A Christmas filled with sun, humidity, and diving...Is that normal?

Well, I just returned from the northern region, visiting Nkhata Bay for the Christmas holiday. It was so different from the normal Christmases that I am used to in the US. I luckily had the best weather ever given that it's rainy season and only ended up raining at night during my stay. I went with 12 other PCVs to Mayoka Village for some rest and relaxation and that I did get. We all felt like we were in a random island paradise and not in Malawi! It was ridiculous how beautiful Lake Malawi is!
I took a diving refresher course with my friend Catherine and then we went on a pretty good dive for getting back in to it. It was so much different than diving in the NW, things actually had color! I saw some blue crabs, blue chiclids (can buy in pet shops), and some mouth brooders. It was pretty cool! I also went through a thing called a swim-thru, kind of like a cave, but a little different. It was also different to dive in freshwater as opposed to salt water, I didn't have to wear tons of weights! I also liked that the temperature was warm enough to not wear hoods, gloves, or booties. It was great! We did a boat dive, which is when you have to roll off backwards into the water (I had never done this before), and we were all sort of sea sick from the waves until we got under water.
So, Christmas day was all hyped up by the place we were staying at and ended up sort of being a disappointment. They had all these random activities planned and ended up only doing one. Then dinner was disappointing because my meat had fur still on it (not supposed to) and then only had 1 out of the 3 desserts that they said they would have. Oh well. At least I only have one more Christmas to get through. It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't home.
Yesterday we traveled from Nkhata Bay to Mzuzu. Instead of taking the normal minibus, we decided to hire our own minibus to get there faster and to not be super crowded. This sounded like a great idea until all of the other minibus drivers started getting really mad at the one that we hired. They didn't want to let us in the minibus. It was pretty crazy! We did finally get in the minibus we hired and made our way to Mzuzu. We then decided to go to Lilongwe from there on a luxury coach bus line. We got in at 11pm and met up with more PCVs.
A bunch of us are having stomach problems, so we are all on antibiotics to fix that. Oh well, it happens...so, I will be here through New Year's in Lilongwe...let me know how everything is going! I love and miss you all!

Summer school and snorkeling...does that go together?

Hey everyone!
So, I just got back from teaching a few days at the Peace Corps summer school program...It went pretty good! I taught some genetics and immunology. The students were very motivated and asked some good questions that weren't just about surface information, they actually were comprehensive! Although there were the occasional funny questions like, "If I go to the traditional healer, can I get medicine to make me have a boy baby?" I feel like this gave me a good idea of what to expect if I want to teach at the secondary school near my health centre. I think I did a good job, for the most part...I am considering teaching maybe a few days per week in biology or life skills. Who knows? I have decided that the northern region so far is the most beautiful part of Malawi...It has many mountains and trees and is very GREEN! It reminds me of Oregon. There was a very funny sign that said, "Vasectomy: For men who love their spouses." I thought that was funny because here in Malawi, men have no idea what vasectomies are, and if they do, they still think that outpatient female sterilization is much easier...of course, it's not happening to them! Other things about the north...I went to the Tanzanian fabric market in Mzuzu...amazing! I bought some beautiful fabric and had a skirt made out of some of it. It turned out really pretty. I love it...just another reason for you women to come and visit me, get fantastic fabric and outfits made! I went to Nkhata Bay with my friends Annie and Heidi. It was really beautiful too! We stayed at a cute sort of backpacker's lodge called Mayoka Village. They had cute cottages that overlooked onto the lake and were super cheap. I was able to use their snorkeling equipment for free and saw some pretty bright blue fish! The food there was really good and I can't wait to go back for Christmas! I am headed back to Zomba to work for a few weeks before Christmas and then will head back up north. It is cloudy and humid because there was lots of rain earlier today. Well, that's about it for now...let me know how things are going! I love and miss you all! I tried posting pictures but the internet is running too slow and won't download them...I'll try again when I'm in Lilongwe in a few weeks!

Turkey day without the turkey...

