In case you were wondering...

I'm currently singing a little ditty I composed called "Where Has All the Power Gone?" It's sung to the tune of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and is sure to be a big hit at the trading center closest to you. So today was a fun flashback to 5 months ago when I could only cook one thing at a time, burned everything, and rushed to be done before dark.

Here's hoping this issue gets resolved soon! (the issue is that the electric bill hasn't been paid, so the catechist is switching from post-paid to pre-paid electricity. This strategy probably makes as much sense to you as it does to me. Supposedly we were going to get power back today, but clearly that hasn't happened. So I should probably stop blogging and save the power on my phone, but before I do. . . )

Last week I attended a Student-Friendly Schools workshop with other members of my training group and our head teachers. We talked about gender-based violence and the impact we can have as educators. It went pretty well, although many counterparts sounded like they may have been parroting answers they knew we wanted to hear. We shall see. For instance, at the end of the training while making our individialized action plans for our school, my head teacher asked why I want to form a girls' club. Oy.

After the training I stuck around Lilongwe to do some office work, then headed to my friend's site to visit the lake! It was an area I'd never seen before and totally beautiful. We lounged poolside, ate cheeseburgers, and swam in the clear blue water. Amazing. We also made a few 10 year old friends who wanted to play with our frisbee. I don't feel bad at all for my friend, who also complains about how hot her site is, because when it becomes too much, she can just go take a break at the beach! And what do I have to show for the brutal Machinga hot season?! (Elephants. I have elephats I can visit.)

Anyhow, after a brutal day of travel yesterday (I was called a hule for wearing jeans, and sat in the back of a pickup for over an hour with passengers including a little boy so sick and whimpering he couldn't move on his own), I finally arrived back home. The first day back of teaching again wa surprisingly nice. No matter how much I dread going to school, the best parts of my days are usually in the classroom with my students. Even if they didn't do any of the work I assigned them while I was away.

So that brings you up to speed on the happenings kwa Allison! Fyi - during the writing of this post, the power came back on! And then the catechist called to say it'll be off again tomorrow morning at 5:30. I am still so confused. Such is life in the Peace Corps.

Tiwo!