I'm an official PCV! (Swearing-in, 50th anniversary, and site)

I've made it to my house and I am currently sitting on my porch roasting ground nuts over a charcoal grill. But before I talk about my site and living on my own, I have a lot to catch up on from last week. 

Early Wednesday morning we said our goodbyes to our host families and left Kasungu to go to Lilongwe for a couple of crazy, exciting, sleepless days. My training group is very lucky because our swearing in ceremony fell at the same time as Peace Corps Malawi's 50th anniversary celebration. Most swear ins happen in the village with only the host families and PC staff attending, but since ours was in Lilongwe, every current volunteer in Malawi (about 120) was there to see it and we are the only group ever to get sworn in by the global Peace Corps director, Carrie Hessler-Radlet. There were a lot of speeches and two of my friends performed a rap they wrote. We raised our hands, repeated the same oath the president takes, and became official peace corps volunteers! Then we had cake and a VIP lunch. 

The next day was the celebration of peace corps working in Malawi for 50 years. This one took place at the state house (Malawi's White House) and was attended by the PC director, the US ambassador, John Kerry's daughter, president Joyce Banda, and many other political figures and important people. There was an entire marching band to play the national anthem when the president walked in. It was a big deal. There were more speeches, a delicious lunch, and dancing. Yes, I danced with the president of Malawi. 

That night we put together a talent show and sat in the grass and watched as people performed their various skills. A few people told jokes or stories, some sang, two people juggled, and one guy did flame throwing! (apparently he used to work in Hawaii) The celebrating continued when almost 100 of us went to a bar called Harry's and danced and hung out until late into the night.  It was certainly a warm welcome into the peace corps. After very, very little sleep we woke up the next morning and departed for our sites. 

I have now been living on my own in Mulanje for five days and so far it's going really well. It's been difficult trying to get everything I need to live though. I walked into a completely empty house and have had to collect all the essentials slowly. The first day I had  peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I've since been to the market and bought more food, buckets, pots, plates, towels, charcoal, etc etc. Mom- I got a huge bag of ground nuts as a going away gift from my family and I've been using my cast iron skillet to roast them with cinnamon and sugar the way we like :) I'm slowly getting my house set up. When I first got here I wasn't very happy with my house because its really small and strangely set up, but now I love it. It is two rooms but they aren't connected. The doors to both rooms face each other and you have to walk outside, under a covered porch, to go between the two. I usually just keep both doors open which gives the whole place a very open feeling and makes me feel like I'm living outdoors. I have a stool on my porch and most of the time I just sit outside reading or looking at my amazing view! My house is on the top of a hill so my porch overlooks a valley and mountains. I can see Mt. Mulanje as well as some mountains in Mozambique. I've met a lot of people in the village already and even made a few friends. It's weird not being with the rest of my group, but so far it hasn't been near as difficult as I thought it would be. 

Transport

Let me preface this post by saying: Mom, you might not want to read this one. I am going to write about transport in Malawi. 

My first experience with Malawi transport was actually about a month ago when the group was assigned to travel to a market about an hour from our village by whatever means possible. Being the competitive person that I am, me and some friends decided to treat it like The Amazing Race, and see what pair would arrive first. Some took mini buses, one pair rode in the back of a semi, me and my friend Susan hitched a ride with a very nice woman and her husband. I was hesitant about hitch hiking since its so dangerous in America but, as I would later figure out, hitching is probably the safest and most comfortable way to travel in this country.  We made it to the market, but not as the winners. 

The next time I travelled away from my village was last week to Mulanje and it was not near as fun or comfortable. The first leg of our journey we took a minibus from Kasungu to Lilongwe. These buses are built for 12 but consistently manage to fit 15-18. I sat in the very back row. The trunk didn't fully close and I could see the road through a hole rusted in the floor. Thankfully we made it to Lilongwe bus deport and in about two hours. Unthankfully, Lilongwe bus depot is probably in the top 10 worst places on earth. I'll get to that more later. From Lilongwe we took another, larger, bus which was possibly less comfortable than the first. There we 3 people to a row that should have sat 2, people standing in the aisle, and huge bags of supplies everywhere on the floor so you couldn't put your feet down. The bus was slow and it took us about 8 hours to get to our next stop in Blantyre. It didn't help that every couple of miles the bus would stop and screaming people would come up to the window and try to sell you food and random items. Some of the things make sense like the snacks and sodas, but other things like belts, mirrors, and machetes I would never buy out of a bus window. Once we finally got to Blantyre we stayed the night there and continued our journey in the morning. Two more minibuses took me to the Luchenza boma where I hopped in the back of a pickup truck and rode another hour on bumpy dirt "roads" to my town of Nantombozi. While the big buses drive incredibly slow, the minibuses and personal cars drive alternativley fast. Also, nobody follows the road rules here, if there even are any. Cars dont stay on their side of the road and just drive down the center, speed limits dont seem to exist, and I haven't seen a stoplight since I got here. Anyways, from Nantombozi it's still two miles to my house so you can either walk or take a bike taxi. The bike taxis are everywhere and it involves sitting on a padded square cushion behind the regular bike seat while a man peddles you wherever you need to go. Usually they're not too bad but this particular trip we were traveling in the cold miserable rain through muddy roads. After two days of travel, I made it to my house. Finally! 