Well, it's Thanksgiving in "the warm heart of Africa" and it's actually kind of weird to be thinking about Thanksgiving. I have never experienced hot weather and the opportunity of swimming at the US Ambassador's house on Thanksgiving. The funny thing is that we are NOT having turkey, but have instead decided to roast a gianormous pig. It is kind of disturbing to me to have to go through this...oh well. So, I baked ALL day yesterday at the country director's house. Let's just say they have it a little bit better than us volunteers! The country director's wife was definately a firecracker. She was very nice and entertaining. Since it took a lot longer than we expected, their housekeeper/cook made dinner for all of us. We made lots of desserts from apple cobbler, pound cake, pecan pie, chocolate chip cookies, and snickerdoodle cookies. We ate lots of cookie dough and everyone loved the cookies that I made! I have been in town since Friday because it is pouring at my site...the rainy season has definately begun! I wanted to make sure that I would be able to get out of my site with all the rain and mud. The first rains began 2 Saturdays ago. It was the most unbelievable storm I have ever experienced...it was so rainy and windy that when I was standing on my porch all I saw was sheets of white. I put out an 18 litre bucket to catch rain from my roof and it was filled in about 1/2hr! Due to the rain, my fence has completely fallen down and looks pathetic! Oh well...Three power line poles also fell down, so it was fun watching them put it back up on Sunday! On to other things...I have talked with the Traditional Birth Attendant Coordinator at the District Hospital and it sounds like alot of work...she wants me to set up trainings for the entire district! I hope she can help me fight the district on gettting funding for this! I also spoke with the Malaria Coordinator and they are going to get mosquito nets for the maternity ward! I just have to find funding so that we can give the women leaving the maternity ward a mosquito net to use at home! If you have any ideas of where to get this funding...LET ME KNOW!!! Well, I love and miss you all and wish that I could be eating some turkey and pumpkin pie in the rain with the rest of you! Keep me posted on all the fantastic things you are up to in the US!

Made it through the first 3 months!

Hello everyone!
So, I have made it through the first 3 months at site and to celebrate/conclude that little benchmark, Peace Corps has a 2 week training in Dedza, where we had our Pre-Service training. It went pretty good. We went over ALOT of stuff including: natural medicine, proposal and grant writing, how to start income generating activities for groups like women's groups and People Living With AIDS groups, field trip to an awesome cultural center, learning that we can get into good grad schools, and how to come up with project ideas. It was weird having the counterparts (people we work with at the health center that we had to bring) for the second week of training. The only thing about my counterpart was that he is the boss of the other HSAs (health surveillance assistant) and is really smart and motivated. So, we had to come up with a 3-6 month "action plan" and I think we came up with some pretty good ideas...so, I will try to start both a women's and girls' groups for empowerment, get mosquito net incentive program in the maternity ward where the women get to take the mosquito nets home with them, and try to find out how to get untrained traditional birth attendants trained so that baby delivery is better in the rural villages. It sounds like a lot, but hey, I'm here for 2 years and that leaves alot of time to get a lot of things accomplished. I am very excited about trying to get the TBAs trained and how to improve the health status of women and children. I am excited to see my kitten, Mauwa, and to see if any chicks have hatched and how many there are! I will finally get to check snail mail at the end of the week in Zomba! I will be back the week of Thanksgiving for some oh-so-fun physical therapy for my torn ligament in my ankle and for some good food and then I head north to help teach biology at a Peace Corps summer school program! I have alot of stuff going on and if you have questions, feel free to ask! Hope all is well for you! I love and miss you all LOTS!!

Some random pictures from last 2 weeks at training

Here's a pic of me and Kris kissing a Malawian mask at Mua Mission.

Here's a picture of a boy attending a wedding and decided to watch us for a while and a woman wrapping a baby to her back like normal...I can't wait to do this in the US when I have my own babies!


Here's how we celebrate Halloween in Malawi...throw our own party and dress up from "Napolean Dynamite." I'm "Deb", Brent is "Kip", and Annie is "LaFonda." It was different celebrating here than in the U.S., but its how I have to do it for the next 2 years...

Animals galore and future ambitions...

