Well it's been awhile (sorry family) and much has happened in the warm heart of Africa. Staring where I left off...
Camp Sky was amazing and one of those experiences I will probably bore innumerable people with. Working with such motivated and talented students with a bunch of incredible volunteers really gave me a burst of energy for year 2 of teaching. It's a shame that everyday and in every class learning in Malawi can't be full of interactive lessons and creative lessons. Aww if only....
Soon after camp sky I headed down to Blantyre with a friend to check out the only "real" city in Malawi. It was a fun trip including a sketchy hotel but some great food. We also got to check out a movie at the only movie theater in the country. Unfortunately they only have 2 options per day which were likely not considered new or blockbusters in America. Well, the movie (To Save a Life) was not what we expected (judging solely on the movie poster... but u know why they say about judging a movie by the poser.... Hmmm or is that wrong?) Regardless it was the best movie I'd seen all year, which isn't saying much.
Soon after it was back to Kalumbu for the start of the new school year. Thankfully I "moved up" as form teacher with my form 3s as they became form 4s meaning I had the same students for another year. They're a great group of about 50 students who have a really wonderful mix of personalities. They're used to my teaching and discipline style and we always have great open discussions about their and my concerns about the school and their academic performance. Realistically, I've pretty much just scared those kids straight so it's much easier to work with them. They always like to "complain" that madam is so strict which is "criticism" I'd much rather have than being lazy (their usual complaint about all the other teachers).
As I mentioned before, our small staff of 6 got even smaller with the wonderful retirement of our old head-teacher (generally a useless man!). I thought I would be the only one rejoicing his departure since no one had ever mentioned having problems with him, it seems the majority of the staff was equally glad to see him gone. In typical Malawian fashion the minute he was gone the flood gates of complaints about him opened. One thing Malawians hate is complaining and upsetting he status quo. They will often start complaints by saying "I'm not complaining but...." It was mildly reassuring to know I wasn't insane in thinking that man was a crook and a terrible head-teacher. Unfortunately that doesn't negate the hours of stress he caused me. And his departure did leave our pitiful staff of 6 down to 5.
Lucky for us (and frustrating I'm sure for the students) the Malawi National Examination Board took their sweet time in releasing results for the first and 3rd year students. This left our schools nice and small with only form 2 and 4 during the waiting-for-exam-results-and-new-teachers time. Once the results were out (2 months after school started) we had been given an awesome new head-teacher who AMAZINGLY is qualified to teach secondary school (ie. he has more than a high school diploma) and another great teacher who is taking over physical science (physics and chemistry) from me. It has been a huge relief to know that the Physical Science which I started in my first year will be continued after I leave!
Term 1 of school went very well despite the slow results of the exams. Some drastic changes to my classes and teaching style meant that the average scores and comprehension for my students was much more acceptable than before (not great or even good but aceptable) The addition of the new teachers helped lighten my teaching load so that I was able to work more on revamping our library and getting the after school adult eduction program going again. I can now proudly say we record what books students borrow and when!!! Amazing I know! Although I still have a lot of work to do in library I can't help but feel it is as futile as pouring water into a leaky bucket. Everytime I am absent from the library records fall apart and the organization I strive for is a distant memory. But alas I will continue with my efforts hoping that something sticks.
