Round Two

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. I know it's been awhile, but so much has been happening that the idea of updating this blog has been vaguely overwhelming. But here's the rundown of the past month or so:

I finished the summer with several weeks out of site - after Camp GLOW, I headed to another week helping at the training of new PCVs, my own Mid-Service Training (talk about a mind trip, I have been in country now for over a year), and an all-volunteer conference and celebration of PC Malawi's 50th anniversary. It was a pretty bwana event, with the Acting Director of PC present and the celebration itself at the state house. I got to chat with President Joyce Banda for a couple minutes about what the Education sector does. It was a really cool way to celebrate the diversity of work PC does here in Malawi and get to know the multitude of new volunteers present.

And then finally I got back to site! I spent a blissful two weeks before school started cleaning, relaxing, and visiting everything in my area again. I even have a new sort of site mate - she lives pretty far off the road, but she has to pass my house whenever she wants to leave site, so I'm pumped to have someone to hang out with occasionally.

As for school, which started last week, we're still getting in the swing of things. We don't have Forms 1 and 3 yet (they're still wating on their national exam results), so I've only been teaching Form 2 so far. Four girls have dropped out since Form 1 due to pregnancy/marriage, firther fueling my desire to start a girls' club. Lots of them seem to have forgotten English during the break, but I'm hoping they'll pick it up quickly again. No local language in class this year! And I'm woking on getting students to use the library more, read novels in addition to textbooks, and practice their English that way.

As for me, I'm doing pretty well. It's weird to think how normal life seems, even when I'm hitching rides or building a fire to make coffee. I guess that's why I haven't been posting; it all seems mundane at this point. But I guess getting used to the lifestyle is the whole point of the first year of PC. I finally feel like I know my teaching staff well enough to give ideas and argue a little for what I think is right, and confidently initiate projects I want to do. And the integration that comes with living in a community for a year has its benefits - hearing rumors about why the catechist was asked to leave the church, making the children who come to play with me practice reading out loud, knowing I'm not getting ripped off at the market. Things are going well.