So, its already been 3 months of me being at site, so it's time for me to have some training with Peace Corps! I am really looking forward to it since I haven't seen most of the people in my group for those 3 long months! I can't wait to hear all of their stories and to see if they've changed at all! Things have been going really well at site. I am learning more about the birthing process. I did a night duty shift at the health center in the maternity ward and learned how to do a vaginal exam to see how dialated the woman was! I know it sound gross to most of you, but I thought it was super amazing! Lack of technology doesn't seem to be that bad when you are delivering! It is amazing how well you can adjust and function with such little amenities! I brought Mauwa, the kitten, back to my site and she is doing really good. She is becoming an awesome hunter...she's killed many lizards and a mouse so far. She is growing pretty fast. She always goes to sleep in my lap whever I am sitting at my table. She's become very cuddly too! I also decided since who knows when I would ever get to do it again in my life, I bought 2 chickens and named them Thelma and Louise! They are both laying eggs right now! I will let them get to be chicks and then hopefully they will produce me some good eggs as a source of protein! They are pretty enteraining! I am excited to start some projects when I get back to site after training and talking to my boss about what I have seen in my health center. I am interested in getting fuding for mosquito nets in the maternity ward, starting some more women's groups, figuring out how to train traditional birth attendants, and getting condom use to be practiced more. It will be fun to see how all these things play out in the next two years of my service here...I have decided that I would never want to be a celebrity. I am constantly stared at and get lots of attention, both postitive and negative, and its sometimes hard to deal with...So, on the Madonna adopting a baby here thing...it seems like some Malawians agree with her and some think the baby should have stayed here. It's kind of sad that now the reason people know about Malawi is because of Madonna coming here. Well, that's about it for now...I am going to be back for Thanksgiving and then will teach some biology and biology lab in the North for a Peace Corps summer school program. I love and miss you lots!

In Lilongwe to get Mauwa!!

Hey everyone! I am in Lilongwe for a few days and figured I should update my blog. Well, things have been going pretty good lately. Last week, the Peace Corps doctor and new country director came for a site visit to see how my house is and for me to meet the new cd. It went really good. The new cd seems really nice and ready to tackle the job of handling 120 PCVs in Malawi. It was good to tell them about all the thigns I've been doing over the last 7 weeks. I guess I didn't realize how much stuff I've done until I talked with them! I've been busy "going out in the field" as they call it, riding my bike many kilometers to outreach clinics and the like. The roads are all dirt, rough, uphills and downhills, and sometimes just kick my butt! I've visited a trained traditional birth attendant. She delivers babies at her house where women come to see her since the health center can be too far. It went well, she liked me alot! I went to a sanitation platform training with Interaide, a French NGO. They taught a bunch of chiefs, village health committee members, and me how to make these concrete platforms to put on top of pit latrines. It is a lot more sanitary than just a hole in the ground! I finally got furniture on Wednesday of last week! I have a bed, table, and two chairs! No more sleeping on a mattress on the floor! I actually feel like I have a home now. The nurse midwife that lives next door to me came back from her leave at another health center. I was very excited to see her! She said that she missed her daughter (talking about me!). I have been "adopted" by her and her 4 children. I eat dinner at her house every night. I buy some veggies to contribute and they teach me how to make Malawian food! They taught me how to make phala (porridge) which is sort of like cream of wheat so that I can make it for breakfasts for me and my kitten! I've been doing the usual outreach clinics and clinics at the health center. I have rode to Thondwe 3 times. It is a tough 16km to get to the paved rode! Hopefully the more I do it, the easier it will get. The hot season is quickly approaching as I noticed that I am sweating more and drinking lots of water. I get into town about once/week to check mail and emails, so keep them coming. I have about 1 month until reconnect and training when I will get to see all of my fellow 1st year health PCVs and hear how their 1st three months at site has gone! I get my kitten, Mauwa, this weekend! I am very excited to finally get her! Hopefully she will be an excellent mouse hunter! Well, that's it for now! Love and miss everyone lots!

Already been a month!

Hey everyone! I wanted to let everyone know that I am doing good! I have been really busy with stuff at the health center...I have so far gotten to see 2 deliveries! It was so awesome! I can't believe how easy these women make it look, makes me wonder what us americans are doing that it takes hours of pushing instead of the 5 minutes I saw here! Other things that I have been doing: had a community meeting on Monday to discuss Malaria, family planning, and voluntary counseling and testing for HIV. It was really good. There were about 120 people in attendance! I have been going to outreach clinics that are anywhere from 2-12 km from the health center that I bike to on every Wednesday. There are always lots of women and children. These are the under 5 and family planning clinics. I have also done some village inspections where we see what sanitation and hygeine things are or aren't missing like a pit latrine, kitchen, drying rack, refuse pit, bathing room, etc. The weather has been unseasonably windy, cloudy, and cold. Its very weird as we are supposed to be headed into the hot season this month! I will be in Lilongwe at the end of the month to see the new education volunteers and to try to download some pictures. I will keep you posted! Let me know how things are going! Oh, everyone wants to know if I like nsima (I do!) and if I know how to cook it! My neighbor, a midwife, is on leave for one month at another health center. I have been eating most dinners at her place with her kids! I seem to have gotten my own Malawian family!

more fun stomach problems...

