Life since January 2011

Blog update

Well let's start where I left off. Term two started in January. I missed the first two weeks because of travel and a training for Peace Corps and when I returns in week 3 of school it seemed that i didn't miss much. Many of the teachers were out opening bank accounts for the Ministry of Education's new initiative to pay all teachers electronically. All government employees were switched to this scheme so nurses, agriculture workers, etc were busy opening bank accounts (think: long long lines). In theory, it was a good plan but in a country with such intermitten electricity and the vest distances between banks it didn't turn out so well. For me though, it was back into the classroom and daily routine. Things went very well overall school wise minus some financial problems (apart from teacher not being paid, yet thankfully still showing up everyday!) at the school that have effected all schools in Malawi. Since there was nothing I could do about these things, I chalked it up to another frustrating things that happen in Malawi and focused on getting the students ready for national exams!
The biggest project I had happening in term two of school was a sewing workshop at Vanessa's site in Mchinji. A women's orphan care group had many nonfunctioning sewing machines that were in serious need of parts and maintenance and the group didn't know how to sew. Vanessa worked with the group to figure out a plan for using the machines to make school uniforms for her students to buy, therefore generating income for the women's group. The project was good with a lot of late hours and early mornings getting patterns and instructions ready for the workshop but overall it was great to spend time with the women and two other great volunteers. We also had an education specialist from Peace Corps Washington DC come check out the work we were doing and talk to about teaching in Malawi.
The most memorable aspect of that project however wasn't the actual workshop but my travel to the workshop. So, I taught my lessons in the morning and waited for the rain to stop. During rainy season it can be quite a challenge to get in and out of my village which is 8km on a dirt road. Basically I live in very mountainous region of Malawi and my house it at the very top of one of the peeks. I waited for a few hours hoping an open truck would pass but with the rain and the poor roads nothing came in the two hours I waited. Eventually I found a bike that was willing to take me to the M1 and we started off. So picture: Malawian man pedaling furiously down this dirt road which has turned to mud, me on the back with my backpack on and an umbrella over us. In Malawi I always travel with a chitenje on (a big piece of cloth worn by all women to protect their clothes) and it was quickly splattered with mud. I though nothing of it until the road got very slick. I usually have a lot of confidence in the bikes I hire to take me places since they don't want to get hurt or damage their bikes (their only means of making money) on this particular day however I started to worry when the bikes tires started losing traction and slipping off the bumps. After a few close calls where the bike driver did a great job keeping us on the bike the inevitable happened and we fell. There we were trapped under his bike, in a puddle at the edge of a maize field. Well we got back on the horse and took off again and within seconds found ourselves again on the road under the bike covered in mud. At this point almost every inch of my clothes, skin and hair were covered in mud and my shoes (Rainbows) weren't staying on with all the slippery mud. Deciding not to tempt fate again we started walking, barefoot and covered in mud. We got about 2 km down the road when we hear an open truck barreling down so I quickly pay him for his efforts and flag down the truck. I spend a lot of time traveling by open vehicle and usually find a spot nestled in with the village ladies. This time I was ushered to the front of the truck's bed where I held on for dear life while standing with all the men. Maybe it was because of the mud covering my clothes or the rain but they wouldn't let me sit. After some scary turns where I nearly crushed the man in front of me, the car stopped at the small river close to the main road. Here some of the men started jumping out of the car and told me I needed to wash some of the mud off before we could continue. Yes, I was so dirty Malawian men told me I needed to bath in a river because I was getting the open truck dirty. In the rain. Truthfully I wasn't the only one going to bathe in the river but still. Slightly insulted Anyway, when in Rome... I rinsed the mud off my legs, clothes, hair, and face and jumped back in the car for the rest of he journey to Lilongwe. It was certainly not my finest moment and I was very thankful to get to Vanessa's house later that day where she had a hot bath ready for me.
