I always imagine what my life MIGHT look like in the Peace Corps. I didn't have any concrete facts, just a wild imagination that made the extensive application process seem normal and the long wait just a simple test of patience. Throughout training the other volunteers and I would laugh about ridiculous and awkward moments remembering T.I.A. (this is Africa). We were still fresh in country and not used to being put in a minibus with 20 of our closest friends, or standing next to a seizing chicken on a four hour bus trip, etc. Recently, I have had more T.I.A. moments that remind me I am not imagining my life in the Peace Corps anymore. This is my life.
T.I.A. Moment 1
One of my cluster schools (about an hour bike ride away in the rainy season) is a very small school with only two forms. The school is new and growing and hoping for school blocks to accommodate forms 3 & 4. They just received a third teacher from the ministry of education and the Form 1 classroom doesn't have benches or desks so the students work on the floor. So, this little school with about 120 students and 3 teachers sits about an hour away from the road, from electricity, from bread, and cold drinks! I taught a lesson there the other day and looked at the classroom of students ranging in age from 14-25 and thought yes, this is Africa.
T.I.A. Moment 2
After visiting another one of my cluster schools (about an hour in the back of a truck down a crazy dirt road that would give Disney Land a run for its money) I decided I would start walking back home and stop at another school along the way. Two and a half hours later I made it to the school without seeing another vehicle along the way. Yes, T.I.A. For those concerned I did manage to find transportation home via a bicycle taxi and sanitation truck. It was a very long day.
T.I.A. Moment 3
If you need a self confidence booster you should come to Malawi. I walk down the road and the children start jumping up and down, chanting my name. Charity, the girl from school who helps get my water and clean my home (in exchange for her school fees) told me it was because I "have a cheap name," hmm I thought it was because I am a rockstar. : )
** I feel as though I should include another Charity-ism in this category- I hadn't swept in a couple of days and she was over sweeping my house when she asked me "why am I such a dirty being?" I didn't really have a response for that except the thought that my mom would be so embarrassed.
T.I.A. Moment 4 (slightly more frustrating)
Being the only female attending an Area Executive Committee meeting and for 3 hours being asked/told when I am going to leave to cook them nsima. I told them they were probably going to be very hungry because I am never going to cook them nsima. I realize this was not the culturally sensitive thing to do, but I too was hungry and tired.
I know this is just the beginning and there will be plenty more T.I.A. moments. I am trying to take each day as it comes and am doing my best to not take any day for granted remembering that my time here is limited.
But, in the future I will never take a couch for granted or water with lemon or busy Saturday afternoons or jamba juice after a tough workout or being able to visit friends whenever I want....Of course, those are all things that will be there when I get back so until then this is Africa.
loads of love,
elisabeth
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
What I have learned so far...
I have been living at site for about a month now. I have compiled a list of observations thus far:
* Riding a bike in a skirt stinks.
*I should start dinner a good hour before I am hungry....still working on the whole fire thing. I can start a fire no problem, keeping it going well...
*I really can't live on peanut butter sandwiches
*If I were a sports recruiter I would come to Malawi. There is nothing a Malawian women can't do and it seems as if they feel no pain. ever. for example,
-Removing pots directly from the fire without an oven mitt
- Learning how to jump rope with a baby on their back
-Breast feeding while walking carrying about 20 pounds of rice on their head
- I could go on, but they are pretty incredible
*I kind of like not having electricity, well except for the whole cooking thing
*Pasta sides, mac n'cheese, oatmeal, and chocolate is the stuff dreams are made of : )
* You should label what you plant in your garden-or at least remember what you plant. I had zero faith in my gardening skills but now I have a bunch of stuff growing and I don't know what it is! Whoops.
*I still have no idea what I want to do when I grow up
*Malawians really feel that if you don't eat nsima daily you must not be healthy
*I don't know how I will ever function not getting 8/9 hours of sleep every night
*Nothing I do in my village goes unnoticed. Everyone knows how many tomatoes I buy, that I prefer Fanta to Coke, and that I don't cook nsima. Seriously, you could drive down the M5 and between Benga and Mkaika just ask for Elisa, someone knows where I am.
*Every last extravagant ice cream trip before I left was worth it.
*I have amazing friends and the best family in the whole world
*I am incredibly lucky and blessed!