So, I am heading to Lilongwe today to do some more recovering from having more gastritis. I feel awful and got some antiobiotics yesterday, so hopefully I will be feeling better soon. I will get to be full of rest and around running water, electricity, and toilet paper! The transit house here in Blantyre is closing today because of electrical problems, so its good that I am leaving today. I hope everything is going well in the U.S. I miss all of you lots!

In Blantyre for "resupply"

hey everyone,
I am in Blantyre until Saturday meeting up with other new PCVs that have been at site for the last 3 weeks. So, my new site in Zomba is really good compared to the last one even though I don't have running water or electricity...let's just say for the first few days I was eating papaya and peanut butter and honey sandwiches...I'm getting better at getting my charcoal burner to work, but it still takes a lot of prepping to get it ready. I am still eating the staple meal of peanut butter and honey sandwiches so that I don't have to cook in the heat! It has started to warm up a bit and will continue to do so until it peaks in October...can't wait...So, my house has 3 bedrooms and a sitting room with a separate structure for the baffa and kitchen, then my chimbudzi (pit latrine) is behind that in its separate building. I am in the process of having a grass "security" fence built. I have a night watchman for security purposes. I have gotten to learn how to do antenatal exams of palpatations and listening to the heart beat. It was so cool! I can't wait to actually be doing this for my job, I would love to be a midwife! I rode my bike to a outreach clinic yesterday...it was 25km round trip...my butt really hurts from my bike seat...I got to help weigh under 5 children and record it. I know, not too exciting, but it was good to do for me! Not too much else going on, my site is 15 km off the tarmec (paved road) and it takes 1 1/2 hrs by bike taxi to reach my house! I am definately living in the bush! I will try to post pictures when I get a card reader. Let me know how you are doing!

Back from my site... :-(

hey everyone,
So I am in Lilongwe now until Peace Corps finds me a new site. My house was not so good to say the least. It was infested with tons of mosquitoes and mice, besides being utterly disgustingly dirty. The woman who lived there before me literally moved out the day before and didn't have time to clean it. I arrived on Monday to find no furniture, so I had to argue with my MA (the head of the clinic) about it. They signed an agreement with PC that they would provide the house, a bedframe, a table, and chairs. He said that they didn't have enough funding to get me the furniture. That was just the beginning. I needed screens on my windows and he said they couldn't pay for that either. So, I had to call my boss, Edith to tell her about it. She came on Wednesday to see how bad the house was. She said that she would talk to the health center and discuss who should pay for repairs and if they couldn't come to an agreement, I would be moving. I figure that I should be living at the same standards as the rest of the health center staff and they don't have any of the problems that I have. I spent all of Tuesday scrubbing my toilet and bathing rooms, but unfortunately they still look really dirty because they are stained with dirt from the previous renter. Absolutely disgusting! I freaked out on Thursday from all the problems and told Edith that I can't live here anymore. She said that we would discuss a new site location for me on Monday. I will let you know how that goes. I ended up staying the nights at my wonderful neighbor's house because I can't sleep with mice running around. She was so amazing, she made me dinners and breakfasts. Malawians are so hospitable its ridiculous. You would never find that in the states. So, I am now in Lilongwe after a long and hot 5 hour minibus ride from Liwonde. I hope that everything turns out for the best, I know it will! I will keep you posted...until then, send me stuff to the Lilongwe address! I miss everyone lots and can't wait to hear how you are all doing!

Leaving for site tomorrow!

Hey everyone,
I wanted to let you know that I am leaving for my site tomorrow morning! I will not have regular email access, so its back to letter writing or buying the 4 cents/minute phone card (at www.speedypin.com) and calling me! I will start my community assessment which I will be doing for the next three months at site. I will not being doing any really medical stuff yet, just finding out what my community needs. I will hopefully see many babies being born at my health centre, I will let you know how that goes! I am excited, nervous, and everything in between. I can't wait until I have my house as my house and everything is in place like painting, my garden, my fence, furniture, etc. I am planning on painting all of the inside of my house and planting a decent sized garden. I will take some before and after pics for you to see the difference!
So, I spent all of Friday and Saturday at the markets arguing with people selling me stuff that was overpriced. I have gotten pretty good at bargaining down with my Chichewa. I got a broom and mop for only K300 with a starting price of K800. Maybe when whoever comes to visit me, I will help you get stuff for the Malawian price instead of the azungu price.
I am guessing that everyone is trying to figure out what Chichewa is like, so here are some common phrases: Muli bwanji? (How are you?) Ndilil bwino, kaya inu? (I am fine and you?) Kodi, muli wokwotiwa? (question, are you married?) Ndimagwira nchito ya ulangzi wa za umoyo. (I work as a health advisor.)
You can reach me by mail, maybe email, and my cell phone from now on! I hope everything is going good in the US! I will write when I get a chance! I miss you all lots!!

