When it Rains, it Pours

I had a discussion with another teacher about the weather in Malawi. "We have three seasons-from August to the middle of December it is the hot-dry season, then from December to the middle of May it is the hot-wet season where everything floods and we have a lot of mosquitoes. In June and July we have winter." (I believe that is the loosest term of winter ever used.)

I have a tin roof, for which I am very thankful because it helps keep the wildlife and I from co-existing. However, having a tin roof in the hot/dry season is like living in an oven and having a tin roof during the hot/wet season is like living in a metal plan with popcorn kernels constantly falling on your head. I am sure June and July will be really nice.

I am slowly getting my village life together. This week has been tough (for a variety of reasons) but there have been enough smiles, welcomes, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, and amazing sunsets to make things okay. I have been falling into a routine of waking up around 5 to run, it is an incredibly beautiful place so it is a treat every morning, I get to see the sunrise, the mountains in the distance, and I often have an impromptu running club with the kids along the way. After I shower (via a bucket) and go to school (around 7). I have been spending the days at school reading books on training teachers, classroom observations, and how to create school and classroom improvement I found at the Teacher Development Center. I spend the afternoons at school or at the library (I tried to translate The 3 Little Pigs in Chichewa for a large group of children-it was pretty ridiculous). In the evenings Vinnocent (Vinny), my 5 year old neighbor sit on my porch sometimes dancing, sometimes coloring, sometimes I sew, but mostly just sitting. I have also had some interesting conversations with my other neighbors about America (they LOVE Obama and think America is great), religion, and food (eating snails = unimaginable and I had to convince them that Chinese cuisine does not include humans). Vinny's mom, my new amayi takes good care of me often bringing mangoes or nsima or whole fish (if you have any tips on cooking entire fish please send them my way). I read for a while and go to sleep before 9. Sometimes I feel like I am in Beauty and the Beast and want to start singing "There goes the baker with his tray like always..." But it is pretty stress free (minus fire starting and the occasional encounter with insects the size of my hand) I am certainly learning to love it.
This weekend a group of us are going to celebrate Christmas at Jesi's. I am really excited to see everyone (it is so strange going from spending every moment with the same 20 people to a few texts throughout the day). It doesn't really feel like the holiday season, trying to explain snow to Malawians reminds me of Cool Runnings--they get a very worried look on their faces and ask if the cars move. Though I miss bundling up and trying to find the perfect present (okay, I miss Target and lots of good food) it is kind of refreshing to be so removed from the commercialization of Christmas. Mostly, I miss you all and hope you are enjoying the good things of the season. Merry Merry Christmas.

loads of love,
elisabeth