* Riding a bike in a skirt stinks.
*I should start dinner a good hour before I am hungry....still working on the whole fire thing. I can start a fire no problem, keeping it going well...
*I really can't live on peanut butter sandwiches
*If I were a sports recruiter I would come to Malawi. There is nothing a Malawian women can't do and it seems as if they feel no pain. ever. for example,
-Removing pots directly from the fire without an oven mitt
- Learning how to jump rope with a baby on their back
-Breast feeding while walking carrying about 20 pounds of rice on their head
- I could go on, but they are pretty incredible
*I kind of like not having electricity, well except for the whole cooking thing
*Pasta sides, mac n'cheese, oatmeal, and chocolate is the stuff dreams are made of : )
* You should label what you plant in your garden-or at least remember what you plant. I had zero faith in my gardening skills but now I have a bunch of stuff growing and I don't know what it is! Whoops.
*I still have no idea what I want to do when I grow up
*Malawians really feel that if you don't eat nsima daily you must not be healthy
*I don't know how I will ever function not getting 8/9 hours of sleep every night
*Nothing I do in my village goes unnoticed. Everyone knows how many tomatoes I buy, that I prefer Fanta to Coke, and that I don't cook nsima. Seriously, you could drive down the M5 and between Benga and Mkaika just ask for Elisa, someone knows where I am.
*Every last extravagant ice cream trip before I left was worth it.
*I have amazing friends and the best family in the whole world
*I am incredibly lucky and blessed!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Cheers to 2009
I had a good 2009. As far as a chunk of 365 days are concerned, this was a pretty good block of time. I laughed, traveled, explored, finished TFA, ran a marathon, and ended it in Africa. It seems as though every year goes by faster than the previous, I can only imagine what 2010 will bring.
We had the last week off of school because of the holidays so I spent a few days at site planting seeds in my garden, building a shelter for my compost pile, and playing way too many games of memory with Vinny and his brothers. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the babies (Denise and Derrick-age 9 months) spend most of their time sans clothes (I don't blame them!) or diapers-clearly we were not paying enough attention to them because they peed on the cards. No more memory.
New Year's Eve Jesi and I traveled north to Nkhata Bay to ring in the new year with about 20 other PCVs. The trip up the lake shore was not easy, it ultimately included 5 different vehicles, but it was totally worth every uncomfortable minute. As we were driving I kept expecting dinosaurs to appear from the bush, it was so lush and green and beautiful. We arrived at our hostel prepared to camp but ended up staying in a chalet with an amazing view of the bay. We rang in the new year dancing outside to a mixture of Malawian music and some old school Beyonce and Rihanna. New Years day was spent swimming in the lake, reading on our porch, and generally being thankful for being put in a Peace Corps country that is also a tropical paradise. I am still thinking about my resolutions, but I am certain 2010 will not disappoint.
We had the last week off of school because of the holidays so I spent a few days at site planting seeds in my garden, building a shelter for my compost pile, and playing way too many games of memory with Vinny and his brothers. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the babies (Denise and Derrick-age 9 months) spend most of their time sans clothes (I don't blame them!) or diapers-clearly we were not paying enough attention to them because they peed on the cards. No more memory.
New Year's Eve Jesi and I traveled north to Nkhata Bay to ring in the new year with about 20 other PCVs. The trip up the lake shore was not easy, it ultimately included 5 different vehicles, but it was totally worth every uncomfortable minute. As we were driving I kept expecting dinosaurs to appear from the bush, it was so lush and green and beautiful. We arrived at our hostel prepared to camp but ended up staying in a chalet with an amazing view of the bay. We rang in the new year dancing outside to a mixture of Malawian music and some old school Beyonce and Rihanna. New Years day was spent swimming in the lake, reading on our porch, and generally being thankful for being put in a Peace Corps country that is also a tropical paradise. I am still thinking about my resolutions, but I am certain 2010 will not disappoint.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Christmas is Crazier in Malawi
Merry Christmas! Happy Boxing Day! Technically, yesterday was Christmas. However, it was unlike any Christmas I have ever experienced. In order to get the full effect I feel it necessary to give a time line of events...
Dec. 24 12:30 PM Alexis and Ben meet me in my village. They see my house, we eat banana bread and mangoes. It is a good start to the day.
