Crossing the 1000 meter mark...

If you rowed this makes sense. If not, let me explain. Crossing the 1000 meter mark of a 2000meter race is a euphoric combination of exuberance and dread. Exuberance because you are half way, you hit your stride, the home stretch is coming. Dread in that you have to do it all over again. The best part of the last 1000 meters is that is goes by quickly.

I am sounding negative. That is not my intention. I love rowing, much like I love Malawi. I am a different person because of these experiences; however, that does not mean they were/are easy. In fact, if they were easy I am certain they would not be so profound. I could never be a college athlete again, and at this point I will most likely never be a Peace Corps volunteer again. I still love to row and I will still need to travel and have crazy adventures. Just in a more toned down masters group/summer vacation sort of way.

The best part of coming back to Malawi was that I was coming back to my life. Coming back to my house, my job, my community, my projects. How incredible to have established a life in Malawi!

Last weekend I hung around Lilongwe to finish a welcome book for Peace Corps Volunteers. VSV (volunteers supporting volunteers) -the committee I am part of- is putting together a book with volunteer profiles, travel tips, a language reference guide (Chichewa is the official language, but Chitumbuka is spoken in the north and Chitonga is spoken in the Nkhata Bay area along with various other Bantu languages specific to the tribe of the area), health tips and coping mechanisms, and other helpful notes. The book, titled Tilipo (we are around), will have to be updated regularly but hopefully will be useful.

On Monday I traveled back to site with all of the my goodies from America. My kitchen is stocked with processed goodness, I have a proper towel for bathing, and a yoga mat. My life has improved drastically. It is now a mad dash to eat all the chocolate before it melts in the oven of my house...well, that is what I am telling myself. I have been added to the teaching schedule and will be teaching much more than last year, but still will have time to focus on workshops and other projects.

Without much time to get comfortable, I left for my friend Jerrod's site on Thursday. Alexis, Chris and I were invited to do a workshop at his site in Mzimba district in the middle of the country and about 10 feet east of Zambia. Friday morning Alexis and I taught Form 2 and Form 4 girls about menstruation, how to use a condom, and entertained enlightening questions during an anonymous q & a session with questions that were both honest and refreshing. It should be noted that there is 1 female teacher at this school and like most Malawians she is very uncomfortable discussing her body and sexual activity. A year ago this session would have made me uncomfortable and blush excessively. Now, if the girls make the boys wear a condom or they think twice before having sex it has gotten past that point, now I realize it can be a life and death discussion. And that is certainly nothing to blush at.

Jerrod was a lovely host, his site-about an hour off the road in the middle of ths bush was absolutely beautiful. It was so much fun to work with Alexis and Chris on a workshop on a subject I love-reading.

Next weekend I am going to Liwonde National Park to participate in a game count. Here's to seeing elephants!

miss you all!
loads of love,
elisabeth