Football

Last term I created and started coaching a girls football team at my school (It's really soccer). Sunday we have our first match against a school in a nearby village, so to prepare for the game we decided to hold a friendly practice match today, teachers versus students. There was a lot of question as to which team I would play for. Would I be with the girls since I am their coach and obviously a girl myself? Or would I be on the all male teacher team? Since the teachers needed more players anyway, I played with them. 

After classes I went up to my house to change and get ready. As soon as I returned wearing my jersey and trousers all the students still hanging out in the school's courtyard started yelling and cheering. We walked to the field where the entire primary school, our school, and half the village were already gathered. After a few warmups and a lot more cheering, shouting, and laughing, the game started. I played defense and did pretty well. At first I was pretty self conscious, I felt like there was a giant spotlight on me with about 500 people watching. I did, after all, stick out of the crowd. But as the game progressed I relaxed and had a lot of fun. I was, however, still concerned for my feet and ankles. The field we played on is hard, uneven, dirt with random patches of grass and plenty of rocks and holes. I, at least, had some protection. Half of the players weren't even wearing shoes and walked away with a good number of cuts and scratches. 

During the game I felt very worldly; I was an American, playing in Malawi, wearing a Nigerian team jersey, while people shouted German at me. (Even though they tack vowel sounds at the end of every other word, people here consistently pronounce my name Madam German.

The teachers won the game 4 to 1. But the best part was after, as I was walking off the field, one of my students handed me a note that read: "Madam Germany, you are doing the best please keep the fire going".   😊⚽

Student tutor

Today after school I was invited by one of my students to go to her house for dinner. Idah is not one of my smartest students, she has a lot of trouble with most subjects and does not speak or understand English very well. She is 20 years old and repeating form 3 (the equivalent of high school junior year) for the second time. But she is definitely one of the most ambitious and hard working. She constantly comes to me for help with problems or to define words that she doesn't understand. She wanted me to come to her house because everyday after school she voluntarily helps tutor primary school children that live in her area. I went to help them with their English. After walking for about thirty minutes, and of course greeting every person we passed, we arrived at Idah's house where students were already studying. All of the children were around ages 5-14. None were wearing shoes, and all looked positively terrifyed of me when I walked up. A neighbor was sitting on the porch helping the younger children with their letters. She had an old window shutter that was being used as a chalkboard and helping students trace and write the letters of the alphabet in the dirt. Some of the older students were working on math problems in their excersise books. The chickens and goats running around the yard didn't phase them at all, but at one point, when a plane flew by, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare and point excitedly at the tiny dot moving across the sky. After Idah and I ate we took over the lessons and taught some English. The kids sang the alphabet song, the days of the week song, and a months of the year song. They pointed out and named parts of their body. Then I attempted to teach them some colors. I pointed out a blue chair: "mpando ndi blue!" And green grass and a shirt: " maudzu ndi malaya ndi green!" They repeated the words, but didn't seem to understand the concept. So instead we started to talk in Chichewa about things we like. I told them I like teaching, I like Malawi and America, and I like my family, and I asked what they liked. The group of 6-10 year old girls told me that they like to cook nsima and pump water. It was a strong reminder of the tough lives and gender inequality that these young students face everyday. After the lessons I said goodbyes and headed back to my house. I admire Idah so much for all that she is doing to help these students everyday, and I will definitely be going back to help when I can. 

Christmas/ New Years

Merry Christmas! Happy New Years! I'm finally back home after about a month of traveling around Malawi. I fully intended to write posts while I was on my vacation but, as you can see, that didn't happen so I have a lot of catching up to do.

 I left my village the first week of December and headed to the capital for in-service training with the rest of my group. We had meetings and workshops for 9 days about teaching, camps, clubs, and living in Malawi. It was really nice to be back together with the whole group. After IST I decided to go back to Kasungu and visit the host family I stayed with during training. Appropriately, I saw them on the 6 month anniversary of our coming to Malawi. Can you believe it's been 6 months! Two years is going to fly by. After Kasungu, I travelled with a few friends to a beautiful lodge on lake Malawi where we camped for a few nights, ate delicious food, saw monkeys, and painted some pottery. 

Next on my journey, I headed to a friends house on the northern lakeshore where I spent Christmas with 6 other friends from my group. We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and opened presents around our tree made from a mosquito net. The others were complaining that it wasn't snowing, but for me the hot weather made it feel a little like home. I missed the big family parties and spending time with everyone, but my Christmas here was still fun and I'm glad I got to spend it with friends. And at the lake :) 

After Christmas I went south to another friends house. While there we decided to check out one of the national parks and do a safari. We got to see warthogs, some kind of antelope thing, monkeys, hippos, and crocodiles!

New Year's Eve I spent with a big group at Palm Beach! (Not in Florida. I wish it was) I went on a sunset booze cruise where we ran aground 3 times, saw some more hippos, and someone almost drowned. Everything turned out ok though and we all had a ton of fun. 

And now I'm back in Mulanje. It's nice to be home and sleep in a real bed! Today is the first day of term two so now I'm just writing lessons and preparing for a great term!