Pros and Cons

In my sorority, come election time, we would repeat the refrain time and again: for every con there is a pro. Here are mine:

Con: last week's staff meeting lasted for 5 and a half hours. After teaching until noon. And we didn't even get through our agenda.

Pro: I like to think I started a mini-revolution when, as our head teacher was disparaging the distinct possibility (probability) that our students won't be ready for exams, I suggested that we actually teach all the classes on our schedule (instead of allowing random staff meetings to take over staff time, cancelling class to practice for sports only a small fraction of our students will actually play, etc). Another teacher totally jumped on board, saying we should come to school early on Mondays (gasp!) and move swiftly through our staff meeting and assembly to ensure that our students miss as few classes as possible. We'll see how this goes.

Pro: I have electricity and running water!

Con: They frequently turn off, randomly, making cooking a slightly stressful experience, as it could be over at any moment.

Pro: it's no longer hot season! Break out your umbrellas, or stand under Rihanna's, because the rains are here!

Con: I now understand why we sleep under mosquito nets, because those bugs are EVERYWHERE. I get many new bites everyday, even wearing repellent.

Pro: I got a kitten!! He/she (I'm not confident of the gender, as I've heard conflicting opinions from locals, and I'm very sensitive to this issue after a certain college experience with a female cat named Arthur) is a big fan of eating lots of cockroaches and spiders.

Con: He/she is also a big fan of keeping me up all night with meowing. Constantly and loudly. Hence banishment to my backyard for nighttime hours.

Pro: I managed to talular my own litter box for said kitten!

Con: apparently you're supposed to change litter really frequently, and to this I have to collect te sandy soil near my house. Meaning once again, I will be seen as an incredibly peculiar mzungu.

Pro: I finally ran into my neighbor, the catechist's wife, having lunch outside yesterday and shared some nsima and vegetables with her! This is called integration, people.

Con: I'm pretty confident that I looked like an awkward idiot eating nsima with my hands after such a long absence. I totally spilled crumbling nsima on myself.

And finally,
Con: I am about to attend a PTA meeting which, as important as I'm sure it is, will be at least 3 hours of people talking really quickly in a language I mostly don't understand. Oy.

Pro: after this I'm done for the week! That's right, I changed up my schedule for this term so I finish teaching on Thursdays, so tomorrow I'm going to vist Liwonde and celebrate my site mate's birthday!