Friday, October 29, 2010

To begin, a shout out to Christi and Kitty who both sent awesome packages around early September- thanks guys! I am going to enjoy my coffee and beef jerky, maybe at the same time, who knows, I'm crazy.

Also, to all my friends living in DC, I am seriously jealous that you get to got to the Rally to Restore Sanity. Wish I could go- even though when people try to explain the current American political scene to me over the phone, I get confused and get a headache.

Finally, congratulations to Chris, who is leaving for China soon. For those of you who don't know, my older brother Matt now lives in China with his new wife (yay!), and my little brother Chris is also going to go there to teach, and maybe also to find a wife- that remains to be seen. So, for anyone who was born between the years 1984-1988, get ready for my mom to empty-nest all over you, because she isn't going to have any kids in America soon. Just kidding mom, don't get mad.

My week has been ok, it's getting really hot, but the library seems to always be a good 10-20 degrees cooler than the outside, so I've been in there a lot, as usual. The acting ambassador is slated to visit my school this upcoming week on Thursday, which should be cool- I'm a little nervous about it actually, my head teacher wanted to have a big party for her, which wouldn't be good, because she just wants to see a normal school day, and I've also had some conversations with people who seem to think that maybe she'll come and build us a laboratory, which she isn't going to do, since the woman isn't Oprah, and that isn't the point of the visit. Plus, I've been working for the past year to try to get the idea across that nobody is going to just build us anything, and that we have to use the resources we have. We had a library that was being eaten by termites, and a bunch of computers in boxes under a thick layer of dust when I came here- and if you'd asked anyone back then what we most needed, they'd have said computers or more books- come to find out we actually had some nice books and passable computers, we just needed to use them. Now we're working on renovating one of our old classrooms to use as a laboratory, so we're cleaning old lab equipment and using locally available resources to build storage and work places. I think that this is actually better than just having someone give us a lab, personally, but it is like pulling teeth to get anything done. Have you ever read that book 'if you give a mouse a cookie'?, I'm pretty sure the guy who wrote that worked in a developing school somewhere.

I guess that's the problem, isn't it? What the community wants isn't what the donor wants to give, and both could be completely different from what the community really needs. I think it is all very sticky- people have the best of intentions when they come out here, but who knows if their projects are going to work? I think that I want to study education and international development in grad school- maybe I'll end up at American University like the rest of Peace Corps. That would be nice, maybe then I could make it to the next Stewart/Colbert rally- September 2012? Anyone?

Monday, October 25, 2010

Malaria Free! Way 'ta Be!

Hey all!

So yesterday I felt head-achey and sleepy, so I stayed around Mufasas and rested- then today, I went to the medical unit for my check up and was declared cured! Whoot! No more parasites attacking my red blood cells!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Welcome to America

So, as you may know, I have been preparing to take the GRE. I got a few test books and went to town on them for about two months, and then this week I went to Lilongwe to take the test. I had some things to get done at the Peace Corps office, so I went down two days before the test to get my work done and get into a GRE state of mind.

The night before I left I felt kind of sick, I puked up the banana I ate for lunch, skipped dinner, and spent the night in an uncomfortable sweaty-sleepy-shaky state. That morning I felt better, if a little sluggish from lack of sleep, so I threw myself on a bus for the 7 hour trip to Lilongwe. The bus trip sucked, of course, and someone next to me ralphed into her chitenge, which was uncomfortable since you can't exactly get off of a bus here in Malawi once you are on it- this is also the reason why I don't drink water when I travel here. By the time I got to the Peace Corps office, I was tired, thirsty and generally ratty looking, but I had a doctor's appointment for my mid term physical, so I went in to see the medical staff.

It took them about two seconds to diagnose me with Malaria.

Now, I'm a good little volunteer, I take my anti-malarials, but sometimes I forget, especially on the weekends, so I must have forgotten to take my meds last Saturday and Sunday, which is when the filthy little vampire bug must have gotten me. I guess though that when you take your meds that the symptoms aren't as bad, so it makes sense that I just thought I had food poisioning.

The worst day was yesterday, when I couldn't keep anything down, and they hooked me up to an IV drip all day, and my temperture spiked to something around 110. That sucked. The doctor let me use his computer to see if I could cancel or re-schedule my test if I had a doctor's note. Nope. All cancelations must be made at least three days in advance, well, three days ago I felt ducky. He was shocked- 'So what, you aren't allowed to get sick? welcome to America'

So what about the test? Well, I took it this morning at the testing center at the embassy, it was a paper based test, and the examiner had some serious time keeping issues (he cut us off early on the first verbal section, dick), but I did it. Now I need to go sleep.

Monday, October 18, 2010

GRE count down, 6 more days

Hey all! Sorry to anyone who has been trying to phone and hasn't been able to get through, my new phone SUCKS. I don't know what else to say but keep trying.

I am still studying for the GRE- I feel like I am going to do ok- apparently the hardest part for most people is the verbal section, but due to my extreme nerdiness I have never had a problem with words, so I'm not stressing on it- I'm worried about the Math section. Math, my lifelong nemesis- my Achilles heel, my Everest... you get the picture. I'm at the point in my studying now where I am just deciding which questions to just skip.

