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!