I'm a "real" volunteer!!

Hey guys! I was sworn in yesterday as an "official" first year health volunteer for Peace Corps! It was kind of weird and very much like a government ceremony. It was very cool to be sworn in! It was at the ambassador's house, which was basically a mansion with tennis courts, basketball court, swimming pool, koi pond, and lots of land! Just another reason why I would love to figure out how to become an ambassador! I've been busy buying stuff for my new house, but its very difficult because you have to argue over eveything! It is such a hassle to argue about the price of a scrub brush! I am picking up 2 skirts and a shoulder bag that I had made at the tailor's for only K1300 (about $11 USD)! Absolutely amazing! I can't wait to see it! I have no idea what to expect! If you come visit me, expect to go to the market to buy fabric and then I will take you to a tailor to get some thing "african" made!
Let's see, what else.....nothing much but getting ready to leave for site and have no access to other Americans for a least one month or more. Who knows if I will have internet access. I will be hoping for some mail with my new address....it can probably get pretty lonely out in the African bush all by yourself...I will try to post some pictures from swearing in, but I don't know when that will actually happen! I will let you know! Hope everything is going good in the US! I miss the cheesecake factory so much!!!!!! I miss all of you lots!

Almost done with training!

So, I am in my final week of training...thank God! It has had its ups and downs, but overall was a very good experience! I stayed in a village for four weeks without running water or electricity and lived with a family that spoke absolutely NO English...only Chichewa. I think that helped me out a lot since I had to really work hard to communicate with them. It is definately an experience to pee in a pit latrine and bucket bathe! I am glad that at my site I will be lucky enough to have running water (cold) and electricity! Downsides about homestay: I got bacterial gastritis, aka awful diarrhea, which I had to take Cipro, an antibiotic, and drink Oral Rehydration Solution for about 5 days. Absolutely no fun, I am happy that I have killed off the extra 1 million and a half bacteria that were taking over my intestines! Hopefully now I have guts of steel! I guess I got sick from untreated water or poor sanitation when my host family was making my food and getting my water. Things are a lot different here than in America. People literally live in mud huts with thatch roofs and are very poor. The exchange rate is $1USD to K146. The currency is called kwatcha. For example, I can buy 6 bananas for K5. I also can buy drinking yogurt for K60 and cookies for K36. Things seem cheaper here, but when you live at the same level as your community, it is a treat to spend more than K60 on something! It is very weird to start thinking in terms of Malawian money instead of thinking how little US dollars it is. The staple food of Malawi is nsima, or a corn flour/water mixture that is like cream of wheat with too little of water, so its paste-like and has no flavor or nutrition whatsoever! It is thick enough that people roll it into a ball and use it like a spoon to grab other things like chicken pieces, greens, etc. It is not as bad as it sounds, in fact, I kind of like nsima! I really liked eating without utensils (minus the whole not using soap to wash my hands), but of course, I am American and won't ever do that at my own place unless I am desperate! There hasn't been much culture shock...just interesting to be called "azungu" or rich foreigner, and having to cover my thighs because they are sexual here. It is hard to see the women do pretty much everything at the house from chopping wood, gathering wood, carrying it on their heads at about 200lbs, carrying buckets of water on their heads, cooking on a three stone fire, handwashing every piece of clothing, all the while having a baby wrapped to her back. The fathers don't really do much except for working in the fields and the occasional re-thatching of the roofs...It is hard to see the huge gender inequality. :-( I am learning Chichewa pretty well...I scored the highest on the Language Proficiency Interview out of my entire training group!!
I just got back from seeing where I will be living for the next two years, it is gorgeous! I have a beautiful mountain in the back of my house and a banana tree and papaya tree orchard in front of my house! It has 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, toilet room, and bathing room! It is brick with a tin roof....basically an oven for me during the hot season! Wish me luck for that! My village speaks Chichewa as well as Chiyao, so I get to learn another language! I will get a tutor so that I can get good at it! I can't wait!
Everyone in Malawi is so nice! They all tell me, "you are most welcome to be in Malawi." Culture here is different because people will actually STOP what they are doing so that they can ask how your day is, where you are going, where you are coming from, and what is new. They are never in a hurry to hear your answer either. They are definately the warm heart of Africa. I can't even begin to describe how welcome I feel here and how privileged I am to be serving in Malawi.
Well, this is long enough for now...I will write more later! Here is a link to a fellow trainee's online photo gallery since I accidentally erased mine off my digital camera :-(
www.flickr.com/photos/ladyofthelake