I had some really memorable days in term 1 that remind me why I love Malawi so much. One includes my neighbor asking me to teach her to bake a cake for her husband's birthday. After a bit of miscommunication about exactly who was cooking this cake and where, she came over and we baked a chocolate cake on my charcoal stove. While we were waiting for the cake to bake she started doing the dishes and proceeds to scrub (with coarse gravel) all my pots, pans, plates etc. Apparently my dish washing abilities don't match Malawian standards but I now have sparking clean dishes. Women here have a strange fascination with making all their pots and pans look brand new by scrubbing all the black soot off the outside of them! It makes no sense to me as the layer of soot will be there again tomorrow when I put it back on the open fire but oh well. As usual I spent a lot of time with the children between the ages of 2 and 14 who live near me. My mom very generously sends lots of things for the kids to play with which makes my house a very popular place for them to hang out. It's nice being able to entertain them but everything about living in Malawi is frankly exhausting. I frequently don't have the time, energy or patience to play with kids in Chichewa after a long day of teaching, cooking over an open fire, bathing with a bucket etc.. When I do find the energy for it we jump rope, color, do somersaults or play catch which is always so much fun. Lately they have be one obsessed with my jigsaw puzzles. The amazement on their faces when I explained that all the little pieces form one complete picture was priceless. We continue to struggle with the idea that the image continues beyond the edges of the piece but we're making progress. Two of the kids I regularly hang out with have gotten the concept really well and are becoming experts. I will certainly leave the puzzles for them to continue playing with when I go! Who knows maybe I have discovered geniuses among the millions of children here?
Anyways racing ahead to the more recent past.... Christmas time arrived and my family came to visit! After a rather ridiculous travel day in which I went way south to meet them on the road from the airport they missed their flights and ended up at the airport closest to my house a day later! Obviously it wasn't their fault they missed their flight but it did make for a long day of traveling for me. I arrived at the super nice hotel alone in my scruffy Peace Corps volunteer uniform (Chaco's, Malawian skirt and blouse, a hiking-pack and dripping sweat from a long journey). A nice family realized I was a Peace Corps volunteer and gave me a ride the last few miles which was so appreciated! The first night was a bit weird since I am not used to being a tourist in this country but it was nice to sit by the lake and enjoy a nice meal. Luckily I am well accustomed to awkwardness in Malawi so the 8 waiters hovering around me didn't bother me too much. It's just like having an audience for everything I do in my village. Like being a celebrity right? Anyways, the next day I waited for my family to arrive. After about 4 hours of being totally uncomfortable at the hotel I decided I would venture back into the real Malawi and set off to the nearest market. It was a nice little adventure and it helped passed the time until the family came.
Their visit to Malawi was nice. It was great to veg out by the lake and read some books while soaking up the sun. They weren't too impressed with the service but by my incredibly low standards it was great! Then it was off to my site for a very very very very brief look around the village. Before I left, I explained to my neighbors and the village that they were coming for a few days before we headed to Lilongwe and then the UK and they were shocked and couldn't understand why they didn't want to spend their whole vacation in the village. I tried to nicely explain to them that it wasn't exactly my family's style to rough it. Anyways I think their few hours there was more than enough but it was great to be able to show them around. I don't think they were too envious of my working conditions since my school is pretty much crap but hey... I love it. Anyways then it was off to another fancy place in Lilongwe and then the UK and France. It was awesome to see the whole family plus all their assorted offspring yet totally overwhelming. England was wonderfully snowy and filled with family while Paris was great and reunited me with my love of shopping and I even got to see Harry Potter with French subtitles! What more could u ask for?
Then it was back to Malawi! I seriously looked like a maniac the entire flights (all 14 hours) because I was smiling the whole time. I was ecstatic until I realized that between my luggage and the 4 packages I received before I left for my trip (Thanks mom, Melissa and Janine) I was going to have quite a time getting to the junky old school bus that takes me home. Well I spent lots of money getting a taxi (3 times the total cost of my entire trip getting home for just the trip from my friends house to the bus depot) and managed to make it comfortably home with help from some students. Then it was off to Dedza for a week of Mid-service training (yep that's right i am over midway). After all the globetrotting I was sooooo thankful to get home and just be in my house and relax. Of course, like all things in Malawi it didn't last....
This week I have been trying fruitlessly to finish the national exam registration (which is stupidly done on the computer despite most Malawian schools not having electricity, computers or anyone proficient with computers!) It has been a very inefficient system of me spending hours and money coming to Lilongwe, correcting mistakes and printing out countless copies only to be told the next day that there is another mistake and I will need to go again! Of course it would have been nice to just do it all once and be done but hey then I would have missed out on some quality time squished in terrible Malawian public transportation... oh life!
Until next time (which no lie probably won't be terribly soon)
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