The State of My Service

Truth time: a few weeks ago was my 1 year anniversary in Malawi and I wimped out of writing a commeorative blog post because I didn't know if I had anything worthy if the occasion to say. Because seriously, for over a year, I have been living in the warm heart of Africa, not eating seafood or cheese or steaks, riding on minibuses, speaking Chichewa, fending off marriage proposals by both drunk and sober men, and finally, at long last, learning to build a fire on charcoal (lots of paraffin is involved). The past year has been exciting and stressful, and I still don't exactly know what's going to happen in the next year of my service.

So for now, here are some recent highlights:
-I was chosen as a resource volunteer to help at the traing of the 2013 PC Malawi Education trainees, participated in a 10 day training involving all technical and language trainers, reconnected with my language trainer and lifestyle guru Chrissy, and went to Week 2 of pre-service training! It was really cool to be a part of this experience, watching the new trainees experience what I was going through exactly a year ago, from village culture shock to amazement at the state of education in the schools they will work in. On a personal level, it was rewarding to see how far I've come - I was able to have spontaneous chats in Chichewa while at the borehole, pump a bucket full of water, and carry it back on my head, so clearly I have at least a couple accomplishments. I go back for week 7, after the trainees will know their sites, lots more local language, and have gained confidence in general living activities in Malawi. They are great, and I think they'll do good things for PCM.
-School is officially out for the summer! Or cold season, as it were. I ended up missing an unseemly amount of class this term, what with all the trainings and vacation, but some learning has at least occured. Plus, I now have a year's worth of teaching experience! I'm looking forward to seeing my students again next year and working on more after school activities with them (reading club perhaps? Girls club? We'll see.)
-Let's talk about cold season. It's awesome. I've been sleeping in my sleeping bag, I wear cardigans or scarves outside, and tomatoes are mad cheap. Plus even at night it generally doesn't dip much below 70 or so, so it's not too crazy. Obviously, my students have been wandering around in puffy jackets for months.

Upcoming events:
-Working on a community organizational mapping project within my district with a few other PCVs and USAID next week
-Working at Camp GLOW (girls leading our world, a girls' leadership and empowerment camp that Health volunteers plan), which I'm super excited for - it's not summerif you're not at a sleepaway camp!
-my group's Mid Service Training, at which point we officially become "old volunteers"
-PC Malawi's 50th anniversary celebration! Rumor has it that President Joyce Banda and some high upa from PC Washington will be present. So you know, hanging out with the bwanas.
-Getting to know the new ed PCTs and future volunteers better, and hopefully getting a new site mate

I'll try to be better at posting more in the upcoming months. Till then, tiwo!