The start of my voyage....no more America

Hello everyone!
This will be my last post for the next 8 weeks since I am going to be in training in the bush and won't have access to any phones or internet. I leave tomorrow and am very anxious and nervous. One thing I am very nervous about is this fly called something like the pootsi fly and it lays eggs in your clothes when you hang them up to dry and then you have to iron ALL of your clothes or the larvae crawl into your skin and lay more eggs or something like that. They create boils under your skin and the only way to get rid of them is to put some topical cream on it to suffocate them and tweeze them out. GROSS!!!!!!!!! How do some places have such awful bugs?

So, during staging, you learn about how to keep yourself safe from petty theft, HIV/AIDS, gastrointestinal problems, and other random stuff you can get out in the bush! PC also focuses a lot on integrating into your village to make your life easier. Staging was in beautiful Philadelphia, with 85 degree weather and lots of humidity. since i got in a day early with 5 other people, I was able to the tourist thing and see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Ben Franklin area. since I had been there before, I was able to play tour guide.

It was really hard to leave my parents, PAUL, my family, and my friends. I felt nauseated all day on the plane ride here.

I thought that since it takes about a month for letters to get to and from Malawi, you might want to know what I will be doing for the next 8 weeks... I will be doing a lot of language training for Chichewa and cross-cultural. We will be living in a village with a host family, where we will learn about living the simple life and how to make meals on three stone cooking, wash clothes by hand, and being a Malawian. Here's the rundown of week by week besides all of that:
Week 1: Intro to culture and language, and health issues of Malawi
2: Extension approach and community assessment tools
3: Disease prevention, Community Health and HIV/AIDS
4: Food security, nutrition and human body, and field visit
5: Promote interventions for support and adoption of healthy lifestyles
6: Site visit-field orientation trip
7: working effectively with community groups, sustainable livelihoods, and networking with other agencies
8: field and office visits, and briefing on PC/Malawi
For the first week I am there, I will be living at the Malawi College of Forestry in Dedza, about 1 hour from Lilongwe, the capital. We will be just doing language and culture...
I think I am ready for this adventure!! Like PC says, "Life is calling, how far will you go?" Write me lots of letters since that's all I will have from home to remind me of how weird my situation is! I miss you guys lots!!! I will try to get on as soon as I can find some internet in 8 weeks!

4 days til I'm on a plane

Well, time is getting to the wire and things are picking up here. I spent my last weekend in Eugene and got to spend some much needed quality time with Paul. We went to our thai restaurant for the last time where the waitresses know us and what our favorite dishes are. Paul surprised me by taking me to the very first restaurant we ate at in Eugene! It was very anti-climatic the entire weekend, no real "last time we are doing this moments." Everything felt like it was just another weekend, but for me and Paul, we realized it was our last weekend. Wow, didn't realize how very hard it is going to be to leave him. Its hard thinking about the fact that I won't be talking to him every night about what I did for that particular day. I can't believe that I am leaving the person I love, but I know that I am doing it for a good reason. He's one person that I can count on to understand why I am thinking about things the way I do.
It still doesn't seem very real to me to think that this time next week I will be on my way to Malawi and won't see anyone I know for 2 years. I am very scared, excited, nervous, anxious, and every other emotion you can think of. I know that everything will be shocking and crazy when I get there with being emotionally drained and physically exhausted from jet-lag and lots of flying.
While in Eugene, I got to spend some time with the girls at Morgan's birthday party, brunch the next day, and watching Desperate Housewives for the last time....someone's gotta record them or something for me over the next 2 years...
So, this week will be very busy seeing people before I go, lots of last minute shopping for toiletries, must haves, and lots of organizational packing. I will get to spend a lot of time with my parents, since I know I will miss them alot.
Well, maybe I will get on here before I fly out of Portland...not sure when I will get to write on here when I am in Malawi...depends how often I get to a big city with an internet cafe! I wish everyone lots of luck with everything they are doing!! I am going to miss all of you so much!! If you feel like you need to write or send me anything, ask mom and she can tell you how to do that...or email me before I go!

