Under the weather and done with vacation...

Hi everyone~
So, I've been "under the weather" for the last week and have been put on medical hold until at least Tuesday...I have a horrible sore throat, cough, headache, and runny nose. It's been a kind of bad week for me. My really good friend, Brent, left the country on Wednesday and ended his contract early because he wasn't liking Malawi so much. It was one of the hardest things I've had to do, say goodbye to a great friend. At least he's from Montana and is thinking of moving to Portland, so maybe I'll get to see him when I'm done!
I said goodbye to my parents about a week and a half ago after their visit of 3 weeks. It was hard to see them go too. We had a great time, but the time went by way too fast. We traveled around Malawi (the Zomba Plateau) and at my site for the first week. It was kind of strange having them at my house and for them to see how I actually live. I'm not quite sure if they are put at ease or more worried for me now that they've seen it. I took them to a few of the youth club trainings that George and I do, as well as a community sensitization meeting. They got to meet all of the people I work with. One of the midwives wanted my mom to help her with antenatal clinic, but all we did was help hand out mosquito nets. Mom was surprised to see how little equipment we have in labour and delivery! We ate dinner with Mrs. Mhango and her children like I normally do. I think they handled that ok. They killed a chicken in honor of my parents visiting!
After being tortured in the village, we headed back to Lilongwe to catch a flight to Mfuwe, the town outside of South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. It was on a small cessna, so mom had to take some meds to get through that flight! We stayed at the infamous "Norman Carr" safari place. It was really nice. The rooms were great and so was the food. Our safari driver was really good at pointing out animals! We saw a leopard hunting a puku during the day (very rare), lions hanging out on the sand banks after feeding during the day, and 2 lioness and 3 cubs at night hunting a kudu. Besides those, we saw lots of elephants, kudu, buffalo, etc! We were really lucky with everything! From there, we headed to Victoria Falls, Zambia. We stayed at this really nice place called "The Zambezi Sun". It was so fancy that I kind of felt out of place. At dinner, there were so many utensils I didn't know what to do! My dad and I did this thing called a microlight flight where you go over the falls in this small motorized parachute aircraft thing. It was amazing to see the falls that way! No one can take a picture to capture how amazing this place was! My mom and I had full body massages overlooking the spray from the falls and I had a pedicure...it was so nice to be pampered and to not have village feet!
After the fun in the sun in Zambia, we came back to Malawi on a grueling and not so fun turbulence flight and headed up north to Nkhata Bay. We stayed at Mayoka village (a favorite of mine, if you haven't guessed already). Dad and I snorkeled and got to see some great bright blue chiclids! They made some amazing food and we met some interesting random people from the UK and Australia. It seems like everyone is here in Malawi to help in some way or another. I was able to show my parents the Nkhata Bay district hospital. That was a real shocker to my mom. She couldn't believe that this is the top level and best healthcare available to Malawians. She was like I was when I first came to Malawi.
Even though my parents favorite part of the trip was going to the village, mine was being spoiled in Zambia. Its so different than village life and it was a nice break...enough so that I can make it through the next 9 months!
OH! I GOT FUNDING FOR THE GUARDIAN SHELTER! I have a real project now! It's going to be weird managing so much money and being in charge of a construction project...it will turn out amazing, I'm sure! The community is so excited!
I guess that's it for now! I miss you all and hope that everything is going great!