3:00PM Arrive in Nkhotakota. Have lunch, take bicycle taxi to Jesi's house.
5:00PM Ten of us have arrived at Jesi's. We are still waiting for 2, but the boxed wine is chilled (sort of) and we have peanut butter balls. Life is grand.
6:00PM First attempt at dinner. Or, first attempts at fire starting and boiling water. How many volunteers does it take to make dinner? Well...
8:00PM Still no boiled water. Boxed wine no longer chilled. Peanut butter balls are gone.
9:30PM The ten of us eat glue that should have been fettuccine Alfredo from 2 pans. Boxed wine makes everything better. Still missing the other 2 volunteers...
11:00PM They are on their way! No bicycle taxis so 5 of us decide we should walk to pick them up...
12:15AM Arrive at the road. Merry Christmas!
1:30AM Back to Jesi's. The 12 of us are together!
2:00AM Sleeping
5:00AM Time to wake up
8:00AM Walk to road to get a ride to Nkhotakota Pottery for Christmas Breakfast
8:05AM Massive rains hit Nkhotakota
8:20AM Find a ride in the back of a truck to the road...in the rain.
8:40AM Get on a bus to the turnoff for NP
9:00AM Thought it was a 200M walk to NP...turns out it is 4k. It is only sprinkling now.
10:00AM Full English breakfast. : ) Delicious
11:00AM We realize we don't have much else to do...so we should probably just hang out until lunch.
2:00PM Delicious lunch. Christmas is mostly about eating, right?
3:00PM Walk back to the road. Find a hitch back to Jesi's road. Alexis sits on a seizing goat, I hold on realizing this is not one of my smarter moves.
4:00PM Walk back to Jesi's.
8:00PM White Elephant gift exchange. Amy and Meg redeem our cooking efforts by making chili and rice and tortillas and guacamole.
9:30PM Fast asleep.
Not a typical Christmas but certainly memorable. I have been so blessed this year with amazing friends and family. I miss you all and hope you know you are with me wherever I happen to be.
loads of love,
elisabeth
Dec. 24 12:30 PM Alexis and Ben meet me in my village. They see my house, we eat banana bread and mangoes. It is a good start to the day.
3:00PM Arrive in Nkhotakota. Have lunch, take bicycle taxi to Jesi's house.
5:00PM Ten of us have arrived at Jesi's. We are still waiting for 2, but the boxed wine is chilled (sort of) and we have peanut butter balls. Life is grand.
6:00PM First attempt at dinner. Or, first attempts at fire starting and boiling water. How many volunteers does it take to make dinner? Well...
8:00PM Still no boiled water. Boxed wine no longer chilled. Peanut butter balls are gone.
9:30PM The ten of us eat glue that should have been fettuccine Alfredo from 2 pans. Boxed wine makes everything better. Still missing the other 2 volunteers...
11:00PM They are on their way! No bicycle taxis so 5 of us decide we should walk to pick them up...
12:15AM Arrive at the road. Merry Christmas!
1:30AM Back to Jesi's. The 12 of us are together!
2:00AM Sleeping
5:00AM Time to wake up
8:00AM Walk to road to get a ride to Nkhotakota Pottery for Christmas Breakfast
8:05AM Massive rains hit Nkhotakota
8:20AM Find a ride in the back of a truck to the road...in the rain.
8:40AM Get on a bus to the turnoff for NP
9:00AM Thought it was a 200M walk to NP...turns out it is 4k. It is only sprinkling now.
10:00AM Full English breakfast. : ) Delicious
11:00AM We realize we don't have much else to do...so we should probably just hang out until lunch.
2:00PM Delicious lunch. Christmas is mostly about eating, right?
3:00PM Walk back to the road. Find a hitch back to Jesi's road. Alexis sits on a seizing goat, I hold on realizing this is not one of my smarter moves.
4:00PM Walk back to Jesi's.
8:00PM White Elephant gift exchange. Amy and Meg redeem our cooking efforts by making chili and rice and tortillas and guacamole.
9:30PM Fast asleep.
Not a typical Christmas but certainly memorable. I have been so blessed this year with amazing friends and family. I miss you all and hope you know you are with me wherever I happen to be.
loads of love,
elisabeth
Monday, December 21, 2009
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
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
Sunday, December 13, 2009
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
