experience living without electricity for the past 7 months, I'll be very excited to have it. Of course, there isn't consistent electricity in my village right now because they are doing maintenance on the system, but hopefully sometime soon there will be!  Right now, we have it for maybe a few hours once a week. Either way, I'll be super happy to be able to charge my computer so that I can do more work (so many of my files are on my laptop) aaaand watch movies to get a taste of home again and to show them to my favorite kids. I also will be very happy to have lights so that I can avoid stepping on all the scorpions and spiders crawling across my floors and so that I don't have to wear my headlamp all the time anymore.

In terms of projects, I am in the planning/beginning stages. My village is very interested in doing cooking demos and learning how to make things like peanut butter and soy milk, so my counterpart and I are planning a weekly workshop with representatives from all the groups in my area (including HIV positive groups and women's groups for now). We also want to do cooking demos at the health center with mothers who have malnourished children. Our health center does not always have enough enriched peanut butter and soya flour to give out at supplementary feeding clinics, so it'll be good for these families to have the knowledge of how to cook healthier options in their homes.

Happy day ya'll! Time to get back to work!




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