home?

Hey guys! So I'm in Lilongwe for another night, I decided to take some extra time to recover a bit before I headed North- I'm going to show my friend Amy around Mzuzu's fabric markets, Amy and I bonded during homestay when we made our own national wear outfits for swearing in. Also, I have a meeting to go to on Friday.

Megan, your comment on my last post confused me- I had to read it a few times to figure out that when I said home, you thought I meant the US, but really, I meant my little house here in Chintheche. I guess I didn't realize that I started thinking of that place as home.

Since I have a little extra time to hang out here in Lilongwe, I guess I'll write a bit more about the traveling that I've been doing the past week or so:

The weekend before last, I went to Senga Bay for a birthday party. I got to the lodge a day early with another volunteer because travel is a bitch, and I like to settle a bit once I go somewhere. We ended up being the only two guests in the bar, which led to us hanging out with the owner of the lodge and his family. They were Shari Lank an, and we had a good time getting tipsy and telling jokes- here's the thing though, most jokes don't translate cross culturally very well, so basically, I'd tell a joke, and everyone would stare, then one of the owners would tell a joke, and Greg and I would stare- it was still pretty funny though.

I don't really think the beach in Senga Bay is quite as nice as the beach in Nkhata Bay, but maybe I'm just partial to my Boma. I got to help some iwe* fish, which was cool. Basically, they just cast out a net into the shallow water of the lake (think Lake Michigan) and kind of do a little dance in front of the net, then, they bring it up, and it has minnows in it. Sometimes the iwe would catch a little eel, and they would freak out about it, once an older kid took one and drop kicked it- which I thought was a little dramatic.

The birthday party was fun- the owners of the lodge made a cake for the party, and one of the guys we were chatting with the night before bought a few rounds for the group, which was really cool, and made me feel a little like a rockstar.

The next morning (Sunday) I had to get up early so that I could get to Lilongwe in time to catch Peace Corps transport to Dedza for my IST**. I got a good hitch with some other girls in my group on the back of a pickup truck. Ok, maybe it wasn't the best hitch seeing as it was raining, there was a giant catfish hanging next to us, and two giant buckets of formaldehyde, but at least it was free. The drive from Salima to Lilongwe is gorgeous, you drive through mountains, and since it is the rainy season now, everything is green and misty. It is hard to describe, you'll just have to come visit.

IST was great, I got to see my friends, and we went to a kind of anthropological museum and saw more Gule Wamkulu dances, which I got video of. Once I get home to America, I'm sure you'll be so sick of the stupid videos and pictures.

I feel a little overwhelmed by all of the information I learned at IST though, I don't really know how to begin putting my projects into action, I know I have two years to do it, but yeah, it is a lot of new stuff to process.

That is it for now, I'm sure I'll post one last time before I go home (to Chintheche) on Sunday, this little two week holiday from school has been really nice, but it will be nice to get back and start working again. I miss my bed and my puppy.

Keep in touch, stay safe and all of that!

Beeb

*little kids
**inter service training...?