After school ended in April I went up to Dar es Salaam with 3 friends, Amy, Vanessa and Irene. We planned to take the bus but luckily our boss was driving to Dar around the same time so we went with him for the same price as the bus in much less crowded and comfortable transport (although one person had to sit in the trunk of his small suv with the luggage the whole way). We made good time and crossed into Tanzania in the early afternoon. There we were shown the huge difference between Malawi (a country with very little tourism or homegrown revenue) and Tanzania (where tourism is a huge part of the economy thanks to Kilimanjaro, Serengetti National Park, and Zanzibar). After finally getting someones attention on the Malawi side and convincing them to do their job of stamping out passports, we walkin across the most obnoxious bridge in the world (Lady! Azungu! Change money! Good price! Taxi! Hello Mammy!) we got to the Tanzania side where the efficient agent processed our visas and we were officially in Tanzania. There, we discovered a flat tire in the car. Our boss changed it with us women sitting chattin on the side of the road (being culturally appropriate!) and the Africans watching the white man work. One man helped and even refused payment for his help saying "Welcome to Africa!" which prompted all the spectators to put out their hands expecting payment. For watching.
Anyways we broke the trip into two days and spent one night in Mbeya close to the Malawi-Tanzania border. It was an incredibly strange hotel that we stumbled into at random after 15 straight hours in the car. None of the stairs were equal heigts and although the bed was incredible wide (king and a half) it wasn't quite long enough to accommodate our heights (well ok. My height. Sorry, Amy!) We even considered sleeping the other way since it was wider than it was long!
At the hotel restaurant we had some issues with our very drunk waiter who liked to stand way too close an wans't all that familiar with food services. Everything we ordered caused confusion. For example, someone ordered a coke and he asked in absolute serious "hot or cold coke?" now really. How many people have asked for their coke to be heated up for them? Other odd interactions included Vanessa ordering fried chicken and him asking "beef?" he also didnt understand why we werent wiling to pay a bill with random and ridiculous prices on it. Many times he told us "Ah ok just pay!" Of course this whole evening caused us to laugh nonstop but clearly illustrates the need for service and hospitality training in Africa.
We finally arrived in Dar late at night, tired, sweaty and hungry. We weren't able to find our hotel so our boss dropped us at one of the few restaurants open late on a Sunday night where we ate and then found a taxi to take us the rest of the way. The next morning we braved the Tanzanian heat and headed to find coffee, ferry tickets to Zanzibar and a guide book (in that order). Finding all of those easily, we explored Dar for a little and then went off to the ferry. The ride was nice and luckily no one got seasick which might be hard to so in the very luxurious first class section we'd upgraded ourselves to for a whopping $5!
We were all in vacation spirit chatting and laughing! About halfway through he journey a young woman who was dressed in a very exageratex fashion came into the cabin, chatted up the cabin attendant and aat right next to Vanessa and I despite half the cabin beig empty. Now in Africa, prostitutes are no subtle. From the clothes to the fancy ell phones inpretty obvious who does what for a living. This woman (maybe girl she was prob in her late teens) was definably looking for customers. Anyways back to the story... So Vanessa and I were talking and listening to music minding our own business when out of the corner of our eyes we both see our new friend (who had ignored us up until this moment) pull out her fancy phone and snap a picture of us then urn back to face the front. We were speechless. We tried our hardest to hold the laughter in but eventually we just collapsed in giggles. he young woman did a great job of keeping a straight face and pretending she hadn't done anything and eventually left. Oh to be white in Afica. Oh wait! I am!
So we arrived on Zanzibar and eventually found our way through the twisting narrow alleyways of Stone Town. Our hotel was in a great location close to everything (ok ok. Stone Town is tiny and everything is close to everything). We'd asked for a room at the top to catch some breeze so we made our way up the increasingly steep steps to our rooms. The final flght of starts was essentily a ladder with a hand rail! No the kind of "stairs" to go up or down after a few. Famished we asked the receptionist for a restaurant and she directed us to one "right around the corner". Well we got hopelessly lost walking for ages until we finally stumbled upon an Italian restaurant. Yes, our first meal in Zanzibar was pasta! A few days later after getting our bearings of the town we found the place she had directed us to and it really was just around the corner! Somehow we'd gotten none of the instructions right but we got to see a lot of the city which was beautiful! Our time in Stone Town was spent exploring, eating and eating. Some of the best food I have ever eaten, I might add. and all totally affordable even on a peace corps budget! One of days we went on a spice tour where we got to see how lots of amazing spices are grown and harvested. One that you we also checked out he natural caves that were used to hide slaves before boarding ships! Another day we went out on a small boat to prison island (which was never actually a prison) where we hung out with some amazing 100 year old tortoises from the Seychelles and snorkelled!
