Happy Eid and Government Shutdown!

I just taught a class of only 27 students, and it was amazing. We should have religious holidays everyday so I only teach half my class at a time.

The topic of the class was properties of substances, and since the students didn't know what a property was, I had them practice by listing 5 properties of me. In case you were wondering, the following are all compliments in Malawi, although the American in me is not so sure about that:
-tall
-fat
-long hair
-very beautiful
-big buttocks
Obviously this exercise contributed a great deal to their understanding of physical and chemical properties.

In other news, I got an email that we are cutting down expenditures because of the government shutdown, so official (reimbursable) travel is limited. I'm just waiting till the shutdown goes long enough that we all have to take an emergency mandatory vacation home. I'm hoping that happens in time for my birthday...

Recent News

1. If the government is shut down, why do I still have to teach? Guess I really am "reasonably necessary". My students better appreciate this.

2. Last weekend I went to a music festival in Lilongwe called City of Stars, and it was awesome! Tons of bands from all over Africa and the world. Really good food, really cool drums, really cool backup dancers. It was the kind of concert only Malawi would put on.

3. Upon returning to the village, my electricity wasn't working. It has since been discovered that children stole some of the wire (please not this again. Seriously, what is with the kids here and their theivery?). A few days later and I still don't have power back, which is really cutting down on my nap-kitten-cuddle-tv-watching time.

4. We had a few days of unseasonably cold and rainy weather, which was AWESOME. Unfortunately the rain was one excuse the electrician gave for not fixing the wire. Something about sparks. It's dry today, though.

5. Even though I didn't really want to teach, I'm weirdly enjoying my classes. I think I'm a nerd, because who truly enjoys discussong the difference between a molecule and a compound with 50+ uninterested teenagers?