Life in Chintheche is nice- Hector is delightful, as always, though I'm worried that she is becoming a woman now, if you get my drift, and I'm looking for a solution to the possible puppy problem. This is why most Peace Corps volunteers get boy dogs, but she showed up at my doorstep shivering from the rain in the arms of one of my students, how could I say no?

The form 1 students are learning to use the library! I have started to poll students about which books they do and don't like- it turns out that they would like more books about sports, history, science, and animals. They tend to like folktales and other types of stories, but little kids books aren't as popular. Their reading levels are still developing, so things that are too difficult aren't really great, but anything with lots of illustrations and easy to follow readings are great.

Finally, anyone who has sent me a package since my break-in, they haven't arrived quite yet, but since I just got my birthday packages sent in early September, I'm sure they're coming. I did, however, get a letter from my Uncle Kenny, aka 'The Dude', about his golf game that was sent September 20. As always, it was a classic.

Love to all,

beeb

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Study Time!

Hey all!

Things here have been normal, though I have been spending all of my free time studying nonstop for the GRE. Suprisingly, since there isn't anything else to do here, I don't actually mind- but this time next week, I'll be done done done, and I won't have to worry about it anymore, I can just get back to my normal schedule of... wait, what is it I do again?

So, I'll be in Lilongwe at the end of this week to take the test on Saturday. I'm nervous about the logistics of it all (getting to LLW, lodging, etc), but I'm sure it'll all work out.

Here's to me getting 700s, right?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Hot Season, Status, Hot.

Hello friends, family, well wishers and enemies. It is hot as hell. I know that it will get hotter, but as for right now, it is difficult to get any work done, luckily the library is cooler than the rest of the school, so I have a coolish place to retreat to.

I had an awesome weekend, it was basically exactly what you would imagine a weekend in the Peace Corps would be like: a bunch of people sitting around on someone's porch chatting and drinking homemade wine, sitting around on the beach, singing songs while someone plays guitar- we are such dirty hippies.

Life is good- I got two birthday packages, one from Carrie and one from the Rothwells, both were AMAZING, and Carrie, I read all of the books you sent in three days.

That's about it,

Beep

Friday, October 8, 2010

Is it November yet?

Hey all!

This week was relatively uneventful- I had some form 2 girls over for tea on Tuesday, which was nice, they had a lot of questions, and are excited to do some dramas for the Form 1 Life Skills class. I'm hoping that their little group will help give them confidence that will influence the Form 1 girls.

The Form 1s had their first week, it was really sweet how shy they were, I wonder how long it will last. My plan for my first two weeks with them was to orient them on the library and get them reading in their spare time, it caught a snag when I walked into the library to find that once again it was being used to store broken and useless lab equipment. I had to explain to the deputy head teacher (vice principal, basically) that our school is too small to use any space for storage, and if anything is in storage, it isn't being used, so we either have to get rid of it or fix it up and organize ourselves and that the library is not a closet. In the end we shifted some of the lab equipment into the middle of the room, but the rest is still blocking our fiction section.

I also went to the police station to try to get a copy of my police report, which was useless, because they never filed one, and said I didn't want one to be filed. I couldn't help it, I ended up yelling at the police officer in charge of my case- I forgot what his title is, but it must be synonymous for 'lazy guy who does nothing', because that's exactly what he is. Ugh. He said that I needed to specifically ask to file a report, and that I hadn't done so, to which I replied that: yes, I had asked, and that even if I hadn't spoken the exact magic words to get him to do his job, he should have explained the procedures to me. He laughed at this idea, as if everyone in Malawi knows how to file a police report (they don't, I asked), and said that I should have just known or 'asked my friends'. Around here is when I lost it and yelled at him.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but after my break in, everything seems to bug me. Kids chasing me, drunks hounding me telling me that I am a 'foreign shit', disobedient students who hack up my bushes in my yard even though I told them not to. Other volunteers agree that they feel the same way right about now too though, so maybe its that I'm at my one year slump, or that it is the beginning of hot season. I don't really know why.

Anyway, I'm going to my friend Meg's for the weekend to cool off. Hopefully I'll feel better after the weekend is over.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Mzuzu day 2

Woke up in a tent, it was freezing outside. Dragged (drug?) myself into the zoo, drank a cup of coffee. Zombie walked with other pcvs to the 'chipatti lady' in the market (pi, did I take you there?) stumbled around Mzuzu in jeans and sunglasses. Climbed into the internet cafe.

I. Love. Mzuzu.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Mzuzu

Hey all!

I'm currently at my favorite place in all of Malawi, well, top five at least, Mzuzu. Unfortunately, I forgot my phone at home, damn, so don't worry if you can't get me until Sunday night.

As for today, I'm going to go to the market to replace the shoes and jeans that were stolen to get me through until all of your lovely packages come in. I'm happy to say that I'm feeling much better.

Love to all!

Beeb