On becoming a REAL volunteer...

I am no longer a Peace Corps trainee, now I am a real volunteer. To you, all that means is a PCV behind my name rather than PCT when sending mail. To me it meant saying goodbye to my closest friends in Malawi, many whom I will not see for at least three months. It meant frantically running around Lilongwe shopping for all the things I could possibly imagine needing for my new house in an incredibly frantic three hour window. It meant swearing in as a real volunteer with the American ambassador to Malawi, it meant watching the Gule Wamkulu (the traditional Malawian dance = a HUGE treat), it meant packing up everything I have accumulated the past 10 weeks including a bike and a mattress and loading up Peace Corps transport to our new homes.
I moved to my site with friend Jesi, who is a short 30 minute bus ride away in Nkhotakota. I have managed to stay fairly busy setting up my house, trying to find the bore hole, carrying back water from the bore hole, getting lost carrying back water from the bore hole, having a small army of children lead me back to house carrying water from the bore hole, trying to start a fire, cooking over a fire (so far, I have made french fries, banana bread, and scrambled eggs with pumpkin leaves, tomatoes, and onions, along with salsa and a lot of peanut butter sandwiches), making curtains, scoping out the market, chatting with my neighbors, and reading. On Saturday one of my site mate's, Jillian came to visit. She is a health volunteer and lives about an hour away. She is going to America for the holidays but it was really nice to have a visitor.
First impressions of Mkaika = incredibly hot. After making dinner the first night I realized I have been less sweaty after a workout (yeah, I was pretty gross). I have great neighbors, the Amayi next door takes good care of me-perhaps because I gave her the banana bread, but I'll do whatever it takes to have an Amayi on my good side, and I found Pineapple in the market. It's not such a bad place.
I am going to begin work on Monday, slowly I think I will fall into a routine and I am looking forward to the time when this place feels like home. Also I have a new address, I am not sure how reliable it is, but I want to see if it works. Of course, the Lilongwe address is always good it is just a matter of me being in Lilongwe.
I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I would love to hear from you soon! Miss you all!!!

loads of love,
elisabeth