It's getting closer!!

Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven't written on here in quite a while. Things have been pretty busy around here preparing to leave in a few weeks. So, things I have been up to lately involving PC:
1. went to a potluck held by a return peace corps volunteer that had about 10 other RPCVs. This was very cool. I met a lot of very interesting people who were very excited for me and wanted to help me out as much as possible with any questions I had. All of them wished that they were in my position so they could go back since they all said this was the best experience of their life! I met a former country director. He gave me alot of useful information about the country and what I could do after I served in Peace Corps as a job. I guess they give you a cookbook when you get there so that you don't starve not knowing how to prepare foods on a three stone cooking apparatus. At this potluck, I also met a woman, about 40 years old, who is do the exact same thing as me and leaving the exact same time as me! So, at least I will know someone when I go for training. She is just like me, very excited and ready to go!
2. I received my itinerary for my staging event. This is where Peace Corps tells you all of their general ideas on safety, what to expect, and some light training in general. I will also be starting my many vaccinations. I will have my staging event in Philadelphia from May 28th to May 30th. I actually get to go a day earlier since I have to be ready to do everything at 2pm on the 28th and it takes to long to fly from Portland to Philadelphia to make it in time. So, I will get to do some sight-seeing since my hotel is literally blocks from things like the liberty bell, hard rock cafe, and some interesting quaker stuff. In case you are interested, here is my flight itinerary for going to Malawi:
leave JFK in NY at 5:55pm on the 30th
arrive in Johannesburg at 5:05pm on the 31st
leave Johannesburg at 10:20am on June 1st
arrive in Lilongwe at 12:45pm on the 1st
3. attended Peace Corps send off party for invitees last night with family. We went to the Lucky Labrador in SW Portland last night to eat pizza and meet some RPCVs. I met a woman who was in Malawi in the early 90s. She was very excited about her experience and just kept saying how wonderful the people are there. I think this helped calm my mom down some since she was able to ask her some questions.
So, that's it for now... if you have any questions, just let me know! I have 19 days until I am outta here for 2 years!! If you want, you can come to my going away party on the 13th at my parents' house...let me know if you want to come!

Thoughts about leaving

Well, this is my first post of hopefully many! I am very excited to be leaving in now less than 3 months! I am sad to leave Paul, my friends and family, but know that they will all be excited for me to return with awesome war stories.
On Thursday of last week, I met with a woman who served in the Peace Corps in Malawi from 1992-94. She told me some amazing things about Malawi. For example, I am most likely going to have a "worker," also known to us Americans as a housekeeper. It seems like if you don't have one, you are seen as an outsider. This will be very weird to me, as I've always done my own laundry, cooking, and cleaning. I'm hoping this interaction will allow me to practice the official language of Chichewa (Chi-cha-wa).
Another interesting thing I've learned from Shannon was that Malawians are really conservative, so much that I am not allowed to befriend any men so that they do not mistake my friendship as me wanting to have an intimate relationship with them. This will be difficult for me as an American since I befriend all of my male coworkers as a way of comradery. Oh well, something I will have to get used to. I will just have to keep business as business and make a lot of female friends.
I recently purchased the first of my few dresses that I will take with me since I have to either wear a skirt or dress all the time in my village unless I am in my own hut. I can only wear super conservative clothing that shows no figure and has to go passed my knees since showing of thighs turns on Malawian men. I can, however, wear shorts and pants in the large cities since it recently became legal for women to do this in cities. I will get most of my clothes in Malawi since they have tailors that make clothing for really cheap and have many used American clothes at the markets! These clothes are supposedly called "dead white people's clothes" since they wear their clothes until you can't anymore and don't understand why we would give up perfectly good clothing and buy new ones.
So, all of the things that I've been told about Malawi has made me very excited and I can't wait to see how much of this applies to me! I am hoping to learn a lot about a fantastic culture and a different way of living! I will write more when I have some more random cool things about Malawi and new things that have come my way!