The trip back to Kasungu was much of the same. Crowded buses, long rides, and yelling people. On one of the buses there was a evangelical preacher standing in the aisle, shouting and reading scripture in Chichewa for about 40 minutes. Then we got back to Lilongwe.

 If you come visit me in Malawi don't ever go to the Lilongwe bus deport. When i say bus depot you may think of a big paved parking lot with a bunch of buses in parking spots and maybe a waiting building where you by bus tickets. It's nothing like that. It is a large dirt field with buses everywhere in no particular order and with no organization. Hundreds of people are also walking everywhere in front of buses and pushing people around to get where they're going As we pulled up in our large charter style bus we had to maneuver through the dirt lot on trying not to hit people. As soon as we stopped people were already trying to push their way on the bus before we even got off so they could get a seat. Many people threw their stuff in through the windows to save a seat. I saw one person throw their child in through the window. Since all these people are pushing to get on, it makes it near impossible to get off. Crowd surfing would have been the best option. Instead I had to push through a crowd of about 50 people trying to keep all my stuff with me. Once you make it through all that, people start yelling at you trying to sell you things and grabbing your bags to try to get you to ride on their bus. I had to fight through the maze of people and buses to try to find the one I needed to be on. Luckily I made it back to Kasungu alive and on time. So that is a summary of travel in Malawi and why I will rarely be leaving my site. 

Cooking (poor Ted)

I'm a little worried about cooking for myself once I get to site. Don't worry Mom, I'll manage, but I'm a bad enough cook in America where I had electricity, running water, and an unlimited supply of ingredients. The other day we had a cooking class about how to cook simple and nutritious meals with the limited supplies available. We were given about 10 staple ingredients (rice, tomatoes, eggs, bread, etc) and had to create as many dishes with them as possible. My group attempted fried rice, tomato soup, and French toast. The French toast turned out pretty well. We also learned how to kill and cook a chicken. Each group got their own live chicken to kill and include in their meal. We named our chicken Ted, then cooked him into our fried rice. I've heard the expression "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" and now I can also say I've seen it in action. Once I get to site I think I'll try to avoid any more chicken murders. Thankfully we were given a cookbook compiled by past volunteers, so hopefully I won't starve. 

Site visit

Sorry that I have been majorly slacking on writing on here. I have a lot of catching up to do. 

First of all, I'm moving to Mulanje! (Which I realize most of you already know) It is home to jungle, tons of fruit, tea, the tallest mountain in central Africa, and Dzenje CDSS, the school where I'll be teaching for the next 2 years. Last week I went on a site visit to check out my house, school, and village. Transport from my host village in kasungu to Mulanje took two days and was a horrible, terrifying, uncomfortable journey. I'll have to write a whole post about travel in Malawi another time. I went with the headmaster of my school and stayed with him and his family for the four days I was there. The weather was rainy and cold, but my district is absolutely beautiful! It is in the jungle, surrounded by mountains and tea fields. Everything is green and there are tropical plants and flowers growing everywhere. Imagine a scene from Tarzan an that is what it looks like where I'll be living. My house is inside the school gates and surrounded by classroom buildings. I'll definitely have to build a fence to separate my yard from the school grounds. The house is very small, only two rooms and a storage closet, with a separate kitchen and bath being constructed out back, hopefully to be finished by the time I move in. I don't have electricity or water but my school has solar so I can use theirs to charge stuff. Although my house is small, and definitely lacking in amenities, it is made up for by its location. The surroundings are amazing and my house overlooks fields and mountains, with a view of Mt. Mulanje from my backyard. Definitely a change from the Florida beaches I'm used to. 

 I am now back in kasungu, with only two more weeks of home stay before I move away on my own. I am looking forward to being independent and finally starting my service as an official PCV, but I will definitely miss kasungu, seeing my friends everyday, and especially my family. 

