Aaaaaaaaaaand just like that, I’m an official Peace Corps
Volunteer! I can’t believe it – everyone
told us that training would fly by, and it did (except for those few weeks
where I was ready to move back out of homestay and back to the college). About a week and a half ago, my training
class had our official swear-in ceremony in Lilongwe at the Ambassador’s
house. It was beautiful, it was
touching; we laughed, we cried; we spoke in English, Chichewa, Chitumbuka, and
Chilambia; we waited while numerous substitute-Ambassadors, Malawian Ministry
of Education personal, and Peace Corps officials gave remarks; and then
finally, it was done! We gave our oath
to uphold the Constitution, etc. etc. etc., and then we got to gorge ourselves
on Embassy food! Not too shabby, if I do
say so myself.
We swore in on a Wednesday, and on Thursday everyone was supposed to
leave. But, the PC Malawi being PC Malawi, 5 of us lucky
new volunteers got to stay at our training site one extra night (since they
didn’t have enough drivers and vehicles to get us all there in one day). I was actually kind of glad to stay an extra
day – one more day where I didn’t have to cook for myself, where use
electricity and shower. . . and then the water went off. It’d been happening off and on all training,
but let me tell you, the bucket bath I drew for myself when I finally got to
site was amazing. The food was still
good though, as was the company. A few
of us went to go visit our families back in our homestay village, and it was
awesome to see my Amayi for a few minutes.
Naturally, my ever-missing Abambo wasn’t there, and my brothers were
playing, and my Amayi was extremely apologetic for not having any ufa (corn
flour, for nsima) to give me. But I got
to introduce her to my friend who’s staying and teaching in Mpalale for the
next few years, and she told me to come back at my Mid-Service Training (MST)
in December!
Friday morning, after an hour or so of packing the PC land rover with
everything three twenty-something PCVs could need for the next two years, we
were off! I travelled with two of my
friends who are currently living in Zomba, the region just south of Machinga,
and we spent a few hours chatting up our driver, eating the PB&Js we packed
for the road, and generally savoring company with Americans. I was dropped off first, and let me tell you,
there’s nothing quite like watching that land rover roll away, with you staying
in an empty house. The first few days
were overwhelming – fun fact: I definitely won’t have electricity for at least
a few weeks, if not months (aka if I get electricity before 2013, I’ll be
really excited). And did you know, it’s
actually quite hard to start a fire on a charcoal stove? I knew that theoretically, of course, but
there’s nothing quite like hunger to exacerbate the realization that no, I’m
not a good fire-top cooker. Luckily, I
figured it out a little bit, and I’ve been able to make rice, pasta, quinoa,
eggs, and a few other things. And I know
where they sell peanut butter, so I won’t starve. Then, of course, I had to get my locks
changed. This was an experience which
took about three trips to the carpenter to remind him he was supposed to be at
my house over three days, with him finally completing the task on Sunday
morning before church started (the only event to which Malawians are
occasionally on time is church).
Before I knew it, school started on Monday morning! Theoretically, school begins at 7:30, and students
and teachers arrive at 7 to prepare for the day. While I got there on time, some of the
teachers didn’t roll in until 8 or so, and students began arriving around 7:30
and kept coming all morning. Apparently
they didn’t want to sweep the classrooms or grounds, which they are expected to
do daily, but which is an especially tedious task on the first day of school
when the grounds haven’t been cleaned for two months. After a brief staff meeting, we went into an
assembly (please note that at this point, I still hadn’t received a schedule),
and then I was helpfully informed that the Form 2s stopped at the Periodic
Table last year, and could I please go teach a double period. Those of you who know me, and my love of
knowing my schedule and what to expect for the next day/week/month/year, can
imagine how I felt about that, but luckily I was able to fake a lesson for an
hour and a half (oy) on Monday, and again on Tuesday. By Wednesday I at least had a temporary
schedule. It was temporary for a few
reasons:
1.
Our school currently has 6 teachers, including
the head teacher and myself, who are typically asked to teach a lighter load
(for instance, PC recommends that new volunteers teach no more than 15
40-minute periods in a week), while the other teachers are teaching close to
30. Utterly ridiculous. Supposedly we’re getting one more teacher
soon (as soon as he moves here), and maybe one or two more at some upcoming
point.
2.
The Form 1 and 3 students weren’t in yet,
because they haven’t finished grading their national exams yet. Please note that all schools operate on a
government-decided schedule, and yet their exams, which are given by the
government, aren’t marked. So the Form
1s will arrive this upcoming Monday, and the Form 3s will arrive sometime . . .
soon. Who knows, really?
Anyhow, school has been fine so far, but we’re just not into the
regular swing of things yet. Hopefully
we will be soon. The other teachers seem
pretty nice, and I feel badly that they teach so much more than me, but I honestly
am going to need to extra time to help me adjust, lesson plan, and learn about
my community. We’re definitely not in
Kansas anymore, as Dorothy once said.
In other updates on this past week: I got my first real set of tummy
troubles, and let me tell you, the Curse of the Gule Wamkulu is remarkable
similar, and perhaps even more frightening, than the Curse of the Pharaoh’s
Tomb that we experienced when I studied abroad, possibly due to the fact that I
am now the proud owner of my very own pit latrine, complete with the giant
cockroaches who think they live in it. I
went back to visit my site mate and eat at the Father’s house the other day for
lunch, and it was amaaaaaaaaaaazing, but at this point, even they are
experiencing electricity troubles! Makes
me feel better about my own situation, except I was hoping to charge stuff
there.
Today I jumped at the chance to take advantage of my proximity to
Liwonde and Rachel (my friend from the states, from high school), so I got up
early, caught a minibus, argued my price down from 800 kwacha (ridiculous) to
500 (normal), and then Rachel picked me up in town. Let me tell you, this girl is living the
bwana lifestyle compared to me – electricity, a refrigerator(!), and going to
the Liwonde National Park every weekend to hang out. So that’s where we are now!!!! We are sitting under a big, thatched roof,
with all these cushioned tables and couches, and baobab trees everywhere,
drinking coffee. While I’ve been writing
this, I had a small break where I went to go see some elephants by the
water! My first African elephants. They were far away, since apparently
elephants are wild animals and run really fast.
Ok, it’s time to finish relaxing and enjoying the company. Check the new tab for a list of American things I miss for you to throw into care packages! Or, just write me letters. I miss you. And for now, tiwonana. I’ll try to write again soon!
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