Rainy Misty Mountains

Before I start in on my planned blog entry that I penned in my off period while I was sitting in the library, let me just thank Kitty R., who is a rockstar, and sent me 4 packages which all arrived today- my postmaster pretended at first that only one was coming, that joker. They are now strapped to my bike- I am waiting to open them until I get home :D

We are in the middle of the rainy season here, so the entire countryside is green. This is my favorite time of year here, I have decided. There is a pass North of Mzuzu along the M1 which goes up the mountains and along an escarpment. The last time I traveled North to visit my friend who lives on the other side of the mountains, it was dry and yellow, and you could see scorch marks on the hills from brush fires, and the trees were sad low twisted things. Now though, when you travel through the mountains, everything is misty and green, it is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time.

This time last year, I remember being in the back of a pickup truck with some friends on our way to some training or another, and we went through the mountains from Salima to Lilongwe. I think what I liked most about that trip was the way the clouds touched their surrounding hills, because we don't have anything like that where I'm from.

My goal this term is to stay in the North and avoid the capitol as much as possible, unless Peace Corps demands that I go, or if, no sorry, WHEN Esther comes back. Last term I went six times: once in September for a rabies shot, then in October for the GRE (and an unfortunate bout of Malaria at the same time, in case you were wondering, even though I was on an IV drip 12 hours before I sat for the test, my scores weren't too shabby)- then I went again for Thanksgiving and to fly out to America, then of course I was there again when I returned from America, and finally I had MST in January, which meant that I was through Lilongwe both on my way to and from Dedza. I. Hate. Lilongwe. I have been away from the stupid place for about a month now, and I'm still annoyed by it- I can never meet with anyone from the office unless I am missing school, since office hours are only on the weekdays, and in order to get home in one day, I have to leave at 5:30. No thank you. So I'm boycotting the city- a bridge went out to the South of me, barring my way to the capitol, good riddance.

I'd rather stay here along the lake shore up in the North, and when I do travel, I'll try to stay as close to home as possible. I think that in the future, I'll remember my time in the Peace Corps as me sitting in the back of a truck going along the lakeshort, or though the mountains to Mzuzu, my hair tucked into a hat to save it from the wind as I pass by terraced fields on steep hillsides, then past banana trees, and finally through the rubber tree plantation, where the rows of trees all seem to lean to the South. It is a good life here in Northern Malawi, I promise.