Home stay and training

I've now been in Malawi for over a month! 

 I am living with my host family, who are fantastic, in a village called Kaphaizi in the district of Kasungu. I love my host family, my Amayi (mom) and Abambo (dad) are really nice and speak good English so are very helpful. My Abambo used to play for the Malawi national football team which is pretty cool. I also have a 18 year old brother  and an adorable 2 year old sister. I somehow lucked out and got placed in the nicest house in the village. We have couches (a rarity), electricity, and even a tv! We watch a lot of Malawian music videos and football. We still don't have running water though, and that has been the hardest to adjust to. Every morning I help my Amayi get water from the pump a couple minutes from our house and carry it back on my head. The first couple of times I definitely spilled a lot but I've gotten much  better.  No running water means no toilets or showers. I take baths out of a bucket in a detached brick room in the backyard. The toilet here is called the chim and it is basically a hole, cut in a cement floor, over a deep hole, in another room in the yard. The first few weeks I was here the chim definitely scared me and, although I don't think I will ever be completely fine with it, I'm getting a lot more used to it.  I think one of the things I miss most from America is the food. The food here isn't horrible but its pretty much the same things everyday. Breakfast is usually bread or porridge with tea. Lunch and dinner consist of rice or nsima with cooked spinach-like vegetables and a protein, either beans, soya or eggs for me. Also, we do not use utensils and everything is eaten with our hands. 

 In addition to living with my family and learning how to cook, bathe, and basically survive in Malawi, I am also going to language and technical classes everyday. Most of the sessions are about peace corps policies, safety, medical, or teaching techniques. Last week we got to actually teach a Malawian class for seven days at the local secondary school. I taught form 1 physical science. It went pretty well but was more challenging than I expected. The students, in form one especially, don't understand English well which makes it very difficult for them to understand science concepts taught in English. Other than that, I think my lessons were good and the students seemed to learn at least a little. 

There is so much more that has happened so I will start writing more often now that I have Internet and try to include everything in future posts. 

This is a picture of the road leading into my village:

Onward to Kasungu

I wrote this post on June 24th but haven't had Internet access since then so I'm only now able to post it. I have been with my host family for about 3 weeks now and will write a blog about my home stay experience and training very soon. 

(June 24)

Today is our last day in Lilongwe. Since we arrived in Malawi on Thursday we have been staying in a conference center in the capital, meeting our trainers and getting to know our group. The last week has been filled with training classes, medical sessions and language practice. Our typical schedule includes waking up at 6:30 breakfast at 7 classes until lunch at 12 with a short tea/ snack break in between then classes until dinner at 7. After dinner we have been hanging out as a group either playing games or going to the small bar in the conference center. Although the past few days have been a lot of fun, I don't really feel like I'm in Africa yet. The place we are staying is very nice, even for American standards, with electricity, wifi, hot showers and good meals. It could easily be located anywhere in the US so I cant say that I've experienced the "real" Africa. Tomorrow, however, we move to the Kasungu district a little north of here and meet our host families who we will be staying with for the next 8 weeks. Although I'm slightly nervous, I'm also very excited to meet my family and move into a real African village! 

Some African firsts and fun events which have occurred since I arrived include...

I have gotten 5 immunizations in the past 3 days! 

I ate nsima for the first time (the traditional dish of Malawi) it tasted like a mix between grits and mashed potatoes, not great. 

Drank my first Malawian beer, Carlsberg green. 

Played an intense game of ultimate frisbee in which I scraped up my knee pretty bad but my team won two out of three. 

Spoke Chichewa with a native speaker 

Philadelphia

Tomorrow I am meeting the rest of the education volunteers in my group in Philadelphia for a short staging/orientation before we fly out, but I figured since I've never seen Philly why not come a few days early and make a vacation out of it. My mom, Stephanie, and I flew to Philly on Saturday and met my cousin Molly for a final family trip and farewell. We have spent the last three days touring the city.

We did the typical touristy history things; saw the liberty bell, independence hall, and toured the US mint and old houses. 

We had Philly cheesesteaks! (Mine was tofu)

And we mostly just walked excessive amounts and saw some really interesting stuff and buildings.

Overall it was a really great trip. I'm really glad I got to hang out with mom and Stephanie and especially see Molly before I left. I'm completely terrified about tomorrow and the next couple weeks, but I think I'm getting a little excited too. I don't know if I'll have internet access while I'm with my host family, so I might not be able to post for a while.