Thanksgiving #2!

I can't believe I've been in Malawi long enough to have had two Thanksgivings here, but there you are!

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, I was in Mzuzu, aka, the greatest place in Malawi (or maybe second only to Nkhata Bay), we killed a turkey- Gerard from the zoo wanted to do it by an injection of vodka. That is exactly something he would do.

The next day, Friday, I headed down to Lilongwe, beer, dancing, food, a good time was had by all- then of course, the actual celebration at the Ambassador's house was even more fun- and then that night when we went dancing was a fun EXPLOSION! Ugh, seriously, friends in 'Merica, you'll have to show me an extra good time if you want to try to compete.

So yup, that's that, I'm super excited to go home and see everyone, but I do have a good life here too.

Love love

beeb

Oh beautiful...

Hey guys!

So yes, I'm excited to go to narnia, I mean America, but I can't help but be a little nervous about traveling alone- I'm sure things will be fine, as one of my friends pointed out, I've been living in Africa for more than a year. Still.

I'm also a little sad that I won't be able to show any pictures of Malawi, since my camera charger and computer were both stolen- my camera is about 5 years old, but hopefully I can get a new camera charger when I'm home (or maybe a new camera...?)

That's about it, I'm getting excited to see you all, and the Umoza group is currently at work sewing napkins and place mats for me to sell when I get home- the fabrics here are really something, so hopefully we'll have buyers. I also hope to bring some carvings and stuff home, fingers crossed.

See you in a few weeks!

!!!

Today is going to be a good day.

I am currently in Chintheche on the hunt for a catfish. There are catfish in Malawi, and I am going to fry one with some friends tonight. I cooked a ton of food too to surprise them with once they get here so it should be a good time- you can't go wrong with cookies.

Also!! I just got 3 huge packages in the mail today- one from cousin Gracie and 2 from the Rothwells. I haven't opened them yet because I'm worried about carting them home, but I'm sure they're amazing, I can't wait!.

So that's about it, all in all, a promising day as it is only 10:00.

Home!

Today in the library there was a huge pile of books on the floor when I walked in- Mr. Simkonda and Mr. Msumba were on the floor, spider crouched, sorting through them. When I asked them 'what's all this then', they told me that the books had been donated from a school in Livingstonia that recently upgraded from being a secondary school to a University. I didn't know schools could do that.

Anyway, I started to help them sort, and I came across a book from the early 1950's called 'America in 1,000 pictures', which was just a bunch of pictures sorted by state (all 48 of 'em). I stood for about 20 minutes just looking at the cheezy 1950's pictures.

I'm going home for a visit in December though :)

Two things that are a little sad about my visit though- I won't have any pictures to show since my computer was stolen, and Chris won't be there. The pictures, well, you guys can just deal with that (and I can't put them on the internet from here, so there was no way to back them up, so please, no guilt)- but Chris' being in China- that's rough. I was planning on just doing everything with him when I got back, and soaking up his absurdity and wisdom. Plus, I don't know how I'll react to being in a country where I can wear anything and eat actual food- a place where internet and phone calls are free? Where do I go? What do I do? I wanted Chris to be there, because he would probably go with me to Meijer at 2am and not judge- and afterward, he'd fully support my desire to go into a McDonalds and ask them to make me a flurry with a pie (a plan I've been thinking of for a while). Because of this lack of little brother, I'll need other people to rally and visit, yes yes? Please come see me in Grand Rapids, I miss you all- I have made no travel plans yet, just come see me.

Take care! I'll see you all in a month!