After exhausting the sights of Stone Town we headed to he beach to relax even further! Also it was vanessa's birthday. We stayed an a small little beachfront hotel. It was one of the few that was open despite being the off season. It was nice and included in our rooms was an hour massage and a free drink! My kinda hotel! Unfortunately hr fun hadto end eventually and we were quickly thrown back into peace corps life as we took a public bus from Tanzania to Malawi. A trip I wouldn't recommend for the fAint of heart. The first day we sat on the hit broken bus traveling for 15 hours. Unfortunately Vanessa was very sick and he other people on the bus were awful awful people. They were so rude to us and each other. We were all glad to get back to Malawi after the bus from bell until we remembered we sti had he bridge from he'll ahead of us. We got out of the taxi that dropped us at the border (after 4hours of traveling n it was only 8am) and immediately people started yelling horrible hints at us. While we were trying to walk away from the belligerent drunks a bike literally ran into Amy! We were shocked! His front tire was resting on top of her foot! Not the way to get 4 very bitter travels into a better mood. At some point some man was caalling o to us "hello nice people" in an effort to sell us something, change money for us or just rob us. Irene immediately turns to him and says "you obviously don't know us. We are not nice people." it was vey true at this point in the ordeal. The rest of the journey wS similarly frustrating including me threatening to punch a man in the face if he didn't stop talking and having to tackle people to get on the busbafter our first one broke down. The cherry on the cake was when we finally arrived in Lilongwe at 10pm. We were exhausted and just wanted to be home. We got off the bus and the door was immediTly swarmed by aggressive taxi drivers. Amy stopped at the top of the stairs and told them "we want to go to this address, we want to pay k500, and we want only 1 taxi! 1 taxi! And I choose YOU!"nap we piled of the bus and into the chosen mans taxi only to get to the bottom of the Gil outside irene's house and te car not have enough gas to make it up! Our driver assured us we shouldn't worry (a very comin thing for malawians to suggest even when worrying is very justified) we were all delirious from lack of sleep, water and food that we just about died of laughter. Our driver got us home though (by driving backwards up the hill) and we were all thankful to have a break from traveling.
Soon after the tanzanian adventure the new school term started and I met my new sitemates! My previous signage had finished in April and I was given two new ones both about 6km away from me. It was wonderful to be able to share my knowledge and experiences with people who were fresh outbid training and they quickly become great friends! it's been so nicest have really fun people nearby and has helped pass the last few months so quickly. We have a lovely tradition of sitemate Sunday where we rotate whose house well go to and just have a nice get-together and chat while the rest of Malawi is in church!
Other fun things that have been happening are a last minute safari to Zambia with a friends family and a short trip down to Blantyre to meet up with Victor and students from The Kings Academy. I was very fortunate to get great travel down to Blantyre. It was fast and crowded but I was allowed to sit on the engine compartment so I didn't have to stand the whole 3 hours down! Sometimes the white person card is really nice! Anyways after getting great transport I was reminded that nothings perfect as I couldn't get a hole of octornonce I got to the turn off. Thankfully there was a road block so I asked the police to direct mento the orphanage. Thinking they'd know where it was located was a fine guess except there are three orphanages in the proxomity of the road block I dropped at. Well luckily the police were friendly and we just chatted while I tried to figure out how to get to this mysterious orphanage. The police devised a plan where I would write a letter to Victor, send it on a bike taxi and wait for a reply. If we found the right orphanage, the police would let me wander off into the village. It was pretty cute that they were so worried for me but I couldn't convince them that wandering into villages was pretty much my life in Malawi! Eventually I got ahold of someone with Victor and they came and picked me up. It was nice to see people from California and a little strange to here them talk about places I know in America. I stayed with them for a few days and was able to help out at the orphanage. It was fun chatting with the girls at the center and meeting all the students.
More recently, the new education volunteers arrived in Malawi. After a few days at the training site they went out to different volunteer's sites to shadow them. Two came to my site and stayed with me for a few days. They got a chance to see what life in the village is like and observe some of my lessons. It was nice to have visitors and share my experiences in Malawi with them. However, it was slightly weird to know that soon one of the new trainees will be replacing me! How did two years fly so quickly?