marking end of term exams. I have also been spending a lot of time with the little cuties (sometimes) in the picture. They are some of the millions of childrens who live near me and like to stand at my gate shouting "Tibwere" (we should come). They're cute for most of the time but one day I was so busy and stressed when they asked to come in I told them they could only come if they wanted to wash dishes. Suprisingly they did and all my dishes got washed. Feeling guilty I gave them each a tootsie roll and now everyday they want to wash dishes/get candy! Sometimes they seek out dishes to wash just to earn a candy! HA!
-So the other picture is of a Malawi military man who was directing traffic as the important people went to the airport after President Bingu's oh-so-important wedding. The very high tech walkie-talkie made me laugh hysterically to myself.
-Another amusing day involved wakling 2 hours each way to the funeral of my head master's father. Since I am a woman I had to walk with the women (leaving 2 hours before the men) and that meant walking with the other teacher's wives. Although they're all nice, they don't speak English and my Chichewa skills broke down around hour 1 and then they just talked about me. Throughout the whole walk there I had the joy of carrying our lunch under my arm.... two live chickens. Unfortunately I chatted with the chickens as they tried to escape my grip and that made their death shortly after arriving a little sad. Needless to say I did not eat any chicken that day.
Some ways in which I am very different from the girl who lived in Los Angeles:
-I wash ants out of my Ziploc bags and hang them on the line to dry
-Harvesting and roasting peanuts is a pleasent way to pass the day
-It no longer bothers me when people say "Good Morning" at 5PM
-I ration my phone use so that I can minimize trips to the shop where I charge it
-Sleeping in means waking up at 6:30 and a late night is staying up past 8PM
-I always shake the curtain and tap the floor of my pit latrine to 1. get the goats to come runnin out and 2. make sure the termite haven't destroyed the floor so I won't fall in
-I don't mind stopping at random people's houses asking for water while I am biking
-A "real" meal means actually cooking rice and maybe some vegetables
Anyways hope eveyone is well. Love and miss you! Jaimie
